Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt!!!!

In case you just haven’t had enough of Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt, or if you just miss him:

 Oh, no need to thank me.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt! Recap

Seems like Waaaaaaaalllllllllllttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!! has made quite a stir. The “Top 10″ blog post was linked on the UselessJunk forum, where readers proceeded to post variations of Waaaallllllllttttttt!!!! (There’s also an interesting discussion about the Top 10 post on the 4815162342 forum.)

But I just have to point out a hilarious blog post in which a Lost viewer asks: “How many a’s are in Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt?” She does research using Google to see which variation of Waaaaalt gets the most hits. Check it out!

Wow! Thank you!

A quick thanks to everyone who’s been visiting my blog and leaving comments here and at Digg. You’re awesome! Yesterday this lowly little blog got 35,000 hits! It definitely wouldn’t have been possible without so many people on Digg offering great ideas and comments.

Look for more Lost posts (and posts about other scifi shows) coming soon. I’ll also be adding a new page to this blog with a blogroll of links to all my readers who also enjoy writing about Lost, so we can keep discussing ideas back and forth! So stay tuned! You can get updates by email or RSS.

Top 10 *most annoying* Lost moments

 

Lost is an awesome show. But every now & then I wonder just what the writers were thinking…

10. Nikki & Paulo

 

Yes, they were by far the two most annoying characters in television history. I’m glad to see them gone. But, with Patchy resurrecting all the time, Locke cured of paralysis, Rose cured of cancer, and Christian Shepherd sitting around in Jacob’s cabin… Might we see Nikki and Paulo again too? Say it isn’t so! I for one am hoping the immortality theory is not true.

9. Libby’s Death

 

Guess I’ll never know why she was stalking Hurley at the mental institution. Great way too create a really compelling mystery and then destroy it.

8. Eko’s “Smoky” Encounter

This left something to be desired. Sure, the morphing of Eko’s brother into Smoky was really cool and helped us realize many of the Losties’ hallucinations were actually Smoky appearances. But the next scenes where Smoky was tossing Eko around like a ragdoll were unfulfilling, to say the least. Sometimes Smoky looks and acts way too much like the water creature on “The Abyss” to be taken seriously.

7. Hurley’s Diet

Hurley wouldn’t be the same – or as much fun – if he were skinny. But Hurley really should be losing some weight on the island. He was sneaking Dharma food for awhile, but isn’t that long over?

6. Fake Smoky Appearance

Big goof. Lost viewers everywhere discovered that in the pilot episode, a “smoke monster” was seen hitting the airplane turbine shortly before it exploded. Much speculation ensued about this find. Sadly, the producers later confirmed it was a CGI effect left in the show in error. You can see it here:

5. Charlie: Death by Stupid

 

Charlie’s death was sad. But the saddest part was that it didn’t have to happen. He could have run to the other side of the door and shut it. There was plenty of time.

4. The Lost Experience

 

OK, a lot of people will disagree with me on this. Sure, The Lost Experience kept us entertained one summer. But the revelations ended up being very out of place. The solution it offered to Hurley’s numbers was unsatisfying and has never been mentioned on the actual show. Does anyone still believe that was really the answer?

3. Locke’s Bizarre Trust of Ben

Seriously Locke, grow a brain!

Ben shot him and left him for dead in a mass grave. Ben admitted to gassing all those Dharma people and thus committing mass murder. He’s insane. Yet Locke continues to release him and actually believe him. Utter stupidity. Why does Locke insist on trusting liars? 

2. Lack of Curiosity Killed the Cat

How many times have we yelled at our TV screens because Locke didn’t follow up on a mystery when he was with an “other” or Jack seemed to care more about Kate and Sawyer than the smoke monster that was killing people? There were plenty of times the Losties didn’t share vital information with one another or “forgot” to ask Danielle or an Other about a question that was bugging all of us.

Sure, Locke finally asked Ben what the smoke monster was. And Ben said he had no idea. But really Locke, of all the people you could ask, you choose Ben?

1. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllttttttttttttttttttttttt!

Ah yes, it was the fodder of forum humor everywhere: Michael and his ever-present Waaaaallllltttt scream. 

