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Tag Archives: Crazy Claire
Lost: A Show About Science or A Show About Faith? – Thoughts on the END of Lost's Series Finale "The End"
Last night, I wrote a blog entry, in which I discussed some of the lighter aspects of Lost's generally feel-good Series Finale, "The End." In it, I, more or less, completely refrained from discussing the show's controversial ending, and promised to tackle that issue exclusively in another post. Well, I'M BAAACK . . .
One Man of Science. One Man of Faith. The Island wasn't big enough for both of them . . . or was it?
In the last season of Lost, there was much talk and broohaha about this image, and all the ideas it represents . . .
Light versus Dark. Black versus White. Good versus Evil. Heaven versus Hell. And while that dichotomy was certainly central to the battle between Jacob and the Man in Black . . .
. . . our Losties, for the most part, resided somewhere in between. Much like the rest of us non-television characters, their morality was covered in shades of grey. For them (and for us), the REAL battle for control of Lost island was one that was a lot less clear cut, making it a lot less certain who we should root for. And, ultimately, it was this battle, that took center stage during the final half of the Season finale. (After they, you know, got rid of that pesky Black Smoke thing . . .)
Jack v. Locke – The Man of Science versus The Man of Faith
Although Lost undoubtedly featured many characters and their respective stories of redemption, at its core were the journeys of two men. When we first meet Jack Shepard, he is the quintessential Man of Science. He's a surgeon, and about as left-brained as a person can get. There is not a creative or artistic bone in this man's body. So, understandably, when it comes to matters of faith or destiny, he's a complete Doubting Thomas. For him, if an explanation doesn't appear in a medical reference book, it just plain doesn't exist.
John Locke, on the other hand, is a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants, Man of Faith, guy. He's Mister "Nobody tells me what I can and can't do." A guy who sees absolutely nothing wrong with signing up for a "walkabout," despite being completely incapable of "walking about." Upon crashing on the island, he suddenly regains use of his legs, and, thereafter, becomes convinced that the Island is his Destiny. He is absolutely certain that some higher power has brought him to the Island; and that he is, therefore, meant to remain and do great things there . . .
For the first Four Seasons of Lost, pretty much up until Locke's "death," we watched these two men battle it out with one another, arguing for the righteousness of their respective ideologies. Neither man would budge an inch with respect to his position. However, upon REAL Locke's death, at the end of Season 4, things change for Jack Shepard. During the last two seasons of the show, Jack slowly evolved from a Man of Science into a Man of Faith.
First, after escaping the Island as part of the Oceanic Six, he returns to it, believing he is meant to rescue the others who remained thereon. In Season 6, when the Losties are once again ready to escape the island, this time on a boat, Jack jumps ship, convinced that the island "isn't done with [him] yet. Then, in the penultimate episode of the show, Jack LITERALLY drinks Jacob's Kool Aid, and agrees to remain on the island, throwing away his promising surgical career in order to "protect" what, for all intents and purposes, was a Giant Lightbulb . . .
Scientific Answers versus Mystical Answers – The SHOW About Science versus The SHOW About Faith
When it really came down to it, I think Lost's journey as a show, was similar to Jack's journey, as a character. Lost started out as a Show About Science (Science Fiction, perhaps, but, science, nonetheless). In the show's early seasons, many of the Island's mysteries were explained through quasi-scientific means. Flight 815 was initially thought to have been brought down, as a result of the Island's unique electromagnetic properties, which were inherent to the Island's location, but were also exacerbated by a Hydrogen Bomb buried beneath its surface . . . These electromagnetic qualities also allowed the Island itself, and its inhabitants, to move freely through the time/space barrier and . . . basically . . . time travel.
Those all important numbers, which Hurley chose in order to win the lottery, and which Desmond was forced to repeatedly punch into a computer screen to prevent the Island's destruction . . .
Were part of the Valenzetti Equation, derived by members of the Dharma Initiative, to determine the exact point in time at which all human life would cease to exist. The Dharma initiative itself was, more or less, a scientific research group, which took advanage of the island's unique electromagnetic properties in order to experiment with various facets of human life, from a woman's ability to give birth . . .
. . . to psychology, subliminal messaging, and mind control . . .
Then, Season 6 came around, and like Jack Shepard, Lost had to go and get all "Faith-y" on us. Island mysteries, like "why the plane crashed," which had once been explained by science, were now explained as being part of the "Master Plan," in a battle between the God-like Jacob . . .
. . . and the Devil-like Man in Black . . .
. . . for control of the Island, and, by extension, the souls of its inhabitants . . .
Supernatural, and biblical-type reasoning was now used to explain Island mysteries such as why MIB couldn't escape the Island, why Richard Alpert wouldn't age . . .
. . . why Jacob and MIB couldn't kill one another, how Locke became Flocke . . .
. . . and who Adam and Eve were . . .
The Last Ten Minutes of the Finale Episode of Lost – Flash Sideways of Science (Time Travel) versus Flash Sideways of Faith (Purgatory)
So, I guess, it shouldn't really have surprised me (but it DID!), that the final Lost mystery, the reason behind the Flash Sideways, ended up being a faith-based reason (preparation for the afterlife / purgatory) . . .
. . . as opposed to a science-based reason (an alternate universe created as a result of Juliet's detonation of the hydrogen bomb at the end of Season 5).
And, I have to say, that the fact that this promo picture, released just before Season 6 began, didn't give the religious implications of the finale away to me, makes me more than a bit mad at myself . . .
I guess, when it really comes down to it, how you felt about Lost's final moments (MULTITUDE of unanswered questions notwithstanding), really comes down to which side of the Man of Science / Man of Faith debate YOU fall under. Me, personally? I'm a bit more of a "science" girl. So, I was a little disappointed that the Flash Sideways World did not, in fact, end up being the hydrogen bomb-created alternate universe I had initially envisioned.
Plus, Flash Sideways World just seemed so PERFECT! And because I'd truly grown to love these characters, having spent six years with them, I really wanted this world to exist FOR THEM! Because, without it . . .
Ji Yeon would REALLY be an orphan . . .
David Shepard would COMPLETELY cease to exist . . . Oh, and most of the Losties would already be DEAD!
. . . including THIS GUY!
But, putting my personal feelings aside, the fact that the Flash Sideways World ended up being purgatory makes sense, BECAUSE everything was so perfect there. In essence, Flash Sideways World gave our main Losties the oppportunity to redeem themselves from wrongs they felt they had committed during their actual lifetimes . . .
Jack Shepard had a bad relationship with his father, who degraded his worth constantly, and always chose his work over him, so in Flash Sideways World Purgatory he was a supportive and understanding father to his son . . .
During his lifetime, Sawyer was a con artist, who shunned justice. So, in purgatory, he was a detective, who fought hard to protect it.
Sorry! I know technically I should have found a "cop uniform" pic of Sawyer, but I just couldn't help myself . . .
On the island, Kate unknowingly abandoned Claire, and ended up raising her child, Aaron. But in Purgatory, she guides Claire through the birthing process, and allows her to raise her own baby . . . And, as for Claire, she gets to keep her kid, and not become a skanky haired wackadoo. YAY!
In the real world, Sayid's murderous lifestyle resulted in the death of the love of his life, Nadia.
In Purgatory, he lets his brother marry Nadia instead, and, in doing so, probably spares her life.
In the real world, Desmond loved Penny Widmore, but her father's disapproval of him kept the two of them apart. In Purgatory, Desmond works for Charles Widmore, and has gained his utmost trust and respect . . .
In Purgatory, Hurley isn't a loveable loser who won the lottery and STILL can't accomplish anything. He's a loveable WINNER, who get's the girl and is rich enough to employ the ENTIRE CAST OF LOST!
Purgatory Ben is a kindly history teacher who saves Alex's future, by sacrificing his own personal success to ensure her entrance into an Ivy League college, instead of . . . you know . . . GETTING HER KILLED! And Purgatory Locke is a pretty nice guy too, and Ben's BFF to boot!
And, as I mentioned before, Jin and Sun, actually get to raise their kid Purgatory World. Plus, they successfully ditch Sun's Asshat Dad.
Matthew Fox probably explained the whole "purgatory thing" best, in his post-finale interview with Jimmy Kimmel, when he said something to the effect of: "There's a school of thought that, after you die, you go to a sort of 'waiting place' in which you encounter everyone who was important in your life. Once you have reunited with, and reconciled with, these people, you can truly accept your own mortality and . . . move on." (And you just KNOW Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse fed him those words, because Matthew Fox may be smart, but not THAT smart!)
I'll have to admit that when Christian Shepard (and if THAT'S not a "Man of Faith" name, I don't know what is) . . .
. . . . appeared in that Non-Denominational (or, rather, ALL Denominational) Church / Temple, OUTSIDE of his own coffin, and replied to Jack's question of "How did you get here? Aren't you dead?" with . . .
"How did YOU get here?" . . .
I screamed at the television . . .
"YOU PROMISED THEY WEREN'T DEAD THIS WHOLE TIME, J.J. ABRAMS! YOU LIAR! I JUST WASTED SIX YEARS OF MY LIFE FOR YOU!"
But then, when Christian explained that, "Everything that happened on the Island was real . . . Everyone dies eventually . . . Some of these people died before you, some long after you . . ." I calmed down a bit . . .
And in the penultimate scene of the show, when Jack stumbles out from the cave, lays down on the ground next to doggie Vincent, watches his fellow Losties successfully escape the Island on a plane, and, subsequently, CLOSES his eyes in death, just as he had opened them so many times during the LIFE of the show, I thought to myself, "What an appropriate ending . . ."
But then they HAD to show me this . . .
While the producers didn't go as far as I feared they would, by showing me a heap of dead bodies lying amongst the wreckage, they showed me enough to make me wonder if I was being f**ked with. And I couldn't help but be reminded of ANOTHER intriguing, but unnerving, Open-Ended Series Finale that left me with more questions than answers . . .
(Special thanks to njean666 for this fabulous clip)
They never make it easy for us, do they?
