3.29.7 : BoA : Audio Baseball Special coming this Saturday

I'm happy to report that this Saturday, BoA : Audio will go where no esoteric radio program dares to dwell : the baseball diamond.

Yes, it's a daring experiment attempting to marry esoterica with baseball, drawing from previous BoA : Audio episodes and featuring the return of three former guests for all new short cut interviews. It's the BoA : Audio, Baseball Special.

It will be a veritable All Star Show as we cull from our archives classic BoA : Audio clips of Stanton Friedman discussing steroids in basesball and how it reflects his displeasure with some aspects of Ufology. We'll also go back in time to our interview with cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, who told us about his work with Major League Baseball dealing with suicide clusters amongst retired big league ball players.

But it's not a clip show, dammit, as we've got ultra fresh, new interviews with returning BoA : Audio favorites.

Adam Gorightly stops by to tell us about Doc Ellis's LSD infused no hitter from the 1970's. He discusses being a Giants fan in the Barry Bonds era and tries to goade Greg Bishop into a Giants v. Dodgers battle by discussing the infamous MK-Ultra / Dodgers story that made the rounds in esoterica a while back. We also find out what Adam's been up to since his BoA : Audio appearance.

Paul Kimball is up next and we'll talk about his March of 2005 blog post where he proclaimed that Ufology would someday have it's "2004 Red Sox moment" (i.e. the big payoff to years of suffering). He explains his rationalization from then and also whether or not he's changed his mind since. He also talks about the "come down" from the Red Sox championship and ties it into the potential fall-out within Ufology should that breakthrough ever come about. Kimball then goes on to talk about why he loves the older generation of the Red Sox, he hilariously gripes about modern day changes to the game like interleague play, and in general bemoans the state of baseball, nearly making binnall cry. We also find out what Kimball's been up to since he appeared early in the season on BoA : Audio and lay the groundwork for a future special episode to co-incide with his big cable special in May.

And, finally, one of the BoA : Audio pioneers, Greg Bishop, makes his long awaited return to the show. We start out by recounting how he ended up on BoA : Audio in the first place, back when we first started doing interviews. He then discusses why he thinks Ufology will never have that breakthrough "Red Sox Championship" moment, taking the counterpoint to Kimball's original thesis. We also talk about the X-Files episode revolving around Roswell and baseball, which segues into a discussion on why there are so few, if any, prominent black researchers in Ufology. From there we discuss the LA Dodgers and how they are his de facto home town team. He also gives his take on Gorightly's MK-Ultra angle from earlier in the show. Wrapping it up, he updates us on what he's been up to since he appeared on BoA : Audio so long ago.

The three returning guests bring a fun chemistry to the show, as it was more like a reunion than an interview. We started out with the idea of tying baseball into esoterica and that experiment wrought us this episode, which may turn out to be one of the more lighthearted but enlightening episodes of the BoA : Audio season. Play ball !

There's plenty of esoteric talk for the non-baseball fans and just enough baseball discussion to merit the swank title of "Baseball Special".

3.27.7 : BoA's main computer crashes

It finally happened. My computer here @ BoA HQ, from which we ran the whole operation, finally shit the bed on me. It's no surprise and was a longtime coming.

Luckily, we got everything off of it long before it died on us, so the whole BoA site (all 1000 plus pages) and audio library (including the raw original files) are safely stored in multiple locations.

So ... in the meantime I am working off of a laptop that has been outfitted to serve as BoA's main computer until I get things settled w. the desktop. That should probably take another few days.

Also, I am working on a new project (TBA soon) that takes time away from dealing with the computer issue, so suffice it to say, it's a tad stressful here.

Apologies if I am not around much this week or if our usual updates are lacking their attention to detail.

The operation will come back stronger than ever, I assure you. This whole situation was something I had planned to deal with next week when I took some time off from BoA : Audio, so it all works out.

No Lost Thoughts this week, sorry.

3.19.7 : Lost Thoughts (Episode 3.12, Patchy's dead)

I almost can't think much about this past week's episode, considering what we have to look forward to this coming Wednesday. But, of course, there is some food for thought, mostly big picture stuff regarding the story, as a whole, we've seen so far on Lost.

