LOST: Season 5 On Blu-Ray, Best Buy Exclusive: UNCUT!

Here's a Qik video of the Best Buy Exclusive LOST: Season 5 Blu-Ray:

LOST On Location In Downtown

I was driving through downtown on a whim this morning and I found LOST production trucks parked on Bethel Street. This is the same area where Michael tried to commit suicide and also used for some Thailand scenes with Jack.

Here are my pictures of the trucks parked and I got a shot of a crewman pushing some equipment with a film camera on top:

I don't really have time to follow this kind of stuff. But, my friend and LOST podcaster Ryan Ozawa does! Here's his blog from today's stuff, but I warn you it contains SPOILERS and he also shot part of an action scene!

LOST ARG Swag!

Someone at Lostpedia convinced me to be a part of the current LOST ARG going on right now at DamonCarltonandaPolarBear.com.

Clues lead you to a real place then you get a URL to buy one-of-a-kind LOST posters. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to buy one because they sell out in the first couple of minutes. This time, the URL was hidden at Abe Lee Realty here in Honolulu and I got to go there today to get some LOST goodies.

I didn't have time to shoot everything in the folder because I was doing a piece on the LOST ARG for our local ABC affiliate. So, I went home where I could go through it at a nice place. Plus, I brought out some of LOST swag for a show-and-tell.

Here are some pictures:

LOST Season 6 On Location!

Now, I'm not the type of LOST fan to go out and stalk the LOST cast and crew and try to get spoilers. Perhaps it was because I was actually allowed to be on the LOST set before and eat their catering, drink their water and eat their snacks. I have tremendous respect for the cast and crew and I'll leave them be while I wait for the episodes. Those who do chase the shooting locations, they do it well and I don't want to overshadow them.

With that said, a couple of photos landed in my lap, courtesy of an anonymous friend.
Last week, the LOST crew were shooting in Waikele on Alelo Street near the 9th hole by the golf course. Obviously, he couldn't get that close but was able to snap these pictures.

They were actually shooting INSIDE my friend's house! His neighbor's things were actually moved out of the house! His neighbor's garage was used as the craft area for painting and making props. The crew also painted the walls of the house to their liking and then painted it back when they were done! The movers were then called on to move everything back in the house. They shot for two days for about 11 hours a day.

Whenever I get these little nuggets of info, I'll post them here!

Congratulations, Michael Emerson!

I want to extend a hearty mahalo to the Emmys for finally giving Michael Emerson, the hero of this blog, his long overdue Emmy for his role as Benjamin Linus in "Lost."

I think it's a little ironic, though, that he won the award for the season that I thought was his weakest as a character. Ben seemed to be along for the ride in Season 5 instead of being the "man behind the curtain."

I thought his strongest performances were in Season 2 and a good chunk of Season 3. The last several episodes in Season 4 were also good Ben episodes.

Anyway, I love that Emerson brought a little bit of the aloha spirit to the Emmy award show. He ended his speech with "mahalo nui loa" which means "thank you very much." In my book, he is kama'aina and I hope he takes the aloha spirit around the world wherever he goes.

LOST: Season 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray

Bought it at Best Buy. Each season started out at $54.99. If you buy two seasons, you get $20 off. I had a $10 Reward Zone certificate. And there is also a mail-in rebate for $20 if you bought the DVDs previously. So, that will be a grand total of $63.75 (tax included) which comes out to about $31.87 for each season. Not bad, huh? :)

LOST: LEGO Edition

I wish I was this talented to make a LEGO version of this scene. Fitting for this website, I must say. :)

If Me & Evangeline Lilly Had A Baby Girl...

She's actually kind of cute, don't you think? :)

I decided to name her Clementine.

What do you think about my little new baby Clementine?

MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?

LOST: On Location - Episode 7

LOST, Season 5: The Incident - Review

Wow.  I was prepared to be let down by this season finale.  The previous episode "Follow The Leader" felt so underwhelming that I wasn't excited about this finale at all.  I'm glad I was wrong.

