Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

The first day of our Orlando Spring Break trip last week was exciting - we got to see our first space shuttle launch. We tried to drive to the Cape but traffic was so bad we only got as far as just east of Orlando before pulling off and setting up shop.

This is from about 40 miles west of Cape Canaveral, but still very impressive.

Sort-of-Spoilery Non-Serious Review of Battlestar Galactica, "Islanded In A Stream Of Stars"

My synopsis of this week's episode of "Battlestar Galactica":


Kara: "I totally heard this song in my head!"

The Final Five: *yawn* "Whatever"


Kara: "I'm going to kill you, Sam, to put you out of your misery!!"

Sam: *yawn* "Whatever. There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza."


Helo: "Can you say to my face that you hate me, Athena??"

Athena: *yawn* "Whatever"


Baltar: "You're still my favorite-est Cylon, Caprica!"

Caprica 6: *yawn* "Whatever"


Helo: "I have to go find my daughter!!"

Adama: *yawn* "Whatever"


Hera: "I want my mommy!!"

Boomer: *yawn* "Whatever"


Boomer: "You're not going to hurt the little brat, are you?"

Cavil: *yawn* "Whatever"


Baltar: "Kara Thrace is really dead!!!"

Everyone: *yawn* "Whatever"


Roslin: "You have to abandon the Galactica"

Adama: *yawn* "Whatever" *puff*


Adama: "Ok, we really do have to abandon the Galactica"

Tigh: *yawn* "Whatever"


Me: "Where's Chief Tyrol???"

The Show: *yawn* "Whatever"

Finding a Cure for Cancer... Fact or Fiction?

In an episode of The West Wing entitled, "100,000 Airplanes", the fictional president Jed Bartlet debates adding a line in his State of the Union Address that would announce to the world that America was going to dedicate itself to finding a cure for cancer in 10 years. The following are some short scenes from that episode

Cast of Characters:
BARTLET (Jed Bartlet, President of the US)
SAM (Sam Seaborn, Deputy White House Communications Dir.)
TOBY (Toby Ziegler, Senior White House Communications Dir.)
JOSH (Josh Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff)
C.J. (C.J. Cregg, White House Press Secretary)
JOEY (Joey Lucas, professional pollster who is deaf)
KENNY (Kenny, Joey's interpreter)
LISA (Lisa Sherborne, friend of Sam's)
CHARLIE (Charlie Young, Bartlet's Personal Aide)

JOEY [KENNY]
Did he [Bartlet] find a cure for cancer? 'Cause if he found a cure for cancer, I think that would be interesting. I think that was something we should share.

CHARLIE
Yeah.

JOEY [KENNY]
But he didn't. He wants to find a cure for cancer, and he wants to say that in the State of the Union. You know what my response would be? Me, too, but is this the first time you had that thought?

...

Note: At this point in the series, Bartlet has revealed he has MS and was awaiting a Congressional censure for his actions

BARTLET
A President stood up. He said we will land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. You know what we knew when he said that? Nothing. We didn't know anything. We didn't know about the lunar surface. We didn't know how to land one of these things. All we'd ever done is crash it into the ocean. And God knows we could figure out how to land soft. We didn't know how to blast off again, but a President said we're gonna do it, and we did it. So I ask you, why shouldn't I stand up and say we are going to cure cancer in ten years?

Silence in the room. No one responds.

BARTLET [CONT.]
I'm really asking.

JOSH
Well, how close are we to really being able to do this?

BARTLET
Nobody knows.

JOSH
Then...

BARTLET
Toby.

TOBY
It'll be seen as a political ploy.

BARTLET
Why?

C.J.
It can be seen... [to Toby] Excuse me. [to Bartlet] It can be seen as self-serving.

BARTLET
How?

C.J.
Using cancer to deflect attention from MS.

BARTLET
You think people with cancer care what my motives are? You think their families do?

C.J.
I'm saying...

BARTLET
Joey?

JOEY [KENNY]
I agree with everything that's been said, except, I don't think they'll see it as deflecting the MS. I think they'll see it as deflecting the censure.

BARTLET
Once again, why would somebody...?

JOEY
Everybody cares about motive, Mr. President.

BARTLET
I didn't...

KENNY
She said, "Everybody cares about motive," sir.

BARTLET
Sam.

SAM
Yes sir?

BARTLET
Why shouldn't I do it?

SAM
I think you should. I think ambition is good. I think overreaching is good. I think giving people a vision of government that's more than Social Security checks and debt reduction is good. I think government should be optimistic.