* The "Claire is Jack's brother" was such an overblown reveal. It was Lost's worst kept secret, aside from "Locke's dad is the original Sawyer". And what's the point of telling us, the viewer, when Jack and Claire don't even know ? I suppose they had to get it out of the way, but I'm left wondering if Jack and/or Claire will ever even find out (if so we'll have to see another reveal of the same secret). I presume Ben will somehow spill the beans, since the Others know everything about the Losties.

* Every time Desmond has a vision of Charlie's death, Claire is involved. So I guess that when Charlie dies it will be as a result of sacrificing himself to save her. Like the only way to save Charlie, that time, will be if Claire dies, so Charlie will just bite the bullet then.

* Despite the retarded nature of the "bird note", I figure it will somehow have to come into play down the line. I do think it will be a cool scene when it eventually resurfaces.

Onto the best parts of the episode : the rescue party.

* Locke is back to being the most interesting character on the show. I stand corrected from last week, in that I now think he probably knew the Flame would blow up. Perhaps too late, maybe not, I don't know, but if he got that C4, he had to have known that the place could explode. He's got to have more information that we do, because he's got some kind of plan. But ... as we've seen from his flashbacks, often the best laid plains by Locke end up with him befuddled and crying. Let's just hope this time is different.

The whole "he wants to say on the island" theory got more fuel when he killed Patchy moments after Patchy revealed he knew the wheelchair secret. But I think it is all a red herring. I've a feeling that it will be revealed in Wednesday's episode, considering it centers around the paralysis, that there is more to Locke's actions that just that.

I really loved the scene where he shoved Patchy into the security fence, mostly for the moment right before the shoving, where Locke was just totally bad ass. Unless we are told differently in the next Locke flashback, he also finally crossed the line that almost every other Lostie had crossed already : murder. Of the principle characters, only Jack and Hurley remain as the two without any blood on their hands, if I recall correctly.

* I don't know what to make of "the list", since it's only really been teased so far. As more mysteries get solved, new ones come along and this one seems to be the mystery du jour lately. I am interested in seeing if any of the Losties are perceived to be "list worthy".

* Patchy is dead, which kind of sucks because he was a great character, but it makes sense because he was a total liability to the mission at that point. One thing I did notice was that this season has been riddled with deaths or near deaths on the island. Pickett's wife, Eko, Pickett, Klugh, and Patchy all died. Sawyer, Ben, and Juliet were all pretty close to being killed. And Charlie has been told his death is emminent. I'm not sure what it means, but it seems like an interesting trend that wasn't around in the last two seasons.

* Rousseau was less mysterious this week and finally did open up some about her missing kid. Her whole speech, though, was probably to set up for the final scene of the episode w. Jack.

* That final scene was, of course, awesome. Despite his jovial nature (who wouldn't be ?) playing football with Tom, I think he's probably still the same Jack, just resigned to live out his fate in Othersville until Ben comes through on his promise to send him home. Over time, after waiting a while and bonding with the Others, then he will become one of them (I hope). The Losties "rescuing" him and possibly fucking up his chances of going home will only push him further into Otherdom.

* Bitter Kate is going to be pissed when Jack is like, "what are you doing here ?" Good. She's been getting on my nerves for a while now.

* I'm worried about Sayid in Othersville, not because he's Arab, you racist, but because everyone else has a legit reason for being there (as zany as Locke's probably is) except Sayid. Perhaps he will be caught and charged with crimes against Others (torturing Ben) and the Sheriff will return.

* In total, I'm really enjoying that this showdown between Losties and Others is happening now, halfway through the season. I figured we'd have to wait until the season finale for what's going down on Wednesday, so I'm very intrigued as to where the story will go from here.

3.13.7 : Lost Thoughts Ep.3.11 (Sayid Meets Patchy)

* This is the kind of episode that has my head in knots for at least a day afterwards and watching the episode (sans flashbacks) again the next morning. A very rich episode, riddled with clues, red herrings, and set ups for potential future twists.

* For as much as I sometimes loathe Lost producers/writers Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse for being media whores (they're everywhere for fuck's sake), the episodes that are credited as being written by those two (as a duo) are almost always the best of the bunch (including this one), dating back all the way to Season One. And these episodes almost always advance the storyline in major ways.