Filed under Lost
Tagged as Aaron, Adam and Eve, all denominations, alternate universe, are they dead, Ben and Alex, Ben Linus, Benjamin Linus, Black Smoke, black versus white, Boone Carlyle, candidate, Carlton Cuse, Charles Widmore, Christian Shepard, church, Claire Littleton, coffin, controversial ending, cop, crash site, Crazy Claire, Damon Lindelof, Daniel Dae Kim, David Shepard, death, Desmond Hume, destiny, detonation, Dharma initiative, Electromagnetic field, Emilie de Ravin, ending, Evangeline Lily, eyes closed, eyes open, fate, final scene, flash-sideways world, flight 815, Flocke, good versus evil, Hugo Reyes, Hurley, hydrogen bomb, Ian Somerhalder, J.J. Abrams, Jack and Juliet, Jack and Kate, Jack Shepard, Jacob and MIB, Ji Yeon, Jimmy Kimmel, Jin and Sun, John Locke, John Terry, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Kate Austen, Lost, Man of Faith, Man of Science, Mark Pellegrino, Michael Emerson, mind control, mysteries, Nestor Carbonell, nobody tells me what I can and can't do, Oceanic Six, paralysis, Penny Widmore, pregnancy, purgatory, redemption, Richard Alpert, Sawyer, Sayid and Nadia, Sayid and Shannon, Sayid Jarrah, Season 6, Series Finale, Shannon and Boone, shirtless Sawyer, Sopranos final scene, Sopranos series finale, substitute, temple, Terry O'Quinn, The End, the island, the Numbers, time travel, Titus Welliver, Tony Soprano, twist ending, Valenzetti Equation, Vincent, YouTube, Yunjin Kim
"The Last Recruit" a.k.a. The NOBODY-Centric, Connect-the-Dots Lost Episode
Up until this point, Lost has had more loose (and dead) ends than Bat-Sh&t Crazy Claire's hair . . .
Someone get this girl a flat iron!
But that all changed (sort of), during this week's nobody-centric Lost installment. Because someone in the writing department FINALLY decided to tie together all those darn flash-sideways scenarios that have been plaguing us for weeks on end! Here's how they did it . . .
If you recall, at the end of last week's episode, heretofore mild-mannered Desmond the Time Traveling Know-It-All . . .
(Maybe HE will be able to explain this to us when it's all over . . .)
. . . shocked EVERYONE by running down Wheelchair Locke . . .
. . . with his car in Flash-Sideways world. Now, most of us would agree, that purposefully mowing over paraplegic substitute teachers with your motor vehicle is not a very nice thing to do. But as it turns out, there was a method to Desmond's madness. Our pal Dessie simply wanted Locke to make some new friends . . . which makes the hit-and-run TOTALLY OK! (Seriously, Desmond? You couldn't have just sent the poor dude a Facebook invite?)
Anyway, massive overreaction aside, Sideways Locke is carted away in the ambulance, with his new pal, Professor Ben riding along side him. (I thought only FAMILY was allowed to do that. But what do I know?)
And I have to say, I am totally in LOVE with this slightly effete, curmudgeony, skittish, BIG NERD version of Ben. The only time I could ever imagine Island Ben . . .
. . . riding with a virtual stranger in an ambulance, is if he wanted to steal that stranger's heart . . .
No . . . I mean LITERALLY rip out his or her heart and STEAL IT . . .
Anyway, as Locke is being wheeled into the hospital, he is met by another patient on the adjoining gurney, namely Pregnant Sun, who is accompanied into the hospital her doting Boyfriend / Baby Daddy Jin . . .
When a half-conscious Sun sees a completely unconscious Locke lying next to her, she COMPLETELY FLIPS OUT! WHY? Is it because a part of her remembers his evil, voice-snatching island alter ego, MIB, from another dimension? Or is she simply shocked to learn that Mr. Clean is, in fact, a real person . . .
Later, we learn that Sun pulled through the operation, and gave birth to a healthy baby girl, who may or may not be named Ji-Yeon in this timeline.
Meanwhile, Buddy Cop Bromantics, Sawyer and Miles . . .
. . . are hanging at the police station, having just arrested Running Kate.
As Sawyer interrogates Kate, the sexual tension between them sends sparks pff the screen and into your living room. You can tell Sawyer totally just wants to handcuff Kate to the wall and make a "bad cop porno" with her. After all, it's not as though these two haven't done THAT before . . .
Honestly, I kept waiting for the "bow chick a wow, wow" music to start playing in the background, and for Sawyer to take off his shirt . . .
But alas, all clothes remained disappointingly ON. The scene wasn't a TOTAL loss though. Kate hinted that the reason Sawyer passively helped her to escape the FBI agent on her tail back at LAX, was that he didn't want to call any attention to the fact that he had taken a secret impromptu trip to Australia. Sawyer doesn't deny this. In fact, he tells the possibly murderous Kate, "I like YOU." (Well DUH!)
Cockblock Miles totally ruins the moment, however, by telling Sawyer that they have to go an arrest Bad Ass Sayid for shooting Keamy and all those other goons, who were responsible for putting Sun in the hospital.
Sayid tries to make a run for it, but Sawyer, who is cleary the BEST COP IN THE WORLD, catches and cuffs him, just like he did earlier to Kate. The only difference here, is that Sawyer and Sayid never had Bear Cage Sex in another dimension . . .
Meanwhile, Sane ALSO Pregnant Claire . . .
. . . is heading to the adoption agency to make plans to give up her baby, when she is encountered by an increasingly creepy Desmond, who, seems to have been following her since he ran into her at the airport earlier. Desmond invites Claire to accompany him while he goes to visit his lawyer. Claire, though clearly SANER in this timeline, is just as STUPID as ever, and agrees to Creepy Dessie's request. And who's Dessie's lawyer, you ask? Well, Undead (but still boring) Ilana, of course!
Turns out Ilana was LOOKING for Claire. You see, she was having a meeting with Dr. Jack and his previously nonexistent son . . .
. . . to read Christian Shepard's will, which happens to mention Claire in it, because, like Dr. Jack, Pregnant Claire was also Christian's child.
Unfortunately, this dysfunctional family reunion can't last too long, because Dr. McDreamy Jack gets called away on an impromptu brain surgery (Don't you just hate it when that happens?). He takes his son along for the ride, and asks him if he minds "hanging out" for a while. (YEAH! Because brain surgeries take NO TIME AT ALL!) Of course, in case you haven't guessed by now, Jack's patient is none other than Locke, who Jack suddenly seems to recognize, as he observes him on the operating table.
But where the heck was HURLEY?
MEANWHILE ON THE ISLAND . . .
(1) Sawyer, Kate, Lapidus, HURLEY (There he is!), Sun, Jack, and Crazy Claire (who only got to come because Idiot Kate — who Claire recently tried to KILL — insisted that Looney Tunes be included, because she's clearly "such a nice girl.") . . .
"It will be like a SLEEPOVER! We can put on mud masks (I am already wearing mine), and braid eachother's greasy, unwashed hair!")
. . . anyway . . . the group ditched MIB, and hopped aboard an abandoned yacht in search of a quick and painless island escape. Wishy Washy Jack, however, ultimately opted to jump ship and return to the island, because . . . who the heck knows what his crazy rationale was for doing that! Something about the island "not being done with him yet." WHATEVER! Jack obviously attends the same Island Academy of Stupid, as Kate and Claire.
"I CAN'T Leave NOW! It took me WEEKS to establish this even of a base tan!"
(2) Even though MIB left Desmond alive in the well, Zombie Sayid, may or may not have KILLED him at MIB's request. I'm guessing NOT . . . because I think there is hope for Sayid's humanity, yet. As the always optimistic Hurley said, "People DO come back from the darkside. Look at Anakin!")
"OK, Hurley. I love you. But maybe that was a bad example. You DO know those were PREQUELS, right?"
(3) Jin and Sun FINALLY reunited!
And Sun remembered how to speak English! And at first it was SWEET, and then it got kind of nauseating . . . And then, Sawyer gave Kate this longing, unrequited love-type look, and I melted into an ooey gooey puddle all over again.
(4) Oh! And Widmore's Team Subbie . . .
. . . led by Zoey (Why the heck is this mediocre actress getting SO MUCH play on this awesome show, when she is SO NOT TINA FEY?) . . .
IMPOSTER!
. . . busied itself by generally being crappy to EVERYBODY. First, it broke its promise to Sawyer's crew, by holding it at gunpoint. Then it BLEW UP MIB's crew! These guys are SO EVIL they make Crazy Claire look like Alice in Wonderland . . .
This is a photo of Claire, after a LONG overdue visit with her personal stylist . . .
(5) MIB (possibly) secured Jack as his titular "Last Recruit." He did this by, first, informing him that the image of Jack's dad — who Jack kept seeing on the island — was none other than Smokey himself;
and, then by rescuing him from being blown to bits by the Team Subbie bomb. MIB LITERALLY carries Jack on his back to get him out of harm's way. "You're with ME now," explains MIB, as he leans (lovingly?) over a dazed Jack in the episode's chilling final moments. (Long term romantic relationships have begun over much LESS . . .)
"Yes, I'll marry. you. But, just so you know, I DON'T DO WINDOWS!"
That's all she wrote folks. Tune in next week, when we will HOPEFULLY find out what happened to Sideways Hurley and Libby (if anything), as well as Island Desmond. I'm secretly hoping they will also finally OFF that annoying Zoey character, next week, and replace her with something more exciting to watch, like, for example, paint drying on a wall . . .
Tagged as baby aaron, bear cage sex, bomb, brain surgery, Christian Shepard, Crazy Claire, David Shepard, Desmond, Desmond hits Locke with car, Final Season, flash sideways, hospital, Hydra, Illana the lawyer, Jack is the Last Recruit, Jack remembers Locke, Jack's son, Ji Yeon, Kate and Sawyer, kill Desmond?, Kill Zoey, Lapidus, Locke, Locke and Ben, Lost, love triangle, MIB, MIB as Christian Shepard, Mr. Clean, nobody-centric, paraplegic, Sawyer and Miles, Sayid and Desmond, Season 6, shirtless Sawyer, should i stay or should i go, Submarine, substitute, Sun and Jin Reunite, Sun gets her voice back, Sun sees Locke, Team Subbie, The Darkside, the island, The Last Recruit, the well, time travel, Tina Fey imposter, Widmore, yacht
Hot Box Time Machine – Lost's "Happily Ever After" Q & A
Tonight's episode of Lost marks yet another chapter in the tale of our favorite Scottish time (and dimension?) – traveler, Desmond Hume. This is our seventh Desmond-centric Lost episode. (For those nitpickers out there, I am counting the two hours of "Live Together, Die Alone" as separate episodes . . . basically, because I like the number seven, DAMMIT!) To me, Desmond's episodes have sort of a different feel than the episodes we typically see on Lost. While all Lost episodes deal with themes of love, destiny, good versus evil, and science versus faith, Desmond-y episodes seem to express those themes in a more heady, philosophical way.