...

JOEY [KENNY]
Do I think people are in favor of curing cancer? Yes, I do.

SAM
So?

JOEY [KENNY]
But federal government shouldn't be directing scientific research.

SAM
Why?

JOEY [KENNY]
Because you stink at it. If it was up to the NIH to cure polio through a centrally directed program instead of an independent investigator driven discovery, you'd have the best iron lung in the world, but not a polio vaccine.

SAM
When did you get an M.D.?

JOEY [KENNY]
I was just quoting Samuel Broder.

SAM
Who's he?

JOEY [KENNY]
The former director of the National Cancer Institute. The speech is gonna work fine. Don't overreact to the censure.

...

SAM
Good evening, Mr. President.

BARTLET
You got it?

SAM
Yeah.

He gives Bartlet a piece of paper, which he reads, all the while pacing the room. Bartlet finds himself seated on a chair.

BARTLET
This is good.

SAM
You know we can't do it.

BARTLET
Yeah.

SAM
We need to line up experts who can face the press, and in just two weeks.

BARTLET
Yeah.

SAM
Sloane-Kettering, Dana-Farber, The Cleveland Clinic, UCLA.

BARTLET
We'd want to include the Society of Clinical Oncology.

SAM
And the NCI.

BARTLET
The OMB would have to score it. We haven't identified the offsets to pay for it. We can barely tell them what the "it" is.

SAM
Clinical trials under Medicare and Medicaid, Science and Technology Democrats, the pharmaceutical companies.

BARTLET
[sighs] It was a good idea though.

SAM
We have other good ideas.

BARTLET
So we don't get water from a rock. We just do our thing and take our chances.

SAM
I think so.

BARTLET
[stands] We're gonna have to do it awfully well this time.

SAM
We've done that before.

Bartlet gives Sam the draft back.

BARTLET
Anything else?

SAM
[shakes his head] Thank you, Mr. President.

Sam exits. Bartlet walks back to his desk.

...

SAM
[pause] Here's something interesting. In 1940, our armed forces weren't among the 12 most formidable in the world, but obviously we were gonna fight a big war. And Roosevelt said the U.S. would produce 50,000 planes in the next four years. Everyone thought it was a joke, and it was. 'Cause it turned out we produced 100,000 planes. Gave the air force an armada that would block the sun.

LISA
Do you still have what you wrote that night?

SAM
About curing cancer?

LISA
Yeah.

Sam walks to his desk and fiddles with his laptop. He shows Lisa his draft on curing cancer.

LISA
Read it to me. [sits]

SAM
[reads] "Over the past half-century, we've split the atom, we've spliced the gene, and we've roamed Tranquility Base. We've reached for the stars, and never have we been closer to having them in our grasp. New science, new technology is making the difference between life and death, and so we need a national commitment equal to this unparalleled moment of possibility. And so, I announce to you tonight, that I will bring the full resources of the federal government and the full reach of my office to this fundamental goal: we will cure cancer by the end of this decade."

LISA
[pause] That was nice. [beat] I'll pass the notes along.

Sam nods and watches Lisa leave his office. As he leans back on his chair, we see his computer screen and the words to his draft. With a touch, he highlights all the words, before he deletes them. For a moment, Sam just sits still, staring at the blank page.

I don't know if there are any great truths in there, but I found it an interesting parallel to Obama's comments about curing cancerin last night's speech to Congress.

Obama also pledged a "historic commitment" to health care and said the recovery plan could lead to a cure for cancer. He also promised the "largest investment ever" in preventive care. (CNN.com)

In this case, "The Economy" could be substituted for fears of politicizing Bartlet's MS and censure.

I wonder if the speechwriters for Obama went through similar discussions?

Thanks to this site for posting the script for the episode. No copyright infringement is intended)

Ties to the Left, Ties to the Right

Possibly the least significant item in the history of LOST hidden visual clues...

Jack, waking up in the jungle after the crash of Oceanic 815 (1st Episode):



And here's Jack waking up in the jungle after the "crash" of Ajira 316:



Notice his tie is pointing to the left after the first crash, and to the right after the second.

Wow. What does it mean? WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?!?!?!?!

Top 10 Rejected Contents of Locke's Note to Jack

Top 10 Rejected Contents of Locke's Suicide Note


10. "Having a Good Time, Wish You Were Here"

9. "It's a Cookbook!"

