Lost: A Theory of How the Oceanic Six Were Chosen (Not Being Able to Run Fast)

I just watched Episode 4.11 of Lost again, and was struck with the way Juliet was making such a big deal about Jack not being able to run, and it all came together for me (talking with my wife and daughter) about how the Oceanic Six - mentioned in the coming attractions - came to be chosen.

Here's my guess about what will happen:

Keamy, as we know, is on a mission to kill everyone on the island. The only way to be at least somewhat safe from him is to run fast into the jungle...

Jack can't run. One of the Oceanic Six.

Kate can't run very fast with Aaron in her arms (Sawyer will give Aaron to Kate before this). Kate and Aaron are Two and Three of the Six. (Sawyer can run fast into the jungle.)

Sun is pregnant and can't run very fast. Fourth of the Oceanic Six.

Hurley (who will be reunited with the beach people) also can't run fast. Fifth of the Oceanic Six.

And Sayid will be needed to pilot the boat ... Sixth of the Six.

What do you think?

See also...

Further Questions about Lost 4.4: Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer and More about Season Four: Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six and More About Lost 4: (ii) Michael and Ben, Good and Evil, Alias Echo

1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4: Kate and ... ... 4.5 Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.9 Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben ... 4.10 Almost a Dream Come True ... 4.11 Unlocking Locke

and

2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1


additional discussion of this theory about Lost in 12-minute podcast

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates and its time travel ...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Lost 4.11: Unlocking Locke

A mind-blowing extraordinary episode (11 of Season 4) of Lost tonight.

Richard Alpert is Locke's father - the timeless man, maybe a time traveler, perhaps an eternal like John Amsterdam who doesn't seem to age, who knows, who helped get Juliet to the island, who helped Ben kill the Dharma people, who has a life as a "hostile" on the island that seems to transcend the Others, Dharma, and everyone - well, he's Locke's father. He impregnated a teenage girl - Emily, half his age, who dug Buddy Holly in the 1950s. She has the baby, names him John, gives him her last name (Locke), and leaves the hospital. Her mother gives John Locke up for adoption - but not before we see Richard Alpert in the hospital...

Before we go any further - if the name Emily sounds familiar to you - that might be because someone named Emily was also Ben's mother. So, are Locke and Ben at very least half-brothers (same mother), and who knows, maybe full brothers (if Richard not Roger was Ben's father) .... I've long been saying that inexplicable coincidences which are really explicable, if only we knew all the facts, are the key to understanding Lost. And Locke and Ben having the same mother, and maybe the same father, would be one wild example - which would explain a whole lot of things.*

*[Note added 12 May 2008: At very least, Richard's fatherhood would explain why Ben and Locke both developed strange powers associated with the island.]

Later in the story tonight, on the island, Ben tells Locke that the island wanted Locke to take over from Ben - that's why the island made Ben sick and cured Locke. One of the best and most instructive lines in the series. (And preceded by another great line from Ben to Locke: "Destiny is a fickle bitch.")

Back in the past and off the island, Richard comes to test Locke as a boy - who fails the test. Perhaps this shows that Locke has qualities which go beyond what Richard expected.... Or perhaps young Locke chooses the knife rather than the book, because he isn't quite willing to accept his true destiny, and the knife seems cooler than a book at his age...

Locke manages to get to the cabin on the island tonight, too. Christian (Jack and Claire's) father is there in the chair - and Claire's in the cabin, too, having been collected last week by Christian. Best guess about this is, sadly, both are dead. We already know that Locke can see the dead.

And while we're on that subject .... The hapless doctor who washed up dead on the island last week, but was still alive on the ship off shore, winds up getting his throat cut tonight on the ship .... A little more evidence that the ship off shore exists in time a little earlier than the island.

Sort of like all of us viewers of Lost ... meaning, the next three episodes already exist, but we've got to wait a few weeks to see them ... a few weeks to see the best stuff ever on television.

See also... A Theory of How the Oceanic Six Were Chosen

and


Further Questions about Lost 4.4: Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer and More about Season Four: Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six and More About Lost 4: (ii) Michael and Ben, Good and Evil, Alias Echo

1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4: Kate and ... ... 4.5 Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.9 Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben ... 4.10 Almost a Dream Come True ... 4.12 Hurley's Numbers on the Dashboard

and

2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1


additional discussion of this episode of Lost in 12-minute podcast

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates and its time travel ...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Brian Williams' Complete Interview with Barack Obama

Brian Williams' 23-minute interview today with Barack Obama follows. Some six minutes were aired on the NBC Nightly News. But, as Williams said, the full interview was too long for the Nightly News (which is 30 minutes, including commercials). So the entire interview was made available on msnbc.com - with an easy way to embed it on any blog, such as this one. That, in itself, is something laudable about this interview. Its mode of presentation serves as a good example of the way traditional media such as broadcast television and new media such as the web can work together to assist democracy.

I thought the best thing about the interview itself was Obama's relaxed, engaging, Presidential style. Asked about Joe Scarborough's advice that Obama should just come right out and say he was President of the Harvard Law Review and he was proud of it, Obama said he'd be happy to interview Scarborough for a press job in his administration. Williams countered that Scarborough was a Republican. Obama replied that he is always open to taking advice from Republicans - and he said all of this with a big smile.

As I've said before, I like that Obama is reminiscent of JFK. Because it says that here is someone who has a comfort with himself, is able to joke under pressure. For some reason, this goes hand-in-hand with inspiring, effective leadership.

The best more serious part of the interview was Obama's clear explanation of where we need to look for longterm relief for gas prices, and his gracious, sensible response to Williams' question about Hillary Clinton as a possible Vice President. She would make a good President, he replied, and therefore would of course make a good Vice President.

I know all the reasons why that may not happen, but I'm still of the opinion that would be the best possible Democratic ticket.

