A Walk Down Las Vegas Blvd

I travel to Las Vegas several times a year for business. To get my exercise regiment in, I jog Las Vegas Blvd every night. This particular evening was very crowded and I couldn’t get a good pace weaving in and out of all the people sightseeing. I was just coming up to Caesars Palace on my way to the Mirage Hotel and decided to stop jogging and whip out my camera and film the Boulevard, the lights, and the people.

This is my five minute walk back to the Las Vegas Mirage hotel starting at Caesars Palace casino.

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Lost Update: Watching The Wheel

Lost Update – Season Six – 02/23/2010

People say I’m crazy, doing what I’m doing,
Well they give me all kinds of warnings, to save me from ruin,
When I say that I’m OK they look at me kind of strange,
Surely your not happy now, you no longer play the game,

People say I’m lazy, dreaming my life away,
Well they give me all kinds of advice, designed to enlighten me,
When I tell that I’m doing Fine watching shadows on the wall,
Don’t you miss the big time boy, you’re no longer on the ball?

I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go,

Welcome All Candidates! Apparently almost everyone that was a passenger on Oceanic flight 815 is a candidate to assume the duties of Jacob, the dead deity of the Lost island. Even Hurley. Jacob told him so. The dead Jacob, who told him to go to the light house, the light house that no one ever saw before on the island. The same light house that will shine a little light on my Lost theory.

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory….I’ve been waiting six years to tell you…..
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

Last week we got a glimpse of the infamous numbers that keep appearing on Lost. We found out that the numbers are assigned to names. The castaways names. Tonight, we got to see a much bigger list, hundreds of names on a light house wheel set at degrees. Hundreds of names with lines through them and a few still active ones including Shephard, Kwon, and Jarrah. But what does any of that have to do with virtual reality experimentation? EVERYTHING!

Six years ago I theorized that the castaways were in a virtual reality state of unconsciousness. While in this state, experiments, both mental and physical, were performed on them. They were inserted into a selected scenario and allowed to play out said scenario to it’s logical conclusion. As with any experiment, it must be conducted time and time again to prove the results. A control group and control scenario is implemented to achieve the best case pristine data. Hence, the island has two groups, the perceived good versus evil groups. Each group is then given a choice, and then tested on that choice. Notice during the previous five seasons characters changed, some becoming evil, some good, some becoming leaders, and some relinquishing the leader position.

Tonight we got a glimpse on how the castaways are studied. Did you notice the mirrors in the light house as Hurley was winding the come-a-long chain setting it to 108 degrees. Jack saw flashes in the mirror, one of an Oriental structure, perhaps Kwon’s home, and another scene depicting what I think may have been Philadelphia. Jack then noticed names on the lens dial. Hundreds of names. Many of them with lines through them. Each name had a specific number on the dial. Jacks name was next to number 23, one of the infamous numbers.

Jack then tells Hurley to stop and move the dial to 23 degrees. (Jacks number) Jack sees his childhood house. he says they’ve been watching me for a long time.

The light house was the blind, or lack of a better term, the control room. To the virtual reality unconscious castaways, they were led to believe they were seeing a light house on the island. In reality, it was the control room of the laboratory where the castaways are, laid out in stasis, interconnected to one another. As a new scenario is introduced, much like a new video game level is achieved, each castaways absorbs that thought pattern and processes it and the new scenario begins. They are then intently studied for behavior changes, mood swings, violence, love, hate, compassion, empathy. As Jacob said, he won’t stop until he gets it right.

The mirrors are an important part of the virtual reality world. With multiple mirrors, one can have multiple lives, multiple planes of existence. Jack saw one such reality, the house he grew up in. He is also aware of his life on the island. And the one three years prior. And the one on the island in the 1970′s. And the one in 2004 on the mainland. And the one with a son named David. Get the idea here. Every castaways is living in multiple planes of existence while every nuance of their experience there is being recorded and studied. For what purpose, we will find out in the series finale.

The group watching the castaways use the mirrors to keep tabs on each castaways multiple lives. Sort of like changing the channel on the television set. And who is this group? As Juliet told Sawyer. “The aliens of course!”

Tidbits From Tonight’s Episode:

* Jack notices his scar on his stomach, seems to remember his wound on the island. Jack has a son named David. Who is a very talented pianist who is a candidate.

* Jacob tells Hurley someone is coming to the island and he needs to help him find it.

* Hurley tells Jack, “You have what it takes!” It sets him off.

* Claire has become Danielle. Danielle lost her baby, was stranded on the island with her expedition, and slowly one by one vanished. She also lived in the jungle alone, and tortured the people she captured in hopes of finding information about her child. This is exactly what we saw tonight in Claire. Perhaps, like in video games, the player changed his character and now Danielle became Claire.

* Jacks dad. Lost both on and off the island. Jack is searching for him both on and off the island. Coincidence? I think not!

* Jack came back to the island because he was broken and hoped the island could fix him. Boy, was he wrong.

* The light house. Jacks wonder aloud why no one ever saw it before.

* Jack smashes all the mirrors in anger.

* Jacob tells Hurley Jack is destined for something important and he must find it in himself to understand what it is he needs to do.

* MIB is Claire’s friend. He’s been feeding her bogus info on the others and her son, Aaron.

* Jin lies to Claire about Kate raising Aaron, perhaps to save her life.

Until next week, I’ll leave you with the remainder of the lyrics of John Lennon’s song, Watching The Wheel.

People asking questions lost in confusion,
Well I tell them there’s no problem,
Only solutions,
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I’ve lost my mind,
I tell them there’s no hurry…
I’m just sitting here doing time,

I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go.