8. "Dear Jack,

Do you Like Me?
Check YES or NO

xxxooo "

7. "Jack - for my Tombstone:

Here Lies Locke
A Man of Faith
How I Wish
I'd Died When My Father Pushed Me Out A Window Instead of Just Breaking My Back Cause Then I Wouldn't Have Had to Ever Meet Any of YOU!!"


6. "I'm thinking of putting up a chandelier, can you pick me up some extra light bulbs? I need to test the strength of this beam first..."

5. "If you run into Ben after I'm gone, do me a favor: buy an old ship's steering wheel, wrap it around his neck and push him out a window? Thanks."

4. "Please tell Sun that Jin is dead. Wait, no, that he's alive! No, just tell her he's dead. No, on second thought tell her he's alive. No...oh... never mind."

3. "The Times, They Are A-Changin..."

2. "The Dharma Initiative is...PEOPLE!!!"


And the #1 Rejected Contents of Locke's Note to Jack

1. "Jack...I am your father."

Top 10 Things Hurley Might Have in his Guitar Case

Top 10 Things Hurley Might Have in his Guitar Case


10. A Guitar

9. RISK (2007 edition)

8. Ranch Dressing

7. Meteorite Repellent

6. Complete Justice League of America collection, Issues #253-365 (in Spanish)

5. Bulletproof vest, for the next girl he falls in love with on this island

4. 75 pounds of Mr. Cluck fried chicken

3. Ping pong paddles, golf clubs and balls for each

2. Owners Manual to VW Type 2a Van


And the #1 Thing Hurley Might Have in the Guitar Case...

1. Aaron

In Brightest Day

Here's a great story about a kid who made up his mind to take an adventure

“Can I help you?” the receptionist said.

“Yes.” I replied. “I need to speak with the person who writes Green Lantern.”

A smile made its way across the receptionists face. “I’m guessing you don’t have an appointment?”

“No.” I said, matter-of-factly. “But it’s important. I just want to say a few things to him. It’ll take five minutes, tops. Can you just tell him I’m here?”

“Do your parents know you’re here in our office?” the lovely lady said.

“Of course!” I lied, indignant.

When He Tells Them They MUST Go Back, He Ain't Just Kidding Around

My latest column on this week's episode of LOST, "This Place is Death

So why is Ben concerned only on getting the original Oceanic 6 back to the island, and not the others? Why some and not all? Physically, all nine escaped the island but Ben and Hawking are only concerned with getting the O6 back.

The answer lies in the common thread between the O6 - they were all on Oceanic 815 when it went down. Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Kate and (almost born) Aaron. Desmond was already on the island in the hatch, Frank came later in the freighter and Ji Yeon was conceived there. The common thread on why only they must go back is because ONLY THEY were once on the plane.

UPDATE: Screw it. Here's the whole thing:

Thoughts that occur to me during the viewing of "This Place is Death"

1) When Montand is pulled into the hole by the Smoke Monster, and calls up to his comrades - does he sound strange? I mean, yes, he just had his arm ripped off but he seems strangely matter of fact about calling for help. Almost like he's trying to lure his friends into the hole after him. I can't help but wonder if the Smoke Monster is able to take on the characteristics of people (or animals) it touches and mimic them. Something like the old Salt Vampire from the first episode of Star Trek back in the day.... This could explain the appearance of Christian Shepherd to Locke later in the show, that's it's a manifestation of the Smoke Monster. For this to be true, Dr. Shepherd, Sr., would have had to either a) not been truly dead in his coffin, b) revived and then imitated after the crash, or c) visited the island before his death. Anyway, all that to say Montand's behaviour wasn't what was really expected when down in the hole.


2) Speculations is that the ruins covered with hieroglyphs are possibly "The Temple" that Ben sent The Others, Rousseau and Alex to a couple seasons back. According to Ben it was the safest place on the island (and by the map he had was situated in the northwest corner, a good ways distant from both the Tower where the French party was headed and where their camp probably was). The heiroglyphs were strangely reminiscent of the dangerous red symbols in the Countdown Timer in the Swan Station hatch, after they count down to 00:00:00. If it is indeed the infamous "Temple" where Montand was dragged and the French party went in after him (and is the cause of their sickness/madness), and it's also where the Smoke Monster lives, it could be a very important key to the island's mysteries.


3) Charlotte. Poor, poor, cute, redheaded, British accented Charlotte. The time-travelling really started making swiss cheese of her brain, to where she remembered and relived past thoughts and experiences. She revealed she knew Korean, was born on the island, and that her mother "should never have married a foreigner". Sometime in her childhood she was carried away from the island by her mother and told the island was all a dream. She remembers the Dharma Initiative, that a crazy man (Daniel) once told her to never return or she would die, though she became an anthropologist in defiance of this warning to try to find the island. So, why? And who is she? Who are her parents?

