I have to go back

Lost’s series finale aired the night of May 23rd, 2010. I took my time with the recap, opting to sleep on it versus immediately execute one of my then-weekly “stay up until 3am spewing a torrent of randomly-pinballing thoughts into WordPress, capturing screenshots from a hastily-downloaded copy of the latest episode, and trying to avoid catching my bedspread on fire from the steadily increasing temperature of my laptop” ritualistic blog posts. The fourteen-plus pages of messily scrawled notes taken during the episode could sit and wait for sunrise.

Writing those recaps served two loves: that of “prestige” genre television and, much more so, my passion for writing. The latter, I’m sorry to say, is something I’ve not been able to find much time for over the past decade or so. The obligations of family and work, deservedly so, come first, along with whatever other random bullshit comes up each day. On top of that, I’m not sure there’s been another piece of media content that’s really seeped its way into my soul and took it over quite like Lost did, what with its combination of strong acting, incredible production values, and the never-ending fuel it supplied my obsession with conspiracy, mystery, and technical details feeding a heavily serialized plot intended to make the viewer ask, “What’s it all mean?”

Nearly twelve years later, with nary a whisper in between, there’s a familiar feeling creeping back in…

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Back to the Island

Aloha, friends. It’s been a while. Despite the fact I’m revisiting Lost, don’t expect another gargantuan blog post recapping the television action. Instead, I’m sharing a few pics I captured during a tour of O’ahu this past week highlighted by several sites you’ll recognize. Enjoy the tour.

The canal where Sun and Jin first meet.
The canal is in the middle of downtown Honolulu. Sun and Jin were walking along the canal’s edge on the right (picture taken as we were driving over the bridge).
Locke didn’t have much luck with dear old Dad.
Here’s John’s “crash site” (note the triangular grass and sidewalk) where he has his first fateful meeting with Jacob.
Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute where Hurley spent a good chunk of his time brooding over his seemingly cursed luck.
Despite how it appears from a distance, the location is actually pretty dilapidated at this point. Paint is peeling off the place and multiple windows are boarded up.
The show’s crew dragged the stone table and stools from across the street (directly behind me as I took the previous picture).
Sawyer shoots the Dharma polar bear in Season 1.
This was shot right off a paved road. Much of the ground foliage has been cleared out.
Sun’s oft-featured garden.
As with the polar bear site, much of the ground foliage has been cleared. The location is just off a well-worn path used to get to a public beach. There’s a public parking lot about 50 feet off to the right.
Among my favorite scenes…”PEE ON IT!”
Here’s the “Pee Beach.” This is a public beach about 50 feet from Sun’s Garden (behind me as I took this picture). You can match up the trees in the distance with the video.
You’ll recall Yemi’s (Eko’s brother) church during his flashbacks.
All of the Nigeria flashbacks were filmed on the grounds of a defunct sugar cane plantation and factory. It is now private property so this is as close as we could get.
And here’s the interior of the church as seen on the show.
The interior was actually shot in a church albeit about a half-mile away from the sugar cane plant. Above is the (functioning) church where the interior was shot.
The ill-fated plane laden with heroin-filled Virgin Marys and Yemi’s body taking off from the airstrip in Nigeria.
The real site is actually a functioning airfield: Dillingham Airfield not far from the sugar cane plant.
Pala Ferry, formerly a dock used by the Dharma Initiative and repurposed for The Others’ nefarious aims.
And here’s the location as it stands today. It’s hard to make out but all that’s left of the pier are the pilings that rise just above water level. Our guide tells us the pier was a constant victim of dry rot and would be reconstructed anytime a film or TV project needed the location. Good way for the owner to “maintain” it without footing the bill himself.
Our first meeting with the (apparent) “Others.”
Here’s the site in reality. You can see the rocks Jin runs from (chased by Eko and other tail section survivors) to the left of the trees.
Home to the Dharma Initiative, this village in the middle of the Island featured all the conveniences of modern living.
The filming location is YMCA Camp Erdman. We got lucky on the day as they do not allow visitors to walk around if kids are on-site and outside. Our driver bemoaned (as did we) that they recently painted all of the houses blue instead of keeping the yellow color featured on the show.
Ben during a scene of quiet reflection at his house alongside “Locke.”
Ben’s house as it currently appears flanked by our tour guide. The guide is leaning against a bathroom. So, in the scene above, the actor is looking directly at the door to the mens’ room about 10 feet in front of him.
Smokey having a pow-wow with one of the villagers.
And here’s the newly-painted gazebo in real life. We may or may not have re-enacted the scene above and captured pictures you’ll never see…
And we come to the grand finale…the original crash site of Oceanic 815.
The location did not disappoint. Aside from the distraction of a few scattered beachgoers, you could feel yourself transported into the show.
Looking down the beach in the other direction. This is where everyone who returned from a mission came around the corner and was greeted by the adulations of their fellow castaways.
Hard to forget the terrifying noises emanating from the jungle on the castaways’ first night on the Island.
The palm trees seen being trampled by Ole’ Smokey were actually all CG painted into the area above. The crash site beach is directly off of the paved road above (the beach is behind me as I took this).