* After last week's diatribe about the character motivations, they stayed on course this week. I wondered about Kate, but then remembered her beatdown of Ms.Klugh and, yes, she's still bitter. Locke is even more of a clown. Sayid is getting answers. Paolo is always about to shit or just finishing shitting, which is pretty aloof. Hurley initiated the ping pong. Sawyer was comic relief, sadly. The only one who didn't continue his arc was Charlie, who was barely there.

Onto big thoughts on this week's episode ...

* Ms. Klugh, we hardly knew ye. Despite several secrets dying with her, I don't mind that she died. Hell, I'm just glad she finally showed up. I guess she was there all along, trying to fix the comms that Tom said were broken. I'm mildly suspicious of that vest she was wearing (note the pic), but I don't think they'd pull a faked death on us. If they did, I can't see how they'd waste it on Klugh. Be that as it may, that moment when they caught her and questioned her in the basement and she gave that blank stare ... god damn amazing. Klugh, you will be missed.

* Locke aka Gilligan blows up his 2nd hatch. So much to say about this. For starters, it stands to reason for it to happen, since answers always seem to slip right through the fingers of the Losties and all that Dharma material had to be eliminated lest we learn anything too good.

Regarding Locke doing it. I don't think he knew it would happen, based on his reaction. There is always that whole subliminal, is he sabotaging the rescue because he wants to stay thing, but I don't think he'd sell out all the other Losties because of it. Locke wants to be the hero.

Now, I have my eyes peeled for those windows of opportunity where stuff could have happened that we'll find out about in later episodes. This happened a lot in Season Two. After Locke pushed 77 could be one of those moments, because there was a lot of lag time between when he ostensibly pushed it and it blew up which we didn't see. We also didn't see the video dude's response to the 77 being pushed.

* The camera over the computer. I think this is important. Some think it was just the other end of what we saw back during the mini-season when Patchy was introduced. Yes, but that's almost too simple and Patchy shut it off, which means he had to turn it back on at some point within that week, or so, since the Losties patched through to it. Given what we've seen of Ben watching the monitors, it stands to reason that Ben may be the one on the other end of that camera that they made a point of showing. Some even speculate that Locke was playing Ben in chess, but I wouldn't go that far yet.

* I'm on the fence as to Mikhail's true origins. He just doesn't seem like an Other. I believe his story about what happened in the past on the island, because it works with what we've known all along. I presume Ben and company are the natives ("hostiles"), Dharma showed up, warfare resulted and either Dharma was totally wiped out, a small faction obsorbed by the Others (including Mikhail), and, perhaps, a ruse is being pulled off to keep mainland Dharma associates in the dark (hence Juliet's recruiting, which doesn't fit the timeline and the Swan food drops. It still doesn't quite explain the origins of Kelvin (the guy who rescued Desmond and dragged him into the hatch), but I think we'll get that explained at some point.

* Rousseau is a dirty, dirty liar and she has same brand as Juliet, I'd bet dollars to donuts on it now. Her quick responses of "I've never seen that" to anything "new" that is discovered by the Losties smacks of BS. She claimed to have never seen an Other, but when she captured Ben, knew he'd "lie for a long time". My guess is she was an Other at one point (Mrs.Ben perhaps) and got excommunicated and banished to the wilderness. Possibly she is the "last living member of the Dharma Initiative". There sure seemed to be an air of acknowledgement between her and Patchy when they met up. The fact that she is apparently continuing onward with the Losties to Othersville adds a whole wildcard dimension to the rescue.

* Questions about when the Losties get to Othersville. Will Jack be an official Other by then ? Will Ben flake when he sees the Losties arrive ? Will Locke flake when he sees that the Othersville community center has no handicap ramp ? Will Rousseau go bat shit crazy at some point ? Is Juliet the scourge of Othersville because of her fancy new brand ? Is Tom really gay ? Will we ever see the Sheriff again ? Why do I have a feeling that Sayid may die ?

The answers : Not yet. Only on the inside. I hope so. Probably. Only on the inside. You bet he is. Yes. Because it would be shocking and his character is fleshed out quite a bit now so he is ripe for dying.

* Are there other Others ? I'm now leaning closer to "yes" than I was before. The Losties v. Others conflict is reaching a climax, of sorts, and the show obviously will need somewhere to go from there. Hence, I'm predicting some new faction that will do battle w. the Losties & Others. Either returning Dharma folks who want to take back the Island, displaced Dharma people already there who are living in hiding in the jungle, or some other group of natives that are enemies of the Others. I suspect we'll find out that our Others have enemies of their own, who aren't the Losties. "We're the good guys" suggests that there are bad guys, somewhere, on the Island.

