Hey Jon! I Was Right

Occasionally Jon and I have friendly arguments over how many events and plot twists the writers of LOST plan out seasons in advance and how many the just make up as they go along. I’ve always been of the opinion that a lot of the story line has been planned from the beginning of the show. Jon is more of the opinion that the writers are tying some things together as they go along.

Well the latest post over on a LOST Easter Egg site contains some quotes from the creative minds behind the show that indicates some things were planned out from the beginning.

Q: What is the meaning or significance of the two skeletons that Jack and Kate found in the cave of season 1?

CUSE: The answer to that question goes to the nature of the timeline of the island. We don't want to say too much about it, but there are a couple Easter eggs embedded in [the Feb. 7 episode], one of which is an anagram that actually sheds some light on the skeletons and hints at a larger mythological mystery that will start to unfold later in the season.

LINDELOF: There were certain things we knew from the very beginning. Independent of ever knowing when the end was going to be, we knew what it was going to be, and we wanted to start setting it up as early as season 1, or else people would think that we were making it up as we were going along. So the skeletons are the living — or, I guess, slowly decomposing — proof of that. When all is said and done, people are going to point to the skeletons and say, ''That is proof that from the very beginning, they always knew that they were going to do this.'

– Source Entertainment Weekly

Now there is all kinds of speculation as to who these two skeletons are. Jack and Juliet? Sawyer and Kate? Desmond and Penelope?

I’m just glad the writers are thinking about some things in advance. This usually means a stronger, more coherent story line as the show progresses.

Also, Jon has put together an interesting theory on why people can't leave the island. You can read it here.

The Children of Men by P.D. James

As a general rule, books are better than the movies they’re based on. Because books don’t have budget or time constraints, it’s often hard for screenplay writers to get all the scenes, ideas, and characters from a book to the big screen. Though I’ve never read any of the Harry Potter books, I hear fans are usually disappointed with the movies because so much was left out. On the other hand most people were happy with the way The Lord of the Rings movies turned out. There have been a handful of times where I liked the movie more than the book. K-Pax was an awful, uninspiring book but a decent movie. Contact was a great movie but a very long and dull book.

I bring this up because I just finished reading The Children of Men and find myself in unchartered territory. I really liked the movie (read my review here) and the book. The problem is the book and movie are VERY different from each other. The only thing the book and movie have in common is that mankind is unable to have children until, miraculously, one woman becomes pregnant, and the main character is a guy named Theo who tries to bring the woman to a safe place where she can give birth.

The similarities stop there. Characters that appear in the movie are nowhere in the book. And where some characters do overlap, their relationship they have with Theo is very different. The book doesn’t contain any of the politics or violence that is found in the movie. Instead there’s a strong but subtle spiritual element to the book. The movie is much faster paced and in some ways more entertaining. The book, though slower, I think depicts a more realistic picture of what mankind would be like if people stopped having children. 

Even though the book and the movie The Children of Men are very different, they’re both done extremely well. This was the first book I’ve read by P.D. James and thought she had a beautiful but straightforward writing style. Alfonso Caron is a great director (he did the best Harry Potter movie to date) and did an excellent job of depicting his view of a hopeless world.

I can’t think of another book or movie that’s based off the book that were so different yet so enjoyable. So when it comes to The Children of Men, watch the movie or see the book or read the book then watch the movie. It doesn’t matter. They’re both enjoyable. Just be forewarned that the stories are very different from each other.

(And for those who are unfamiliar with the works of P.D. James, you’ll find her book in the mystery section of the bookstore. Though The Children of Men doesn’t fit into that category, the rest of her books are mystery novels.)

Free Will Rocks

I don’t believe in fate. I believe that we are free to choose our own destiny. I believe that where we end up in life is largely because of good and bad decisions we make.

Yet when it comes to my wonderful marriage to Marathon Girl, I sometimes wonder if it was some unseen power that brought the two of us together.

I bring this up because Wednesday’s episode of LOST (great episode BTW) was very fatalistic. (And for those who aren’t fans of the show, stay with me. I’m going to talk mostly about my courtship to Marathon Girl instead of the episode.) Desmond discovered that no matter what choices he made, it was fated to end up in the island pushing the button every 108 minutes apparently to save the world. If he didn’t break up with Penelope that day then something would happen the next day or the day after to make them break up. The universe, we are told, has a way of course correcting itself.

Back to my courtship with Marathon Girl: Had this been any normal relationship it never would have made it past the first date. But it seemed like some invisible hand kept pushing Marathon Girl and I together no matter how many mistakes and dumb decisions we made. Here’s just a small sampling of what happened when we were dating that makes me think the two of us were destined to be together.

• It was by chance that Marathon Girl ended up going to the same church as I. Where most of her unmarried friends were going to a church for singles, Marathon Girl chose to attend a church where I was the only other single person.
• For several weeks I tried to think of a reason to talk with her on Sundays. Unable to think of any excuse to start a conversation, her photo appears on the front page of the sports section of the local paper announcing she won the Ogden Marathon.
• Our first date was the worst date either of us had been on. It was so bad that Marathon Girl ended up going back to her parent’s house that night and crying to her dad about it. Her dad, who is really big on making sure his daughters are treated with respect, shocked Marathon Girl and the rest of her family when he said that she should give me a second chance.
• Our second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth dates were equally uninspiring. Yet I still felt that I should keep asking Marathon Girl out and she kept saying yes.
• When we started dating, we were both in other relationships that weren’t going anywhere and that we didn’t feel were right. Yet somehow those relationships never got in the way of our seeing. For example, when I would call Marathon Girl and ask her our, I’d happen to ask her out on the only day of the week she didn’t have something planed with her then-boyfriend.
• After six lousy dates we ended up talking about where this relationship was headed. We both agreed that we should stop dating each other and just be friends. On my way out the door, I ask Marathon Girl was she was doing that weekend. She said she wasn’t doing anything. I asked her out. She accepted. And we ended up having a perfect date. And the relationship took off from there.

