First off, let me say that I love the Ben Linus charcter more than almost any other character in the Lost pantheon (save perhaps Locke). Michael Emerson is a great actor and, prison guard instructional videos notwithstanding, I think Ben is his finest role.

So an entire episode devoted to Dr. Linus is a real treat. Here are my main questions and takeaways:

Questions:

• Which Kwon is which?

Per a few weeks ago & repeated here, your candidates:

4 – Locke
8 – Hugo
15 – Sawyer
16 – Sayid
23 – Jack
42 – Jin and/or Sun

Locke is a wash since he’s dead, Jin isn’t looking so good now that he’s with the Temple/Not Locke team and Sayer is AWOL; Sayid is Zombie Sayid so I doubt it’s him either. That leaves Hugo, Jack & Sun.

Or, like Not Locke said, maybe Ben will be put in charge. Or maybe Widmore?

Of those two only Ben is candidate (117 on the Lighthouse dial) but he’s been crossed out.

So is the Kwon a reference to Jin, Sun, neither (their child, maybe?) or both?

• Are there really sides anymore?

I’ve mentioned it here before – my naive thought that Jacob & Not Locke represent New Testament God & Old Testament God respectively – and this (old by now) ABC Promotional Poster with the Last Supper theme doesn’t help matters much, though it does feature Not Locke as Christ. Not too big of a deal if you accept a triune Christian deity, but not quite in keeping with my hypothesis either.

In misremembering the poster I had initially thought that the characters had aligned themselves by sides that somehow matched the two camps we now have, but that’s not true at all (at least not yet). At the very least the three still-viable candidates (if you believe the numbers) are on Not Locke’s left/our right and also includes Ben (117). To Not Locke’s right we’ve got Jacob’s right hand, Richard Alpert, plus Sawyer (15) and Kate (51).

Best sequence of the whole episode was Not Locke freeing Ben, Ilana giving chase, Ben confessing his sins and Ilana forgiving him. Did Not Locke know/want that to happen or was he counting on Ben to fire his weapon? Are Jacob and Not Locke really so separate or are they somehow forever intertwined. Will it matter what “team” folks have chosen OR how they chose their actions (free will)?

• Did Jacob summon Widmore?

And just where in the world are Desmond & Penelope and do they matter in the story? Will they appear again in either reality?

108 on the lighthouse dial was “Wallace” which means “Welsh”. Widmore could be using a psuedonym but his accent never struck me as Welsh. Maybe a Scottish connection back to Desmond or MacCutcheon?

I’m shooting blanks.

Takeaways:

• Alpert, Arzt & The Black Rock

I called it a few episodes back (and maybe longer ago than that, I haven’t searched the archives) that Richard Alpert was a passenger in some capacity on The Black Rock. Still no explanations from him (other than Jacob’s touch being the catalyst for his youth). I want to know about the guyliner more than anything else.

I also think it’s great that the episode featuring a Black Rock storyline (and dynamite) also brings back Doc Arzt who memorably blew himself up with that unstable explosive. [Smaller points for Miles knowing about Nikki, Paolo & the diamonds though, as Jenn pointed out to me, neither of us could remember how, exactly, he might know that. Did he ever feel their graves? Were their dossiers among the reading materials when Miles first came to the island in search of Ben?]

Lastly, did anyone else draw the conclusion that The Black Rock had something to do with tea, given Dr. Linus’ tutoring session covering the East India Corporation? Lostpedia says The Black Rock was headed to Siam and not India when it was lost, but I’m not expert on the tea trade.

• Redemption & Forgiveness

Maybe I’m going to reveal my own struggles and problems with organized (actually any) religion, but I find comfort in the fact that maybe Ben had his priorities out of whack regarding what he thought Jacob/The Island wanted. His statement to Lapidus that “The island got you in the end” might be a bit of foreshadowing, at least I read it that way. Even though he was there all along, manipulating and being manipulated by the forces at play, it “got” him in the end via Ilana’s forgiveness and phrase “I’ll have you”.

Now this is where I part ways with Christianity (and maybe the show). Ben is certainly shown as being someone whom, it could be argued, isn’t worthy of forgiveness. One of the tenets of both of the Protestant religions I’ve semi-practiced in my lifetime is that we human beings are not worthy of God’s love or forgiveness but that it is, quite literally, divine to forgive. Or maybe I’m reading it wrong. Maybe Ben is worthy because of the confession. I don’t know. Religion makes my head hurt, but Ben not getting killed is better for the story and the themes of the show.

Now I don’t know if I’d have spared Ben’s life, but I do believe his sincerity about the guilt of his actions regarding Alex. It was nice to see that in the Flash Sideways, Ben chooses her well-being over his own and maybe, just maybe, attains some of what he was looking for in the process. He gets what he ultimately wants – History club, no detention, respect, Alex’s admission to Yale – without all that blind pursuit of power stuff.