Desmond episodes = Advanced Placement Lost (for "gifted" TV watchers)
Tonight's episode was no exception. During "Happily Ever After," we definitely learned a thing or two about our hero, as well as the overall mythology of Lost. Here are just some of the questions that were answered during this hour:
Why is Desmond "The Package?"
Desmond is The Package because he looks like this . . .
. . . oh, and I almost forgot . . . HE HAS SUPERPOWERS!
Superpowers? Cool! Can he leap tall buildings in a single bound, like Superman?
Ummmm . . . no. But he CAN be shocked with thousands of volts of electromagnetic energy without, you know, dying. He can also toggle back and forth through time and alternate dimensions, without having to take a dip in a Hot Tub, or jump in a DeLorean with a young Michael J. Fox.
So what does that have to do with Charles Widmore? Why does HE need Desmond back on the Island?
Two words: Course Correction. If you recall (Of course, you recall. Your a Lost fan. You remember EVERYTHING. And have the screencaps to prove it), back at the end of last season, Juliet detonated a bomb on the island back in 1974, in hopes of preventing Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing on the island. Instead, her actions set off a major chain of events (i.e. that whole flash-sideways business) that left a lot of Losties extremely UNLIKELY to get laid in the foreseeable future.
For starters, in Flash-Sideways World, Desmond's not with his "soul mate" Penny, which means she can't bear his child.
Charlie never met Claire . . .
No, I'm NOT taking about the bat-shit crazy version! (NO ONE wants to meet HER!) I'm referring to the sweet, innocent, hygenic version from the first three seasons . . .
(Sidenote: Was it me, or has Charlie's hairline receded IMMENSELY since we last saw him on this show? Perhaps hair loss is another side effect of living in Flash-sideways World, because Jack Shephard seems to be having the same "follicular" issues, of late.)
"I'm not LOSING my hair! I'm just GROWING out my forehead . . ."
Speaking of Jack, in Flash-Sideways World, he and Sawyer never made out with / screwed (in a bear cage) Kate
Oh, the humanity!
Sayid's not with Nadia. Jin's not married to Sun, so her and their child may DIE. Daniel never met Charlotte. Hurley never met Miles.
Catch what I did there? Pretty clever, huh . . .
As for Widmore, a permanent existence in Flash-Sideways World will undoubtedly result in the loss of his daughter Penny, his grandchild, and his son. Oh, and did I mention that he will be stuck married to this scary biatch?
As if all that wasn't bad enough, you and I would be stuck watching Friends reruns on Tuesday nights at 9 . . . It's a dystopian society, indeed! And so, understandably, Widmore has hired Time-Traveling Desmond to merge the two timelines created by the bomb's blast back into a single timeline, where they belong.
How the heck is Desmond going to do that?
One word: The Constant. (well, that's actually two words. Sorry?) Remember when Desmond was doing all those weird mind-warp time traveling things back during Season 4? (During the episode conveniently entitled "The Constant." ) Do you also remember how Daniel Faraday, who was experimenting with time travel at the time, had written in his journal – "Desmond Hume will be my constant?"
(Presumably the aforementioned statement meant that whatever year it happened to be, Desmond would provide Daniel with the personal connection he needed to gain a necessary foothold in his current timeline)
"Oh, hey look! Desmond is wearing a neon jumpsuit. I MUST be in the 80s . . ."
Well, it seems that Widmore would like to hire out Desmond to be The Constant for everyone on Oceanic Flight 815 . . . well, at least everyone that mattered. Presumably, Desmond will do this by making all of the passengers AWARE of the original timeline, the memory of which, as we learned today, lies buried in all of their subconscious minds.
How exactly is Desmond going to convince the other Losties about the original timeline? Because if some stranger walked up to me and told me (with a Scottish accent, no less) that I was stuck in the wrong dimension, I would run in the other direction FAST!
I have one more word for you: LOVE
Charlie (perhaps unwittingly) awakened Desmond to the existence of the original timeline, when the car the pair was driving, swerved off road and went underwater. When Desmond tried to free Charlie from the drowning car, Charlie's hand pressed against its window, revealing this message:
Of course, this was the same message, Charlie showed Desmond before dying during the Season 3 Lost finale episode "Through the Looking Glass." The message was intended to inform Desmond that the "rescue" boat that had been sent for them, was not sent to the island by Desmond's lover, Penny. Rather, it was a trap. Seeing this message again, triggers Desmond's alt-timeline memories of his love for Penny. These memories come at him full force, later on in the episode, while he is receiving electromagnetic pulses to his brain during an MRI. Likewise, both Charlie and Daniel Faraday began to recall THEIR alternate existences, upon seeing their respective Lostie lovers Claire and Charlotte in person.
Presumably, armed with the Oceanic Flight 815 manifest provided to him by former fellow alt-world time traveler, George Minkowski (a chauffer and lackey for Charles Widmore in Flash-Sideways World) . . .
time traveling + NO superpowers = insanity, lots of nosebleeds, and a painful death . ..
Desmond will find all the Losties in Flash-Sideways World and attempt to trigger their memories of Real World, by tantalizing them with suggestions of lovers from another dimension . . . which, leads me to my last question:
Who's YOUR Constant? 😉
Next week on Lost, we get to watch loveable Lostie Hurley talk to more dead people, make more dry (but hilarious) comments about the current state of the show, and (probably) eat some tasty treats along with way. Awesome!
Until then . . .
Tagged as Alt World, another dimension, Back to the Future, bear cage sex, bomb detonation, Charles Widmore, Charlie Pace, Charlotte, course correction, Crazy Claire, Daniel Faraday, DeLorean, Desmond Hume, desmond-centric, destiny, Dominic Monaghan, electrocute, electromagnetic energy, Eloise Hawking, Final Season, flash-sideways world, george minkowski, good versus evil, hallucinations, Happily Ever After, Henry Ian Cusick, Hot Tub Time Machine, Hurley, Jack Shephard, Jeremy Davies, Jughead, Juliet, Kate, live together die alone, Lost, lost opening, love, miles and hurley, MRI, Not Penny's Boat, Penelope Widmore, Q & A, recap, receding hairline, relationships, Sawyer, science versus faith, Scottish, Season 6, Shirtless Desmond, soul mates, superheroes, superpowers, The Constant, The Package, the sickness, Through the Looking Glass, time travel
March 30, 2010 · 11:53 pm
Lost's "The Package," a.k.a "That Snoozy, Filler, Jin/Sun Episode" – Cliff Notes Version
Congratulations Yunjin Kim! Not only did you, apparently, get hitched a couple of days ago, you also got this week's entire episode of Lost to yourself (well . . . HALF of the entire episode). You are officially having the BEST WEEK EVER! Yay you!
Back by popular demand (or, rather, back as a result of my own recapping laziness), below please find some of the questions that were answered during this installment of Lost.
1) This episode was called "The Package." That's kind of a generic name for an episode, don't you think? I mean, last week's episode title was in Latin. And the week before, the episode was about HOT SAWYER. So who even cared what the title was? What WAS "The Package" supposed to be, anyway?
This . . . was the package . . .
I'm serious! The package was a PERSON! It was Desmond Hume! What? You thought I was making a joke, just so I could list "Shirtless Desmond" in my tags, and get more hits on my blog? No way, Jose. (Not that I WOULDN'T do that . . . I just didn't do it this time.)
2) So, that guy Charles Widmore, that girl Zoey (who everyone says looks like Tina Fey) and the rest of the people who arrived at Hydra Island on the submarine, what is THEIR DEAL? Why are they here?
If Charles Widmore was telling the truth when he spoke to Jin tonight (which I am not entirely convinced of yet), the crack team that I lovingly refer to as "Team Subbie" is here to prevent MIB / Smokey from leaving the island. According to Widmore, if MIB gets free, Jin's daughter, Ji Yeon (who Jin hasn't yet had the chance to meet), Widmore's daughter, Penelope, and Sun will somehow cease to exist. If true, this would mean that, in terms of goals, Team Subbie is actually aligned with . . .
What the heck Desmond Hume has to do with all this, I still have no idea . . .
3) So, is Kate one of Jacob's "candidates," or isn't she? MIB certainly seems to think she's important . . .
Kate used to be one of the candidates. But, for some reason, is no longer on the list. However, MIB needs Kate to help him get all of the CURRENT candidates off of the island. According to MIB, this is necessary in order for HIM (or IT) to leave the island. This idea sort of jives with what we learned in Ab Aeterno. Jacob's original purpose, and that of whichever candidate ultimately becomes his replacement, is to keep MIB, and his evil Smokey powers from leaving the island. No Jacob, and no Jacob's replacement = no more island prison for MIB.
4) What about Crazy Claire? Was she ever on Jacob's list?
NO! (That was an easy one . . .)
5) One of the candidates on Jacob's List is "Kwon." No one seems entirely sure whether that last name refers to Jin or Sun. Seeing as this was a JIN AND SUN episode, did we get any closer to figuring this out?
You would think so, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, Lost writers are still sort of playing "hide the ball" on this one. However, there were some hints given in the episode that would seem to suggest that JIN is the candidate.
First, there was Widmore's extreme interest in getting Jin to the Hydra. Second, during this episode, the writers highlighted the fact that Sun's maiden name was "Paik," not "Kwon." (Note: In flash-sideways world, Sun and Jin are lovers, but not married.) Third, Widmore's cryptic comments about Sun "ceasing to exist" if MIB escapes the island; coupled with the flash-sideways images of Sun, shot and bleeding from the stomach, don't bode particularly well for her . . .
But, then again, this is Lost, so all of this may end up meaning absolutely NOTHING!
6) Speaking of Lost stuff that initially SEEMS important to the overall mythology, but ends up meaning NOTHING, what was the deal with Room 23 — that place from back in Season 3, where Ben imprisoned Carl and forced him to watch that bizarre brain washy video?
Yeah, this was a bit of a cop out on Lost's part, if you ask me. The Room was mentioned during this episode, seemingly, only to be explained away in a few hastily written sentences. Widmore inexplicably decided to keep Jin in Room 23, during this episode. When the familiar video images pop on the screen, and majorly freak out our poor Korean gangster, Zoey explains that the "Dharma Initiative" used the Room to "experiment with subliminal messaging" . . . LAME!
