Unanswered Lost questions
(via Kottke )
My Working Theory of The Lost Finale
[Huh, obviously, spoilers follow] So I was pretty disappointed with the finale, probably in large part because I hate series ending in religious mumbo jumbo (I’m looking at you BSG) but after thinking about it a little, I at least can find something that wraps it all up a bit for me, out of what they showed us. And yes, I know that it’s similar to what some people have been saying all along and yes, I’m sure some of you went in that direction right as you were watching it.
So the whole series is Jack. Jack dies, either abruptly in a plane crash or in some way we aren’t told. He then finds himself in some kind of limbo or purgatory where he doesn’t feel closure and doesn’t let go of his life and his friends. Either he’s injured and dying and delirious or it’s purely the way he “floats” in that limbo after death. But in that state, he dreams most of the series, a kind of adventure on an island after a crash, where the passengers, instead of being strangers are the significant people in his life. This is where him dying in a crash makes most sense because that’s the trauma his whole delirium is based on and the last bamboo scene might be is actual death.
When he gets some kind of partial closure in his dream / vision, by detonating the bomb, he starts seeing the real lives of all his friends (well, their real situation but in a dreamt up reconnection story) but he’s still half way imagining everything so the island story keeps going but at the same time he’s seeing flashes of his real life. For us, the characters are actually doing the opposite, living a more ordinary but new life and flashing sideways to the island but were’ seeing things from Jacks dreaming perspective, we see them seeing the island adventures but it’s him seeing his real life friends and flashing to their roles as the characters he made up for them in his vision/dream.
The whole finale is him closing off everyone’s stories on the island as they get together in church for him to smile at them, recognize them, be with them and let go.
I know some parts of this are obvious but the difference for me is that with this angle, nothing needs to make sense, they don’t all die,—which was my initial thought in the church but unless they were all on the plane for his dad’s funeral, they can’t all be dead—none of their connections between the island and real life and their adventures on the island need to make sense and be explained, they are all just inventions or metaphors for stuff Jack has lived with them, it’s also why the island is so complex with so many weird stories and lost threads, he’s just dreaming / delirious / having nightmares / flashing back to his life, etc. I’m sure there are hundreds of little hints to his relationships to everyone in the adventures they have. Why for example does Locke seem to only be a patient but play such a huge role on the island? Why is Ben there but doesn’t go in the church? (unless he’s the only one alive but again, how are they all dead?) What are all the flashbacks all along the series? He’s dreaming a backstory to everyone????? And on and on.
(Some very bad phrasing in there, I changed some things around and probably should re-write the whole post but the few minutes I put on this are quite enough already.)
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On May 20th, J. Craig Venter and his team at J.C Venter Institute announced the creation of a cell controlled by a synthetic genome in a paper published in SCIENCE. As science historian George Dyson points out, “from the point of view of technology, a code generated within a digital computer is now self-replicating as the genome of a line of living cells. From the point of view of biology, a code generated by a living organism has been translated into a digital representation for replication, editing, and transmission to other cells.”
—Craig Venter creates synthetic life form
Mujicomp
It’s a bunch of thinking about how designers (and BERG in particular) might start thinking through making products for ’smart cities’ (as they’re known for good and for ill) including the qualities that these products should possess in order for them to be invited into people’s homes – something we’ve started calling ‘mujicomp’ as shorthand in the studio.
People Are Walking Architecture, or making NearlyNets with MujiComp, January 2010
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I’m not saying you want an iPad or need one (or any of the upcoming tablets) — I don’t get commission. I’m just saying, what’s the big deal? It’s a computer and television and radio and newspaper and book and magazine and game console and Internet the size of a piece of paper and the width of a Mitch Albom book. It’s freaking amazing, that’s the big deal.
—Here on Gilligan’s Isle
(via Gruber)
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They take something small, simple, and painstakingly well considered. They ruthlessly cut features to derive the absolute minimum core product they can start with. They polish those features to a shiny intensity. At an anticipated media event, Apple reveals this core product as its Next Big Thing, and explains—no, wait, it simply shows—how painstakingly thoughtful and well designed this core product is. The company releases the product for sale.
—This is how Apple rolls
48 Hour Magazine
Another fantastic idea by the no less fantastic Champ—Powazek duo (and crew in this case). 48 Hour Magazine is … a magazine created in 48 hours. Pretty crazy in itself, they also have a very original way of splitting profits which you can visualize here:
I’m looking forward to seeing and reading the first issue as well as seeing which crazy stunt they come up with.
[Update 10/05/11] You can get it here.
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It’s never been print vs. web – it’s attention vs. apathy. A bunch of people who care about the same thing is the most powerful, rare, and wonderful thing in the universe. It doesn’t matter how they find each other – web, print, a great disturbance in the force – it only matters that they find each other, and that they can do something with that shared attention to make the world a better place.
—How To Save A Newsweekly in 5 Easy* Steps