Bonus points for the Napoleon allegory (is Ben really short?) and an Island/Elba connection. Good on ya!

• Jack as the viewers’ stand-in

While I always like Locke’s character, I had to admire Jack’s search for the truth, the facts, the science and the reason of The Island. Even now that Jack is the new Locke (willing to trust the process [a little bit, anyhow], leading folks back to The Island, following Hurley/Jacob) I also dig that he remains committed to finding out the whys and what-fors.

If we can’t have The Island version of Locke, having Jack (and Jack’s transformation) and still-paralyzed Locke of the past, works just fine for me.

Now if I could only strangle those damn promo editors. Enough with promises and the hype of the post-show spots! Just give us the damn footage without the text/chyrons! I care not for your pithy promises! Give me more Jack and ANSWERS! (I can’t believe I’ve become *that* fan, but there’s only so much time left).

Until next week!

I’ve become quite the birdwatcher recently, even going so far as to install a new shepherd’s hook in the backyard complete with Finch Feeder and a new dual-use suet/seed feeder.

I first got the bug hard when we hung our initial seed feeder and Hummingbird feeder over the Summer to fantastic results.

I never got any pictures or video to rival this guy, but still worth the time.

Here’s a recent tally (the past two weekends) of the avian visitors to our yard.

• American Robin
• Blue Jay
• Brown Thrasher
• Cedar Waxwing
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Downy Woodpecker
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Towhee
• Mourning Doves
• Northern Cardinal
• Northern Mockingbird
• Pine Warbler
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Song Sparrow
• Tufted Titmice

We’ve got a great location for all the birds: running water into our pond, ample brush in the form of native rose bushes and azaleas and good tree cover from Pine, Weeping Cherry & Bradford Pears. Among other reasons that I’m grateful for the approach of Spring is the promise of more (in number & species) birds visiting the feeders and trees of our back yard.

One of our most consistent visitors (apart from the Sparrows, Cardinals & Towhees who seem to always be about) is a particularly conspicuous Brown Thrasher. This guy (or gal) can be seen throughout the door – rooting around the leaf litter with the Towhees & Sparrows, up on the seed feeder with the Cardinals or, most often, perched precariously on the suet feeder waiting for a Wren, Warbler or the ornery Mockingbird to make him move.

I’ve considered his presence a teachable moment, annoying my kids (especially Raelyn) by updating them on his every move. A bird that big (easily 10-11 inches) on a 6-inch suet feeder is kind of ridiculous. Plus, it’s a great time to show off the State Bird of Georgia to an eager First-grader. What kind of parent would pass that up?

Unfortunately, while searching for some additional information on the Brown Thrasher I came across a recent, ongoing campaign by Georgia’s Poultry industry to petition the State Legislature to change the State Bird to the Cornish Chicken. They’re calling it “Flip The Birds“. Needless to say, I was unimpressed.

Because I fancy myself a hot-headed do-gooder I quickly found a counter-petition, signed it and then fired off the following email to the person who appears to be in charge of the Cornish Chicken brigade:

To whom it may concern,

I find your site, flipthebirds.com, misinformed and misleading due to the lies it is spreading about the State Bird of Georgia, the Brown Thrasher.

On the Brown Thrasher page (http://www.flipthebirds.com/brown-thrasher.html) you state two things which are DEMONSTRABLY FALSE:

1) You state that the Brown Thrasher is migratory to Georgia, when in fact it is a year-long, endemic species, occurring in every Georgia county all 12 months of the year: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Thrasher/id

2) You state that Garden Club of Georgia petitioned the state to change our State Bird to the Brown Thrasher in 1970. This is MISLEADING AND INACCURATE. According to the Secretary of State’s website (http://www.sos.georgia.gov/archives/state_symbols/state_bird.html):

“On April 6, 1935, the Brown Thrasher was first chosen as the Georgia state bird by official proclamation of the Governor.”

There’s also this story from Nature Magazine (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_was_the_brown_thrasher_chosen_to_be_the_Georgia_statebird):

“In 1928, the school children of Georgia selected the brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) as the state bird. According to Nature Magazine (April, 1932),

“The Campaign was inaugurated by the Fifth District of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs and was sponsored by the Atlanta Bird Club and kindred groups.”

Proposals were made to the Legislature and bills to adopt the brown thrasher as the state bird were introduced, but no action was taken.