Waaaaaalllllltttttt! haunted us in our dreams. Sadly, we saw it again before “Meet Kevin Johnson.” Think the love of Waaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllttttttttt is over? Just run a Google search on Waaaaaaaaaaaaaalt!! and you’ll see we’re all still talking about it:

 Notice the third entry in the picture above. Apparently Waaaaaaaaaalt!!!! translates into any language. No wonder Walt doesn’t want to see Michael anymore.

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Related Articles

• Lost Numbers:A Huge Clue
• Lost: The Missing Girl from Season 3
• Kill Ben: Volume 1
• A Birth and a Death
• Meet Highlander: Err… Kevin Johnson

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Is this e-mail real? Avoid tricky scams!

 

Today I received an amusing e-mail:

“Hello. I operate a consultancy firm here with name and registered address as follows: Xpress Solutions, 37 old Lilly BLVD, London NE7 9KP. A client of mine who is due to arrive in the United States in few weeks time is interested in your editing services. Can you tell me a little more about your mode of operation? If interested, please reply.”

Obviously there were several points in the e-mail that tipped me off to the scam. But sadly, not everyone figured this out. An interesting website shows a group of people who received the exact same e-mail and almost fell for it. Apparently this e-mail has been going around for years.

Want to avoid scams in the future? Here are some tips.

1. Skepticism will save you - If you receive an e-mail from someone you don’t recognize, proceed with caution. *Never* assume it’s from the person it claims. E-mails from yahoo and hotmail accounts are especially suspect.

2. Google the e-mail - This simple step may tell you everything you need to know. You might find out they’re legit by seeing other places they’ve posted as themselves. Or, you might find forums where people are discussing scams from this very person!

3. Track the e-mail – Many people don’t realize that many e-mails from yahoo and hotmail are traceable. A number of websites allow you to paste in the e-mail’s header and trace the e-mail to its original source. The e-mail I received originated in Nigeria. Scam anyone? (Note: Some people hide their IP addresses, so this isn’t always accurate.)

4. Get a phone number and address – Write the person back and, if he or she is wanting to do business with you, ask for a phone number and address. Then google the information to see if anything comes up. Sometimes you’ll find the address is connected to a completely unrelated business. Sometimes you’ll find the phone number has been connected with scam attempts in the past.

5. Never, never, never, never send money – If you decide someone’s possibly legit, remain skeptical. Recent scams involve scam artists sending a cashier’s check for more than the amount of your bill, and then requesting you mail them a check with the amount they overpaid. Some scams involve requesting you send money to cover shipping so they can send you the “real” check. Watch out.

6. Report the e-mail – Help everyone in the long run and report strange e-mails. PayPal, eBay, and the IRS have phishing accounts you can forward scam e-mails to. Yahoo also has an abuse site that follows up on your reports.

Yahoo Abuse Report
Hotmail Junk Mail address: report_spam@hotmail.com
G-mail spam reporting: gmail-abuse@google.com
IRS report: phishing@irs.gov
eBay report: spoof@ebay.com (see Spoof Tutorial)
PayPal report: spoof@paypal.com (see PayPal’s spoof page)

Want a link to a variety of places you can report scam e-mails to? Then visit here or here.

7. Stay Alert – That’s the bottom line. Check and double check every step of the way. If they call you, google the phone number they use and see what you find. Make sure the e-mails they send originate from the same place. If they don’t, you might be dealing with a scammer using an anonymous proxy. There are many other things you can do, but this will help you get started.

Stay safe out there! And if you have any other tips to add, I’d love to hear them!

Meet Highlander… err Kevin Johnson

“There can be only one.”

Sounds like Highlander, but it’s really the story of Kevin Johnson. Or, more accurately, what Kevin Johnson is supposed to be doing.  As always, if you haven’t seen the latest episode of Lost, stop reading now!

Ok! First, let me start with some theories and questions for my readers.

• Why is Michael immortal? Apparently the Island wants Michael alive. This means the Island has powers in the outside world. It also explains why people like Ben and Locke believe the Island directs them.
• Are other people immortal? Some.
  
  Remember how Jack was kept from jumping off that bridge? Same thing.
• Is the Island *really* keeping Michael alive? Maybe. However, it could also be a symptom of the “course corrections” that Mrs. Hawking told Desmond about in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.”
  