7) In Sayid's episode, Sundown, his flash-sideways world featured Jin bound and gagged in a restaurant freezer. Was that explained tonight?
"Why is everybody always picking on ME?"
Good question, Jin. And, yes, as it turns out, in flash-sideways world, Sergeant Keamy . . .
was hired by Sun's daddy to kill Jin, for, literally, screwing, with the boss's daughter. Keamy never got a chance to do this, however, because RAMBO SAYID shot his ass before he got the chance . . .
I'm still not entirely sure, why all of this had to go down in a restaurant, though. Seems kind of random, to me . . . What exactly do you have against RESTAURANTS, Lost writers? What did they ever do to you?
8 ) Remember that awesome patch-wearing dude Mikhail, who never EVER seemed to die, no matter what anybody did to him? Why does he have to wear an eyepatch all the time?
OK . . . OK. This was a bit of a stretch. Of ALL the questions posed by the show Lost during the course of six seasons, I highly doubt that THIS was the one that was keeping you awake at night. However, you have to admit, it was pretty cool of the Lost writers to pay homage to "Patchy" again, after all this time.
This guy is AWESOME!
If you recall, in the original timeline, Mikhail was a hard core Other who just WOULDN'T die! The dude was blown up, beaten up, shot and/or electrocuted, in every SINGLE episode in which he appeared, but he just kept coming back for more. In flash-sideways world, Mikhail is a multi-lingual emissary of Keamy, and by extension, Sun's father.
Toward the end of the episode, Mikhail is shot dead by Jin, but also sustains an eye injury. Mere coincidence? Or, is there, perhaps, some real and lasting connection between the flash-sideways world inhabited by the Losties, and the original timeline?
Well, that's all I got, folks. Tune in next week, when we will hopefully be treated to much more Shirtless Desmond Hume and his super sexy Scottish brogue . . . oh, and maybe, get some more questions answered too.
Tagged as Ab Aeterno, Best Week Ever, brain washing, candidate, Cliff Notes, Crazy Claire, Daniel Dae Kim, Desmond Hume, Dharma initiative, eyepatch, Final Season, flash sideways, good versus evil, Hydra, Ji Yeon, Jin, Jin-centric, Kate, Keamy, Korean, Kwon, leaving the island, Lost, Man in Black, MIB, Mikhail, Mikhail's eye, murder for hire, not married, Paik, Patchy, Penelope, questions answered, recap, replacement, restaurant, Room 23, Sayid, Scottish, Season 6, Shirtless Desmond, Smokey, speaking English, spoilers, subliminal messages, Submarine, Sun, Sun shot in stomach, Sun-centric, Team Jacob, Team Subbie, The List, The Package, theories, time travel, Tina Faye look-alike, Widmore, Yunjin Kim married, Zoey
"Keep Your Shirt Off, Sawyer" – A Recap of Lost's "Recon"
Woo hoo! A Sawyer-centric episode! This means I get to use my favorite "Josh Holloway Shirtless" picture again! Never gets old . . .
Tonight we got to spend an hour with our sexiest Lostie — watching him do the four things that he does best: flirt, screw, brood, and con. Additionally, we observed Smokey working more of his manipulative magic, as he tried (in vain?) to recruit both Sexy Lostie Sawyer and Spunky Lostie Kate to the Darkside.
"This Black Smoke stuff will sure come in handy, when I'm trying to vanquish my enemies aboard the Death Star. It's going to be SO much more efficient than that oversized glow stick I usually use . . ."
We also learned a bit more (but not too much more) about Team 3, in what is sure to be one heck of a Final Island Showdown.
Two weeks ago, we met Team Smokey. Last week, we focused on Team Jacob. This week, we got a peak at Charles Widmore's underwater crew, which I would hereby like to dub . . . TEAM SUBBIE!
OK, OK . . . So, it was actually a BLACK submarine. You really can't go wrong with a Beatles reference, though. Can you?
So, without further adieu, let's do some "Recon" . . .
Brokeback Cop-land
"I wish I knew how to quit you, Sawyer!"
To be honest, Sawyer's Flash Sideways bugged me. For one thing, homoerotic undertones aside (Miles gave Sawyer enough longing looks during this episode to melt the Polar Icecaps! And don't even get me started on that "locker boyfight" scene), I just didn't buy the Miles / Sawyer Bromance. Perhaps, it was because neither of the typically snarky duo said anything particularly funny in flash-sideways world. Or maybe, it was because my dream Lostie Buddy Cop Show always featured Miles and HURLEY!
"Sure, dump me for the Hot Guy! But Sawyer won't keep you warm at night, like I will. And HE won't be able to warn you when the dead person your 'touching' has dirty hands!"
Additionally, up until this point, the flash-sideways episodes were all about the characters seeking redemption for wrongs committed in their current timeline. Here, by becoming a cop instead of a criminal, Sawyer was, theoretically, already redeemed, before the episode started. Plus, the meat and potatoes of his story, i.e. whether he actually KILLS Anthony Cooper to avenge his parents deaths, wasn't even shown during the episode. If Sawyer commits a cold-blooded murder like this, can we truly say he has redeemed himself, just because he did it while wearing a badge?
Get Out of Darkside Free card?
But I am getting ahead of myself here. Let's backtrack a bit. In "Recon,"' Sawyer's flash-sideways ironically begins in precisely the same way his flashback in"The Long Con" began. Namely, a deliciously Shirtless Sawyer . . .
Oh come on! Tell me you didn't want to see that again!
. . . is lounging around, in a state of post-coital bliss, with a beautiful woman when Oops! a suitcase filled with cash pops open on the floor. The difference here is that Sawyer's current Gal Friday has a con artist husband, and, therefore, unlike his previous conquest, knows she's being played for a fool. Or does she? When Mrs. Long Con pulls a gun on Sawyer and demands answers, his apartment is suddenly swarmed with cops, who instantly arrest her. As it turns out, Sawyer wasn't involved in a "Long Con" after all. It was an undercover police sting operation.
"Put your shirt on, Sawyer," remarks Sawyer's police partner Miles. (And, can I just say, "Worst advice EVER!" Don't make me show that pic again Miles, because I WILL DO IT!)
Back at the office, Miles asks Sawyer some probing questions about his recent "trip to Palm Springs," when us viewers know he was really in Australia the whole time. Sawyer fends off the inquiry long enough for Miles to set Sawyer up on a blind date with his "friend." And, who is this mysterious "friend" you ask?
It's Charlotte Lewis. Back from the dead and actually wearing makeup!
Charlotte and Sawyer seem to hit it off pretty well. And after a few drinks, these two end up in bed together. (Who knew archeaologists were so slutty?) This is fabulous, of course, because we get treated to more of Shirtless Sawyer. However, things go off the rails, when Sawyer heads off for a glass of water, and Charlotte uses her alone time as an opportunity to snoop around his bedroom. First, she finds . . .
Apparently, both on and off the island, Sawyer screws like a bunny, and reads about them too . . .
She also comes across Sawyer's BINDER OF VENGEANCE – complete with clippings about his parents' tragic murder / suicide and the elusive Anthony Cooper, whose actions brought about their death. Sawyer finds Charlotte reading the binder, promptly freaks out, and kicks her the heck out of his apartment.
WTH Sawyer! Overreact much? Is this because I found out that you read books about furry little animals that talk? Because I promise I won't tell anyone!
Later, Sawyer feels guilty about his behavior, and arrives at Charlotte's apartment with makeup sex on his mind. His weapons of choice? A giant sunflower and a cheap six pack of beer.
Foreplay?
That's the problem with dating ridiculously good looking guys, they never really learn how to work for it. Charlotte, though slutty, is clearly a stronger woman than I am, because she denies Sawyer's ass. Dejected, our hero leaves the sunflower outside Charlotte's door (but takes the beer back, of course).
You better watch it, Sawyer. Just because they call it a "six pack," doesn't mean you get to keep yours if you keep drinking them like they are going out of style . . .
Upon returning to the police station once more, Sawyer has a run-in with Lostie Charlie's rockstar brother, and is then assaulted (sexually?) by Miles. Sawyer assumes Miles has pushed him up against the locker because he wants a quickie is angry at Sawyer's shoddy treatment of Charlotte. However, Boyfriend is actually super insulted at having found out that Sawyer lied about going to Palm Springs. Later, Sawyer comes clean to Miles about the BINDER OF VENGEANCE and his plans to hunt down and murder Anthony Cooper.
But before these two can hug it out, a car sideswipes them out of no where, and the driver gives chase. Sawyer chases the hoodlum down a dark alley. When he gets close enough to ID the perp, he finds out that it is . . .
Kate! (Which reminds me, if Sawyer is a cop in Flash-Sideways world, why did he help Kate evade that federal agent back at the airport?)
Promises, Jungle Love, and the Smokey Mission
Back on Lost island, a frightened Jin awakens and tells Sawyer that the two of them better get the hell out of dodge, before Crazy Claire and Nu Locke return from whereever they are. Sawyer then shocks Jin by telling him, "I am with Locke now."
However, our favorite good-hearted bad ass, later qualifies his statement, explaining that all he wants to do is get off of the island, and Nu Locke can help him do that. When Jin expresses reservations about leaving the island without Sun, Sawyer promises him that if the two of them find her, they won't leave the island without her. When the rest of the Smokey clan arrives at camp, Sawyer and Kate have the heartfelt reunion Skate fans have been longing for all season. And you KNOW these two still have the hots for eachother!
Nothing says loving like hot bear cage sex.
Nu Locke is currently playing nice with the Smokey clan, assuring them that he will protect them from the Evil Smoke Monster that killed all of their friends.
. . . can avoid Evil Temple Fires!
However, Sawyer isn't buying it. He calls Nu Locke out in front of the group for promising to get him off the island and not delivering. Nu Locke pulls Sawyer aside and admits to being the Smoke Monster, but claims that he only did what he had to in order to escape Lost island.
Sure, I'm a supernatural mass murderer, but that doesn't make me EVIL. It just makes me HOMESICK!
(BTW Dude, you are a PUFF OF SMOKE! If you want to get off the island, can't you just blow yourself off?)
Nu Locke then sends Sawyer out on a mission. He is to head to Hydra island (locale of the infamous bear cage sex romp), and do recon work on a group of folks there that are intending to do the Smokey clan harm. Nu Locke strokes Sawyer's ego, claiming that he chose Hot Stuff for this mission, because he's the best liar in town.