Dr. Pierre Chang, the Oriental Dharma film guy was seen in the season premiere waking up to a very Oriental woman and tending their baby, so it's doubtful Chang is her father (although it's very probable the baby is Miles). I'm thinking Charlotte was a Dharma baby, born of Dharma parents and raised for several years on the island in the Barracks. Quite possibly near an adolescent Ben Linus. She could have learned Korean as part of her schooling from Dr. Chang, although why Korean I have no idea. At some point a time-traveling Daniel sees her as a child and warns her to never come back if she leaves. Whoever her mother was eventually escaped the island with her in tow, leaving the father behind.

Another possibility re: knowing Korean. Could Sun's father, Mr. Paik, be involved in the early days of Dharma as well, just as a young Charles Widmore and probably a young Eloise (Ellie) Hawking were once Others? I don't think he could be her father, since Sun is older and had already been born. Probably a stretch but who knows?

4) Now that Locke has turned the Unfrozen Donkey Wheel, have the time-shifts stopped for Sawyer, Juliet and co.? When are they? My money's on them being in the time period as the aforementioned opening scene of the season premiere - in the heyday of the Dharma Initiative and construction of the Orchid. Daniel will pose as a worker and infiltrate, while the rest of the Losties interact with Dharma as well. We'll likely spend most of the rest of the season on the Island with Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Daniel (and maybe Rose and Bernard if they all meet up) in Dharma times.


5) Ben and Desmond have never had an encounter together before this episode, except for a brief moment together when the two factions met near the wrecked plane cockpit last season. Obviously Ben knows Desmond and knows who he is (since Ben seems to know everything) but didn't seem to know he'd made it off the island since in his dealings so far this season he's been concentrating solely on getting the Oceanic 6 back to the island. Not the O6 + Desmond + Frank Lapidus, the chopper pilot + Ji Yeon, Sun's baby that was still a fetus during their escape. Ben doesn't express a lot of surprise at seeing Desmond, but is shocked and somewhat angry when the Scotsman asks if they're looking for Faraday's mother too. Obviously Ben didn't know that little tidbit of information.

So why is Ben concerned only on getting the original Oceanic 6 back to the island, and not the others? Why some and not all? Physically, all nine escaped the island but Ben and Hawking are only concerned with getting the O6 back.

The answer lies in the common thread between the O6 - they were all on Oceanic 815 when it went down. Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Kate and (almost born) Aaron. Desmond was already on the island in the hatch, Frank came later in the freighter and Ji Yeon was conceived there. The common thread on why only they must go back is because ONLY THEY were once on the plane.

So the even bigger question, why MUST they go back? Locke is asked several times why he HAS to bring them back, and he can only say, "I just know". Mrs. Hawking insists a couple episodes ago there are only 70 hours left to do so (several of which have now passed, undoubtedly). Why is it so imperative that the O6 return to the island? It's not just to save their friends, which is the lure and a happy by-product, but I think it's to save the flow of time itself.

Or something monumental like that. I believe the Oceanic 6, in some timeline somewhere, were always stranded on the island. Maybe they got off later in the future, but in 2008-ish, they were still on the island. And that timeline has been horribly disrupted by their escape and return to civilization.

Some trigger has disrupted the flow of time on the island, and subsequently in the world. Whether it was Desmond turning the Failsafe Key, Widmore sending the Freighter to capture Ben, or Ben himself turning the Donkey Wheel and moving the island something has "changed the rules". Ben accuses Widmore of "changing those rules" by having Keamy kill Alex in cold blood. There was a smooth path before, and now the path has been disrupted. Mrs. Hawking realizes this and working with Ben has instructed him to get the O6 back to the island where they're supposed to be.

Something about the whole sequence of events we've seen so far, from the orginal builders of the 4-Toed Statue and the Temple Ruins to the Black Rock marooning, the US army use of the island for bomb testing in the 50's, through the Dharma Initiative and the Purge, Roussea's expedition, Desmond's shipwreck and all the events after the plane crash, something has now happened that wasn't supposed to have happened before. And bring the O6 back to the island will supposedly set it straight.

Maybe.

Possibly.

We'll see.

Changing the Past ("The Little Prince")

My latest LOST column is up at I Love Television

The Losties continue to traipse around through time - this week to mid-season 1 just after Boone's fatal injury and Aaron's birth, to an unknown time in the future with a trashed camp to 1988 when Rousseau's French expedition wrecked on the island.