  Remember? The future can’t be changed. Fate can’t be avoided. If you try to do so, the “universe” will course correct you back to your proper fate. I think that’s really what’s happening, and it’s been anthropomorphized by people looking for an “intelligence” behind the corrections.

• So who is the four-toed statue? Don’t you see the connection?
  
  The statue could be ancient island natives’ way of anthropomorphizing the island’s course corrections and other strange events. Kind of like people used to think the Sun was a deity. This could also be the purpose of the Temple.
• Why can some people travel off the island? So far, we know the following people can travel off-island: Ben, Mr. Friendly, Richard Alpert, and the Oceanic Six. I don’t think this refers to their having any type of special power. It refers to who Ben lets travel off island.
• Who staged the wreckage? Ben or Whidmore? You decide. Each party is blaming the other. 
  
  My money’s on Ben. He gassed all the Dharma people once upon a time and the Freighties disabled the poisonous gas.
• So Ben’s coordinates were right?! Looks like it. Ben told Michael to head off at 325 degrees. Faraday suggested 305. Desmond suffered side effects and Michael didn’t.
• Who was shooting at Alex? I believe Ben somehow “communicated” to the Temple people to kill Carl and Danielle, just as he communicated to Harper (or Smokey). He was putting Alex in a trap, per usual.
• So no one is truly immortal? There’s an alternate theory that, once on the island, you’re immortal *off* island but still very mortal on the island (if they catch a disease or a bullet while on the island). This would explain why Ben was dying of a spinal tumor but Rose and Locke were cured. It’s a stretch though.
• So why doesn’t Richard Alpert ever age? Beats me.
  
• Ok, if Mr. Friendly is real, then who was Libby? Good one. Michael was obviously hallucinating at that point, much like Hurley did off island and everyone does on island. It’s part of the sickness and continues even off island. Note that hallucinations always cause guilt and are always accusatory. Examples: Libby with Michael, Charlie with Hurley, Jack’s dad, Eko’s brother, Harper with Juliet…

 Random notes:
- Did anyone else think Mr. Friendly was Smokey at first?
- My theory about Michael traveling back in time was wrong. Woops!
- Danielle is gone and that really pisses me off.

I loved her as Delynn on Babylon 5, and I’m really going to miss this character too. All that build up and still so many unanswered questions about her… Of course, there’s a *slim* hope that no one on the island can really die. Or that maybe she’s immortal like good ol’ Patchy. We shall see.

I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

What’s going on in Tibet?

For anyone who hasn’t been able to keep up with the news lately but wants to know what’s going on in Tibet, I found a great article for you. It’s a succinctly written piece detailing the history of Tibet and what’s happening now. You can read it here.

Top 10 Reasons Facebook is Evil

 

Sure, I use Facebook for networking and to keep in touch with friends. But sometimes the website gets so annoying that I just want to beat my head against a wall. Here’s why.

10. Applications

I have apps like everyone else, and some are fun. But some apps need to be destroyed forever.

How many times can a zombie bite me? How often will Pokey Puppy throw a bone at me? Will my friend hate me if I ignore her “best friends forever” request?

And by the way, would you really trust the Zombies app? “Brains… brains… …. BRAINS! Brains…” Yes, they’re eating my brain. Every time I get a zombie request, a neuron in my brain dies.

9. Gossip Girl

A girl’s status recently read: “Jane Doe is wondering why some of her women friends over 32 are not mature?!?!” Since she only had one woman friend over 32, it was easy to figure out who she was talking about. But this begs the question – if she had a problem with her friend, why didn’t she just tell her? Why whine about it in her status? With friends like that…

8. Piggy-Back Apps

 

One day, someone sent me a rum & coke on Facebook. Deciding this app would pass the “Dube Test,” I accepted it, only to find Rate My Friends loading on my Facebook! WHAT? I hate Rate My Friends! Sure enough, the rum & coke was a smokescreen to trick me into loading an app I hate. Sadly, there was no rum & coke for me that day.

7. “Look at Me!” Syndrome

 

Unfortunately, when many adults sign into Facebook, they are bitten by the “junior high bug” and start acting like prepubescent teens.