Crazy Moms and the Folks Who Fear Them
Rock-a-bye baby on the treetop, when the wind blows, I'll . . . MAKE YOU SLEEP WITH A DOLL MADE OUT OF A DEAD CARCASS!
While Sawyer is on his mission, Kate FINALLY begins to question Claire's sanity, after she finds the nightmare-inducing dead carcass inside Aaron's baby bassinet. "It is all I have left," explains Claire.
Later Claire jumps Kate and tries to kill her, while Evil Sayid stands idly by and watches, looking bored. Oddly enough, it is Nu-Locke who comes to Kate's rescue. Nu Locke later pulls Kate aside and apologizes for Claire's bat sh&t craziness. He feels partly to blame. (Partly? Try fully!) According to Locke, without Aaron, Claire had lost the will to live, and to keep her going, Locke told her the Others took her baby. This anger, he claimed, helped her to survive. And now, Claire has transplanted that hate to Kate.
Nu-Locke admits that he was once a REAL PERSON with a bat sh&t crazy mom. SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down to find out who Nu-Locke's mom is . . .
This explains so much . . .
Kate asks Nu-Locke why he has confided this in her. Nu Locke explains, "Because Aaron now has a crazy mom."
Aha! So Locke is trying to use Kate's love for Baby Aaron to get her to join the Darkside. Very crafty . . .
Smelly Dead People, More Promises, and Gun-Toting Submariners
Meanwhile, Sawyer sails off to the Hydra, and is immediately overcome by its smells, both good ( a ripped portion of Kate's sexed-up bear cage dress), and bad (a pile of rotting bodies next to a nearby downed airplane). At the plane site, Sawyer meets a woman named Zoe who claims to be the only survivor of the tragic flight. Sawyer offers to take her back to his Smokey people, but becomes suspicious when she asks him whether his "people" have guns. Suddenly, Sawyer is surrounded by a bunch of gun-toting mercenaries who take Sawyer down to their submarine where he encounters . . .
Charles Widmore!
Instinctively recognizing that Widmore is here to off Nu-Locke, Sawyer makes a deal with the Team Subbie leader. He will get Nu Locke onto the Submarine, so that Widmore can kill him, in exchange for free passage off the island for him and his friends.
Careful Sawyer. Remember the last time someone tried to broker this sort of "deal?" It didnt work out so well for HIM . . .
(Sawyer = Member of Team Subbie?)
Later, Sawyer returns to the island, and provides Nu Locke with a boatload (pun intended) of information about Widmore and his gang, including the faux-deal Sawyer brokered with Widmore regarding Nu Locke's life. Nu Locke thanks Sawyer for his loyalty.
(Sawyer = Member of Team Subbie?) (Sawyer = Member of Team Smokey?)
At the episode's conclusion, Sawyer tells Kate his real plan. "Let these two Evil Doofuses duke it out amongst themselves. You and I are going to escape Lost island . . . via submarine!"
(Sawyer = Member of Team Subbie?) (Sawyer = Member of Team Smokey?) Sawyer = Member of Team Skate!!!!!!
That's all she wrote folks! Tune in next week, when we finally find out how Richard Alpert has stayed so young-looking all these years (and what kind of eyeliner he wears).
Tagged as Anthony Cooper, Australia, baby aaron, bear cage sex, BINDER OF VENGEANCE, bromance, Buddy Cop Show, Charles Widmore, Charlie's brother, Charlotte Lewis, con artist, cop, Crazy Claire, crazy mother, Darkside, dead animal carcass, dead bodies, Evangeline Lily, Evil Sayid, flash sideways, flashback, Hurley, hurley and miles, Hydra, island, Jin, Josh Holloway, Kate, Kate's dress, Locke, Lost, manipulation, Michael Dawson, Miles, Octomom, Palm Springs, promises, recap, Recon, Richard Alpert, Sawyer, Sawyer-centric, Season 6, sexual tension, shirtless Sawyer, Skate, Smoke Monster, Smokey, spinoff, spoiler alert, Submarine, sunflower, Team Jacob, Team Smokey, Team Subbie, temple, The Long Con, time travel, Watership Down, Zoe
Raiders of the Lost (Inner) Child – A Recap of Lost's "Lighthouse"
"You may be the 'Chosen Candidate' Jack Shepard, but do YOU have a cool hat and whip? I think not . . ."
Tonight's installment of Lost was all about the kiddies!
More specifically, this episode dealt with finding and, coming to terms with, youth, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Tonight, Jack literally located and then reconciled with the son that none of us knew he had. In doing so, he confronted his own daddy abandonment issues, and came one step closer to accepting his destiny as . . .
The WINNING CANDIDATE for . . .
In bat shit crazier news, Claire made a baby doll out of a dead animal carcass, fatally axed a guy, and majorly creeped out Poor Jin, all for the love of a boy named Aaron.
Oh and did I mention . . . the DONKEY WHEEL is back?
Let's get down to business, shall we?
Dude, Where's My Appendix?
When we last left Doctor Jack in Flash-Sideways World, he was at the airport, passing his business card off to a wheelchair-bound (but living) Locke, while filing a "lost luggage" claim for his dead dad's coffin. Now, back home in his apartment, Jack is on the phone with his mother, filling her in on all of the gory details of his trip, when he notices a scar on his stomach. "When did I have my appendix out?' Jack inquires.
Sidenote: If you recall, in the original Lost timeline, Juliet diagnosed Jack with appendicitis and removed his appendix on the island in Season 4, Episode 10 "Something Nice Back Home."
Jack's mother explains that Jack had his appendectomy when he was about eight-years old. I find it a bit strange that Alt World Jack wouldn't remember having this particular surgery. Sure, eight is a young age, but not so young that you wouldn't remember something as traumatic as undergoing major surgery.
Unlike the past flash-sideways we have seen, in which the Losties may exhibit brief flashes of "déjà vu" for their "original timeline" lives, but seem more or less at home in their new (?) skins, Jack seems completely (forgive the pun) "Lost" in Flash-Sideways world. It is almost as though Island Jack has been plucked from the original timeline and placed in this new one, without being given any explanation as to how things are different here.
or Jack Shephard?
Noting the time, Jack quickly gets off the phone with his Mommy and rushes to a nearby private school to pick up . . . HIS TEENAGE SON? David Shepard?
"My brain hurts!"
Upon hearing the pair converse, it becomes immediately obvious that Jack's and David's relationship is strained. In fact, Jack barely seems to know his son at all. (Doesn't remember his appendectomy, doesn't know his son — is this merely a case of VERY early onset dementia or something odder?)
Back at the apartment, Jack notices that David is reading an annotated copy of Alice in Wonderland, the same story that Jack read to baby Aaron in "Something Nice Back Home."
"Curiouser and Curiouser . . ."
Jack leaves his son in the apartment and heads to his mother's house, to help her find Jack's father's missing will. When his mother finds it, she asks Jack if he knows "Claire Littleton." To which Jack replies . . .
"Hell yeah I do! That bitch turned effing nuts!"
Actually, we don't get to hear how Jack replies at all, because the producers cut away from the scene, before he can offer his response . . . Does Alt World Jack know his half-sister Claire? Only time will tell . . . hopefully.
When Jack returns to his apartment, his son is MIA. Jack heads to his ex-wife's (?) house, extracting its key from under a White Rabbit statute (yet another Alice in Wonderland reference). Upon listening to his son's answering machine, Jack learns that David has snuck off to a conservatory for an admissions audition.
Jack rushes to the conservatory, arriving just in time to hear his son play piano. He beams with pride at his son's clearly gifted musical talent. As Jack watches from the wings, another father compliments David's talents, and, noting the boy's youth, asks how long he has been playing. Wait a minute . . . we know that dad! It's . . .
POISON PILL GIVER, DOGEN!
Jack honestly admits that he doesn't know how long his son has been playing.
Something is definitely fishy here . . .
Meeting up with David outside the Conservatory, Jack asks his son why the latter never told him about the audition. David explains that, when he was younger, Jack was very intense about David's piano lessons. David feared Jack would see him as a failure if he didn't perform perfectly at the audition.
Heartened by this confession, Jack tells David how Jack's own father once told him that he "didn't have what it takes" to succeed in medicine. Jack explains to David that he loves him and could never ever consider him a failure. Father and son both get a bit teary eyed, and it really feels as though Jack has righted his own father's wrongs through this exchange. Perhaps that was the whole point . . .
. . . and then comes the carcass in the baby carriage!
"HELLLLLP MEEEEE!"
Back on Lost island, Claire frees a very freaked out Jin from the bear trap in which he was caught last week. She then expertly stitches up his wounded legs and takes him to her makeshift campsite, where she has presumably been living for about three years. Jin does a bit of snooping here, and finds this really creepy baby basinet with a stuffed animal carcass inside. I sure hope that's machine washable . . .
Claire then drags Justin, the remaining living Other who accosted Jin last week, into her camp and ties him up. With a freshly sharpened ax, Jungle Lady threatens to chop up Justin if he doesn't tell her where her baby Aaron is. Justin has no clue, and tells Claire as much. Unfortunately for Justin, Claire doesn't believe him. After all, her father and "her friend" told her that the Others were hiding Aaron inside the temple. When Claire walks away, Justin pleads with Jin to untie him. He explains that if they don't get away, Claire will kill them BOTH.
Jin initially seems unconvinced. After all, Claire may have bad hair right now, and poor taste in childrens' toys, but Jin can't truly see her harming HIM, a fellow Lostie! Claire then shows Justin and Jin the scars she has sustained from when the Others tortured and branded her at the temple, presumably using the same technique on HER that Dogen used on Sayid the Maybe Zombie.
Jin comes clean to Claire, explaining that Kate had taken Aaron off the island and had raised him for three years. Claire thanks Jin. She then kills Justin, anyway.
"Not very nice, Claire Bear!"
Realizing that Claire is truly off her rocker, and beginning to fear for his friend Kate's life, Jin takes back his words, explaning that he lied about Kate in an effort to save Justin's life. Jin then claims to know where Aaron is hidden, and offers to take Claire there.
Claire tells Jin that if Kate had taken Aaron, she would have killed her. And just when it seems like things can't get any weirder or scarier for Jin, "Locke" shows up . . . except he's not Locke . . . of course. He's the Lockness Smokey Monster, a.k.a Claire's "friend" who told her that the Others had Aaron.