Obama Is Now Unbeatable for Democratic Nomination

A great night for anyone who loves to watch politics and election coverage on television - not to mention supporting Barack Obama.

Obama beat Clinton by 14% in North Carolina. Clinton won by a bare 2% in Indiana after a long, edge-of-your seat night which started with Clinton well ahead. These results will more than make up for the 12 delegates and popular vote lost by Obama in Pennsylvania. Obama will gain at least 15 delegates in North Carolina, and lose a total of 2 in Indiana - he'll be leading by at least 150 delegates again, and considerably closer to the finish line. With just a handful of primaries remaining, there's no chance for Hillary to overtake him.

These results show that Obama has indeed come back from the damage done to him by Rev. Wright. As he said in his victory speech in North Carolina tonight, he loves America. The people of North Carolina and Indiana, added together, believe him.

They also were responsive to his refusal to play games with our out-of-control gas prices. They approved of his rejection of the gas tax holiday gimmick, and his insistence on working for a real, long lasting solution. As Thomas Jefferson (also referenced in Obama's speech) believed, people are inherently rational, and can sort truth from false claims.

Hillary Clinton gave a good speech in Indiana, too. She ran an impressive campaign, even though she failed to capitalize on her momentum from Pennsylvania, and lost considerable ground. I continue to think that the best possible ticket for the Democrats would be Obama for President, and Clinton for VP.

But I think there's no doubt now that Obama will be the Democratic nominee for President. Tonight's impressive victory in North Carolina and near-victory in Indiana, added to the states and delegates and popular votes he has already won, make him unbeatable for the nomination.

He will also prevail over John McCain, the man of the past, in the Fall.

Battlestar Galactica 4.5: Mutiny on the Demetrius

Well, Mutiny on the Bounty it wasn't, but Episode 5 of Battlestar Galactica's final season provided some interesting moments, as Kara Thrace's grumbling crew of the Demetrius moves towards mutiny in its so far unsuccessful attempt to find Earth.

Actually, I thought the most interesting part was the arrival on the Demetrius of Leoben the Cylon, fresh with news of the Cylon civil war. This fight within the Cylons is the most significant element of this final season, and points towards some ultimate permanent reconciliation between the better Cylons and humanity.

But Leoben only aggravates tensions on the Demetrius, and it's pretty clear that Helo won't be able to maintain order much longer. One character whose motivations seemed somewhat unjustified to me was Sharon - shouldn't she have a little more confidence in Leoben, and what we pretty much know to be his true story - Sharon being a good Cylon herself, after all?

Meanwhile, back on the Galactica, and speaking of Cylons, Tyrol undergoing some not unexpected Cylon transformations of psyche, including accepting the one god.

Battlestar Galactica has a habit of having great beginnings, sagging a little in the middle, and coming on strong at the end. Season 4 seems no exception, though next week's episode promises some exciting, important developments.

See also ...

Battlestar Galactica's Back and Bristling! ... 4.2 Mysteries and Satisfactions ... 4.3: Deaths, Lessons, Questions ... 4.4 A Little More about Cylons ... 4.6 Cylon on Cylon ... 4.9: Finally, Bill and Laura ... 4.10: Earth

and So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival, vol. 5

---

"jumping with ideas" - Denver Post

Obama Makes Sense on Meet the Press

I just saw Barack Obama interviewed by Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press, and was especially impressed by the following points:

1. Obama said his "DNA" makes him ideally suited to bring Americans together - his black father and his white mother. I like that - the way Obama thinks and talks. When was the last time you heard another Presidential candidate of either party talk about DNA, in any connection to politics?

2. Obama again spoke about the superficiality of the American flag pin issue - the degree to which Obama wears and does not wear a pin. I couldn't agree more. Did it ever occur to those who think flag pins are so important that a terrorist could easily wear one? What counts is what candidates say and do - not what they wear in their lapels.

3. Obama explained his opposition to the gas tax holiday (McCain) and gas tax holiday plus windfall profits reduction (Clinton) proposals. They're sugar fixes, and, in the case of the windfall profits reductions, not likely to be signed into law by Bush any time soon. What's needed are the deeper solutions, that not only reduce oil company revenues, but reduce our consumption of oil. Any proposal that doesn't directly get at these underlying problems will only help us at the pumps for the next few months, at most.

4. Obama made clear his support of Israel, and his view that Israel's security was essential to the U.S. But he differed from Clinton's talk of "obliterating" Iran as counter-productive and dangerous. This kind of swaggering comes right of the Bush play book.

5. Obama said he will work hard for the Democratic ticket, whoever the nominee, and that the super delegates need not blindly follow the results of the primaries and caucuses. But nor, he emphasized, should they be unduly influenced by current snapshots and polls.

Has any other candidate presented as clear and thoughtful a series of positions?

Jumper: The Movie Reached Much Higher than Critics Admit

I finally got a chance to see Jumper last night. Contrary to critics and many posts on the web, I liked it.

First, a disclaimer. I have a business relationship with one of the movie's executive producers - Ralph Vicinanza's agency represents my novels (I have five published so far). Plus, I've worked with Vince Gerardis, also an executive producer of Jumper. And Steven Gould, an acquaintance, wrote the novel of the same name upon which the movie was based.

So, take my praise of Jumper with the above grains of salt if you like, but I nonetheless liked the movie - a lot - and here's why:

It was an unusual and therefore refreshing mix of scales in a movie. In part very personal, in part global, it was not quite like anything I've ever seen before. The story is also a rare one, for both written and cinematic science fiction: teleportation. The hero, David Rice played by Hayden Christensen, jumps around not in time but anywhere from one place on the planet to another. The golden age of science fiction, in the magnificent, classic work of Alfred Bester and his character Gully Foyle, set up a great tradition of teleportation. But it was never developed, and was largely absent everywhere until Hiro appeared as a space/time continuum traveler in NBC's Heroes in 2006.

