And the Tillie goes to...

(Cue the Award show Orchestra)

In lieu of our missing new episode, tonight we begin deliberations on the nominations for the first annual Tillie Awards. (Tillie refers to TLI, the affectionate short version for the nickname The Little Island, this blog.)

There are five categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Most Improved (or Recently Compelling) Actor and MI(oRC) Actress, and Best Actor or Actress Not Currently On LOST. Nominees will be limited to those actors who have portrayed a character for a minimum of ten episodes.

When sharing your suggestions for nominees, please be prepared to site scenes which should be considered as examples of your nominee's best work.

: ) P

LaFleur

Though I did a quick google search for LaFleur, I didn't come up with anything other than the fact that is a quite prolific surname among Francophones. There was quite a long list of famous people with the last name, but none were philosophers or scientists.

I thought of Fleur Delacour, a character in the Harry Potter books. Other than it just being a literary reference, I didn't really see how there could be a connection.

The fact that "la fleur" in French means flower could be significant, especially with respect to The Little Prince reference earlier in the season.

One interesting thing that I did consider is that in Tunisia, although Arabic is the official language, French is spoken widely, particularly in schools and the media. From Wikipedia: It is widely used in education (e.g. as the language of instruction in the sciences in secondary school), the press, and in business. Most educated Tunisians are able to speak it. Many Tunisians, particularly those residing in large urban areas, readily mix Tunisian Arabic with French.

I wonder if Charlotte also spoke French? Perhaps Pierre Chang taught her?

: ) P

Ben F. Cavier

Lost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, United States crashes somewhere in the South Pacific. For the first three seasons each episode typically featured a primary storyline on the island as well as a secondary storyline from a previous point in a character's life, though the introduction of shifts forward in time and other time-related plot devices somewhat changed this formula for the latter half of the series. The pilot episode was first broadcast on September 22, 2004 and since then four full seasons have aired, with the fifth currently in progress, and a sixth set to be the final in 2010. The show airs on the ABC Network in the United States, as well as on regional networks in many other countries.

The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

I think the title is fairly self-explanatory in this case. The only thing that remains to be seen in this (likely) Locke-centric episode, is if he did indeed DIE and if so, by what cause, and for how long?

: ) P

316

This week's episode is entitled 316. Based on the podcast, it sounds as if it (or perhaps next week's) is a "stand-alone" in that it does not affect the story-telling. I expect it will be a particularly strong program because the "stand-alone" episodes are those the producers usually offer up for Emmy consideration.

316 - The area code in Wichita, Kansas
(The producers have made Oz references.)

316 - The year the Jin Dynasty in China collapses
(Character named Jin.)

316 - The year that Constantine I issues an edict prohibiting the punishment of slaves (by crucifixion and facial branding) and Constantine II is born
(Possible connection to our four-toed statue.)

316 - The name of an instrumental Van Halen song from the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
(No connection that I can think of, but interesting.)

John 3:16 - Perhaps the most likely reference and perhaps most famous bible quote: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Thoughts?

This Place is Death

This week's episode title is a bit of enigma. It cannot be directly related to anything (other than thousands of LOST websites devoted to figuring it out). Not wanting to spend thousands of hours to read what OTHER people figured out, I tried to think like D&C do... literarily.

I went to Amazon and put This Place is Death in quotation marks hoping against hope that perhaps there was a book out there somewhere with the same title. While I didn't find a book with that title, I did find MANY with SIMILAR quotes in it. Only ONE had the actual quote, and given the author, I expect it may be likely that this is the jackpot.

Here is the Amazon Editorial Review of Stephen King's The Gunslinger:

King writes both a new introduction and foreword to this revised edition, and the ever-patient, ever-loyal "constant reader" is rewarded with secrets to the series's inception. That a "magic" ream of green paper and a Robert Browning poem, came together to reveal to King his "ka" is no real surprise (this is King after all), but who would have thought that the squinty-eyed trio of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach would set the author on his true path to the Tower? While King credits Tolkien for inspiring the "quest and magic" that pervades the series, it was Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that helped create the epic proportions and "almost absurdly majestic western backdrop" of Roland's world.

To King, The Gunslinger demanded revision because once the series was complete it became obvious that "the beginning was out of sync with the ending." While the revision adds only 35 pages, Dark Tower purists will notice the changes to Allie's fate and Roland's interaction with Cort, Jake, and the Man in Black--all stellar scenes that will reignite the hunger for the rest of the series. Newcomers will appreciate the details and insight into Roland's life. The revised Roland of Gilead (nee Deschain) is embodied with more humanity--he loves, he pities, he regrets. What DT fans might miss is the same ambiguity and mystery of the original that gave the original its pulpy underground feel (back when King himself awaited word from Roland's world).

Has anyone read it? Can we relate anything our LOSTies are encountering to this novel? Or am I on the wrong track completely? Only a few more hours until we find out!

: ) P

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry?

This week's episode is entitled The Little Prince. My mind immediately jumped to the beautiful children's book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In it, there are some definite parallels to our LOST world, as well as a few pertinent messages.

But I thought I should explore other possible meanings. I spent quite a while on google and really, didn't find any.

So I guess we will just have to wait and see if our predictions about the story are true. Not that they EVER are!

: ) P

Betty and Veronica?

Okay, so tonight's episode is entitled Jughead, and personally I can't get the Archie Comics relationship out of my head! So then I started thinking what else Jughead could refer to.

Apparently, it is also the name of an early search engine (like yahoo or google).

As well, the "Kool-Aid Man" is known as Jughead in Canada. (I grew up there, and honestly, I don't ever remember that.)

It was also the name of a band with one album in 2002, (the tracks were Halfway Home to Elvis; C'Mon; Snow in Tahiti; Promise; Bullet Train; Waiting on the Son; Yesterday I Found Myself; Be Like You; Flowers; Shame on the Butterfly; and, Paging Willie Mays).

Jughead is the nickname of a nuclear bomb!

Additionally, it was the slang term for a mule in the 19th Century.

Lastly, it was the name of a song, widely thought to be the worst Prince ever recorded.

The episode is supposed to be Desmond-centric. I think we can rule out the kool-aid connection and probably the band. This leaves the bomb, a mule, the internet search engine and the Prince song.

Any guesses?

Can you even stand it?

Season 5 is about to start, and barring an actors' strike, snowstorms in Hawaii, or a freak accident in the offices at Bad Robot, we should get the entire season without any breaks. Will it live up to expectations? We only have to wait a little longer:

The Countdown has Started!

It has been a long wait, but finally the year and month have arrived and we are down to mere days before Season 5 of LOST begins. Let the theories fly and the discussion begin!

: ) P