These are my predictions for the season finale Lost. They don’t come from spoilers or secret information, they’re just guesses and intuition and are probably wrong.

* The episode will end with Jin in some kind of perilous situation to save Sun. Sun and the other Oceanic 6 will believe him to be dead. Even the audience will believe him to be dead, but he’ll really be okay when the situation is revisited in an episode next season. (Remember when Ben shot Locke?)
* Locke will end up moving the island and it will require typing the numbers into another one of those Dharma Apple computers.
* The rest of the military guys will die, but the main one (Mr. Kimi?) will survive and track people around the island throughout the next season.
* Faraday and angry-redhead-British-girl will get stuck on the island when it moves.
* We’ll get to see the method or apparatus that Ben used to time-travel. It uses some kind of really cold superconductor technology (which is why we see Ben in the middle of the desert with a parka.)
* We’ll see another orientation video that details (but without too much detail) the operation of the Orchid station.
* We’ll see the smoke monster again, but still won’t know anything more about it.
* We still won’t know the nature of the cabin, Jack’s Dad, Charlie, or what Claire is up to.
* There will be at least one “WAAAAAALLLLLT!” scream from Michael.
* When the island moves, the little electronic gizmo strapped to Mr. Kimi’s arm will be out of range of the ship and cause the C4 to blow up. Fortunately, the mechanics of the schema get radioed back to the ship so they’re safely on life rafts by the time the island gets moved.
* Hurley says “dude,” Sawyer says “son of a bitch,” and Ben reveals this has all been part of a larger plan.

That thing? On the television and internets tonight? Was that an episode of Alias? Or was that an episode of Lost?

A few TV/Movie thoughts while I’m waiting on replacement clutch cylinders…

To use a quote/show-title from coffejedi, I was pleasantly surprised by the “River Tam Beats Up Everyone” show (also known as “Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles.” I was expecting it to be a crappy SciFi show melded with a crappy action show, but really ended up enjoying the quality of the acting, effects, and story. Thebruce notes that there is an ARG-like tie in, that I had not really paid attention to (and likely won’t, as I’m following the LOST game and only have the time and attention to follow one such thing at a time.) I think I’ll be watching at least the next few episodes of Terminator to see if the quality continues.

Vampires + White Trash = Near Dark = one horribly bad film. I have no idea why I added it to my Netflix many months ago. Everyone says that Showgirls is the worst movie ever. I think Near Dark is probably #2. I fell asleep part-way through and woke up toward the end. I was confused by the “vampire physics” (that is: the feeding, siring, and such) as I’ve been so exposed to the Buffy universe, that any other vampire behavior seems weird.

We finally got to the final episode of Six Feet Under last night. By “we” I mean “me.” Kim watched it the other night, but I was already asleep. It’s been several months of watching, but totally worth it. I have to say that out of the final, concluding, closing-up-loose-ends TV show episodes I’ve seen, this one pretty much tops the list. It provided closure, but without being too final–providing a good amount of open-endedness for the characters–in a style that so perfectly fits the series. Truth be told, it might have brought a couple of (happy) teardrops to my eye, but I probably won’t admit to it beyond this blog post.

Between the Lost: Missing Pieces shorts and the Find 815 game, I really can’t wait for LOST to come back on the air. I don’t care about the writers strike (well, I do, actually–quite a lot), but I really need those 8 produced episodes. Let’s hope that by the time #8 airs, they’ll have resolved the strike and can write and produce #9-16 posthaste.

It looks like the new LOST website stuff is now live. It’s not quite an ARG, not quite a game, not quite a story. Finding and solving things unlock video clips that provide more information. I’m certainly going to be following.

OCEANIC AIRLINES ANNOUNCES ITS RETURN TO THE AIRWAYS
“TAKING YOU PLACES YOU NEVER IMAGINED”

Flights Begin December 31 To Nine Markets
Oceanic Airlines announced today their return to the airways. Beginning December 31, operations and flights to nine markets will resume, “Taking You Places You Never Imagined.” Destinations include:

Los Angeles, CA
Tustin, CA
Ames, IA
Miami, FL
New York, NY
Portland, OR
Knoxville, TN
Seoul, South Korea
Sydney, Australia

“We are very eager to resume flying and apologize for any inconvenience our temporary closure may have caused our loyal customers,” said Michael Orteig, President, Oceanic Airlines. “Oceanic Airlines is proud to be a top tier flight provider and looks forward to providing travelers with many more years of unparalleled service.”

About Oceanic Airlines
In business for over 25 years, Oceanic Airlines is a major airline carrier and offers the highest caliber of service for international and domestic flights. Destinations include Los Angeles, London, Sydney and South Korea.

Oceanic Airlines Contact:
Georgia Cavanagh (818) 460-5520

Calling the contact number gives you an outgoing voicemail message telling you to check out flyoceanicair.com on the 31st.

Is it a full-fledged ARG? Is it an extension-of or extra-backstory-for the TV show? I guess we’ll find out soon. More information is at the Unfiction thread.

E! Online has an interesting interview with one of the producers of Lost that talks about Charlie, the season finale, and assorted other things. (via Digg)

*Note that there is a possible spoiler ahead if you have not seen last night’s episode*

A new and unique theory of Lost occurred to me this morning.  It is not one I have heard elsewhere and I think that maybe it does a good job of unifying other theories.  For example, many people believe that the people on the island are in purgatory, but the show’s producers have denied this possibility.  Other people think they are on an island with some scientific Dharma cloaking device, masking them from radar and satellite.  Yet others think they are in a lost world, maybe Atlantis, isolated from the rest of the world by some natural or magical means.

My theory is this: they are stuck in a time paradox.  Something happened on the island to change history, creating a paradox.  All of the occupants of the island are now stuck in a bubble of a parallel universe that is in a different timeline from the rest of the world.  Desmond has shown that he can see the future and change events, but I believe that is only the tip of the iceberg.  I believe (and this is pure speculation) that some Dharma experiment–possibly the same one that gave Desmond the forward-seeing ability–is also able to see and alter the past.  The parachuting pilot’s comment that they found flight 815 and everyone was dead reinforces my theory.  (It reinforces several other theories, including conspiracy and coverup, but that is a different topic for someone else to write about.)  If, in some future episode, someone is able to alter the past, possibly doing something noble and heroic with the side-effect of diverting flight 815 from crashing on the island, then you have a paradox on your hands.  The noble and heroic deed couldn’t have been done without flight 815 crashing there, but the action prevents it from crashing.  *poof*  An instant time paradox that the universe has to create a bubble parallel world to compensate for.

So that is my theory.  I agree that it is pretty weak in places, but it has potential.  At least it has as much potential as any other well thought out theory of what’s going on with the island.