David is much less comic-bookish than Hiro, and I found him an appealing, believable character. The drama comes from a group bent on wiping out the Jumpers, and their relationship to the personal life of David forms the plot of the movie, as well one nice surprise twist at the end.

The special effects are good, the action is brisk, so why did the movie apparently disappoint so many people?

I would say it's an unfamiliarity with the trope of teleportation, and therefore unclear expectations as to what impact it should have on the world. In contrast, changing of history via time travel is a much more fully explored and therefore better appreciated path of fiction.

But teleportation has its own unique appeal. And I predict that, whatever Jumper's current reception, it will go on to take its place as at very least a minor and perhaps a major cult classic.

The Decline and Fall of Keith Olbermann (At Least, in my Estimation)

I first realized there was something off with Keith Olbermann when he attacked 24 and Jack Bauer as agents of the Bush administration last year.

I know, that's a minor thing, but that's the point. Why go after a television show when there is so much else you can lambaste when it comes to Bush administration policy?

I admit to having mostly enjoyed a lot of Olbermann's other ticks and gimmicks, including his relentless attacks on Bill O'Reilly. They may not have been completely fair, but media personality wars are irresistible to students of the genre.

In the past few months, though, Olbermann has branched out to the other targets. He histrionically announced his support of Barack Obama and disappointment in Hillary Clinton. Now, I support Barack Obama, too, and have found fault in Hillary Clinton's campaign (such as its "logic" that votes for Hillary in Michigan, where hers was the only name on the ballot, should count), but to hold up Hillary Clinton and her campaign as some kind of devil in democratic politics is just ridiculous.

And Olbermann's gotten worse. Bill O'Reilly's two-part interview with Hillary Clinton, as I mentioned here the other day, was a fine job on both Hillary and O'Reilly's parts. O'Reilly asked tough questions, but was courteous and engaging throughout. Clinton responded with substance and style. All and all, one of the best political interviews I've seen this season.

But Olbermann, almost taking it as a personal insult that Hillary Clinton allowed herself to be interviewed by O'Reilly (after a much weaker interview - because of Olbermann's questions - on Countdown several weeks ago), has been doing nothing but denouncing Hillary Clinton and Bill O'Reilly the past two nights.

Enough is a enough. Intolerance in the media is just as bad if it comes from the left as from the right. I think I'll stay on my computer and skip Olbermann from now on, and wait until Abrams comes on 9pm.

Lost 4.10: Almost a Dream Come True

Jack's almost ruptured appendix was center stage on the island tonight, but the least important part of a splendid almost-a-dream-come-true Episode 10 of Lost Season 4 tonight. After all, we know that Jack will survive because of the flashforwards. Speaking of which -

1. Tonight's features Jack, Kate, Aaron, and brief appearances by Hurley and Jack's father Christian. It starts a little time after the trial (4.4) and the Hurley episode (4.1). Jack's with Kate, and he's making a good father for Aaron. Jack and Kate are about as happy as we've ever seen them. (Will this be the most happy we'll ever see them in the series? I fear, maybe so. But I hope not.)

2. Jack goes to see Hurley, and things start falling apart for Jack, and Jack and Kate. Hurley gives Jack a message from Charley, who Hurley says has paid him lots of visits. The message: Jack should not be raising Aaron. (Who then? Claire, back on the island? Maybe.) Jack gets a long glimpse of Christian (actually, his second), after Hurley tells Jack that someone will be coming to him. (Last week had a episode about daughters, tonight's was about fathers.)

3. Meanwhile, still in the flashforward, Kate is on the phone with someone, and going to see that person, and not telling Jack. Kate and Jack are now engaged, after Jack proposes. But Jack presses Kate on her mysterious friend, Kate says she's doing something she promised for Sawyer, and the honeymoon that never quite happened looks like it's about over. (Why, though, is Jack is so upset about Sawyer?)


Lost deserves credit for keeping us on this roller coaster of showing us things that almost happen, and seem to fit with the flashforward at the end of Season 3, but suddenly swerving into another course - and then back again. Jack looked like he was on the path to the Season 3 finale in the Season 4 opener this year. Tonight it looked like he and Kate were getting together - going contrary to the Season 3 finale - but then the story moved right back in sync with what we saw last year....

4. Back on the island, Jin had an excellent episode, as he gets the better of Charlotte. Bernard and Rose put in good appearances, too. Jack, of course, survives the operation. Right after which Juliet lets Kate know that Jack really loves Kate (which sets things up for the flashforward, though we didn't really need that).

5. Far more mysterious and powerful is what happens to Claire and Sawyer, on their way, with Miles, back to the beach. Claire wakes up in the middle of the night to find- Christian, her father, too, holding Aaron. By the time morning comes, she and Christian are gone, and Sawyer takes Aaron.

What happened? Is Claire dead - maybe from a hemorrhage suffered last week? Possibly. If Christian is really dead ... But what is Christian's situation? If he is Jacob, and not dead, or some kind of super being, why would he take Claire with him?


Lost is still an enigma wrapped in a puzzle, but it's giving us more better, deeper glimpses, and that's what makes it such remarkable television.

See also...

Further Questions about Lost 4.4: Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer and More about Season Four: Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six and More About Lost 4: (ii) Michael and Ben, Good and Evil, Alias Echo

1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4: Kate and ... ... 4.5 Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.9 Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben ... 4.11 Unlocking Locke

and

2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1


additional discussion of this episode of Lost in 8-minute podcast

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates and its time travel ...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Hillary Does Fine on O'Reilly

Kudos to Hillary Clinton for doing a fine job in her interview on Fox News by Bill O'Reilly. And kudos for Bill O'Reilly for having Hillary on his show.

That's right. I'm a Barack Obama supporter, and no great friend of Fox News or Bill O'Reilly - on whose TV show I've appeared three times* - but I think it's good for our democratic process for people running for President to appear and talk and be interviewed on television as much as possible.