Taking Daniel's assertion in mind that the past cannot be changed, that it's a street that one can go backwards and forwards on but not create new streets, let's explore the evidence one way or the other...

Sleestak!

From the new Land of the Lost movie.

Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters

My latest wacky time travel theory on LOST is up at ILoveTelevision.com

So further speculation - Charlotte and Daniel have been shown to be close, having an almost tender romantic relationship. But is it possible their closeness is not based on romance but siblings?

Unstuck in Time

My thoughts on time travel in Lost here

It's interesting that the characters on the island - the Losties, at least - move back and forth through time but the Others don't. Richard Alpert and Ethan appeared in various times but were their current selves for that time period. Ethan, of course, being dead in the present and who knows what or when Alpert is. It almost seems like the island is staying put but the Losties are the ones moving around (what with the topography and clutter constantly rearranging themselves). What makes the Others different from the Losties? And does this apply to the crash survivors who now live with the Others (Cindy, the kids)?

New Lost Blog

Tonight is the Fifth Season premiere of Lost. I've been invited to write about the show at I Love Television.com blog - take a look before and after the airing for my thoughts about the premiere, the past, the future, and wherever else in the world we may become unstuck in time.

The Lost Boy blog:

I'll throw out one speculation that I've held for a long time, and that is I think we will find out that some of the major players on the show (adversaries, mainly) were crew of the ill-fated Black Rock slave ship that somehow ended up beached in the middle of the island. I think it's obvious that somewhere in the past, the island "moved" (via Frozen Donkey Wheel) and appeared right underneath the Black Rock. Members of the crew and possibly cargo/passengers were either rejuvenated or ressurected by the island's healing properties and live on to this day.

Empty Promises

Note written on napkin, sitting on empty table, in our break room:

FREE PILLOW STUFFING

I looked around, nothing there. So of course I wrote, on the same napkin:

? MUST BE FOR AIR MATTRESS

Sometimes work is fun...

Lost Beneath Lake Michigan

Wouldn't it be funny if this were a fake?

The iconic Stonehenge in the UK is one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world, but it is not the only stone formation of its kind. Similar stone alignments have been found throughout England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales… and now, it seems, in Lake Michigan.

According to BLDGBLOG, in 2007, Mark Holley, professor of underwater archeology at Northwestern Michigan College, discovered a series of stones arranged in a circle 40 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan. One stone outside the circle seems to have carvings that resemble a mastodon—an elephant-like animal that went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

While an American version of Stonehenge would be very cool, if quite inaccessible for tourists to visit, finding out a bunch of archeology students at the University of Illinois or Northwestern planted their version as a prank or a research project would be great.

Equally possible is that somewhere on the monoliths are carved the numbers, "4 8 15 16 23 42" and "815".

My Sixth Bloggiversary

Six years ago, on January 11, 2003, I wrote my first post for Inn of the Last Home.

This is it. Welcome.

In case you're wondering about the title, learn about it here.

Who am I? I live in Knoxville, TN. I have kids, and a good job. I figure the blogiverse needs someone to reach that middle-ground, family-in-the-suburbs, church-going, theatre-loving, liberal, sci-fi-watching, politically-naive demographic. That's me.

A lot has happened in six years. We've had two presidential elections (in which the online community had significant influence), I've joined a semi-successful band.

I lost a good friend in a senseless, tragic way. I also remembered another friend who was killed in another senseless, tragic way - the irony is I never actually met her.

I've performed in or Music Directed eight shows around town (Company, Jacques Brel..., Annie, Honk, The King and I, Suessical, Grease, Peter Pan) and one in Florida. I joined the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Theatre Association, and recently became Community Theatre Chair. My goal of actually getting to direct plays continues to frustratingly elude me.... I directed a children's show in 2002, and that's my only credit thus far despite a number of requests and offers to direct. That is, and always has been my main goal in theatre and I am unsure as to why I have not found an opportunity thus far.

My kids have grown up around me in spite of my attempts to keep them at three and six. Tink is now nine and a fourth grader, and BrainyBoy is twelve going on thirteen in the seventh grade. My "conversations" with Tink (then known as GiggleGirl) began here and are quite humerous (follow the tag).

My job situation on the face is unchanged. I continue to work at the same place, for the same folks and with pretty much the same folks. I don't and shouldn't blog about my workplace in any detail for obvious reasons but I will say that my frustration and feelings of being marginalized have about doubled every year since I started the blog. I need to find something new and quick - but I've been needing to do that for several years now, with no results. Similar to theatre directing, the opportunities for change, growth, advancement and satisfaction continue to elude me. Enough about that.

