Locke vs Shephard

I’ve put a lot of time into the Jack Shephard vs John Locke debate. My college roommate was a Locke supporter and I thought Jack was the better leader. My friend is eccentric and I just chalked up him liking John to another one of his idiosyncrasies. But there are many people out that that support the Man of Faith.

As I rewatch the series I thought I would gain a tolerance for Locke and maybe even understand some of his bone-headed decisions. But the opposite has been true. The more I watch the show the more I can’t stand the Mr. Clean look-a-like. He acts like he operates for the greater good of the survivors but he selfishly wants to keep everyone on the island so he doesn’t have to go back into a wheel chair. Let’s not forget he blew up the submarine in season 3!

The writers did a brilliant job contrasting John and Jack throughout the series. This allowed people with different personalities to connect with one of the shows “main characters.”

But in the end John turns into the Man in Black, the epitome of pure evil, so I think fans that like Jack more picked the right leader.

Winners and Losers

I don’t know about you but if I get bored at work 9 times out of 10 I stumble through sporcle.com. They have a few LOST games on the site but I just discovered a new one. Can you name the characters from the TV series LOST based on a limerick? Fun little game and if you have 7 minutes of free time check it out.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/rockgolf/Completely_LOST

Can’t trust blue eyes

Benjamin Linus/Henry Gale/Dean Moriarty is the creepiest character in television history.  His piercing light blue eyes often look white as he schemes his way through life.  The leader of the Others will never love someone as much as he loves himself.  His gentle presence and tone makes him appear trustworthy during a first impression.  Benjamin is the most powerful man on the island and will do anything to hold on to that position.  His callous actions toward the survivors make him the perfect villain.  He holds himself to a high moral standard and often repeats that he is the good guy.  This sense of narcissism makes him even more frightening, because with his absolute power he can execute all of his delusions. 

Michael Emerson became Benjamin Linus.  The key to becoming a villain is the actor needs to believe he is the good guy.  Henry Gale was supposed to be a 3 episode character that was killed by the survivors.  After Michael Emerson blew the producers away he became the leader of the Others and Benjamin Linus was born.

Emerson won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2009 and Ben Linus was ranked 24th in TV Guide’s Greatest TV Characters of All Time.

Manicures for Florence K. Reed

Everyone has guilty pleasures.  We go above and beyond trying to hide them from the people we know.  Maybe we let our close friends know our darkest secrets, but that’s it.  We hide our guilty pleasures so much that we try to convince acquaintances that we feel the opposite way.  “Friends isn’t a funny show,” goes home and watches re-airs on TBS.    “Justin Bieber has one of the worst voices I’ve ever heard,” rocks out to Believe in the car.  “Red meat is disgusting,” eats 2 hamburgers at a tailgate.  I think you get the point.  The easiest way to hide a guilty pleasure is to lie about it.

I’m no different.  I have several guilty pleasures including:  heavy metal, sitcom reruns, and I eat more than a package of bacon a week.  My close friends know I like the things listed, but not even my girlfriend of 6 months knows my biggest guilty pleasure.  I enjoy manicures.  That’s right I listen to heavy metal, eat pounds of bacon, and get my nails done every 3-4 weeks.

This embarrassing idiosyncrasy started in high school.  A male friend asked me if I wanted to get a manicure.  This friend was about 250 pounds and the star defensive tackle on our varsity football team.  With a reasonable amount of hesitation I decided to tag along and check it out.  During the process I assumed they were talking about the only two boys in the salon, but I didn’t care it was relaxing. If someone asked me my feelings about men getting manicures I would say “It’s weird,” but that’s what makes it my guilty pleasure.

Boston Tribute

I’m trying my best to relate Lost to the city of Boston this week.  In “Outlaws” season 1, Jack and Christian Shepard both use the phrase, “That’s the reason the Sox won’t win the Series.”  The Red Sox went 86 years without winning the World Series and both Jack and Christian blamed it on fate.  You can’t change your fate.  But while Jack was on the Island, Boston won it all (2004).  This symbolizes the fact that on the island you can change your fate.

The tragedy in Boston occupied all of my focus last week.  It’s tough for me to imagine so many lives changing instantly.  As people we sometimes go throughout our day feeling invincible.  The events that took place last Monday remind us that life is precious and we need to cherish every moment.  I continue to pray for the families of the victims.

Why I chose the How To

My goal of the rewrite was to do a better job telling this specific story from Season 2 of Lost.  I also wrote this paper as if I was John Locke leaving instructions for a new group of survivors.