On April 6, 1935, the brown thrasher was declared the state bird of Georgia by proclamation of Governor Eugene Talmadge”
Additionally, we have this beautiful bit of description from the pen of the most famous birdwatcher and naturalist in U.S. history, John James Audobon, on the Brown Thrasher:

“The Brown or Ferruginous Thrush is the strongest of the genus in the United States, neither the Mocking-bird nor the Robin being able to cope with it. Like the former, it will chase the cat or the dog, and greatly tease the racoon or the fox. It follows the Astur Cooperii and the Goshawk, bidding them defiance, and few snakes come off with success when they attack its nest. It is remarkable also, that, although these birds have frequent and severe conflicts among themselves, yet when the least alarm is given by an individual, a whole party of them instantly rush forth to assist in chasing off the common enemy.”

Does that sound like a “lowly” or “undeserving” bird?

While I can appreciate a dedicated campaign by the poultry industry in this state to affect this kind of change for their own narrow economic reasons, it does not need to resort to the usual crass qualities and attacking tone of political campaigns. It’s also rather silly, since the state bird has more to do with the natural wildlife of a place than it does commerce.

Georgians should be honored to have such a unique bird as the Brown Thrasher as the symbol of their fair state. No other state can lay claim to this bird, while Rhode Island already has the Blue Hen Chicken as their official bird. Do Georgians really want to emulate the residents of Rhode Island?

Georgia doesn’t need a pedestrian, plain chicken as their state bird, they need the Brown Thrasher!

Sincerely,

Seth Miller
Smyrna, GA

So, yeah, there’s that. A wonderful weekend of bird-watching and cataloging tempered with the harsh realities of a Monday Morning missive fired off from behind the safety of my keyboard.

I hope this week gets better and that you (and I) see more beautiful birds as we make our way towards Spring.

Happy Monday!

The title of this post is the second half of the sub-head of Mark Barrowcliffe’s memoir – The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons & Growing Up Strange (a memoir) – so I’m going to be taking a little stroll down memory lane and reviewing the book but also a large(ish) slice of my past. Buckle up.

If we’re friends on Goodreads, you’ll know that I just recently finished reading the book, taking an inordinate amount of time (well over a year) to finish the damn thing. That’s not a bad thing nor is it an indictment of my interest level in the subject matter or the quality of the writing. It just means that the story, such as it is, only grabbed me about halfway through and the bookends of the book (ha!) are much weaker.

Here’s a trailer:

Let me back up.

The book is a memoir that relies heavily upon D&D as a backdrop and not the other way around. If you’re looking for a book about the early days of D&D that might also feature some funny quips about being a teenager look elsewhere.

Here’s the thing: Barrowcliffe is a really excellent writer who can write some insanely funny dialogue (or remember it well) but his self-deprecation is borderline self-loathing and I think that fact cuts a bit too close to the bone.

You see, I was one of the folks around his gaming table. Figuratively.

I was insecure as a middle schooler and early high schooler.
I had an insanely well-manicured fantasy life.
I wasted (not really a waste, but still) many days/late nights/early mornings/all-nighters huddled around a gaming table with my Jolt Cola and a bag of salty snacks.

I think the part of me that didn’t like the book is the part of me that still can’t quite acknowledge how maladjusted and weird I was back in my own youth, struggling to figure out myself, other people and young women (only one of whom I actively remember gaming with us. Once.).

The best parts of the book – other than some of the more hilarious put-downs and bad behavior of the boys around the table – are those indelible sense memories of actually playing the game and affinity he (and I) had for the look & feel of the source materials: the game books, character sheets and ephemera.

This is where I jumped down the rabbit hole.

Reading the book spawned all kinds of memories of my initial game purchases, at a Toys R Us in Marietta, GA no less.

The D&D stuff sat in a bin, low to the floor at the endcap of the action figure aisle (near Strongheart & Warduke), facing the books – as if kids in a toy store in the 80s wanted to get a book for their 10th birthday. Feh!

My interest was in the fantasy, the wonder, of playing a game that came without a board or pieces, but merely a set of rules and illustrations.

I’d seen the TSR/Marvel cartoon series (now out on DVD!) a year or two earlier – the year of the book purchases would have been 1987 or 1988 – so I understood the mythology, such as it was, of Dungeons and Dragons, and so I pawed the books but didn’t have the cash on hand to afford 2 or 3 (let alone even 1) of the $20 tomes.

My first purchases were actually modules for D&D, AD&D and Gamma World, not that I knew what any of these things were. Try being a 7th or 8th grader spending time at a sleepover with your buddies and trying to reverse engineer a rules system from 24 to 32 pieces of paper. Good times. [I *may* still have these modules in a box somewhere. They came from my parents house with a ton of comics, books & toys.]

When I finally did have the cash on hand – after a birthday or Christmas – I found the books on sale. I was able to buy AD&D 1st Edition stand-bys Unearthed Arcana, Player’s Handbook & Dungeon Masters Guide. Of course when I actually started playing regularly in 1989 or 1990 our gaming group was using AD&D 2nd Edition, heavily modified with older rules because of an older brother of one of the group. I can still remember arguments over calculating THAC0 and even the pronunciation of that key metric: (Thay-coh versus Thack-oh; the “th” sounds like “thistle” in both cases).

