Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Lost t-shirts

With the finale less than a month away, now would be a great time to purchase a Lost themed t-shirt. I will most likely watch the finale with a pretty large group of friends so it would be cool to have a Lost themed shirt to wear. I've been searching around on the internet today and I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you.

Price: $27.64
Shipping: $10.67
Purchase here

This is by far my favorite Lost themed t-shirt. Only problem is that it comes from a UK website so the shipping is kind of expensive. The shirt is already pretty expensive at $27.64 anyway. I would have already bought this if it wasn't for the price. You can save 10% by signing up for the site's newsletter, but I'm hoping they will have some kind of sale leading up to the finale (maybe free shipping at the very least).

 Price: $18.00
Shipping: $4.00
Purchase here

Unique and cheap. This is an overall great design and it's at a good price.





Price: $23.94
Shipping: $7.13
Purchase here

Not only is this a tribute to one of the best characters on Lost, you can also customize the color of the shirt as well as choose whether you want long or short sleeves. Again, slightly expensive though. Check out a Desmond version here.

Price: $24.00
Shipping: $7.00
Purchase here

Simple. Unique. Awesome.

Available in multiple colors as well.

Too bad the majority of the world would mistake you for a werewolf lover.


Price: $24.95
Shipping: $7.95
Purchase here

Ok seriously, who wouldn't want a Mr. Cluck's t-shirt?!

Check out the rest of ABC's official LOST gear here!





 Price: $27.64
Shipping: $10.67

Purchase here


Another one of my fave's; however, this is also from the UK website where shipping will run you $10.67.




There are quite a few cool ones out there, but these stood out to me. I'd be willing to bet that some of these will see a pretty significant price drop following the finale. The only question is do you want to wait that long?

Let me know if there are any others out there that you guys really love.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Lost Recap: "The Last Recruit"

The Last Recruit was a fast-paced transition episode that really seemed like the calm before the storm, even though it had quite a bit of action in its own right. Sadly, you really get the feeling that the show is coming to a close. All those years of buildup, and we'll know the outcome exactly one month from today. You might know this type of episode would air right before a two week hiatus for the show (more on that later).

The opening conversation between Jack and MIB was pretty awesome. You really get a great look at how Jack's character has totally made a 180. He is now the man of faith. He's the one who believes in destiny. He's the new John Locke.

The interesting dynamic here is that MIB doesn't seem to know this. We know that by taking on John Locke's body, he also took on his memories (remember him telling Ben what Locke was thinking before he died?). By taking on John Locke's memories, he definitely saw all the confrontations between Locke and Jack. He saw Jack as a man of science who would stop at nothing to get off the island. This time, the game has changed and MIB has no idea. Jack has come full circle and is now ready to accept his destiny. He's ready to thwart the infamous man in black.

I really enjoyed the multi-centricity of the flashsideways throughout this episode. It was pretty cool to see how our losties are all coming together once again. Some quick notes about the sideways:
  • Sun definitely remembers "MIB-Locke" as she frantically says "It's him!" when being wheeled-in on the gurney.
  • Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, and Miles are now all in the same location...but how is this going to tie into the losties at the hospital?
  • During the surgery, Jack is definitely going to flash to his island memories. Will he then believe that the man laying before him is really the evil MIB? Will he choose to save him or let him die? Very interesting stuff here...
  • I still have absolutely no idea how this flashsideways is going to converge with the on-island stuff. Don't forget, we still have to find out why the island is under water in the flashsideways. 

     After reading several different thoughts and impressions on the episode, I'm definitely under the impression that MIB wanted Sawyer to take his boat. He wanted him to round up Kate, Sun, Lapidus, Hurley, and Jack. That's why he conveniently left to go check on Sayid...to give them time to get away. What he didn't anticipate was Jack coming back. Good ole' Jack Shephard now wants to stay on the island until his destiny is fulfilled. Jack and Sawyer share a tense moment and Sawyer basically tells Jack to get off his boat. Jack apologizes for Juliet's death and then he obliges by going overboard.

    We also see that some of the real Sayid may still be alive underneath the "zombie-Sayid" we've come to know over the past few weeks, or as Hurley so eloquently puts it, "You can come back from the dark side." No way he shot Desmond in that well, especially after the moving speech he delivered. Desmond has taken on a very Jacob like manner in both realities as we now see him talking his way out of a life or death situation. There's still hope for Sayid and even Claire it seems. MIB is slowly losing his recruits, one by one.

    Widmore's team is really throwing me off here. He seems to know a lot about the MIB, but if that's the case, then why in the world is he trying to kill him by firing a missile? He should know it's not that simple. What I loved about this scene is that the MIB doesn't even flinch and shows no signs of fear. He is clearly impervious to all physical harm, which makes it even more interesting to see how they're going to destroy him in the long run. Just check out the screencap to the right. Jack is clearly the focus of the shot, but look off to his left. There's the MIB, stoic and unscathed.

    I was also confused as to why Widmore decides to hold all the losties at gunpoint. Right when we were starting to think he was a good guy, he goes out and pulls something like that.

