christopher cocca

I had a dream about LOST last night.  Locke was in the past and  about to try to change something he observed his younger self doing (letting Helen leave).  As soon as he did, he was rendered unobservable to the people in that timeline and transported to a different setting (a wedding/baseball game) where people could see and talk to him.  The in-dream implication to me was that he’s only allowed to interact with people in the past if his actions there cannot change the course of history.  Of course, this isn’t time theory as expressed on LOST, but it was fun to dream about.  I’m not sure why the wedding turned into a baseball exhibition, but I think it had to do with Kate’s in-dream fiancee.

When Des was beating the crap out of Ben, I felt like I was Wii boxing right along with him.

How sad to see a slightly less evil Ben pushing Alex on the swing.  Almost evoked some sympathy for the devil.

John Locke is in control.  Finally.

Okay, A TON to like about this one.  But all I want to draw attention to is the last scene.  John Locke, badass.

Tonight’s episodes of LOST is “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” and promises the return of John Locke (Jeremy Bentham is his off-island alias) to the land of the living.  The historic Jeremy Bentham, you may recall, was an English philosopher who advanced the concept of utilitarianism.   Will we hear Locke talk about “the greatest good for the greatest number” in his quest to convince the Oceanic 6 to come back to the Island?

My favorite thing about the real Bentham?  His Auto-Icon.  

Yes, his will requested that his body be preserved in a wooden box (ahem) and displayed in the boardroom of University College London so that decision-makers would be forever influenced by his presence.  Ever the utilitarian, his corpse became a tool for the social order he envisioned.  (Ahem). His head ended up rotting and getting replaced, but the rest of him is there.  

My favorite, favorite thing about all of this?  The Bentham Cam.  I can’t find it online anymore, but it was up during my undergrad days. 

See also the Panopticon, Bentham’s design for a prison that allows “ an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the ’sentiment of an invisible omniscience.’”  Fits nicely into the LOST mythos. 

You might know that Shephard Fairey, the artist  behind the underground “Andre Has A Posse” and “OBEY” posters, is also the designer of the definitive icon of the Obama campaign.  I’m probably not alone in noting just a little bit of irony here.  I’m probably also not the only one who’s googled “Obama poster maker” a few times in recent months.  Finally there’s an option that doesn’t require PhotoShop skills:  www.obamapostermaker.com.

Earlier today I found a posterized picture of John Locke from LOST emblazoned with the phrase “Yes I Can.”  This was paired with a posterized picture of Jack saying “No You Can’t.”  If you watch LOST, you know the deal.  So this sparked a little battle on facebook between my sister and I: I’m squarely in Locke’s camp and she’s on Team Jack.  She challenged my wife to choose sides, and my wife made her own poster:

and then I made this one:

As I’m finishing this post, Shephard Fairey was just featured on a TV commercial.  Looks like he won an award from the USA Network.  Is zeitgeisty a word?

Spoilers ahead.  You’ve been warned.  

Widmore: I didn’t see the Widmore reveal coming.  Was he on the Black Rock (as I’m pretty sure Richard was)?

Locke and Richard: So Locke shows Richard the compass, which, as you probably figured out last week, is the item that Richard brings to Kid Locke in the early 60s a few seasons ago.  Now we know why Richard went to Kid Locke in the first place: Old Locke told him to come find him in the future/past…so when Richard shows Kid Locke the compass and Kid Locke doesn’t recognize it, Richard is all disappointed.  What remains to be seen is where the compass came from in the first place.  Richard gave it to Locke in the first episode of this season, and Locke gave it to Past Richard last night.  Future Richard will bring it to Kid Locke in the 60s but doesn’t give it to him.  Does Richard retain possession of the compass until he gives it to Present Locke in last week’s episode?  Present Locke then gives it to Past Richard who then takes it to Kid Locke etc.

I don’t care how crazy he gets:  I love John Locke.  Remember when he lived on the commune?  I forgot all about that until just now.

Desmond:  The moral center of this entire show.  I think he’s the only guy who’s always been good, and he’s the one guy I get the sense that all the fans are rooting for. He’s not just the temporal constant…he’s also the moral constant.  And he named his little boy Charlie.  Heart strings!  So, why is Desmond, to use Farraday’s word, “unique” with reference to causality ?  I’m not sure why, but I’ll remind you that Desmond David Hume’s namesake, philosopher David Hume, posited that if you drop an object and it falls to earth nine times in a row, you cannot know with certainty that when you drop it a tenth time it fill not rather rise.  You can’t know that it will fall until it has.  Even though Farraday is convinced that nothing can be changed by interfering with, if this were a comic book, we’d call the time stream, he tries anyway and succeeds in getting a message to Present Desmond in the past. Sweet.

How awesome were Desmond’s sunglasses, by the way?  He looks like he should be the spry middle-aged front man of a slightly pre-Brit Pop Scottish outfit. 

Juliet: back to uber-creepy.  She’s holding out on Sawyer.  I’m surprised he’s not more visibly upset.  I hope he’s planning on using his sick fraud skills soon.  Remember when he sang “Redemption Song” on the raft?  ”Oh Pirates, yes they rob I….”

anyone else think fondly of Charlie when Locke picked up the Virgin Mary statue?  Ah, simpler times.  Remember “The Moth” episode?  So good.