Fox News has millions of viewers. O'Reilly's Factor is its leading show. Cutting this out of the process was a disservice to both the candidates (who have done this, until now) and the American people.

Hillary Clinton offered poise, humor, and tough facts in her responses to O'Reilly. It was a great interview. I'm looking forward to the second part of the interview tomorrow.

Barack Obama was wise to initiate Democratic contender appearances on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace this past Sunday.

Both candidates would be wise to continue this. It is only counterproductive to cede Fox News to the Republicans.

=======================

*YouTube clip of my first appearance on O'Reilly several years ago

Obama Denounces Wright

Barack Obama just finished an extraordinary and much needed press conference, in which he denounced Jeremiah Wright's insulting performance at yesterday's National Press Club - insulting to the American people, the political process, as well as Barack Obama.

Obama said he found Wright's statement that AIDS was introduced into the African-American community by the US government "ridiculous," and Obama took exception to Wright's praise of Louis Farrakhan. But most significant was Obama's denunciation of Wright's mocking of the political process in which all Americans are now engaged.

Obama distinguished between Wright in the Bill Moyers interview and Wright at the National Press Club in Washington yesterday. I found the Moyers interview helpful - as I wrote here on Sunday - as did Obama. I also found Wright's talk to the NAACP in Detroit on Sunday to be informative and entertaining.

But Wright's performance at the National Press Club yesterday was appalling. Far from putting the sound bites that ignited this controversy in context - as Wright did in the Moyers' interview - Wright in Washington yesterday stepped up his insults and contempt for the American people. Obama was completely right to describe these as "ravings".

Obama needed to do this. It could not have been easy. But he stepped up to the camera, denounced and divorced Wright, and answered every question.

His hope is that the remaining primary campaign can now return to a focus on issues that need resolving - the economy and the Iraq war. Wright will no doubt not go quietly. But Barack Obama has shown he has the steel to do what was needed in this crisis.

Battlestar Galactica 4.4: A Little More about Cylons

A grim 4th episode of the final season of Battlestar Galactica on Friday, in which not much happened, not much was revealed, but we perhaps learned a little more about the Cylons on the ship...

1. Roslin is telling everyone she doesn't have much longer to live. I'm wondering why this is being put so prominently into the story. It occurs to me that maybe it's a lead-up to seeing Roslin die, and come back to life on the Reincarnation ship.

2. Tyrol's having a tough time of it. The best scene of the night was when he tells Admiral Adama, trying to comfort him about Callie, that he hated Callie's "vacant eyes" and more. He's coming to realize that his true love was Boomer, who of course makes perfect sense.

3. And Tigh seeks comfort in Six, who looks to Tigh like Ellen. We know that Tigh is a Cylon. Does this give more weight to Baltar being a Cylon, seeing as how he has more or less constant visions of Six? And does Six know that Tigh is a Cylon?

Soft, intriguing questions ... which I hope coalesce into hard-edged answers in upcoming episodes.

See also ...

Battlestar Galactica's Back and Bristling! ... 4.2 Mysteries and Satisfactions ... 4.3: Deaths, Lessons, Questions ... 4.5 Mutiny on the Demetrius ... ... 4.6 Cylon on Cylon ... 4.9: Finally, Bill and Laura ... 4.10: Earth

and So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival, vol. 4

---

"jumping with ideas" - Denver Post

Rev. Wright in Better Context in Bill Moyers PBS Interview

I just saw Bill Moyers' lengthy interview PBS interview with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - Barack Obama's former paster, who has been the center of considerable controversy for his "God damn America" and other inflammatory statements.

I urge everyone to see it, because the sound bites that the media have presented, up until now, have taken Wright's comments seriously out of context.

Let's look at his "God damn America" sermon, as one example. Now, I think America is the most free country in the history of the world. Despite its many flaws, I feel happy and lucky to be living in the nation that Thomas Jefferson helped create. So those three words, taken on their own, were and are highly offensive to me.

But Rev. Wright did not say those just those three words in his sermon. He started that part of his sermon with a list of nations whose abuse of power, whose attempts to act like God, made them "fail". He mentioned Germany, Japan, Russia, and England (actually, the British Empire).

Then he got to America. He spoke of our massacre of Indians, our enslavement and auctioning of blacks, our enforcement of their poverty, poor education, second-class citizenship even after they were finally freed during the Civil War. And clearly, when you see that entire part of his speech, Rev. Wright is damning not America but those things that America did. And who would disagree with that? Who would say that there is not a crucial difference between America's finest ideals - "all men are created equal," as said in the Declaration of Independence - and the scourge of slavery and racism? Who would say that slavery and racism should not be damned?

Now, I might have put the phrasing a little differently were I making such a speech. I would have said slavery and racism are perversions of America, distortions of what is said in the Declaration of Independence, and God damn those destructive perversions of the beautiful American dream.

But that is nonetheless what Rev. Wright meant. That's clear when we see the whole passage and not just a clip.

The media, as a whole, have once again in this campaign done Americans a disservice by presenting small pieces of sermons out of context. Kudos for Bill Moyers and the Public Broadcasting Service for doing the right thing. As Jefferson the author of our Declaration of Independence foresaw, the free, open flow of information eventually brings out the truth.

PS added on Sunday (April 27) evening: I saw Rev. Wright's speech given to the NAACP in Detroit. I found it sage, inspiring, and highly entertaining.

Lost 4.9: Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben

We got two rare glimpses into the true nature of Ben tonight in this brutally brilliant episode of Lost - one when he said goodbye to Alex on the island, a second in what we saw on his face in the flashforward second scene with Sayid - and we learned a whole lot about some other crucial things, too.