All Around the Donkey Wheel . . .
While in search of food, Hurley "I Talk to Dead People" Reyes encounters our dearly departed friend Jacob, who is in desperate need of Hurley's help. Jacob gives our "unlucky" friend a series of instructions, which the latter dutifully inscribes on his arm. According to Jacob, Hurley needs to commandeer Jack in a special mission. To get Jack on board, Hurley must tell Jack that "he has what it takes."
The two trek off into the sunset, where they eventually come across this . . .
"How come we've never seen this before?" Hurley inquires. (How indeed . . .)
Jack and Hurley trek to the top of the lighthouse and find what appears to be a replica of the infamous donkey wheel from last season, accented by a few mirrors, or "looking glasses," if you prefer. Printed around the wheel are a series of names and number similar to the ones Nu-Locke showed Sawyer in the cave during last week's episode, with some notable differences. For one thing . . .
Kate's on the wheel! She's number 51!
Hurley instructs Jack to turn the wheel to number 108 (which has next to it the name "Wallace" – Who the heck is Wallace?), and then look in the mirror. Annoyed that Jacob has refused to speak to Jack in person, Jack turns the wheel instead to his own name and the corresponding number 23. He then looks in the mirror and is horrified to find his childhood home looking back at him. In a huff, Jack breaks the mirror and storms out of the lighthouse.
Later, Jacob reappears to a disappointed Hurley who feels as though he failed in his task. Jacob explains that things are going exactly as planned. As the coach of Team Jacob, Ghost Man apparently knows exactly what it takes to bend people to his will. For some, like Hurley, merely asking for a favor is all it takes. But more stubborn folks like Jack, however, need to come to certain conclusions on their own, which is exactly what Jack appears to be doing at the end of this unbelievably complex episode.
So, what did you think of The Lighthouse? Have you joined Team Jacob yet? Were you relieved to find Kate's name on the wheel? Do you know where I can get a cool hairdo like Claire's?
Tagged as 108, 23, Alice in Wonderland, animal carcass, appendectomy, appendix, axe, baby aaron, baby bassinet, bear trap, Carmen Sandiego, Christian Shepard, coffin, conservatory, Crazy Claire, David Shepard, deja vu, dogen, donkey wheel, flash sideways, Homer Simpson, Hurley, Indiana Jones, island, Jack Shepard, Jack's son, Jacob, Jin, Justin, Kate, Lighthouse, Locke, Lockness Monster, looking glass, Lost, mirror, Non-Locke, piano, recap, Sarah Shepard, Sayid, Smokey, Team Jacob, time travel, Wallace, wheel, White Rabbit, will


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HomeFeaturesGoing Big
Going Big
'The Beast' is released on Woodland
July 9, 2015 Randy Fox Features
Last September, Dave Brown and Mike Grimes, co-owners of Nashville's own "Cellarful of Noise," The Basement, were standing in a cavernous building on Woodland Street. With nearly 7,500 square feet of open space surrounding them, the two business partners realized they were at a crossroads.
Grimes looked at Brown and said, "I'm scared to death."
"We have to do this," Brown said. "We talked about this. We found this place. Of course it's daunting, but what the hell else are we going to do?"
Eight months later, Brown and Grimes are standing in the same spot, showing off The Basement East. Already dubbed "The Beast" by local music fans, the recently opened music venue lives up to its nickname with 3,000 square feet of space in the main room, a 30-foot-long stage worthy of a classic theater, a lengthy and well-stocked bar, and a roomy deck running nearly the length of the building.
"Since we had an empty space to work with, we built it to functionality from not only a bartender's perspective, but also from a musician's point of view and for the audience," Brown says. "The original Basement has certain limitations because of the building, but this was an open canvas, so we could build it exactly how we wanted it."
"People walked in the first night and said it doesn't feel like the first night," Grimes says. "It feels like it's been open for a while. That's a real compliment."
There's a very good reason The Basement East seems like an old favorite rather than a new, untested venue. Brown and Grimes have decades of experience attending rock shows, playing music, booking bands, and managing nightclubs. More important than the accumulated experience is the pair's firm devotion to great live music. For both, running a great music club isn't just a job, it's a way of life.
Grimes is very specific about the moment his life's calling revealed itself in a blaze of rock & roll glory. Pulling up an image of a mid-'70s KISS concert poster on his phone, he points at it enthusiastically. "That's it," he says. "Aug. 27, 1975, the Owensboro (Ky.) Sportscenter — that was the moment when it happened. I was 12 years old, had a $5 ticket, and I was standing just a few feet from KISS, with the stage just about as high as the one we have here. The fireworks were going off, and they almost burned down the Sportscenter. That's when I knew I was going to either play music or work with music. It had to be one or the other."
After high school, Grimes left his native Owensboro to attend Western Kentucky University, spending time in Bowling Green's small indie rock scene before making the move to Nashville in the late '80s.
"I did anything I could to stay close to music," Grimes says. "Worked in record stores, interned at publishing companies, worked in promotions for Sony — anything that could lead to some better-paying, music-related job. All the while, I was also playing music."
After bouncing through several local rock bands, Grimes formed the early '90s rock combo The Bis-Quits with fellow Nashville rock scene vets Will Kimbrough, Tommy Meyer, and Tommy Womack. He moved from that group to playing guitar with Bobby Bare Jr.'s band. After two-and-a-half years on the road with Bare Jr., he was ready to move on to other challenges.
"I quit and thought I'd get in another band, and it just didn't happen," Grimes says. "A friend of mine had started a vintage clothing store in Berry Hill. She suggested I open a record store in an available house across the street from her. I had about 6,000 records and CDs. I wasn't a collector. I just amassed records from yard sales and had tons of great music to listen to. So I took every record I had, stuck them in the house I rented and put my name out there. I figured even if it failed, people would drop by and hang out."
In December 1999, Grimey's New and Preloved Music opened. While far from a megasuccess at first, the store did moderately well, and its status as a hangout for music lovers and fellow musicians spread. After a few months, Grimes stumbled upon an opportunity to take the "cool hangout" concept to another level.
"David Gehrke and I were recording with Josh Rouse at Woodland Studio," he says. "We had tracked three or four songs and wanted to get a beer. Across from Woodland, there was this place on the corner of 5 Points called Shirley's. We went over, had a beer, and started talking about starting our own bar on the East Side." The next day, Grimes and Gehrke decided to see if Shirley was interested in selling the bar.
"I don't know why we thought we could walk into a place that already existed and just buy it from her," Grimes says. "But we asked Shirley how long she had been there and she said, '17 years, and I'm ready to get out!' "
After verifying that they could take over the lease, Grimes wrote Shirley a check for $10,000, the sum total of his savings at that point, and the newly rechristened Slow Bar officially opened for business on Nov. 17, 2000. At first, the only major change was the addition of a well-stocked jukebox. With limited space and only a beer license, the bar had its limitations, but it didn't take long for the word to spread about a hip, little hangout in 5 Points.
"It was still in the prerenaissance or whatever you want to call that period for East Nashville, and it just became this thing," Grimes says. "The word got out to a lot of younger people about this 'dangerous' part of East Nashville and this cool little bar. We weren't doing live music yet, but people went to shows at other bars and then at 1:30 a.m., 60 or 70 people would show up."
Although the Slow Bar was never intended to be a live music venue, had no PA system, and only a small raised platform that barely qualified as a stage, Grimes soon found bands were eager to play. The bar opened at one of the lowest points for live rock music since the birth of Nashville's alternative rock scene in the early '80s. The Exit/In had closed temporarily, leaving only a handful of music venues open to local groups and up-and-coming rock bands on tour. The first shows were by local acts or musicians just looking to play a show while in town to record.
"Phone calls started coming in," Grimes says, "Wheat, Japancakes, The Postal Service, Kings of Leon's first two shows, The Shins, My Morning Jacket, Alex Chilton, The Dirt Bombs. I got a call from The Black Keys. I'd never heard of them. They sent me their CD and they were awesome, but they wanted a $100 guarantee, and I had to think about that."
Between 2001 and 2003, the Slow Bar ruled the indie rock scene in Nashville with a string of classic shows. It also helped spark a renaissance in the 5 Points area as other bars and restaurants began to open. But Grimes soon realized that hip rock cred wasn't much help when it came to paying real-world bills. Closing its doors on Sept. 1, 2003, Slow Bar's location was eventually taken over by new owners and renamed "Three Crow Bar."
"The Slow Bar was my school of hard knocks," he says. "I didn't know what I was doing. About a year and a half in, I had to buy out my partner because things weren't working out. We had made some mistakes that carried through to the end of our three-year lease. But it taught me I love booking music, and I love helping up-and-coming bands."
Grimes wasn't the only one discovering a passion for booking live music. Just three blocks away, Dave Brown was handling the same duties for Radio Cafe. Opening in 1995 on the corner of Woodland and 14th Street, Radio Cafe was a pioneering music venue in the early days of East Nashville's revival. The club's original owner, Mac Hill, closed it in 2001, but a new owner reopened the small cafe in 2003.
"The Radio Cafe reopened about six months before the Slow Bar closed," Brown says. "It was just going to be a neighborhood cafe with no live music, and I was hired as a bartender. The cafe part didn't go over that well, so to save my own skin, I started booking music. At first, I was so envious of what Mike was doing with the Slow Bar. He kicked my butt on a nightly basis."
Although Brown was still learning the art of booking live music, he had years of experience working in bars and restaurants.
A native of Chattanooga, his turning point came while he was attending college in San Antonio, Texas, in the late '80s.
"I was an advertising major, and I hated it," Brown says. "I was having horrible visions that I would be middle-aged, have 2.3 kids, live in the suburbs, and hate my life. That was the way I grew up, and it frightened me because I was terrified of being bored.
"A really close friend of mine was raped and murdered, and it forced me to really think about life. It might sound hokey, but I made a promise to myself that when I died, I would be able to look back and say I did what I wanted to do."
After dropping out of college, Brown hitchhiked across the U.S., working in restaurants and bars, and living in locales as varied as Alaska and New Orleans, while also playing music on his own and with various bands. After three years of roving, Brown made his way back to his home town where he worked for nine years at one of Chattanooga's oldest and most popular pubs, The Pickle Barrel.