* Overall, it was perhaps the best episode of the season (along with the bookend episodes that closed the mini-season and kicked off the long Spring season). It finally feels like a lot of the stalling that we saw in that mini-season has given way to the story unfolding at a more reasonable pace. I suppose time will tell what were set-ups in the mini-season and what was filler.

3.5.7 : Lost 3.10 Thoughts

* Last week, I remarked that the episode w. Juliet on trial and the Others going "home" closed the book on the 1st half of the season. This week's episode continued that theme, of sorts, acting as a kind of lighthearted, "cleansing of the palette" or beat between the two halves. The preview for next week seems to indicate the kick off of the 2nd half, with considerable action and intrigue teased.

* In the big picture, this episode really reminded me of Season One. I'm not sure if it was the pure island locale or what, but I was getting a season one vibe from the show that I hadn't felt in quite some time. Maybe it was the old school Charlie / Hurley antics.

* Even though there wasn't much food for thought, this was a fun episode and one of the better ones of the season. It was nice not having to deal with 3500 easter eggs and potential clues and just let the mystery of the broken car unfold.

Moving on to some stuff within the episode that did pique my interest ...

* Dharma employees seem to disappear with reckless abandon. Whether it's the caves,the dude Desmond killed (Kelvin), or now Roger the janitor. I'm concerned as to why no one ever went looking for these people and wonder if it ties into the "incident".

* Kate seemed really mad that no one came to rescue her, much to my chagrin. I think that resentment may come into play down the line. I can't blame the Losties, they were all mixed up in blowing up the hatch and discovering four toed statues. Plus it was only like a week or 10 days at best that the trio has been gone.

* Despite being given a tiny number of lines, Sayid still remains the most solid character on the show. He was already debriefing Kate moments after she got back (like any rational person would do) and he seemed like the only person in the entire series to even remember Michael and Walt. Thank you, Sayid, for actually giving a damn like the rest of us.

* Locke is a bitch. I don't exactly know how or why it happened, but it did and I'm not happy about it. Note Kate's withering response to him when she first gets back to the island ("I don't know, John") and then Sayid's mocking of his magical stick vision @ the end of the episode. It turns out the island is just like the box factory, which was just like high school, and Locke is getting wedgied left and right here. If the preview for next week is any indication, Locke may be bungling something else, again. Sigh. Hopefully this leads to some kind of redemption episode which will bring him back to full bad ass levels.

* Vincent can't be just a dog. I can see how he would be and he's just an easy plot device for the writers, but I can also see, now more than ever, that he's gotten his paws into a lot of different pies, and could be the ideal spy, especially if it stands to reason that the smoke monster is some kind of shapeshifter.

* Rousseau now knows about Alex, catching her up with the rest of us. Her character has been kept in the background the entire series, but she must know tons more than she has let on so far (considering she's been fairly quiet). I think she was probably somehow mixed up with the Others and, as I've seen speculated about elsewhere online, it wouldn't be surprising if she has the same "mark" that Juliet got last episode. You know someone else on the show has to have that mark and it's just a matter of time before we see it and go, "Oh, shit".

* I don't know what to make of the entire Hurley saga, other than it adds in that extra element of "luck" to the "free will" / "destiny" mix on the show. Given that he barely got on the original plane that crashed and seems to have some kind of weird bullet-proff aura about him, I think Hurley will be pretty important to the big picture of the show. If everyone else was fated to be on that island and Hurley got there by accident of fate, he may turn out to be the spoiler of some sort.

* Charlie will die this season. This episode didn't sway my opinion. If anything, one last good ride, before he gets killed somehow. His character really can't go anywhere if he ever overcomes his fated death (which seems impossible to do anyway).

* Overall, good episode. Unlike many of the other ones this season, which saw lots of future island storyline foreshadowing, this one seemed to be more along the lines of foreshadowing where the Losties characters will be headed in the next few months. Bitter Kate. Put-upon Locke. Inquisitive Sayid. Pro-active Hurley. Terminal Charlie. Aloof Paolo. Etc.