1. I was wrong when I supposed that Ben might have been the one who shot Rousseau and Karl in Episode 8 (though not wrong at all about Ben's use of murder of innocents to further his agenda - see #2 below). But it was the bad guys on the boat, Widmore's men, who did the deed. Tonight they try to get Ben to surrender by threatening to kill Alex. Ben's tries to outsmart them, by telling them, truthfully, that Alex is not his daughter (and trying to disguise his love for her). Ben's bluff is called, and Alex is shot dead, right in front of his horrified eyes. (Keamy, played with fatal precision by Kevin Durand, does the deed.)

Why Widmore's killers would give up this possible leverage on Ben - even though Ben denied it - is a little surprising. But what is clear, in any case, when Ben says goodbye to his murdered adopted daughter, is how much he loves her. And this sets the stage for what Ben will do once he gets off the island....

2. We already saw some of this earlier this season, with Ben directing Sayid's assassinations of Widmore's men. Tonight we saw how this came to be. The murder of Alex "changed the rules," according to Ben - which presumably didn't include murdering innocent members of your family. Ben is out to kill all of Widmore's associates - and, we find at the very end, Penelope - Widmore's daughter - as well. But Ben, as accomplished a killer as he is, cannot get all of Widmore's people on his own. So he recruits Sayid ... by killing Nadia, Sayid's true love, whom Sayid found and married after getting off the island ... and blaming that killing on Widmore.

We of course do not see Ben kill Nadia. But what possible motive could Widmore have had for killing her? In contrast, Ben had all the motive in the world - he has now enlisted a trained killer, Sayid, as devoted to Widmore's destruction as is Ben.

Superb plotting.

And we also learn something else very crucial at the end of this episode: neither Widmore nor Ben know where the island is.* Why not? Likely because it's shrouded in some sort of space/time continuum distortion.

*(Actually, Jessica just pointed out in the comments that my interpretation of this last scene is likely not correct. Widmore will be searching for the island, Ben for Penny - that's what the two men will be searching for, not both for the island. Still, if Ben is teleporting through space and time off the island, it can't be all that easy for him to get back to, either.)

And that's not all. The smoke monster makes another appearance - apparently at Ben's behest. It seems to kill all the bad guys (but apparently not, according to the coming attractions). And Sawyer is splitting with Locke and heading back to the beach. It was a fine night for Sawyer, by the way - rescuing Claire and trying to protect Hurley from Ben and Locke's plans....

A fine, edge-of-your-seat night for Lost. I've got it on DVR - and liked it so much, I'm going to watch it again right now.

See also...

Further Questions about Lost 4.4: Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer and More about Season Four: Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six and More About Lost 4: (ii) Michael and Ben, Good and Evil, Alias Echo

1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4: Kate and ... ... 4.5 Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.10: Almost A Dream Come True ... 4.11 Unlocking Locke

and

2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1


additional discussion of this episode of Lost in 8-minute podcast

---

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates and its time travel ...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Final Pennsylvania Results: Clinton Wins the Vote, But Obama Still on Track for Nomination

Well, there's now more than 90% of the voted counted in Pennsylvania, and too close to call changed to too early to call to Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama by 10%.

I stand corrected about the polls - they did get it pretty right, after all. Apparently the cell phone vote did not make that big a difference. And perhaps the debate last week did do Obama a little damage, even though I thought he did just fine.

But the numbers of the overall primary campaign - the "metric" as it is increasingly called - remain with Barack Obama. Ten percent is impressive, but it is far from a blow-out. The delegate split in Pennsylvania based on this vote will likely give Clinton 15 more elected delegates than Obama will get from Pennsylvania - a drop in the bucket, given his nearly 150 delegate lead. Nor are super delegates likely to bolt away from Obama based on Pennsylvania.

But Hillary Clinton will be able to take the fight, newly empowered, to Indiana and North Carolina. She was strong and clear in her victory speech tonight.

But, as always, I liked Obama's speech tonight a lot better. I like being inspired. I think it will move more people in the general election.

One thing is clear - democracy moves in unpredictable ways. Inspiration can take time.

I would still like to see an Obama for President, Clinton for VP ticket. I think the results tonight make that a little more likely than before.

First Pennsylvania Returns: Too Close to Call = Obama Wins Whatever the Final Numbers

First reports on MSNBC, based on exit polls, say the Democratic race in Pennsylvania is too close to call.

This means that, whatever the final results, Obama will make progress towards the nomination tonight. Even if Hillary Clinton gets a victory, it won't be anywhere nearly enough to stop Barack Obama from getting the Democratic nomination.

What does this mean in terms of what we've seen in the past few weeks:

1. Either Obama did fine in last week's debate (as I said in a blog post here), or debates don't matter much between Clinton and Obama at this point.*

2. Polling techniques need improvement. Calling voters on landlines, when many younger voters have only cell phones, does not make sense any more in our mobile age. (Exit polls are usually done in person, and so the cell phone problem doesn't arise.)*

*But see my Final Pennsylvania Results where I admit my errors on these points...

And I'll be back later when more returns come in. An exciting night for democracy!

John Adams Concludes, The Tudors Continues, The First Amendment Abides

A fabulous, instructive night for history on cable television - John Adams, the splendid mini-series, concluded on HBO, and The Tudors, the magnificent, searing series, continued with its second season on Showtime.


The last episode of John Adams was mostly personal, and very powerful. Adams' daughter dies of breast cancer. Abigail dies. And Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the same day, July 4, 1826, after they have reconciled via letters.

What was mostly at dispute between them was freedom of speech and communication, and the First Amendment. Adams, early in the hour, complains that all he'll be remembered for is signing the Alien and Sedition Acts - the closest our nation has ever come to abrogating the First Amendment.