So many answers, yet so many questions.  That's what's great about "Lost."  And I'm not sure that ANY two hours in the previous seasons gave us as many answers as "The Incident" did.

Here's a rundown of big things that happened:

• Jacob is a real person that, evidently, can be killed.  Jacob, however, does have supernatural powers that he uses to lure to the Island.  Jacob also has an unnamed nemesis who, since at least the days of the Black Rock, has wanted to kill him.
  
• Jack causes the "incident."  I saw that coming.  I did not guess, however, that Juliet was going to become a casualty.  I'm not sure she really is dead.  I highly doubt the hydrogen bomb detonation killed ALL of the Losties, though.  EDIT:  Jack does NOT cause the "incident" since the magnetism was happening before the bomb had a chance to go off.
  
• The "shadow" people seem to be actually be on the side of the Others and it looks like "Alive Locke" and Ben will be the opposing faction working for Jacob's nemesis.  It's too bad that Locke really is dead.  Wouldn't it be funny if Richard actually brought the real Locke back to life?
  
• Rose and Bernard are alive!  That was great.
  
• Phil had a great death scene.  Best since the Frogurt death scene.
  
• Goodbye Dr. Chang's arm.
  

Here's my theories, and they're not very original because a lot of people are guessing these. 

The detonation of the hydrogen bomb takes our Losties 30 years into the future to be reunited with Sun, Locke,  and Ben.  I am hoping Juliet and Sayid survive, even though their injuries from 1977 show that they really should be dead.  It appears that "whatever happened, happened" and the "incident" happens anyway.

Now, we can concentrate on the war that's coming.  The war between Jacob's people and the guy who wanted him killed in the opening scene of "The Incident."  I don't know, though, how Charles Widmore figures into this.  I suppose he'd be on the side of Jacob. And somehow Desmond has to come back into this story.  I'm not sure how at this point, though.

Here's my final ranking of the episodes this season:

1. The Incident, Parts 1 & 2
   
2. Jughead
   
3. LaFleur
   
4. The Variable
   
5. Some Like It Hoth
   
6. 316
   
7. Follow The Leader
   
8. Dead Is Dead
   
9. Whatever Happened, Happened
   
10. He's Our You
    
11. Namaste
    
12. The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham
    
13. Because You Left
    
14. The Little Prince
    
15. This Place Is Death
    
16. The Lie
    

The next thing to look out for is Season 5 of "Lost" on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 8th.  I'm sure there will be more to talk about before then.  All in all, a great season!  One of my favorites!

Addendum:  I know a lot of fans have been upset by the ridiculous chain of events regarding Sawyer, Juliet, Kate, and Jack.  I was scratching my head every time Juliet made a complete 180-degree turn from her previous conviction.  And she had a lame flashback to show that she really doesn't believe that relationships work.  I'm sure we didn't have to deal with the para-love-o-gram (as coined by Ryan Ozawa and "The Transmission" podcast) to get to the final scene at the future Swan site.  However, after watching the episode for a second time I didn't let all of this hurt my enjoyment of the episode.  For me, the Jacob reveals were a perfect counter to all of that nonsense.  I did enjoy Sawyer and Jack beating the crap out of each other.  Even though they both wanted to do that since Season 1, they really do have a healthy respect for each other.  So, while I agree with most fans about the downsides of the episode it didn't ruin the finale for me.

LOST, Season 5: The Variable - Review

I have to admit, "The Variable" was one of my most anticipated episodes of the season.  Mostly because the title made it seem it was going to be the converse of "The Constant."  While it did not rise to that level of greatness, it was a solid episode that basically set up the season finale.

Here's another admission:  Daniel Faraday is one of my favorite characters on "Lost."  So, it was heartbreaking to see him go in a "Twilight Zone"-like ending.  And I'm not sure we're totally done with him just yet.  We might see more of him in either a flashback or a time-travelling situation.

I really should have seen the death of Daniel Faraday coming.  When the writers tie up each loose end in a character's backstory, that character historically becomes expendable.  But, I REALLY thought that Dan was needed alive in Season 6, but I was wrong.