So after LOST, I asked Marathon Girl, who is also a big believer in free will, if she thought we would have been together if I hadn’t stayed in Ogden after my late wife’s death or if she had chosen to attend a different church or one of us had made a different decision along the way if we would have ended up together. We talked for a good hour about it and both concluded that somehow the universe would have found a way to bring the two of us together.

Maybe some things are meant to be.

Be My Valentine. Watch LOST.

I’ve been too busy to write my thoughts on last week’s episode of LOST until my lunch break today. Sorry they’re a week late. Promise to have a write up about tonight's episode tomorrow.

• Thought Juliet’s flashback was great. I felt I understood her motivations for wanting Ben dead a lot better and it’s nice to know she’s not officially part of The Others.
• I see a budding (love?) relationship going on between her and Jack. They’ve both been promised the way off the island by Ben but I’m willing to bet they won’t leave unless they can take the remaining survivors with them.
• That room Karl was held in was number 23. Hmmmm. Where have we heard that number before? Oh yes, that’s one of the numbers that had to be entered into the computer. Since the hatch imploded the writers have dropped at least one hint to those numbers in every episode.
• One blogger has done some audio work and discovered there was some clever backmasking going on in the audio in the brainwashing room. Apparently one of the things that are being said on the film is “Only fools are enslaved by time and space.”
• Having Juliet’s husband hit by a bus was great and creepy at the same time. I’d like to think it was an accident but The Others seem to have the resources necessary to get things done.

Have a great Wednesday. Celeberate V-Day by watching LOST.

To Aidan or Molly

I wrote the following poem in December of 2003 in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. Marathon Girl and I had been discussing what to name the baby if it was a boy or a girl. What follows just flowed from pen to paper. What surprises me on reading this again is that we ended up sticking with the first boy name we liked and using the girl name we liked when our daughter arrived almost three years later. To Aidan or Molly

The books say you’re the size of an avocado, and if we could see you swimming in a warm bath of amniotic fluid, we’d know if you’re a boy or a girl. In a month the doctor will strip away some of the mystery, but for now we like to lie in bed and imagine what you’ll be and give you names like Aidan or Molly.

And after the talk of names is done for the night, I’ll skip ahead a few chapters to see what you’ll look like nine weeks from now and read about the changes you’ll undergo before joining the family of a writer and a chemist.

But by the time you’re old enough to read this, I may not be a writer and your mother may not be a chemist and your name might not be Aidan or Molly but Jarom or Natalie or something that won’t be a thought in our minds until the moment you’re born.

– Abel Keogh 12/23/03

We Were Watching Unbreakable at the Time

Marathon Girl: "Have you ever met a woman that made you want to take off your wedding ring?" Me: "Yes"

Marathon Girl (appalled): "When did this happen?"

Me: "The first time I saw you."

I'm Alive

Yes, I’m alive. Been very busy with a sister-in-law’s wedding and work-related things. Will have a full review of LOST and catch up on a million other things soon.

Stay tuned.

It's Baaaaaack...

After being off the air since November, LOST returns tonight. I'm looking forward to watching it.  Hopefully its long hiatus hasn't caused a massive loss of interest. I’d like to see the show be around for another year or two.

I'll have a full review and thoughts on the episode tomorrow.

It Finally Warmed Up!

There’s nothing harder than running when temperatures are below freezing. For the last month Utah has been in a deep freeze and daytime highs have rarely risen past the 32 degree mark. When I run in the mornings temperatures have usually been around zero and my body never really seems to warm up – even after a long, hot shower. It doesn’t help that I have little to no fat on my body either.

Yesterday the temperatures finally broke the freezing barrier as temperatures shot up to nearly 50 degrees. Marathon Girl said her six mile afternoon run felt wonderful to not have to spend the first half of her run trying to warm up. It made it easier for her concentrate on speed and technique.

We’re hoping the warm weather stays as we’d like to take the kids on a run with us Saturday. It would be good for them to spend more time outside now that it’s warmer. I think long overdue trip to the park is in order.

My Super Bowl XLI Pick

I don’t have feelings one way or another for either the Bears or the Colts. I am a little partial toward the Bears simply because one of my good friends, Eugene, has been a Bears fan as long as I’ve known him and has suffered through a 21-year Super Bowl drought very patiently. This has the potential to be a very good game. If the Bears come out playing like they did last week, they could seriously give Payton Manning and the rest of the Colts some problems. The Colts need to make sure they’re not letting the hype about them being the team-to-beat get to their heads. Better teams have often lost the big game simply because they weren’t prepared mentally.

The problem I see is that the Bear’s quarterback, Rex Grossman, has been widely inconsistent all year. He’s had some good games but others where he’s been just awful. Manning, on the other hand, can have a bad game but still be counted on to score. The Bears have great defense, but against the Colts you still need an offense that can put points on the board. I just don’t see Grossman having the big game he needs to give the Bears their second Super Bowl title.

So, yeah, I think the Colts will win even though I’ll be cheering for the Bears.

Sorry, Eugene.

Colts 31 Bears 17

***

And speaking of the Bears, who can forget their Super Bowl Shuffle from 1986. Thanks, Jason. I forgot all about it.