I've made 2,276 posts since I started this blog (counting this one). That averages about 379 a year or almost a post a day. Lately that count has dropped precipitously (like my big words?). A significant reason for that has been my increased use of Twitter. A lot of my style fits twitter better than blogging, with quick thoughts and random replies. Other than a few political posts I made in the last few months my posting has slacked off a good bit. I think if you look back in the previous paragraphs it will give you an indication why: sameness. Job - same. Theatre career - same. Not that the details haven't changed, but the sense of growth and moving forward have remained the same. When there's growth, there's creativity and spark. When I'm constantly going in circles, I don't feel as if there's really anything to particularly unload or talk about on this site.

I've also noticed in the last couple years the continued rise of a style of blogging I dislike - the hyper-political blog. These are blogs where politics is king and the actions of political figures are elevated to celebrity status. In the past, tabloid magazines and TV shows exploit the every movement and thought of various movie stars, models and other performers. Political blogs do the same with political figures, but in a different way. They elevate to extreme the people they like (i.e. from their own party and way of thinking) and denigrate everybody else (all those not in their party). It was bad enough during the Bush/Kerry campaign in 2004, but much worse in the McCain/Obama campaign of this past year. As I said before, the online community had a huge impact on the recent presidential election - but I don't feel it was a particularly positive one. Little attention was paid to highlighting issues and beliefs each candidate stood for, but more for their personalities, faults, intelligence, background, etc. When Sarah Palin's ability to see Russia from Alaska gets more blog coverage than McCain's economic policies we know we're in trouble. And when know more about political activists Obama was linked to 30 years ago than Biden's foreign policy experience, something's wrong.

But that's what was popular and any other noise was drowned out. So I didn't feel I had much of use to contribute. That was a big factor as well.

So what do I have to contribute to the blogging community? I lean way local, with a lot of Knoxville/Knox County/Tennessee related posts. I also lean personal with discussion of my family, my... (what would you call my theater and musical pursuits? They're less than a career but more than a hobby. An avocation?) Anyway, the stuff I do on the side. I don't rant, I don't pontificate, I don't throw things against the wall to see if they stick, I don't run things up flagpoles and see if anyone salutes, I'm not a curmudgeon, I'm not a rabble-rouser or an activist. I'm not a mommy-blogger or self-actualist. I don't claim to know the truth, the skinny, the dirt, the lowdown or the real story.

I am what I am. I live in a medium sized town in a southern state. I love music and I love theatre and Lost and Star Trek and Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica and Jurassic Park and Back to the Future and dragons and spaceships and transporters and Civilization III and World of Warcraft and Agatha Christie and Christopher White and Stephen King and The Beatles and Huey Lewis and the News and Jimmy Buffett and Carmina Burana and Beethoven's 9th and To God Be the Glory and Amy Grant and hot, sunny days in the Caribbean and cool days in the Smokeys and Walt Disney World and EPCOT and Neyland Stadium and LP Field and spring church softball and bottom of the ninth. I'm blessed to be reconnected and continue to connect with old friends from high school, college and elsewhere. I can't wait to be around the people I have met doing theatre. I adore my wife. I'm continually proud of my kids and want to see them grow up well. I'm thankful for my parents and my in-laws. I love God and want to do his will. I have opinions like everybody else. I want to succeed, do things that people will be proud of and above all do the right thing.

Is any of that blogworthy? I guess I'll find out. I have a few bloggiversaries to go :)

Coming on Friday

My 6th Bloggiversary, and perhaps one of the most introspective posts of my brief blogging career.

Those of you who have been decrying my absence - hang on.

Silence, Milky White...

...not to my liking.

Anybody Home?

(opens the door, peers in).

Hello? Wow, kinda sparse in here. Who updates this thing, anyway?

(closes door)

New Dharma Station on "Lost"?

Looks like there's a new Dharma station waiting to be discovered on "Lost".

Here's the logo:



This is from the producers' latest webcast.

At first glance I thought it was a lighthouse, but now I'm thinking it looks more like a lamppost. I'm also willing to speculate this will be the first Dharma station, facility or property found off the island - i.e. somewhere else in the world where Dharma exists.

They also mention Ben will be reading at some point in the season from Joyce's Ulysses and somewhere in the text is the word "hurley". Could be a coincidence, but who knows.