Its importance was wrenchingly, brilliantly portrayed in the two episodes (4 and 5) of The Tudors I saw tonight (on Showtime On Demand). Thomas More resists the law that Parliament passed on behalf of Henry, proclaiming him the ultimate religious authority in England. More can accept Henry's marriage to Anne, but not the displacement of the Roman Catholic Church in his country. He doesn't seek to compel any other person to follow his lead, but nor will he give in to the King's and Parliament's request.

And so, he is sentenced to death. And, much like Socrates, Thomas More is executed for his beliefs.

This is precisely what the First Amendment is supposed to prevent. By separating Church and State, by insisting that government cannot compel people to believe, cannot punish people for not believing, or believing something different, cannot punish people for talking and writing whatever they may politically and/or religiously believe, our American society seeks through the First Amendment to improve upon the savage worlds of ancient Athens and Henry VIII.

I often tell people that, were I in Socrates' position, and given a chance to escape, I would have done so, rather than drinking the hemlock. And were I Thomas More, I might well have taken his own hypothetical mode of escape and publicly said I accepted the King's law - given it lip service - and continued with my contrary beliefs. But More rejected that, and chose martyrdom instead. I doubt that I could have been a martyr like Socrates and More.

But the point is that the First Amendment in America makes such an agonizing choice unnecessary. And that is why we are truly more civilized.

As long as we don't let the First Amendment slip away.... But it's not easy - it never is. It and we are daily tested...

Truly powerful history on our new golden age of television tonight. Emmy award-winning acting by Paul Giamatti as John Adams, and by Jeremy Northam as Sir Thomas More.

And let's not forget Peter O'Toole, who is unforgettable in his every scene as the Pope, and tonight was part of the one laughing-out-loud funny scene of the evening, as he hears Michelangelo berating one of the workers on the Sistine Chapel, "Moses looks like a pile of ..."

But television nowadays has never looked better.

See also: John Adams on HBO: Good Founding Father, Bad President ... John Adams 3 and 4: Jefferson and Space Travel of the Soul ... 5. Jousting of Ideas ... John Adams 6: Flawed President and Flawed Father ...

Further reading ...

The Flouting of the First Amendment - my 2005 Keynote Address at Fordham University, in which I talk about the vying opinions of John Adams v. Thomas Jefferson...

The Soft Edge: A Natural History and the Future of the Information Revolution - my 1998 book, with more details on this time in history, and the roles of Adams and Jefferson

And ...



See also ...

Tooling Up for The Tudors and The Tudors: Transformations and Assassins ... The Tudors and the Printing Press ... The Tudors Concludes and America Begins ...

and my reviews of all of last season's episodes, beginning here ...

and more on the printing press and the Protestant Reformation in my book, The Soft Edge ...

and ...



The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Battlestar Galactica 4.3: Deaths, Lessons, Questions

Battlestar Galactica isn't missing a beat in this riveting, powerful, adrenalin-coursing last season, and last night's show fit right in with the pounding pulse.

It started unsurprisingly enough, with life on the ship continuing to wear on Callie Tyrol. Things get worse when she sees her husband Galen and Tory (two of the four secret Cylons) talking, and Tory making a move on him. Galen rejects this, but Callie doesn't see that.

And then things get much much worse. Callie trails Galen to a meeting of the three Cylons (the fourth, Starbuck's husband, is on her ship, looking for Earth), and discovers to her horror that that's what they are. Back in her quarters, she beats Galen with a wrench, and takes their baby to a Viper launch tube. She's thinking of opening it, and killing her baby and herself.

But Tory comes by. She's compassionate, sensible, understanding, and eventually talks Callie out of suicide. She takes the baby from Callie - and knocks Callie across the tube with a powerful Cylon blow ... and ejects her from the tube into raw space and cold death.

We have learned something crucially important: this secret Cylon, at least, is capable of cold, calculated, vicious murder. She says - in her talk to Callie - that she is just like any other human. Ironically, this is true. Humans are of course capable of murdering people who are threats to their well being. But any illusions or hopes we may have had that these secret four might have somehow been different is shattered - at least, for this one. And is there any reason to think the other three might be different?

I did have one quibble with this superb scene - if Tory is able to hurl Callie across the tube, did she never notice she had this power before? Like the question I posed about Tigh in an earlier review, the lives of the secret four prior to their revelation as Cylons remains a puzzle that flirts with inconsistencies. But that's ok ... I have confidence that at least some of this will be resolved.

Meanwhile, speaking of deaths, the Cylons are in open civil war back in their part of space. Dean Stockwell's One has come back, offers some great analysis of democracy (he has the best lines on the show), and feigns a reconciliation with Six and the good Sharon - all to lure them to a place in space with no Resurrection ship in sight, where they can be killed forever...

Of course, it's just these versions of those models that are killed, and who knows what the other versions of those models will do once they learn what has happened...

See also ...

Battlestar Galactica's Back and Bristling! ... 4.2 Mysteries and Satisfactions ... 4.4: A Little More about Cylons ... 4.5 Mutiny on the Demetrius ... ... 4.6 Cylon on Cylon ... 4.9: Finally, Bill and Laura ... 4.10: Earth

and So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival, vol. 3

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"jumping with ideas" - Denver Post

Passover and Politics: Reflections

Hey, Passover starts tomorrow night - it's always been my favorite holiday.

A fine feast, catchy songs, and a great storyline - what more can you ask for?

The part I like best comes early in the seder. Why do we need to have a Passover ceremony - the answer is provided by a look at The Four Sons. The first son is highly intelligent - no need to have the story of Passover told for him, because he already understands it. The second son is evil - no point in telling the Passover story for him, because he deemed himself above all of this. The third is a little bit of a dim-wit - no need to have the story told to him either, because the meaning can be satisfactorily conveyed to his weak mind in just a few, simple sentences. But the fourth son - he who has not the capacity to even inquire - he is the reason that the Passover story must be told. It must be told, in other words, for those who, for whatever reason (perhaps because they are too young, or otherwise know nothing at all about the ceremony), cannot even ask a question. It is told just in case they may be interested in learning more.

