The Land of the LOST

With the final season of LOST just three weeks away (collective sigh), I wanted to reprise a previous post and gather all unanswered questions regarding this crazy plot. PLEASE feel free to add whatever inquiries you might have as well—I’d love further reason to lie awake at night! 🙂

Part I: The “Obvious” Questions

1. What about Juliet? The final seconds of last season saw her in a pretty precarious place, and though I’m beginning to think that “alive” on this show is a relative term, I’d still like to know just what this bomb detonation meant for her.

2. Just what is the Smoke Monster? I appreciate the additional clues that we gained this season, but there’s still a lot I’d like to know. How does it work? If it can be controlled, who controls it? Is it its very own entity?

3. The Four-Toed Statue? How long has it been there? What does it mean that it’s holding an ankh? Who built it, and what is it for?? And at some point it went from a huge full-bodied statue to just a foot. What happened there?

4. What is the deal with Richard’s eternal youth? How old is this man really?

5. What about Claire? Is it even possible for her and Aaron to be reunited? Is she even alive??

Part II: Questions Spurred from Season 5

1. Why is it that pregnant women die on the island? As we saw with our former Dharma residents and the birth of little Ethan, they didn’t used to. What happened?

2. I’ll admit that I may have missed this, but how did Ethan become an Other? As we saw from last season, child kidnapping wasn’t always necessarily a practice of the Others (not until Alex, anyway), and since the rest of the Dharma residents, including Ethan’s father Horace were annihilated by Ben, how did Ethan survive? Were there any other Dharma kids with him when he joined their Hostiles?

3. What exactly is this “Loophole”? I know just in my own house there are a million theories looming about (my husband and I have talked many circles around this idea), but I would appreciate some clarity.

4. What connection do Ilana and the huge guy from the plane (name escapes me) have with Jacob? Are they possibly “Others”? Is there another island group we have yet to meet? Have they even been there before?

5. What is in Hurley’s (Jacob’s) guitar?

6. “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” We’ve already looked up the Latin online, so I know the “answer”, but what does that mean exactly? For the answer to just be “Jacob” seems a bit too easy…

Part III: Questions That Maybe Only I Have

1. Why the polar bears? Maybe this has already been answered in sorts, but with the skeleton in the desert and the picture on Walt’s comic book, I feel like we’re still missing something.

2. Are we ever going to completely understand why Walt was thought to be so special? I haven’t forgotten about his mysterious “powers” (like his creeped out stepdad and the suicidal bird on his window), and though I liked seeing him last season, I don’t feel like the island has to be done with him. Is it??

3. I know you’d like me to forget, but help me out here. Why was Libby in an asylum? With Hurley??

Looking forward to hearing everyone’s comments, and can’t wait for February 2nd!

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Allison the Soundtrack: Volume 1

Several years ago, a friend of mine had to construct a list of personal songs for a grad school class.  Her assignment was to select ten or fifteen songs from her life that either represented monumental moments, or through their lyrics somehow identified with her history.  Though I have not been in grad school,  nor was I a psychology major, I thought this assignment was awesome, and my friend Regan and I both began making our own song lists as well.

I was reminded of this list again today as I was surprised by one of the songs from my “playlist” on the radio. My brain started trying to put together all of the songs from my Life’s Soundtrack, and as I did so, I began to smile with each song’s memory.  I would LOVE to know the songs from everyone’s Soundtrack, so I begin today with my first Volume in hopes that I am able to discover the Playlists from you, my friends.

Allison the Soundtrack

Volume 1: The Early Years

1. The Kids Incorporated Theme Song.  How I cried when this show moved to cable!

2. “Good Enough” by Cyndi Lauper (from the movie The Goonies. I still have this entire film memorized.)

3. “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins.  Though I don’t think I ever knew the actual words, it never stopped me from singing along. I’m pretty sure my opening line was “I’m washing my car” rather than “I’m punching my card”…

4. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson—or any song from this album. This was my first cassette!

5. “Only in My Dreams” by Debbie Gibson.  At this point in my life, she was the epitome of cool.  Those fantastic hats!!

6. “Please Don’t Go Girl” by New Kids On the Block.  I could just see Joey McIntyre singing this song to me.

7. “Opposite’s Attract” by Paula Abdul.  I actually asked for this tape because I knew all of the other girls had it. This song was my favorite because of the cartoon cat in the video.

8. “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips.  I know I was probably the only female under the age of 40 with this tape, but I loved this group.  I really loved the idea of having a girl group just like this one.