    If you don't watch the promos for future episodes then stop reading here.................

    All I have to say is, WOW. The Candidate looks as if it's going to be one amazing, intense episode. The promo was just haunting and eerie. It seems that MIB goes "Rambo" on Widmore's camp, taking them out the old fashioned way...with a gun. Although the promo didn't show it, I can almost guarantee that we'll see MIB's smoke form sometime this episode. I can't even remember the last time he changed into Smokey so it will be cool to (hopefully) see him again.

    As for next week, the show is taking a week off, then the remaining episodes will air on May 4th, May 11th, and May 18th. The two-hour SERIES finale will air on Sunday, May 23. Since we have a week off, I'll probably do a re-watch for some of my favorite episodes from this season (Ab Aeterno for sure). I will try and do a blog post regarding my re-watch just to let you guys know what I noticed differently.

    By the way, in case you haven't had a chance yet, check out my previous blog post here. I need everyone's help in coming up with a new name for the blog!

    Tuesday, April 20, 2010

    Who says predictions can't come true?

    I'm not one to brag, but when you predict something on LOST you have to at least mention it. So I'll just point you all to my previous post here where I predicted that Jack would operate on Locke in the flashsideways. "At some point in the next couple of episodes, sideways-Locke is going to be taken to a hospital where he will come into contact with...you guessed it...Jack Shephard. Jack is going to operate on Locke and when he does, I think that will be his moment to remember the island."

    Not too hard to see that one coming, but I'll take it haha. We'll see if the second half of it comes true in the future episodes, but I'm pretty sure that Jack will most definitely remember something.

    You can expect a full episode recap coming within the next few days. We have two weeks until the next episode so I'll try to come up with something cool for next week.

    Sunday, April 18, 2010

    What's in a name?

    I have been blogging since 2006, but I haven't been doing it regularly until this season of Lost. ABC's incredible show has given me a lot to write about week after week. Recently, I've been trying to come up with a new name for my blog. "Jonboy's blog" isn't very unique and many of the people who read my blog aren't familiar with my "Jonboy" nickname anyway.

    I would do something Lost related; however, as many of you know, the show is in its final season and I will likely be moving to other blogging topics once the show has concluded. So I would like to extend an invitation (to anyone out there reading this) for you to send me suggestions for a new blog title.

    Just to throw out some ideas, here are some other blogs with titles that I like: Rememorandom, Life, or something like it..., My Little Corner of the World, and The Writer's Notebook.

    Here are a few of the possibilities I came up with (some clearly more thought out than others)...
    • A Stream of Thoughts
    • Ray of Impressions
    • Flowing Rivers
    • Sunny Side Up
    • Mythical Dreams
    • Jonboy's Stoop
    I came up with these in about 5 minutes so it isn't going to hurt my feelings if you hate them all. What are some of your suggestions?

    Saturday, April 17, 2010

    Beware: Finale spoilers have hit (no spoilers in this post)

    I can't stand spoilers, but for some reason, I always find myself wanting to read them. Not this time though. Not with the LOST series finale at stake.

    I normally don't mind little spoilers such as who the episode focuses on, the title of the episode or who the guest stars are. This is why I look at some of the spoilers sections on different websites. This is really a catch 22 as sometimes I will read something that is a little more than I want to know. I'm glad to say though, I haven't been spoiled on anything MAJOR this season. I hope to keep it that way.

    Anyway, the point of this post is that I have recently seen two thread titles on forums that indicate finale spoilers are starting to leak out. One read "FINALE Spoiler" while another read "MAJOR RUMOURS about series finale."

    Needless to say, I'm not clicking on them to see whether or not they seem plausible and I hope you guys can avoid them as well. Here are some quick tips to avoid spoilers.
    1. Stick to the sites you trust who have spoilers clearly labeled so you don't accidentally read one.
    2. Avoid forums/message boards completely. Even if a section isn't supposed to have spoilers, you almost always have one jerk who'll throw one in there just to tick people off.
    3. Do not read the comments sections on any story you read about Lost. Even if the story you are reading doesn't contain spoilers, often times, people will put spoilers in the comments just to annoy people.

    Thursday, April 15, 2010

    Lost Recap: "Happily Ever After" and "Everybody Loves Hugo"

    As you probably know, I failed to deliver on last week's recap. So for that, I give a double-dose of the LOST blog this week!  Rather than write out a blog for Happily Ever After, I would like to share a video I found on a fellow blogger's website (logankstewart.blogspot.com). This video recaps the episode better than I could ever hope to. Trust me...you MUST see this video.



    In short, I loved Happily Ever After. Desmond has long been one of my favorite characters on the show, and definitely one of the most intriguing characters as well. He's clearly a game changer and one who will play a huge role in how the show ends.