Which son did I always identify with? The evil son, of course... :)

Now, clearly, this part of the ceremony is also sexist - though, in all of the seders I've ever been part of, girls as well as boys were considered part of the The Four Sons (the youngest child - girl or boy - reads The Four Questions, which come a little before The Four Sons).

The story, of course, is the rising up against oppressors, and freeing a people from bondage. It is a story, alas, that never grows old.

Back in 1968, I remember scandalizing my Uncle Benny by saying something at our seder about Martin Luther King, Jr., who had just been assassinated. It wasn't that Benny was a bigot - he was just surprised to hear a current event talked about at a seder.

This year, we have another kind of bondage that we can rise up against. We have an African-American and a woman running for President - the first time for each group in America. I strongly support Barack Obama, and expect him to be our next President, but I also will honor Hillary Clinton and her contribution at the seder.

I hope that every American who has yet to vote, and can vote in the upcoming primaries, does so. We made some progress since Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt. We can rise up from the bondage of the last eight years now by going to the polls.

Have a sweet Passover, everyone!

Obama Appeals to the Good Sense of Americans in 21st Democratic Debate Tonight

David Gergen on CNN thought both candidates were "pandering," Howard Fineman on MSNBC thought the debate was stale, and Patrick Buchanan, also on MSNBC, thought Barack Obama did not have a very good night ... but I thought it was the ABC-TV questioners who didn't have a very good night, and the candidates made this 21st Democratic debate the best so far. Hillary Clinton was her customarily clear debating self. But Barack Obama made some important progress in his continuing campaign to practice a new kind of politics in this election - one which respects the intelligence and rationality of the American.

Obama was hit with bevy of volleys about not wearing a flag pin, his friendship with Weatherman radical William Ayers, his relationship with Rev. Wright, etc.

And Obama pointed out that this is not what the election is about - and not what Americans are interested in hearing. These discussions do nothing to fix what is wrong with America.

There were some important questions mixed in with this trivia - about taxes, Iraq, soaring gas prices, and the like. Clinton and Obama both answered them well.

But as long as the media insist on harping on why a candidate does not wear a flag pin, the American people will have to work that much harder to get at the issues that count. (Hillary was hit by this harping too, when she was asked about her misreporting of her Bosnia experience.)

Obama has been staking his whole campaign on the Jeffersonian assumption that people are up to this task - on the view of John Milton, who thought that when truth and falsity, triviality and profundity, fight it out on in the arena of public opinion, truth and profundity will win.

It hasn't in the last two general elections, and the media aren't making it easy now, but I'm betting that even if truth doesn't prevail in the Pennsylvania primary next week, it will still make a good showing. And, whatever happens in Pennsylvania, it will prevail in August and, most importantly, in November.

John Adams on HBO: 6: Flawed President and Flawed Father

People sometimes ask me why I'm so critical of John Adams - the real person in history, not the superb HBO series - and the answer is the damage done to, and near death of, our democracy brought by the Alien and Sedition Acts, signed into law by Adams. This grim episode, and Jefferson's protest that these acts trampled on the Constitution, were vividly portrayed in this 90-minute episode that covered the whole of Adams' Presidency.

But the episode brought to light something equally lamentable about Adams - pertaining to his family not his country. Charles, the reprobate son, is disowned by John Adams. His son-in-law is turned away when in financial need. It's not that our culture was so different then. It's that John Adams could not overcome his stern New England upbringing, and give his son the love and emotional support, his son-in-law the economic support, that they needed. John Adams meted out punishment instead - just as he did to his country by jeopardizing the First Amendment and its protections.

It's a measure of how superb Paul Giamatti's performance is as John Adams, that we feel anything akin to sympathy for the second President and father at all. Giamatti is just perfect for summoning the pain and humanity that one hopes Adams felt for these actions. It convinced me enough that I called them "lamentable," rather than despicable, in the paragraph above.

As I've said in previous reviews of this series, this is history on television on an entirely new, breathtaking plane.

The series concludes with the next episode.

How about a series about Thomas Jefferson, played by the outstanding Stephen Dillane.

See also: John Adams on HBO: Good Founding Father, Bad President ... John Adams 3 and 4: Jefferson and Space Travel of the Soul ... 5. Jousting of Ideas ... John Adams Concludes

Further reading ...

The Flouting of the First Amendment - my 2005 Keynote Address at Fordham University, in which I talk about the vying opinions of John Adams v. Thomas Jefferson...

The Soft Edge: A Natural History and the Future of the Information Revolution - my 1998 book, with more details on this time in history, and the roles of Adams and Jefferson

And ...

New Amsterdam Bows: Lessons in Cons and Backsides

New Amsterdam gave its final bow tonight - of the season, maybe of all time - with a line that is destined to become classic, when John says to his annoying boss Callie (played by Susan Misner) "I won't kiss your ass - which isn't that great, by the way. The way you twitch it around, you'd think it was one of the seven wonders of the modern world."

Well, it's looked ok to me, and Callie also gets creds for asking John at the end of the episode if he really meant this line, part of the little act the detectives put on to nab the bad guy (actually, a bad woman).

We don't get to see John's answer, but we did get a fine final episode, in which the current police and the past part of John in historical New York are finally meshing pretty well. Con artists are the common thread, in the 1920s and the 2008 parts, and of course conning most of the people around him is just what John has been doing his whole 400-year life.

Not to stretch this metaphor too far, but tantalizing the television viewer with just a beginning view of a series like this, a fine derriere moving swiftly around the corner, is a con job, too. I know, we're not paying for any of this, so maybe we're getting exactly what we're paying for, but I think New Amsterdam has real potential, and I'd like to see more.