This is probably it before middle school.  Honorable Mentions for “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer, “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks (my first taste of country music), “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins (we always had to run to this in Elementary School P.E.), “Jump” by Kris Kross, and “Ice, Ice, Baby” by Vanilla Ice.

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Previously…on LOST

Dear J. J. Abrams and Co.,

First of all, thanks for your show. The past four seasons of LOST have been delightfully confusing, and my husband and I are quite literally counting down the days to the frustrating, mind-bending stalemate that we are confident to find in Season 5.

As has become our annual tradition, the husband and I rushed to our DVD player with our new complete Season 4 set (thanks, Mom and Dad for the Christmas present!), put the baby to bed, unplugged the phones, and proceeded to marathon last year’s show. Once again it was fantastic (such talent–really!), and we began our futile follow-up of scenarios, “Did-you-see-that?”s, and unanswered questions. It is the latter that has prompted this letter to you and your fellow writers.

You do realize you have only 2 seasons left, right?

Not that I’m in any rush to see this show come to a close; quite the opposite actually. But the fact remains that you guys have opened an abundant number of doors, and I feel it my duty to remind you of these so that we may avoid the pain of our unanswered questions after your series ends. I created this simple list of reminders for you, and I must warn you—it’s a lot!

1. Jacob. Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he look like? What does he want? And none of this “He’s really Christian Shepherd” junk. Not buying that. And while we’re on the subject…

2. Christian Shepherd. How is he connected to the island?

3. Locke. He’s dead?! How did that happen? How is he OFF the island? And who is “The Chosen One” now? And while we’re on THAT subject…

4. Walt. Don’t think just because you offed Michael at the end of last season that we’ve forgotten about Walt. He’s “special”, remember? Just what are those hidden talents of his? Does the island want in on any of that?

5. The Smoke Monster. My husband has tried to advise me that the Smoke Monster questions have all been answered, but I must tell you, I’m not satisfied with that. How does that thing work?

6. Charles Widmore. Now that there are survivors out in the open, what’s he going to do? Desmond’s back in the picture now—is he going to just give up this whole “conquer the island” plan?

7. The Man Who Doesn’t Age. Really good LOST fans can probably provide for you a name, but I’m sure you know who I’m talking about. The guy who’s like the Island Recruiter who has spoken with several different folks over several different generations about joining his Others Troupe (Juliet, Ben, LOCKE). Who is that guy? And, seriously, why doesn’t he age??

8. Significance of the Numbers. Why those numbers? What do they mean?

9. The Fate of the Island. Where did it go? What happened to the people who were on it? And how did Locke get off?

10. The Paradox of Time. Why does time move differently on the island? Is it just so you could have a plausible scenario for Walt growing up while the rest of the survivors move one painful day at a time?

11. Fairaday’s Boat. So Season 4 ends with Fairaday taking a group of extras on a raft to the freighter when it explodes—seconds before the island disappears. With no obvious place to go, what happens to all of those people?

12. Sawyer’s Favor. Sawyer asked Kate to do something for him, which apparently, to the chagrin of then-fiance Jack, she does. What was it?

And these are probably considered lesser questions, but still, I’m rather curious:

13. Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet…who ends up with whom?

14. Libby. Why was Libby in the booby hatch with Hurley? You killed her off before we found out the rest of her story! Not all of us were able to just let that go.

Now I don’t expect you to answer all of these questions at once; by all means, pace yourself. But please remember, you have just a little bit of time left to answer to all of this confusion you created. I mean, 14 questions—that’s more than the number of episodes you provided last season. I’m just saying…

Thank you very much for your time, and please keep up the good work! I really enjoyed Cloverfield, and I’m doing my best to get in to this other new show of yours. Looking forward to Season 5!

Allison

P.S. Please don’t think that I don’t like Fringe. It definitely has it’s merits, but I’m a bit puzzled as to why you chose Pacey as one of your main characters. Do you really think die-hard LOST fans and avid Dawson’s Creek viewers have a whole lot in common?

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I’m Just Not That In To You…

Ryan and I were recently discussing one of my specific food dislikes, and Ryan in his gentle manner told me that I was, his words, “nuts”.  I’ve never considered myself a picky eater.  I’ll try anything at least once and never refuse a meal, even if it might not be my favorite. Despite all of this, I’m learning that there are some foods that I just don’t enjoy…and I really wish that I did.  So here’s my list:

Allison’s Top Foods She Wishes She Liked

1. Barbecue

I am a Texan, for crying out loud!!  It’s not really the meat, it’s the sauce that I don’t like.  Something about that flavor–I don’t even like barbecue potato chips.