"I learned everything about the business from Nick Bowers, the owner," Brown says. "He taught me that to build a great bar or restaurant, it has to become your life. It's a labor of love, and if you don't love it, you need to do something else."
Brown eventually found his way to Nashville in 2001 — a path that led to his position as music booker for Radio Cafe. With the early aughts' drought of live rock venues, Brown focused on the local punk and rock scene. "I was booking music seven nights a week, bartending six, did all the managerial stuff and was sleeping five hours a night," he says. "The neighborhood was really rocking hard back then. It's almost a forgotten chapter now. The rest of Nashville was afraid to come to the East Side and they just left it alone. Every night, there was something going on. I'd finish what I was doing at the Radio Cafe and then make the circuit. The Alley Cat was open then, and The 5 Spot and the Family Wash were both going great."
Brown continued at Radio Cafe until 2005. Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, events had been in motion that would lead to Brown and Grimes uniting their business acumen.
In May 2002, while Grimes was still running Slow Bar in East Nashville, he sold a half interest in his record store to Doyle Davis, a former manager at The Great Escape. The new partners kept the cool kids hangout vibe of Grimey's, but also began transforming it into a new and used indie record retail powerhouse. By early 2004, the business had outgrown the tiny house in Berry Hill, and Grimes and Davis were looking for a larger space. That's when they discovered a renovated Victorian mansion on 8th Avenue South that just happened to have a live music venue in the basement.
"I thought the space (for the store) was perfect," Grimes says. "I went back and told Doyle, and he said, 'You just want that space because there's a club underneath.' But when he saw it, he was sold."
Grimey's relocated to their new location in June 2004, and by early 2005, Grimes, along with bartender Geoff Donovan, had taken over the lease and management of The Basement. Although limited by space and the odd layout of the venue, The Basement quickly gained a reputation with inventive booking of local bands and lower- to mid-level national acts. Their success soon led to the need for an extra bartender.
"When my job at the Radio Cafe had run its course, Geoff Donovan offered me a job bartending at The Basement," Brown says. "I started working one night a week, on Saturdays. I believed so much in what they were doing that every other job I got had to work around my schedule at The Basement. I soon went to two nights a week and convinced them to open on Sundays so I could go to three nights."
After five years, Donovan was ready to move on to other ventures and sold his shares to Grimes and Brown. The new partners continued refining their business.
"I took what I had learned from my days at Pickle Barrel and applied it to The Basement," Brown says. "That's when we started to blossom as a business. I really pushed the idea of doing a 7 o'clock show. Even if you only do $200 at the bar, when you multiply that out three times a week and then into a year's worth of revenue, that's $30,000 that you weren't making. Having earlier shows also gave us flexibility with good bands that might not be able to draw the number of people that we need for a 9 o'clock show. Say they bring in 40 people, it's a good show for the band and it helps the bar."
Although Brown and Grimes continued to refine their business at The Basement, they both knew it was time to expand. "We had been talking about expanding for a while," Grimes says. "We looked at three or four places, but all fell short because of location or timing. Some were cool, but really small. We wanted it to be in the right neighborhood, and it had to be big enough for a proper stage."
"It all came down to the best luck of my life," Brown says. "We had an early listening party at The Basement. I usually drive up Davidson Street, but I was low on gas that day. I went to 5 Points to gas up and was coming down Woodland and saw the for rent sign. The landlord had just put it out that morning."
"Dave called me," Grimes says. "He had to go to work, but I drove over right then. I couldn't get inside, but I looked through the windows and called the owner. He came over and showed it to me that day. It was huge. I made arrangements for the next day so Dave could look at it. I asked my wife that night, should we go big or go home, and she said go big."
Although Grimes and Brown both thought the space was perfect, finding the funding to bring their dream to fruition was another matter. That's when the pair learned the true value of a good reputation. "I told the landlord, 'Look, we don't know how we're going to do this, and we don't even know if we can do this, but we'll put earnest money down so you'll know we're serious,' " Grimes says. "We were lucky the landlord liked us. We were just two guys saying how much we wanted the place."
Their good fortune continued when Grimes ran into a friend who had funds he was looking to invest, and two other investors were soon added. With financing in place and the lease signed, a marathon run of design and construction began. They turned to another friend, Chark Kinsolving, the designer, builder, and former owner of Mercy Lounge.
"Chark is incredibly insightful and knowledgeable," Brown says. "What he did with the Mercy Lounge is amazing. It's a landmark. There were so many times he said, 'No, you should do this and here's why.' And the light bulb would go off in our heads — of course!"
Current plans for The Basement East include an adjacent pub and extended deck area in the rear portion of the main floor that are scheduled to open this fall. Brown and Grimes also plan to continue operating the original Basement under Grimey's, while making big plans for the club's East Side brother. With a solid 10-year lease on The Basement East and an option to buy, they are eagerly looking forward to the long-term success of their rock & roll palace on Woodland.
"A big part of this was coming back to East Nashville," Brown says. "I've lived over here the whole 14 years I've been in Nashville, and it has a special place in my heart. It means a lot for us to come back and be a part of a neighborhood and scene that we really, truly love so much.
"One of our partners asked us when we would know that it's going to be a success. I said two years because of what I know about the failure rate of new businesses, but Mike instinctively said, 'The first night!' That's why we make great business partners. I'm thinking about all the things that can happen, and you have to be so careful, but Mike is just, 'No, we'll know. If people come out and dig it the first night, we'll know.' "
"And it was great," Grimes says. "It was so rock & roll."
Clubs|Venues
Vol. V Issue 6
Know Your Neighbor (Jr.): Henrietta Crumpton
Chuck Mead
Can't Knock the Hustle
September 7, 2018 Sean L. Maloney Features
"I don't have the benefit of distance. It's still a blur, everything is still happening," says DJ Case Bloom, promoter for Nashville's long-running monthly dance … more
Keith Gattis
September 9, 2014 Randy Fox Features
Sitting on his porch in Inglewood, Keith Gattis recalls the moment when he knew a career in music was what he wanted. It was July … more
Wisdom & Poetry
March 9, 2017 Holly Gleason Cover Stories
Rodney Crowell has stopped the interview. Mid-sentence. The normally thoughtful Texan has been discussing Close Ties, his 18th album, and when he emphatically picks up, … more

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Meganeuridae is an extinct family of griffinfly in the order Meganisoptera. There are more than 20 genera and 50 described species in Meganeuridae.

Genera
These 21 genera belong to the family Meganeuridae:

 † Arctotypus Martynov, 1932
 † Bohemiatupus Prokop & Nel, 2010
 † Boltonites Handlirsch, 1919
 † Carpentertypus Zessin 1983
 † Curvitupus Nel, Fleck, Garrouste, Gand, Lapeyrie, Bybee & Prokop, 2009
 † Ephemerites Geinitz, 1865
 † Gallotupus Nel, Garrouste & Roques, 2008
 † Gilsonia Meunier, 1908
 † Meganeura Brongniart, 1885
 † Meganeurina Handlirsch, 1919
 † Meganeuropsis Carpenter, 1939
 † Meganeurula Handlirsch, 1906
 † Megatypus Tillyard 1925
 † Nannotupus Nel, Fleck, Garrouste, Gand, Lapeyrie, Bybee & Prokop, 2009
 † Oligotypus Carpenter 1931
 † Permotupus Nel, Fleck, Garrouste, Gand, Lapeyrie, Bybee & Prokop, 2009
 † Petrotypus Zalesskii, 1950
 † Piesbergtupus Zessin, 2006
 † Shenzhousia Zhang & Hong, 2006
 † Stephanotypus Zessin 1983
 † Tupus Sellards, 1906

References

Meganisoptera
Prehistoric insect families

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Self-Assembled Porphyrin Nanoparticles for Biophotonic Imaging and Light-Controlled Drug Delivery
Porphyrins have played numerous historic roles in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, in particular based on how these molecules interact with light. Some recent approaches that form new nanostructured materials from porphyrins and related molecules have potentially enabling properties for disease diagnosis and therapy.
This talk will address two recently reported nanoscale systems, both involving high-density porphyrin constructs. First, porphyrin nanovesicles have been developed that can release drugs in response to near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, leading to enhanced drug deposition in irradiated tumors. Second, a family of highly light-absorbing nanoparticles have been developed for safe and real-time gastrointestinal photoacoustic imaging following oral administration to mice.
Presenter Jonathan F. Lovell is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his doctorate in biomedical engineering from the University of Toronto in 2012.
Lovell is an elected councilor for the American Society of Photobiology. He was a 2013 recipient of the National Institutes of Health Early Independence Award. His works have appeared in Nature Communications, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Chemistry and Cell. His main focus is on developing translatable nanoplatforms with applications in photomedicine and theranostic imaging.
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text:
BCN guide
BCN map
VISIT BCN
Bajarí, a route through Gypsy Barcelona
A space for everyone keen to discover Barcelona
DISCOVER BCN
Barcelona today
The 10 Barcelonas
Experience BCN
Charming corners
Nature and beaches
Shops to discover
The city and its origins
Roman Barcino
Medieval Barcelona
Modern industrial city
Contemporary Barcelona
Map of points of interest
STUDY AND RESEARCH IN BCN
Studying in Barcelona
Business schools and other institutions
Degrees, Masters, PhDs, higher studies
Higher vocational education
Intermediate vocational education
Artistic studies
Higher sports training
Research in Barcelona
Research centres in Barcelona
Grants and aid for researchers
Principal strategic research lines
Preliminary information
Living in Catalonia
Health-care system
Accommodation in Catalonia
DOING BUSINESS IN BCN
Business Support Office
Coming to live in Barcelona
Charisma and spirit: from flamenco to rumba
Modern, cosmopolitan Barcelona hides away its ancestral sides, including its gypsy heritage. Proud, happy, flashy and deeply rooted in Barcelona, gypsy culture has left surprisingly authentic traces in the city, in music and dance above all. This is Gypsy Barcelona: always dominated by dancing and singing, by the joy and social protest of the rumba lyrics, the most eclectic expression of the Catalan gypsies' daring and spontaneous Barcelona. A pleasure waiting to be discovered.