It needs more time to develop. Callie irritated me as a character when she first came into the series a few weeks ago, but now that irritation is perhaps starting to make a little sense. If John is commenting about her ass, that means he's paying at least a little attention to it, and could that mean that ... Callie's the one?

Well, I'm still betting on partner Eva, and looking at Callie as a candidate for John's true love may be a little ass-backwards ...

But we'll know never know unless there's another season in the unsetting sun of John Amsterdam...

See also New Amsterdam, 1,2,3 ... 4. Poetry and Parenthesis ... 5. Meets Mad Men ... 6. The DNA of Art ... 7. What Kept John from Dying?

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winner of the Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction novel of 1999

"delivers on its promises" - The New York Times

Silk Code trailer

Obama's Words about "Bitter" Workers, Guns, and Religion: No Big Deal

Barack Obama has been receiving considerable flack about this statement made earlier in the week - "It's not surprising then they [economically hard-pressed workers] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Hillary Clinton and John McCain have gleefully called such words "elitist," Obama has regretted and clarified them, and the media have been having their customary field day, ever on the lookout for a possible slip by a major contender.

You know what I think? It's no big deal.

Why should working families having trouble making ends meet take offense at a Presidential candidate recognizing that they may be feeling bitter? That's a normal human reaction, and ignoring or denying it - as Clinton and McCain are doing - is plain hypocrisy.

What about the linking of religion to this? Well, I thought that was supposed to be one of the social purposes of religion - giving solace and comfort to people who may be frustrated for whatever reason. How is what Obama said an insult?

And the reference to guns? As any psychologist will tell you, feelings of powerlessness can indeed sometimes lead to violent fantasies - and realities. (Not videogames, by the way, and not television - but real life frustration.) So in what way was Obama so wrong to make this point?

All in all, this is another tempest in the teapot, stirred by Obama's opponents and happily carried by the media.

You know what else?

I think the workers of America - including Pennsylvania - are far too bright to fall for this.

Grand Opening of my New Bookshop in Second Life!

That's right: I've moved my Second Life bookshop - The Soft Edge - to beautiful new quarters, in the Artists' Village in Second Life.

And to celebrate this new opening, I'll be reading from the beginnings of each of my five novels - The Silk Code, Borrowed Tides, The Consciousness Plague, The Pixel Eye, The Plot to Save Socrates - at 4pm Eastern (1pm Second Life time) this afternoon!

I'll also be giving away a copy of one of my novels in a contest, which will be open to only those who attend the Grand Opening today!

If you're already my friend in Second Life, look for an announcement from me, 30 minutes before the reading, with a landmark you can use to get to the reading.

If you're already on Second Life, but are not yet my Friend, I can be contacted at PaulLevinson Freenote - send me a note in Second Life, and I'll reply with a landmark to the reading.

If you're not on Second Life, you can join for free any time at http://secondlife.com - after you've joined send me a message here on Facebook, and I'll give you more details.

More details about all of my novels over here...

Time: 4pm Eastern (= 1pm Second Life Time)

Here's a snapshot of my bookshop - clicking on it will bring to a place where you can "teleport" to the bookshop... (my old friend Barry Cramer is even sitting permanently outside...)

Battlestar Galactica 4.2: Mysteries and Satisfactions

Some sweet mysteries and deep satisfactions in the second episode of the final season of Battlestar Galactica tonight ...

Minor mystery, though maybe not so minor: Why is Baltar talking to Baltar rather than Six? Baltar asks his conjured vision of himself if "he" is not really Six, and "he" doesn't really answer, but ... This gets us to focus, once again, on exactly what the palpable vision of Six that only Baltar can see has been all along. Somehow, not just something arising totally from Baltar's brain, since the vision gives him information that (presumably) Baltar couldn't know ... Unless, Baltar is a Cylon ... Nah, too obvious ... But, whatever's going on, it could be that this Baltar seeing Baltar rather than Six offers some clue to something profound....


Big mystery/big satisfaction: What exactly is going on with the seven minus one (who is boxed). We see Six changing the Centurions' programming so that they riddle One (played by the always convincing Dean Stockwell) and his two nasty Cylon colleagues with bullets - this after One got a majority of the six (by One or someone getting Sharon's model to vote against herself) to agree to "lobotomize" the raiders - because One et al are understandably concerned that the raiders showed independent judgment in pulling back from the attack last week. Ok, makes sense, and it's indeed satisfying to see arch, smug One get what he deserves, especially after he told us last year how painful he finds the Cylon reincarnation. But ... seeing as how the bullet-riddled Cylons will come back, what was the point in killing them? Nonetheless, it was very satisfying to finally see Six acting totally on her more humane impulses ...

Biggest satisfaction: Lee and Kara kissing, and Lee telling Kara, "I believe you".

Just sayin'...

But, we all believe Kara, don't we?

And why is that? After all the tricks we've seen, including Cylons who don't even know they're Cylons, why do we believe Kara?

That may be the biggest mystery of all.

Well, not bigger, of course, than who is the final Cylon. My two current guesses are: Admiral Helena Cain (hey, she was pretty brutal, she was killed ... but if she's a Cylon, she can come back ... and it makes sense that the Cylons would put a skinjob on the Pegassus) or Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch of course was in the original BSG, and it would be cool if he wound up being a Cylon now) ...

And, as a fallback, I'd say President Roslin. When she said she couldn't be sure, tonight, in response to Starbuck's insistence that Starbuck was no more a Cylon than Roslin, well ... Roslin saying she couldn't be sure, could have been Roslin talking about herself.

See also ...

Battlestar Galactica's Back and Bristling! ... 4.3 Deaths, Lessons, Questions ... 4.4: A Little More about Cylons ... 4.5 Mutiny on the Demetrius ... ... 4.6 Cylon on Cylon ... 4.9: Finally, Bill and Laura ... 4.10: Earth

and So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival, vol. 2

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"jumping with ideas" - Denver Post