Some great reveals in this episode:

• Widmore admits to Dan that he planted the fake Oceanic 815 at the bottom of the Sundra Trench.  Most fans thought so.  But, it's always nice to get literal confirmation.
  
• Daniel is not only the son of Eloise Hawking, but also the son of Charles Widmore.  That makes Dan and Penny half-siblings! *gasp* Again, this was speculated by the fans and finally confirmed.  But we still do not know who is Penny's mother.  It's probably NOT Eloise.  But, I've been wrong before.
  
• Desmond is recovering from Ben's gunshot wound and appears to be okay.  Some fans thought Henry Ian Cusick might be written off of the show because of pending sexual harrassment charges stemming from a lawsuit.  I'm really glad Desmond will be around for now.  The Island is not done with him yet.
  

I think the one thing that didn't make sense in this episode was how Daniel went in the Hostiles' camp with guns (or gun) ablazing.  He doesn't strike me as a guy who would normally do that.  But, as some have pointed out in the past, sometimes characters on "Lost" act out of character if it means furthering the story.  I suppose it was hard to wrap up the episode with Daniel dying if Daniel didn't appear to be a threat to the Hostiles.

Even with that minor criticism, I think it's one of the best episodes of the season although I didn't want to say goodbye to Faraday just yet.

1. Jughead
   
2. LaFleur
   
3. The Variable
   
4. Some Like It Hoth
   
5. 316
   
6. Dead Is Dead
   
7. Whatever Happened, Happened
   
8. He's Our You
   
9. Namaste
   
10. The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham
    
11. Because You Left
    
12. The Little Prince
    
13. This Place Is Death
    
14. The Lie
    

Those who saw "Lost" in the U.S. were treated to an altered version of the opening title which preceeded an exclusive clip from the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie "Star Trek."  Here's a quick clip of the altered "Lost" title:

LOST, Season 5: Dead Is Dead - Review

Episodes about Benjamin Linus are always intriguing.  Let me get that out of the way.  I thought this was a very good episode.  With that said, I thought it was kind of all over the place trying to answer every little question about Ben from the past.  I think with "Lost," the questions the show brings up are much more interesting than the actual answers.  Although the fans crave for answers, I don't think the producers are obligated to connect all of the dots.  Sometimes our own imaginations are better than what we could ever see on the screen.

So, what did we get in this episode?  A LOT:

• We see a horseback-riding Charles Widmore in 1977 speaking with a Temple-healed Ben.  I can see why he'd want to occasionally leave the Island for some "shore leave."  He's like the Fabio of the Island.
  
• We see a very young Ethan and Ben shows him the perfect baby-stealing technique.  We also find out that Widmore originally wanted Alex dead, but Ben refused.
  
• We see how Charles Widmore is banished from the Island.
  
• We find out why Ben was badly beaten (although the fans already knew what was going on when Ben made a phone call from the docks; we just didn't know Penny's and Desmond's fates).
  
• We see Ben constantly belitted by Locke and judged by the Smoke Monster.
  
• We find out that Ilana has apparently taken things into her own hands (either by plan or perhaps she was "infected" by the Smoke Monster) after the untimely death of Cesar.
  

While some fans felt that the sum of these great parts made for a great episode, I felt like the writers tried to "clean up their own mess" by providing an episode chock full of answers.  I did like the Smoke Monster scene at the end, though.  Great to see actress Tania Raymonde again as Alex. Although I was a bit disappointed that summoning Smokey included removing the plug from his bathtub.

So, here's my ranking of episodes so far this season:

1. Jughead
   
2. LaFleur
   
3. 316
   
4. Dead Is Dead
   
5. Whatever Happened, Happened
   
6. He's Our You
   
7. Namaste
   
8. The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham
   
9. Because You Left
   
10. The Little Prince
    
11. This Place Is Death
    
12. The Lie
    

I'm really happy to see Brad William Henke as Bram in "Lost."  I believe he had his first dialogue on the show this past week.  He was so awesome in the movie "Choke."  Although with the way they got rid of Cesar's character so fast, I'm not sure how much longer Bram will last.