Gypsy and popular
Gypsy culture has also given Barcelona a few famous names. One of these is the bailaora [flamenco singer] and cantaora [flamenco dancer] Carmen Amaya, a petite and prodigious woman born at the beginning of the 20th century in a shack in Somorrostro, an extremely poor shantytown neighbourhood that sprang on the sandy beach at the end of the 19th century and lasted for almost 100 years. Amaya exported her art around the world, from Latin America to the USA, when she performed for the Hollywood's big names and for the then President of the USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt himself, at a private event held at the White House. Barcelona worshipped the ground Amaya walked on, just as the rest of the world did: Passeig Marítim in Barceloneta has a stone fountain put up in proud memory of her.
Barcelona has plenty of power
It was during the post-war period of the mid 1940s, when the defeated city's lost souls were in bad need of some happiness, that Barcelona's gypsy community created their own musical style: the rumba catalana. Peret and El Pescaílla are two of the great musicians claiming credit for its creation, along with their neighbourhoods of origin: Raval and Gràcia.
Raval has one of the most iconic streets on the bajarí route, the tiny Carrer de la Cera, the birthplace of Peret, aka "the king of rumba", who was a great lover of his city . It was no surprise that he dedicated an ode to Barcelona in the form of a rumba for the 1992 Olympic Games: Gitana hechicera [Gypsy sorceress], whose lyrics may be loosely translated as: "If you're bored, Fountains of Montjuïc, and you're after the sky, come over to Paral·lel; if you're a girl looking for a man, come over to Mercat del Ninot; and if it's peace you want to live in, come over to Barcelona. She has power, Barcelona is powerful, Barcelona has power".
Meanwhile it was in Gràcia, in the vicinity of Plaça del Raspall, that El Pescaílla and his clan claimed to have invented el ventilador, the fan, a particular way of playing the guitar that combines strings and percussion and which is the basis of the Catalan rumba that was hugely popular right up to the mid 1960s.
Peret and El Pescaílla may be the most popular representatives of the origins of the rumba catalana, but Gato Pérez was responsible for its rediscovery in the 1970s. Born in Argentina but Catalan by adoption, Gato reinvented the rumba, the legacy of the Catalan gypsies. He championed a genre that many had looked down on and which earned him his well-deserved fame. And the city will be eternally grateful to him: there is a plaque in Plaça del Poble Romaní, in the heart of Gràcia, that pays homage to Gato and his rumbero spirit.
Rumba and flamenco
But the Bajarí is full of other anonymous temples, popular and incredibly gypsy, such as the Hostafrancs neighbourhood, right next to Sants. This is another of the areas claimed as the cradle of Catalan Rumba. It enjoys the honour of having popularised the genre in the 1990s through Los Manolos, a group that was set up in the vicinity of Plaça d'Herenni.
On top of this - and just as well for the locals - you'll still find flamenco tablaos and rumba bands alive and kicking, where the Gypsy soul, anarchic and traditional in equal parts, flows to the rhythm of the guitar and the stamping of the dancers.
Somorrostro beach
Somorrostro used to be a wretched shanty town. Built in 1875 and demolished in 1966, it used to house thousands of people in terrible conditions, such as the illustrious Carmen Amaya, the gypsy dancer who exported flamenco across the globe from the slums of the Rambla.
The Tablao Cordobés in the Rambla
Located on the Rambla and officially opened in 1970, this is a temple to Barcelona's flamenco that has played host to performances from true legends. The theatre house, whose design was inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, continues to offer various sessions of good live flamenco everyday.
Carrer de la Cera
Carrer de la Cera, in the heart of the Raval, is one of the Catalan gypsies' best-loved places: Barcelona's gypsy world partly comes from here. Even today, you can hear all kinds of instruments here as well as the most authentic gypsy voices.
From Gràcia to Hostafrancs
Plaça del Raspall
It was in Gràcia's liveliest square, the hub of Barcelona's gypsy community, that Pescaílla, one of the fathers of the Catalan rumba during the 1940s, lived. The neighbourhood's local gypsies continue to play their guitars and sing joyfully to this day.
Plaça del Poble Romaní
It was in the centre of Gràcia, a square built in memory of the brilliant Gato Pérez, that rumba was fused with its Cuban sound to the rhythm of el ventilador, a special way of playing the guitar involving the strumming of the strings and rapid turning of the wrist.
Plaça d'Herenni
Hostafrancs' Catalan gypsies live side by side with migrants from Andalusia and Murcia. This is where the legendary Los Manolos came from, the rumba group responsible for the soundtrack to the closing ceremony of the 1992 Olympic Games.
Catalan Rumba and +
Promoting Catalan Rumba
All the flamenco in Catalonia
Moving around the city
The city has an extensive public transport network connecting its districts.
Barcelona has an extensive public transport network that connects all its neighbourhoods.
La Vila de Gràcia
Gràcia is more than a neighbourhood, it's a village that is reclaiming its own identity.


H&G/Schultz Door was founded on a simple philosophy: to develop better methods of getting materials to customers on time. Its founders, Irv Hill and Don Guenther, achieved this goal with the help of another skilled and experienced hollow metal expert, David Buehrer.
Today, forty-three years later, their vision continues to help the company maintain its position as one of the most successful door and hardware distributors and fabricators in the nation.
Founded in St. Louis in 1967, H&G/Schultz Door operated out of a small warehouse in Westport Industrial Park, fabricating and distributing hollow metal doors and frames. The company was small, which provided plenty of room for growth through the sale of standard profile doorframes, steel doors and hardware.
At the time, many architects specified custom-made frames which mandated long lead times. To make matters worse, custom frames that had to be shipped long distances by truck, often incurred damages. Project delays were common. If the architect modified a design after materials had been ordered, delivery was expected to be delayed even further.
H&G realized that shifting from custom-manufactured products to customized standard frames would eliminate many problems inherent in made-to-order products. The centralized location of the shop in St. Louis provided customers with a local source for doors, frames and hardware, and eliminated shipping delays and damages.
H&G clients who recognized the value of this arrangement included Shell Oil Company, who used products in service stations across the nation, and the Red Lobster restaurant chain that eventually ordered product for more than 500 restaurants.
H&G cut its teeth on the challenges associated with these sales and became even more efficient. Once a system was developed, the company only needed to know if a building was a right-hand or left-hand structure in order to supply product on time and on spec.
Eventually H&G won significant projects from commercial giants like Anheuser-Busch, McDonnell Douglas, Monsanto, Mallinckrodt and the Salk Institute. In 1982, the company moved from its warehouse on Fee Fee Road to its present 45,000 square foot facility on Lackland Road.
Today H&G is a nationally recognized leader in the door and hardware industry, with the largest hollow metal shop in the Midwest. Marketing products by the world's leading manufacturers including the Assa Abloy Group, Ingersoll-Rand, Marshfield Door Systems, and others. Its once cutting-edge approach has been further refined and has become the construction industry standard by which all others are measured.
Good judgment, good ideas, and vision still power the company, as evidenced by the acquisition of new technology. In 2004 H&G acquired Schultz Door, a 78-year old company that services and installs automatic swinging and sliding doors, revolving doors and ADA low-energy operators. These strategic initiatives positioned H&G to handle all the electronic security needs of its commercial and industrial customers.
Mr. Buehrer remains active, serving as Board Vice Chairman. He assists the operating team in training sales and engineering personnel. Customers may even get a call from Dave Buehrer regarding the progress or technical details of a project.


Gwen Shamblin, New York Times best-selling author of The Weigh Down Diet and the founder of Weigh Down Ministries releases the highly anticipated 400+-page hardback book History of the Love of God, Volume II: A Love More Ancient Than Time that will change your perspective on life and your purpose forever and will affect how you parent, who you are in the workplace, and how you treat your spouse and loved ones.
During the book's pre-release, a select group was asked to help review and edit the book. So many personal testimonies from this group poured into Gwen's personal phone and the office that this webpage was set up to chronicle these testimonies. We hope you enjoy reading these testimonies and, as you read the book, you post your own experience and changes.
Our prayer is that through this book, you will feel and realize a love for God which is so deep it changes the very motive of your heart. Imagine walking through difficult relationship situations, reviving marriages that seem over, overcoming work challenges, losing the desire to overeat, overspend, over drink or over medicate, and solving seemingly insurmountable parenting issues with God's perspective…with love.
From the Bible, we know that God commands us to love Him first, then love our neighbor as ourselves…but what does this really mean and how do we apply it in our lives? Penned from Gwen's own experience and decades of teaching seekers how to have a relationship with the Father, this book is a beautiful and inspiring writing that starts with a history of God's love for man and mankind's appropriate love back to the Father, then explains how this True Love can overflow into love for those around you (even the unlovable)! A Love More Ancient Than Time will move your heart to a deeper true love for God, a greater appreciation for Christ and more compassion for your fellow man!


text:
Q: Comparing long long with 0 long long llIdx = foo();
if (llIdx > 0LL) // Can I use 0 here?
  ...

Is there any problem if I use 0 instead of 0LL in above code?
When should I prefer 0LL over 0?

A: Yes, you can use a plain 0 here. The compiler would look at the type of each argument to > and promote the smaller one so that they are the same size.
Thus llIdx > 0 and llIdx > 0LL are equivalent.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The ceremony began with the Kuwaiti national anthem and then reciting verses from the Holy Quran. Later on, the Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Mr. Mohammed Nasser Al-Jabri, delivered a speech in which he praised the role of this forum and stressed that the forum will be a gesture and a good outcome for the development of Arab sports and upgrading through projects, research, seminars and courses that are applicable to this forum. The minister insured his support for Kuwaiti youth and sports and the high interest in Arab sports. He concluded by thanking and acknowledging the management of the Forum and its attendees.
In a speech addressed by the President of the Forum, Professor Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghasab, for the Alhadath news agency, in which he explained the schedule of the forum and the purpose of its convening as the forum seeks to achieve many of the objectives represented in: - Exchange of ideas, knowledge, experiences and opinions in the field of sports among those interested and belonging to the field of sports and experts and specialised sports bodies and ministries concerned. - To benefit from the experiences of developed countries in the sports fields by presenting ideas and projects that include sustainable development in Arab sports. -Benefiting from the scientific and technical expertise through seminaries and courses provided at the forum to contribute to the development and enrichment of the fields related to the topics of the Forum, towards the promotion of Arab sport. - Maximise the value of community participation between international organisations and civil society institutions from the bodies, companies and decision makers participating in the forum. - Provide ideas and development projects to support Arab sports. This is the first forum of excellence for sports consultancy in cooperation with the Global Fund for Development and Planning and this is the social responsibility that the "Altamiuz Sports Consultancy" adopts.