Mostly Muppet

I’m too clever by half.

I had a pop culture-referencing title.
I had a tongue-twister first sentence.
I had a killer twist ending.

But do I have a decent Friday Ficlet? You be the judge.

I think I may need to join Rusty in writing a prequel or sequel. Maybe that’s my challenge for next week.

Here are the other weekly participants and their entries this week:

• Rusty
• Thomas
• Will (Coming Soon)

Oh and I’ll do a special Saturday edition of my Lost blogging this weekend, with the added bonus of recapping my whirlwind trip to New York for the 360i Digital Media Summit.

Or maybe they’ll be separate. Or non-existent.

Ficlet Friday!

I’m in a very random, manic-depressive mood this week. No blogging on Monday, silly blogging on Tuesday and now this.

Maybe I should hang it up and start all over again. Rusty might have given me the spark.

Anyhow, here’s some itinerary notices:

• Traveling to NYC tonight for tomorrow’s 360i conference
• Won’t be watching or blogging Lost tomorrow night (no TiVo or HD)
• Liveblogging the conference, if I can
• Coming back home on Friday on the 6:30 AM redeye

Exciting stuff, that.

Oh, and Ficlet ate half a story yesterday. I’m working to repair the damage but I’ll likely do a two-fer on Friday.

Adieu!

Submitted for your enjoyment and/or disdain without comment.

Season 3 of The Muppet Show on DVD:

Kermit the Frog sings Elliott Smith’s Needle in the Hay:

Kermit the Frog sings Nine Inch Nails’ (by way of Johnny Cash) Hurt:

Kermit the Frog sings Radiohead’ Creep:

Oh and there’s apparently going to be a Fraggle Rock movie. For real.

Today’s Friday Ficlet, Clyde Corrigan, is my own little attempt at historical fiction.

Here’s some background on the real Douglas (Clyde) “Wrong Way” Corrigan.

Initially I had the story titled Juddson Corrigan. First, because a co-worker’s husband is named Juddson (he goes by Judd). Corrigan just seemed to flow naturally. After that I did some googling and got my inspiration.

I stayed in my same romance mindset, but here it’s unrequited love instead of fulfilled, romantic love. Something different. You know, for the kids.

I also struggled a bit with the name of the woman but got it straightened out. From there it was your standard write/prune/re-write process I’ve employed before.

Not my best effort but one I’m happy to share. In fact, I had another concept slip through my mind while drifting off to sleep last night contemplating Lost.

This is the stand-in. I’m less than happy I had to use “Cali” as shorthand or instead of “CA” but those are the challenges of the Ficlet.

Hope you enjoy it. Comment and rate, please and thanks.

And please read the most recent stories from Thomas, Rusty and Will!

I think tonight’s episode of Lost, Cabin Fever, was fairly busy, even by Lost’s standards. The effects of having a strike-shortened 13 episodes instead of 16 maybe?

Either way a pivotal episode because of all the new questions because of the expansion of the narrative.

Here are the talking points:

1. Dharma Recruiters

I think we should really think about calling them Island recruiters because I believe they work for neither the Dharma/Hanso/Other/Ben faction or the Widmore faction.

Richard Alpert is both an “other” who opposed Dharma and helped Ben, but he also had a stake in Locke’s early life on at least two occassions.

Matthew Abbadon also met up with Locke later in life, encouraged his walkabout and works, I assume, for Widmore. He helped bring together the non-Keamy boat crew. See Hunter’s excellent comment on that issue.

Christian Shepherd is directly related to three family members on the island (Jack, Claire, Aaron), came to the island himself in a casket, and also tooled around Sydney with Ana Lucia. How many others has he touched and who, outside of the island, is he aligned with?

I think Ben has likely acted as a “recruiter” of sorts as well. His knowledge of the 815 survivors and some of his flashes hint at as much. His ultimate “master”, if that metaphor applies, seems to be the island, but I’m unsure about just how these folks are getting it’s messages?

Is the island sending mixed messages?
Is it as some people describe talking to (G)god?
Is the message open to interpretation is this indicative of the struggle between Ben Linus and Charles Widmore?