I hope you enjoyed that quick look back. It was nice to immerse myself in this world again after being away for so long. Until next time!

I came. I saw. I ate XLVIII pounds of nachos.

The year? 2014. The place? The Bischer Estate in picturesque Kenmore, NY. The event? I just finished the Lego Star Wars video game on XBox 360. The consequence? My fiancée is shooting daggers at me with her eyes and may or may not be brandishing a knife. Time for a change in plan? Yes. Welcome to the XLVIII edition of my annual Super Bowl running diary.

I am legally obligated to credit the format to Bill Simmons, Esq. of Grantland.com, a site you should all frequent daily.

sb48
We start, as always, with this year’s official Super Bowl logo. The generification (I’m maintaining that’s a word) of the logo several years back has my nostalgic side yearning for the colorful, in-your-face logos of Super Bowls past. Woe.

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Not Super so much as "Lacking Wattage" (LOLZ)

I am an old man and can’t stay up past midnight anymore writing; whether that be Lost recaps, diatribes on the lack of monkeys in government, or the annual Super Bowl diary. Rest assured, I will have it up here at some point tomorrow. In the meantime, gather ’round your water coolers and talk about the lack of any standout commercials and the refreshing vanishing act Ray Lewis pulled in the 2nd half. Until tomorrow…

Welcome back, one and all, to the annual tradition that’s going to be heavy on Tweets, bullet points and my patented shorthand and light on insightful commentary, witty repartee and actual football analysis. Expect lots of links to YouTube videos as well. Let’s get started!

sb47
Again, who made the decision to go with these “every year a generic p.o.s.” logos? Like many of football’s current ills, let’s blame commissioner Roger Goodell.

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Oscar 2012

It’s the annual tradition that’s not so annual: The Wayward Cynic’s Running Diary of the Academy Awards! I’ll get right to the action as we join our telecast on the red carpet.

8:22pm: Sacha Baron Cohen shows up as the dictator from his new, similarly-named movie and spreads Kim Jong Il’s ashes on the carpet before promptly being detained and escorted off the premises by security.

8:30pm: We’re underway as Billy Crystal and his synthetic face run through a musical number recounting the year’s most notable film hits.

8:31pm: I’m bored and just turned the channel to “Worst Cooks in America.” Some guy just dropped his pizza on the ground! Oh no!

Thanks to all for joining me for another fun-filled year of recapping the Oscars; see you next year and hooray for Hollywood!

SupercalifragilisticBradyisatrocious

Welcome to The Wayward Cynic’s annual running diary of the great American pasttime’s holiest of holy days: Super Bowl Sunday the 46th! I will cover the game, the commercials, the chips, the dips and the beers, all from the comfort of the Internet.

super bowl xlvi
I miss the old, every-year-a-new-logo format these new logos woefully lack. Woe.

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Super Timez

Welcome to The Wayward Cynic’s annual running diary of America’s favorite pasttime: eating mass quantities of dip. Also, I’ll talk about some football as the valiant Packers take on the morally questionable Steelers in Super bowl XLV!

super bowl xlv
The always-imaginative Super Bowl logo is excited about something

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The End

This should do it for a while. The DVD set of Lost’s final season is out today and, barring some amazing discovery within the set’s bonus features, we’ve nothing more to talk about in the context of The Wayward Cynic.

boxset

Who am I kidding; I’m gonna go back and re-watch the whole series and do a new round of recaps at some point. Yeehaw!

To tide you over, I’ve put the final updates in for the lingering questions here.

Also, if you haven’t already, catch up on my recap for the final bit of Lost lore from the DVD set: “The New Man in Charge.”

Check out this New York Times article on the recent Lost auction that sold off a whole bunch of cool stuff from the show.

Lastly, “Lost University” appears to be ABC’s last attempt at capitalizing on the show’s popularity. I haven’t done much other than log in but I’ll keep you posted if anything astounding crops up. Doubtful.

I’ll go with our favorite greeting to finish this off: namaste.

UPDATE: Here’s something notable from the commentary on “Across the Sea:” the Chamber of Light was “corked” AFTER Jacob threw the Man in Black down there. So, if that’s the case, why wasn’t the Island falling apart and crashing into the sea if the hole was uncorked? Something to do with the water? This needs more thought.