LOST, Season 5: LaFleur - Review

I have to admit - I knew Sawyer was LaFleur.  Thankfully, that only spoiled the opening scene.  I thought it was hilarious that Dharma underlings are totally scared of Sawyer.

I know Sawyer fans are disheartened that James "Bad Boy" Ford is not as bad as he used to be.  In fact, we learn i

n this episode that he's pretty much the leader of the survivors during Dharma times.  But, I think we see a lot of character development of Sawyer after three years of being in the Dharma Initiative.

The one thing that kept me believing that Sawyer and Juliet could make a great couple is that Juliet is super-intelligent and Sawyer is, well... not.  Even in the scene when Sawyer is thanking Juliet for backing him up on the beach plan, Sawyer is litera

lly asking her for suggestions when she's telling him to think of a better plan.  Somewhere in the next three years, Sawyer's intelligence at least rises to the level of Juliet - and it actually feels REFRESHING.  Miles has now taken the role of being the smart-ass one-liner man.

I'm also glad that they kept the Sawyer-Juliet romance a secret until near the end of the episode.

Although I'm a fan of all the Island mystery, I really like this pa

rticular romance.  It didn't seem forced or rushed.

So, here's my Season 5 rankings:

1. Jughead

2. LaFleur

3. 316

4. The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham

5. Because You Left

6. The Little Prince

7. This Place Is Death

8. The Lie

I'm not going to claim to be a great predictor, but here's a signature picture I use at Lostpedia that sort of joked about a future relationship with Sawyer and Juliet:

On a personal note:

This past Monday, my father passed away.  I have been watching reruns of "Lost" because the whole story hinges on Jack's father dying.  Thankfully, my father was nothing like Christian Shephard.  But, a lot of "Lost" has to do with a lot of parental issues.  And I am glad that my father had none of those issues.  He knew that "Lost" was the one television program I watched every week.  Actually, the one thing he does have in common with Christian Shephard is that they are both in a better place.

More LOST Goodness From Jimmy Kimmel

LOST: On Location - Episode 6

LOST: On Location - Episode 5

LOST: Untangled - 316

Rather than subject yourself to "Life On Mars," (sorry, "Mars" fans) you can watch LOST: Untangled here! It's not as good as the fan-made versions that ABC stole the idea from. But, they're still well made. Enjoy the LOST: Untangled episode of "316."

Daniel Dae Kim Gets LOST At "The Counter"

KITV.com has posted a couple of videos of Daniel Dae Kim from LOST:

Kim is a co-owner of "The Counter" restaurant at Kahala Mall in Honolulu and it opened up this past Monday.  Here's a video preview of the restaurant with Kim talking about it:  "The Counter" At Kahala Mall (There's about 11 seconds of black before the video starts.)

Kim also spoke with KITV about what Hawaii means to him and shares one tidbit about what we can expect from Jin on LOST: Exclusive Interview with Daniel Dae Kim

UPDATE 2/19/2009: Here's the unedited interview with Daniel Dae Kim on KITV.com.

For best results with both videos, be sure to right-click on the screen and zoom to 200%.

Secrets Of LOST: Michael Emerson

A short and funny skit by Michael Emerson called "Secrets of LOST" from Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Thoughts On LOST: "This Place Is Death"

First of all, let me begin by saying that Season 5 of LOST has been chock full of revelations, information and surprises.  However, in light of recent episodes, "This Place Is Death" felt more like a setup for next week's episode.  That's not to say that there wasn't a lot of great moments. Here's some of my thoughts:

The opening scene was peculiar. Sun's mother calls Sun asking her where she is.  Sun then talks with her daughter Ji Yeon about finding a new friend for her named Aaron.  It all seems so innocent. But, could this be a setup for Ji Yeon to eventually look up Aaron in Los Angeles in the future?  After Sayid and Kate leaves, Jack, Sun and Ben head to see Mrs. Hawking who will help them to get back to the Island.  The best moment with this group happened when Ben violently slams on the brakes and tells Jack and Sun that if they knew what he had to go through to keep their friends alive, they would not stop thanking him.  So, Ben has been keeping the Left Behinders alive? Strange, considering the death of Charlotte.  More on that later.