Around this time, I actively started collecting comics again – I’d gotten a TON of comics from my great grandmother in Michigan as a younger kid – and bought my first set(s) of polyhedral dice at Dr. No’s (at that time called Dr. No’s Books, Records & Comics). A few years later the comics industry would go full speculator, the records were gone and all the gamers were obsessed with Magic: The Gathering (me included), a past time that followed me to college.

The games in high school were epic. Rowdy, raucous affairs fueled by caffeine, unchained imaginations and the raging male hormones of puberty and early manhood. A game about swords & sorcery was the perfect outlet for our burgeoning masculinity.

I want to remember all the good bits – the laughter, the camaraderie and the storytelling – not the awkwardness of youth: pimples (warts) and all. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like the book as much as I might have otherwise, because I recognized too much of myself and others in the characters/caricatures of Barrowcliffe’s past. Nobody wants to be the asshole DM with the God complex or the Tolkein fanboy or the dreaded Min-Maxing Rules Lawyer.

Much like Barrowcliffe, I’m no longer an active gamer, though I’ve dabbled in MMORPGs recently (mostly WoW). In college, as I’ve said, I played M:TG, but I also tried out F.U.D.G.E, so I eased my way out of it.

I sometimes think I’d like to have those experiences again – the late nights and the hurling dice; the cackling and the cracking of skulls – but I’m not that person anymore, not entirely anyway.

In the end, maybe that’s the best/worst thing I can say about the book: that maybe some things are best left in the past. Fun to remember from time to time but not to be revisited or relived. (And, I’ll admit, fun to collect. I bought some old guidebooks, ones that pre-date my initial purchases, at a yard sale a few years back.)

Happy Reading/Gaming!

Brevity is the soul of with.

Not sure what that has to do with this blog post, except that it will be short.

A list:

• Sundown

Nothing like a Western-themed “clear out the town by picking sides” episode.

• Who is pulling the strings in 2004?

Sayid killing Keamy and then finding Jin?
All the crazy connections still in play?
When do we see Jacob? or the Man in Black? or Widmore? or the Dharma Initiative?
What’s the thread in that reality holding everything together?
The island?

• What does Kate’s choice mean?

Not much of a choice but – and I can’t believe I’m doing this – I’ll quote Rush’s “Freewill”:

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears
And kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that’s clear-
I will choose free will

Knowing that major theme of the whole series is destiny vs. free will I’m curious to see how they (finally) make use of Kate, whom I believe has been mostly wasted as nothing more than a romantic foil to Jack & Sawyer.

• Sad about Sayid

Whether or not Jacob represents good/God and the Man in Black represents evil (“evil incarnate”)/the Devil, it can’t be a good thing that Sayid so readily leapt back into his killing ways.

Kudos, though, to Ben for the scene in the temple. Can’t wait to see how the whole Jacob’s Bodyguards storyline resolves. I’d like to see Jin & Sun get back together.

Baby nights are taking their toll. Feel free to comment.

Until next Tuesday.

Down and dirty tonight, folks, until the Producers or ABC’s promo department start answering questions. I want to be led like Hurley was tonight, not left to stare at the ocean:

Things we ALL saw:

• Alice in Wonderland

Actually the annotated version. Anyone read it?

Not the first time.

• MacCutcheon Whisky

In Christian’s study.

Not the first time.

• 108 Degrees

Bets on who(m) that might be? Desmond Hume, perhaps?

Not the first time.

Shots in the dark:

• Seven Wonders of the Island World

We’ve already seen a Temple, a Colossus and a Lighthouse (tonight). Was the greenhouse/Orchid Station analogous to the Hanging Gardens?

Bone up on your Seven Wonders and offer up your thoughts on whether we have seen/will see three remaining wonders.

• Jack’s Forgetfulness

Is it Amnesia?
Is he a different Jack from a different time-stream/reality?
Who is David’s mother? Sarah?
Is David actually Jack’s son or the result of Sarah’s affair?

• Claire is the new Rousseau

I don’t know that I’ve thought this through the whole way, but maybe Rousseau was one of the Man in Black’s pawns too?

I also think that Jacob’s statements about Jack – “You’ve Got What It Takes” – are what even the island version of Christian (also MiB-controlled?) couldn’t tell Jack.

Still don’t know what my endgame is here, but I like the connections and contradictions Season 6 is showing us here.

I have a few other half-thoughts, but I’m blurry and baby-tired from the three-week-old holed up in our bedroom.

Pray for me.

I really want to hear what you think. Leave a comment.

Until next week!