    Let's move onto Everybody Loves Hugo and seriously, who doesn't love Mr. Hugo Reyes? The guy is one of the most fun, lovable characters on the show, and ultimately, he's just so darn nice. Often times, Hurley has simply been there for comic relief, delivering one liners that bring a smile to our face. At other times, he's served as an advocate for the viewer by asking some of our biggest questions. In season 6 however, Hugo has taken on a much greater role. He's slowly making his voice heard and dare I say it...he's becoming a leader.

    Let's start with the flashsideways, which have now become incredibly interesting. I'm really glad that they didn't leave Desmond out of the story for long. Right away we see that he has indeed set out on his mission to contact all the passengers from flight 815 and to show them their island memories.

    His meeting with Hugo was charming and insightful. Desmond perks up when he hears that Hurley has already come into contact with Libby, which makes his job even easier. He tells Hurley to go with his gut-feeling. He follows up later and observes Hurley and Libby having their picnic on the beach. Once Hurley and Libby kiss, Desmond can see that his job is done.

    On the island, Team-Jacob is scrambling about as they try and figure out what to do next. Richard and Ilana seem determined to blow up the Ajira plane, but Hurley and Jack aren't so sure. In one of the first three jaw-dropping moments of the episode, Ilana is literally blown to pieces when she throws her bag of dynamite to the ground. Poor, poor Ilana. Jacob stopped the dynamite from killing Jack and Richard, couldn't he have done the same for her? I still think Jacob is the good guy, but come on! She devoted her whole life to Jacob and now she will forever be remembered as Artz part II.

    Meanwhile, MIB and Desmond are trekking through the jungle when they come to an ancient well. MIB tells Desmond a story of the island's original inhabitants and how they had dug the well to try and find the source of whatever it was that messed with their compasses. He then asks Desmond why he isn't afraid to which Desmond replies, what's the point in being afraid? We then get the 2nd "holy crap!" moment of the episode when MIB proceeds to throw Desmond into the well. I guess I should have seen this one coming, but I sort of expected Desmond to have something up his sleeve. Instead, he just allowed it to happen. At this point, I'm thinking Desmond definitely knows something that we don't (As a side note, I'm a little ticked that the previews for next week showed Desmond alive at the bottom of the well. I mean, I'm thrilled he's alive, but a little suspense wouldn't hurt).

    Team-MIB is also trying to decide what to do next. Sawyer is growing impatient, but MIB says they must wait for the rest of the candidates to come to them. Oddly enough, Hugo suggests just that and unfortunately, Team Jacob comes to a crossroads. Richard, Ben, and Miles head to the Dharma barracks to stock up on grenades so they can blow up the Ajira plane (I just have a bad feeling about these three. I don't seem the surviving to the end). Jack, Sun, Lapidus, and Hurley head for camp-MIB thanks to some help from Michael's ghost (finally an answer to the whispers!).

    Hurley enters the camp first and makes MIB swear that he won't harm them. Yeah, good luck with that. So now the stage is set for next week when MIB will make his case to Team-Jacob. It will be interesting to see how they respond and also interesting as to whether or not ghost Jacob will make an appearance.

    Now back to the flashsideways. For some people (i.e. Hurley), Desmond only needs to show them their loved one to get them to remember. Unfortunately for one John Locke, he's already found the love of his life and she wasn't on the island. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that there is no reason she would trigger his island memories. So what does Desmond decide to do? He runs over a man in a wheel chair. I have to say, this seems like something we should have guessed, but my jaw fell to the floor (for the 3rd time this episode) when Desmond's car smashed into Locke's wheelchair.

    I now find myself asking some very interesting questions about the flash-sideways. How many people will just see their loved one and how many will have to have near death experiences? Let's do a quick tally to see where we stand.

    Hugo- Kissed Libby. No near-death experience needed.
    Locke- Ran over by Desmond. 'Nuff said.
    Sun and Jin- They're already together in the sideways. Near-death experience needed to remember.
    Kate- She's already seen both Jack and Sawyer and even though she had a moment of recognition, none of her memories came flooding back. Looking like a near-death experience for her as well
    Sayid- He's seen Nadia, but she was never on the island to begin with. Who was you ask? Shannon. He definitely cared about Shannon, maybe even loved her. Lucky for Sayid, no near-death experience required.
    Sawyer- He's already seen Kate...but not Juliet. No near-death experience required.


    As for Mr. Jack Shephard, here's my semi-bold prediction for the coming weeks. At some point in the next couple of episodes, sideways-Locke is going to be taken to a hospital where he will come into contact with...you guessed it...Jack Shephard. Jack is going to operate on Locke and when he does, I think that will be his moment to remember the island. He will flash back to the moment when he operated on Ben Linus to remove the tumor from his spine. Once Locke wakes up...who the heck knows what he and Jack will set out to do.

    If you've been a fan of the show for very long, there are three things you know for certain about LOST. Episodes that focus on Desmond, Locke or Hurley are absolute gold. They seem to stand alone as some of the best episodes in the entire series in part because not only are they well written, but they usually contain quite a few answers as well. Everbody Loves Hugo was no different. The writers have really stepped up their game and the final season has hit the home stretch. I can't wait for it to end...but I'm going to be very sad when it does.

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