Back on the Island, we see the Smoke Monster for the 11th time in an episode.  The Monster kills Nadine.  Then it goes after Montand.  Smokey literally uses one of its dusty tentacles to sever Montand's arm.  Seriously, that's the biggest mystery this episode answers.  After seeing Rousseau's team in 1988, we still don't know exactly what kind of "sickness" they had.  All we know is that Robert tried to kill Danielle.  Robert also said that Smokey was a security system for the temple.  We're not even sure if this is the same "temple" that Ben talked about as a sanctuary for the Others back in Season 4.

Jin is reunited with the Left Behinders and they get serious headaches from the flashes which are ramping up the nosebleeds.  And, alas, we lose the fine Charlotte.  I have to admit, I really bought into the Charladay love story.  Her death brought a tear to my eye.  Both actors were really good in that scene.

Another really good moment is when the rope that is being used to lower Locke into the Orchid time travels with Sawyer (because he is touching it) and ends up in the ground.  I love how Sawyer was so despondent that he was willing to dig his way through the ground to get to Locke. So, I guess the Left Behinders believe that Locke is dead?

So, Locke ends up pushing the Frozen Donkey Wheel which is off its axis.  It's great to see Christian Shephard again.  I love it when he trashes Ben's plan.  By the way,  I don't know how Christian gets around but I don't think he is a ghost.  Ghosts don't pick up baby Aaron.  And he didn't help Locke because he COULDN'T - he needed Locke to get to the donkey wheel on his own strength.

At the end of the episode, I was really surprised to see that Ben and Mrs. Hawking were not overly panicked that Hurley, Sayid, Kate and Aaron did not come with them.  I thought they needed ALL of the Oceanic 6?  Mrs. Hawking is one of the biggest mysteries of LOST right now and at least we know for certain that she is Daniel Faraday's mother.  Unfortunately, her character gets bookended again this season.  It does look like she gets more talk time in the next episode.

Next week's episode is "316" and without giving away too much I'd suggest you go back and rewatch the Season 4 episode "Cabin Fever."  I think it will be a great primer for this upcoming episode.

My ranking of Season 5 episodes:

1. Jughead

2. Because You Left

3. The Little Prince

4. This Place Is Death

5. The Lie

DocArzt LOST Previews - "This Place Is Death" (SPOILERS!)

Thanks to DocArzt & Friends for these LOST sneak peeks at the episode "This Place Is Death."

Jack Tests Kate's Patience

Here's my attempt at comedy using a LOST clip from the end of Season 4:

LOST: On Location - Episode 4

This week you get THREE locations from this past week's episode "The Little Prince" plus a BONUS location. Enjoy!

LOST: On Location - Episode 3

I just want to warn you that this week's video is pretty minor considering there wasn't many O'ahu locations in "Jughead."  But, I hope you enjoy it anyway!

LOST Review: Season 5, Episode 3 - "Jughead"

Wow.  Who would have thought that one of the most revealing episodes ever would come in the second week of Season 5?

"Jughead" starts off with the birth of Desmond and Penny's son Charlie in the Philippines.  I presume Charlie is named after Charlie Pace, the man who saved Desmond's life.  Charlie/Charles could also be a nod to Penny's father Charles Widmore.

When Desmond spoke to his son about the island that he left long ago, I thought he was talking about The Island, not Great Britain. :)

Back on The Island, we found out that the year our heroes have time-traveled to is 1954 (50 years in the past) and that the "soldiers" are actually The Others apparently led by Richard Alpert (although he does say something about having superiors and a chain of command). And we finally have confirmation that a young Charles Widmore was once on The Island.  I love when Widmore says, "You think he knows the island better than I do?"  I was literally saying, "YES!"