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Lost Update: Static (A Twilight Zone Special)

Respectfully Submitted For Your Approval

Lost Update 02/22/2010

Greetings from another dimension of sight, sound, and imagination. Prepare yourselves for another Lost / Twilight Zone comparison. (The Twilight Zone was a classic science fiction television series created by Rod Serling that aired from 1959 to 1964. Each episode intertwined the supernatural with topical moral events in today’s society ending with a twist convoluting the outcome. I argue that the same can be said about ABC Lost. The castaways are more than just stranded on an island. There are mysterious forces at work of powers unknown. And just like the Twilight Zone, a twist is inserted in the story convoluting the outcome.)

The Twilight Zone had a standard format. Each episode began with a prologue, usually with the host, Rod Serling doing the voice over introducing the characters and setting. At the end of the show, Serling would offer up a final narration of what the viewer just witnessed.

Tonight’s offering is from season two, episode number 56, original air date, March 03, 1961, titled, Static.

As you read the opening monologue, plot synopsis, and epilogue, think about Lost and the season six premiere. As usual, I will explain the tie in below.

Monologue:

Retired old Ed Lindsay retrieves his ancient radio from the boarding house basement. He asks one of the boys intently watching him, “Don’t you know what a radio is?”. The boy says that of course he has, just not quite lick that. Rod Serling appears standing at the top of the basement steps:

“No one ever saw one quite like that, because that’s a very special sort of radio. In its day, circa 1935, its type was one of the most elegant consoles on the market. Now, with its fabric-covered speakers, its peculiar yellow dial, its serrated knobs, it looks quaint and a little strange. Mr. Ed Lindsay is going to find out how strange very soon, when he tunes in to the Twilight Zone.”

Plot Synopsis:

Ed Lindsay is an irritable bachelor in his late fifties. He lives in a dull boarding house where much of his time is consumed watching what he calls worthless and mindless programs. Not able to take it anymore, Ed retrieves his old radio from storage in the basement. When Ed was younger and happier, he enjoyed the radio and was one of his favorite forms of entertainment. Ed brought the radio to his room and plugged it in. He was amazed as to what he heard playing. It was programs from the 30′s and 40′s from big bands no longer alive. He tried to tell the others of his miraculous radio, but when he turned it on for them, all they heard was static. By making several phone calls, he found that the radio station he was listening to was off the air for over 13 years.

Later we learn that Ed intended to marry the love of his life twenty years ago but he kept letting other things get in the way until it was to late. Vinnie, a 50 something female boarder tells Ed that the past cannot be recovered and he should let it go. She leaves Ed’s room and returns to her own. Ed turns on the radio once again and magically Ed transforms into a much younger man, twenty years younger. Vinnie runs into Ed’s room young again as well. The radio offers Ed another chance to relive his life and finally get things right this time around.

Epilogue:

Around and around she goes, and where she stops nobody knows. All Ed Lindsay knows is that he desperately wanted a second chance and he finally got it, through a strange and wonderful time machine called a radio…. in the Twilight Zone.

Lost Tie In:

Remember way back in season one when Sayid and Hurley had the transmitter high atop the hill? Do you remember what they heard from the transmitter? That’s right, they heard 1930′s and 40′s big band music. Sayid remarks, “What is that?” Hurley replies, “When is that?” Sayid looks at him strangely and then Hurley tells him, “Just kidding dude!”

Lost has always been about redemption, righting the wrongs from the past. The castaways have been given that opportunity in the form of traveling back in time, approximately 20-25 years, to fix what was broken. It doesn’t mean that they will succeed, but they were given another chance at life.

just like Ed Lindsay from the Twilight Zone was given. What they do/did with that chance yet remains to be seen.

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Steely Dan – Aja – 1977

Steely Dan Aja Album Cover

It was 1977. I was a senior in high school. Steely Dan released a new record called Aja, their follow up album to their critically acclaimed 1976 The Royal Scam record. Aja was a welcome alternative to the disco era tunes that flooded the airwaves. Yes kids, we listened to the FM radio for our music. We didn’t have Ipod’s and MP3 players.

The cover is basic black, with the title of the album, Aja, in red at the top right with the Steely Dan in white lettering below it. On the left, you have to look closely, is a picture of a Chinese woman’s profile. A red and white ribbon streak down the center of the album.

Inside Jacket

Steely Dan is comprised of two music legends. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. They are pictured on the bottom left side of the album jacket. There is plenty of liner notes written by Michael Phalen who was invited to observe a Steely Dan recording session and then to report back to a prominent European publication. Alas, things went sour as Fagen and Becker confiscated his tape recorder and notes once they learned who he was.
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Aja Liner Notes

The liner notes continued on the right inside jacket. Oddly enough, the European publication went belly up before Phalen could publish his story. However, a year later, Fagen and Becker invited him to write the liner notes for their new album, Aja. He accepted and it is what you see here on the jacket.

Also part of the liner notes are from the president of ABC Records, Steve Diener. He touts how great and modern the album sounds.
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AJA Back Cover

The back cover of Aja is dressed in black with the song titles listed on the top left corner in white lettering.

Side One offered: Black Cow, Aja, Deacon Blues. Side Two offered: Peg, Home At last, I Got The News, Josie.

Peg was the song that got the most air time on the radio and made it to number 4, while Deacon Blues made it to number 11 and Josie made the top 20.
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AJA Dust Cover

The dust cover contains all the lyrics from the album along with the musicians who assisted in creating the album.
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Lyrics to the hit single Peg are below.

I’ve seen your picture
Your name in lights above it
This is your big debut
It’s like a dream come true
So won’t you smile for the camera
I know they’re gonna love it

I like your pin shot
I keep it with your letter
Done up in blueprint blue
It sure looks good on you
And when you smile for the camera
I know I’ll love you better

Peg
It will come back to you
Peg
It will come back to you
Then the shutter falls
You see it all in 3-D
It’s your favorite foreign movie

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