2. Cheesecake

I think this is a texture thing, because I love cheesecake flavored ice cream.  Based on the calorie count, though, maybe I should count this as a blessing.

3. Peanut Butter cookies

One of Ryan’s favorites.  So sad…

4. Taco Bueno

All of my ACU friends are probably letting out a chorus of groans.  As far as cheap-o Mexican fast food goes, I’d pick Taco Bell every time.  Growing up we referred to this chain as “Bueno is no bueno.”

5. Dunkin Donuts

Sorry Jeremy and Mandy!  We had one of these in Plano when I was growing up as well.  Maybe I need to experience a northeast franchise in order to better appreciate its morning pastry glory.

6. Duck

This seems to be a fancy dinner mainstay, and though we’re not really fancy people, with Ryan’s job we’ve had a few opportunities to meal on this.  I seriously have trouble forcing this one down; it’s so greasy and the texture feels like I’m trying to consume just fat.  I guess that’s what they mean when they call a meat “gamey”.

7. Oysters

Slimy.  Yuck.

8. Chili’s

I feel a lot better about this place than I used to.  When I was in high school, there were very few places to eat near our church.  It was pretty far away, so we’d leave right after school, fight traffic to get to that part of town, and eat dinner before heading to the church building.  With limited options, 9 times out of 10 we’d end up at Chili’s.  I’m not against the food, really, I just think I got completely burnt out.  High school was quite a while ago, though, so my distaste is significantly less than it used to be.

9. Arby’s

Ryan told me that I should add this.  I say that I like Arby’s, but I never want to go…

10. Turkey

LOVE smoked turkey.  DON’T love the rest.  For holidays I’m ok to eat the dark meat, but I didn’t actually have that until just a few years ago.  We’ve always spent Thanksgiving with my Granny, and she thinks dark meat is bad and would always throw it out before we’d eat.  I didn’t actually know dark meat existed until a dinner with Ryan’s family; I thought the browner pieces were just burnt.

There are a few other foods that I don’t enjoy, but since I don’t care that I don’t like them, they didn’t make this list.  Such items include Mi Ranchito, processed cheese, brown liquors, mushrooms…

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Reality TV Makes Me a Bad Person

I’ve decided that I need to give up Reality TV.  I learned several years ago that Survivor and I could no longer be friends—it was too much of an emotional investment and every week it would take me several hours to calm down after each episode.  The contestants were just so nasty to each other, and I found myself yelling at the TV and harboring bitter feelings for the people involved.  I watched until a really neat person won the game, and then gave it up.

But I’m here again.  This time the major culprit is Hell’s Kitchen, a reality cooking contest that comes on after American Idol every Tuesday. Last night as I watched (yea, DVR), I used words like “despicable”, “worthless”, and “ridiculous” to describe some of the remaining chefs in the competition, and I was struck by something really unacceptable in my behavior. However scripted, Reality TV does revolve around real people, and I am way too judgmental of them.  Yeah, they put themselves on TV and therefore up for scrutiny, but I just feel so icky after every show that I think I really need to consider letting them go.

Maybe as soon as this season is over…

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I Miss Field Day

Today I drove by our neighborhood elementary school and was able to witness one of my absolute favorite pastimes.  It looked like the entire student body was outside decked in their homeroom colors, and as I watched the starting line of what appeared to be an awesome relay race, I had to sigh.  Field Day is undoubtedly the best day of the school year.

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Words I Always Misspell When I’m Typing

It seems that I have quite a collection of words that I can’t ever seem to type correctly, so I’ve come up with a game. The following words top my list, and I want to see if you can figure them out. I’ll post the real words at a later date…Enjoy!

1. trup
2. form
3. Allson
4. geat
5. caneldar, claendar, clanedar, etc.
6. howver
7. deifnitly
8. excpte
9. scehudle
10. Daryl

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The Mice and the Men are Everywhere!!

So I was watching ER this morning and noticed that a few of the characters had a striking resemblance to my most recent finished novel. Dr. Greg Pratt (played by Mekhi Pfeiffer) has an oversized “stepbrother” named Leon who, because of some sort of accident, has the mind of a child. Leon’s innocence has been causing “G” all kinds of headache, but Greg feels a responsibility to him. They’re George and Lennie!! Look, their names are even similar!

Annnnnd, I don’t know how many of you are Looney Tunes fans, but I think the Abominable Snowman is supposed to be Lennie, too. He loves Bugs (because he loves rabbits) and always makes a big deal about how he will, “hug him, and squeeze him, and name him George.”

I’m interested to see where else these characters pop up. If you happen to find any other media allusions, I’d love to hear about them.

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