Back in 2007, Desmond finds out a connection between Daniel Faraday and Charles Widmore.  So, it seems that EVERYONE is converging in on Los Angeles.  The Oceanic 6 is already there plus Ben and Ms. Hawking.

Speaking of Ms. Hawking, the enhanced episode of "The Lie" says her first name is Eloise.  Could Ellie on The Island in 1954 be Eloise Hawking?  Going further out on a limb: could Ms. Hawking be Daniel Faraday's mother?  Daniel named his rat Eloise.  Widmore says Daniel's mother is in Los Angeles, which is coincidentally where Ben meets up with Ms. Hawking.  Just something to think about as we push ahead this season.

I'm also intrigued by the Compass Time Loop.  Future Locke gives 1954 Alpert a compass from Future Alpert.  Alpert later shows a 5-year-old Locke the same compass which he doesn't recognize.  Locke grows up and crashes on The Island.  Ben moves The Island which sets Locke traveling through time where he gets the compass from Alpert and goes back to 1954 to give it back to Alpert.  I have a headache.

The episode ends with Charlotte going full-Minkowski on Daniel.  This doesn't look like it will end well.

Here's how I rank the episodes this season so far:

1) Jughead

2) Because You Left

3) The Lie

Unfortunately, no obvious public O'ahu locales in the episode this week.  I'll be keeping my eyes peeled every week for a chance to do another "On Location" video.

LOST: On Location - Episode 2

While I'm gathering my thoughts on Season 5, I decided to do another "On Location" video at two shooting locations that were revealed in the Season 5 premiere episodes "Because You Left" and "The Lie." I hope you enjoy it!

LOST: Season 5 Is Tonight!

Set your DVR!  The two-hour season 5 premiere of "Lost" is tonight on ABC.  Here in Hawaii, it starts at 7 p.m. with a recap show.  At 8 p.m. there will be two episodes in a row!

I might post something later tonight, but I will most likely post my thoughts tomorrow.

Happy LOST watching!

LOST Celebrity Playlists on iTunes

I love iTunes. Every Tuesday, there's always FREE songs and videos to be downloaded. Plus, there's been a lot of LOST content this year.

Now, LOST has been included in the Celebrity Playlists section [iTunes link] with Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews, and, you guessed it, Michael Emerson! They wrote a comment for each song they picked. It's interesting to see the different musical leanings amongst the cast. Would love to see more playlists from the cast and crew.

Michael Emerson Sheds Light On Season 5 (SPOILERS!)

three8six.com has a new interview with LOST actor Michael Emerson who plays Benjamin Linus. I have to warn you that there are spoilers.  It's a good read, though.

The picture on the left is from the LOST season 3 premiere on Waikiki Beach a few years ago.

LOST: Already Home (Season 4 Spoilers)

I just made a LOST fan video based on the Season 4 finale.  The song is called "Already Home" performed by Ha-Ash and Brandi Carlile.  I thought the song really fit the theme of LOST.  If you haven't seen the Season 4 finale this video definitely has SPOILERS.  It's not my best editing job but I had some fun with it.  Click on the video while it is playing to go to YouTube to view it in the high quality mode.

Review Of LOST: Season 5 Premiere

sl-LOST.com just posted the BuddyTV review of the Season 5 premiere of LOST which will air on January 21st on ABC.

Thankfully, there are no spoilers in the review. Evidently, the two-hour season premiere will be two episodes, each one hour long.

Here's my favorite quote from the review:

 Based on these first two episodes, Lost is back to “Oh My Effing God!” status.

I thought Season 4 was at least the second best season of the series (behind the power and mystery of Season 1).  Season 5 will probably have a similar feel to the previous season since it will have only 17 episodes compared with the first three seasons which had anywhere from 22 to 24 episodes.  Season 4 will probably end up being the shortest season with 13 episodes.

Less episodes means something BIG will happen every week.  No more "filler episodes.

I hate to get my expectations up high, but after last season's finale (which was the best season finale so far in my opinion) the new season of LOST promises a lot.  We'll see if it delivers.