2. John Locke’s Journey

Well, now we know that Locke had parent issues, not solely father issues and it looks like he became orphaned.

I’m not sure whether I think his father will turn out to be the man who seduced his young mother or his adoptive father. This late at night I’m not really sure which would be better/worse or more interesting. Maybe someone out there has a stronger feeling one way or the other.

I don’t think it’s Richard Alpert, that’s for sure.

I also dig that tonight was a pretty clear flashback. It really hearkened back to those first 2 seasons and Locke is always a favorite.

I may need to rent the DVDs (I know I’m letting folks down by admitting that I don’t own them) to see if any of these recruiters I mention above appear anywhere in the cult that Locke ends up with. Maybe Alpert? Surely he would have remembered Abbadon and we would have noted Christian.

3. The Island

Out of time with the boat? Check.
Capable of getting stuck, “Help me Obi-wan”-style in a loop of a dead guy (Horace the Mathematician) chopping down trees to build the cabin? Check.
“Chosing” Locke over Ben? Check.

Now I don’t know who Jacob is or why Horace built his cabin or how Ben was told to kill those “D.I.” folks, but that Island is awesome.

Oh, one more!

Moving island? Check. [Old entry to that point: Lost Numbers as GPS coordinates].

And what will it take to move the island?
Where does Keamy *know* Ben is going?
What do those Dharma-imprinted secondary plans say?
How stupid is Jack for thinking the package Lapidus dropped indicates that they should follow him? (Or how dumb am I for thinking otherwise?)
Will Sayid make it back to the Island on bearing 305 before it is moved?

I don’t know anything. I’m only and expert on this blog and even then it’s shaky. But I *LOVE* the Island.

So much so, in fact, that I hope the next 2 seasons deal with it only in flashbacks. I want to learn about the island by not being there in the regular narrative. I want it’s story to unfold as if it were a person.

Maybe it *is* a person. Maybe it’s Krakoa (for all you X-Men fans)?

4. Death, Time and Alliances

Cool how the Doctor met his demise so soon after being told of the time differential. Maybe Lapidus (and Keamy’s crew) and/or Sayid experience an equal and/or opposite(?) effect?

What to make of Hurley staying with Locke when he was offered the chance to leave?

The differences and similarities between Locke and Ben.

What price will Locke pay for being chosen?
How else will Ben pay?

Why is Lapidus so committed to helping the 815 crew?
What was motivating the captain?
How much did he really know about his employer (Widmore) and the Island?

Why are the Oceanic Six the Oceanic Six?

Will we see Jacob this season?

What is the nature of Christian’s “speaking on his (Jacob’s) behalf”?

Why is Claire with Christian?

What is the ultimate plan for Aaron? Seems to me he’s being groomed to be the “next” chosen one. Orphaned, et cetera.

5. Tropes

Locke’s eyes opening. Twice.
Geronimo Jackson album cover (inside Locke’s locker. And who was the photo of the old man? Hanso?)
Games being played, in this case Backgammon.
Comic Books.
Birth (and specifically an emergency birth).
A car accident.
Music (Buddy Holly’s “Everyday”).

I’m sure I missed a few.

Here’s the list of items Alpert showed Locke. Any guesses as to their significance?

Baseball Mitt
Book of Laws
Grain in a jar (what kind of kernels/grain?)
Comic Book (A Mystery title with something to do about an island)
A knife

Sure, even at that young age Locke was trying to redefine himself by going for the knife just as he did later repeating his “Don’t tell me what I can’t do” line.

What other parts of Locke’s past echoed his future and vice versa? What did I miss? And what does the intervention of Alpert and Abbadon tell us? Did Ben also visit Locke at some point in the past? How about Widmore? Jacob, Christian or “The Island” even?

It’s way too late and I lost steam about 30 minutes ago.

Suffice it to say I loved this episode and I haven’t been disappointed in this shortened season.

Next week: Oceanic Six!

As always, I know I’ve left huge gaps. Fill some in with comments.

UPDATE: Disregard all my silliness about Anthony Cooper and his relation to Locke. I had forgotten that this was settled previously. Late night posting sucks.

Also, please read Doc Jensen’s EW recap. He’s much smarter and more eloquent than I am.