There are plenty of examples… Take the grown man who included a “PayPal Donation” on his page. I don’t think he looked at the demographics of Facebook users first. Most of us aren’t wandering around with tons of extra cash just begging to be thrown wildly into cyberspace at individual people. And if we did have that kind of money, we’d be wasting it on these:

Girls, take note. If your boyfriend doesn’t give you a birthday gift, but he’s sending hundreds of these out to other girls, you might have a problem.

6. Stalkers

(Note: Picture from www.markmoore.terapad.com)

Unless your Facebook is set to be viewable by only your friends, someone is spying on you. Guaranteed. These pages are magnets for creeps who would rather watch you through the Internet than actually talk to you in person.

5. Relationship Hell

Whatever you do, never advertise your relationship on Facebook.

Adding “in a relationship with” is like putting up a billboard that reads, “Please! Hit on my boyfriend!” or “Hey guys! Stalk my girlfriend!” I’m not kidding. For some reason, twisted people see the “relationship status” as an invitation to break it as quickly as possible. Women and men alike flock to the “no longer available” with e-mails and wall posts (usually accompanied by photos that really belong in the back corner of a video store). Which brings me to…

4. Slutty Profile Pics

I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to see your naked picture on Facebook, even if you do think you’re God’s gift to men or heaven’s present to women. What’s even worse is when you go to the person’s profile page and it’s covered with Bible verses and quotes about how conservative they are. Sorry, but you’re not fooling anyone.

3. Are You Interested?!

Apps like these are out to make Facebook the single most annoying website in the history of the Internet. First of all, why on earth would anyone add that information on an Internet application? “We will keep track of who is crushing on you so you don’t have to!” Internet becomes Big Brother anyone?

But most importantly – isn’t this what we did in elementary school? I prefer men now, not boys who hide behind Facebook applications.

2. Unwanted Friends

Sure, I could make my page on Facebook unsearchable. But that kind of negates the point, doesn’t it? I like friends from elementary school or former work colleagues to be able to find me. But the cost of this is great. Every now and then, I receive a friend request from someone I really can’t stand.

Sometimes it’s a person I deleted before. Sometimes it’s a person who deleted me and now wants to be my friend again. Umm, you got rid of me. Why would I take you back? Worst of all are the times it’s a “friend” who just wants to spy on me for someone I deleted. I only have this to say to them:

1. Weapons of Mass Destruction

Far too many times, I’ve seen Facebook used by a disgruntled person as a weapon of mass destruction. Just check out the sad story about Megan Meier for a worst case scenario involving Facebook’s sibling, MySpace. A good friend of mine experienced this once too. After her “nice guy” dumped her, he took time to make fun of her “broken heart” online with his sleazy buddies. Oh, but wait! His profile still talked about what a lovely Christian man he was (rolling my eyes).

People: Facebook was not created to be your personal weapon of mass destruction. For another example, check out this lovely find:

This girl broke up with her boyfriend on Facebook. How mature. Now look at how nicely Facebook capitalized on it:

 

Oh-so-classy is the “broken heart” ad for a Facebook app on the left. Nice move, Facebook. Real  nice.

Lost: A birth and a death

Don’t read this if you haven’t seen the latest episode!

*SPOILER ALERT********************************

The ending was AWESOME and put a different spin on the entire hour. Here’s my take:

* Jin is still on the island in Sun’s flash forward. They have to say he’s dead as part of the “big lie” Jack talked about. Remember, Jack said in court that 8 people survived the crash, and we all know it was more than that.

* Ben is connected. He can stage a crash site, get millions at the drop of a hat, and know everything that’s happening, even when up. I believe Ben’s connections come from the Island natives (aka Richard and crew).

* Charles Whidmore “is” Dharma, I do believe. Ben killed his people; now it’s payback time.

* The freighter sickness has to be the same one Danielle’s crew had. What are the implications of this?

* Michael is now working for Ben on the freighter. When Ben sent Michael off, he told him to head out on a bearing of 325. Faraday told the pilot to use a bearing of 305. Ben is sneaky, so I’m betting his instructions messed up Michael or Walt’s timeline/health and now Ben is using that to control them.

Those are all my quick thoughts. Let me know what you think!