Claudio and Olivia Aguiar

Goodbye Blogspot

2011-08-16T18:32:00.004-06:00

We moved our blog to tumblr. Check it out at http://theaguiars.tumblr.com

We are back!

2011-08-14T19:59:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's been almost a year since we last updated our blog. Our families keep asking us to upload new pictures but we have been too lazy lately. We will try to do better, especially now that baby Luca is on his way. We will post pictures of his bedroom soon.

Room with a View

2010-09-06T16:34:00.002-06:00

I know that it's not the ocean but I love to wake up every morning to this view.

Holy Hail

2010-08-04T22:03:00.012-06:00

We had never seen anything like this in Utah. Especially in August.

Sundance Lift Ride

2010-07-17T20:07:00.003-06:00

Sundance it's such a cool place. On Saturday we took Olivia's mom and Michael for a lift ride.

Other Pictures of Sundance

2010-07-17T19:17:00.000-06:00

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

2010-07-16T23:21:00.003-06:00

Olivia and her mother at the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple which is the 130th operating temple. I took these pictures with the new iPhone 4. The quality is pretty impressive.

Paul McCartney

2010-07-14T22:29:00.007-06:00

On Tuesday we went to Paul McCartney's concert. It was almost 3 hours of pure awesomeness. Now I can say that I have seen 1/4 of the Beatles live. Here are some of the videos.

National Parks Tour

2010-07-11T17:06:00.002-06:00

On Saturday we took Sarah, Rachael and Stephanie to visit some of the National Parks in Utah. Southern Utah is probably one of the coolest places on earth. The best part of all is that I didn’t hit a deer this time. Hooray!

Dead Horse Point State Park

2010-07-11T16:56:00.002-06:00

Arches National Park

2010-07-11T16:44:00.002-06:00

Canyonlands National Park- Mesa Arch

2010-07-11T16:37:00.003-06:00

Stadium of Fire - The Show

2010-07-04T19:35:00.004-06:00

Stadium of Fire was great.

Carrie Underwood did a great job and the show was pretty awesome.

Beautiful view of Wasatch Mountains from the stadium.

Stadium of Fire - The Fire

2010-07-04T18:44:00.003-06:00

That place was on fire. Including some people. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera ready for that.

Park City

2010-07-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we took Olivia's sisters to Park City. The Farmer's Market was going on and we had a great time.

Say cheese:

People in Park City know how to pick their cars.

Badminton

2010-07-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

Badminton tournament in our backyard with Olivia's sisters.

Nasty

2010-06-16T18:47:00.003-06:00

I guess that too much water can be bad for your grass.

livschronicles

2010-06-15T19:21:00.004-06:00

So, Olivia decided to start a new blog. About nails. That's right, nails. I think this is just an excuse for her to spend more money with manicures.

http://livschronicles.blogspot.com/

The End

2010-06-14T20:08:00.005-06:00

As most of you know, the TV show L O S T has been a big part of our life. Olivia and I watched the season 2 finale in our first date and sharing our theories about the show, in some extent, brought us closer to each other. I remember the long nights (after we got married of course J) in which we talked for hours and hours about the previous episode, trying to make some sense out of it. I am going to miss that!

On Sunday, May 23rd 2010 at 8:15pm, 8 of us started to watch The End, the last episode of the series. When Jack finally closed his eye, we stayed quiet for several minutes. Tears were coming down our faces. We were confused, sad and happy at the same time. For us, it was the perfect ending. But I know that some people that didn't like it. They feel that they weren’t given the answers for all the questions created by the show. I personally love the fact that they didn’t give us all the answer. I like that 4 weeks later we are still discussing the meaning of some of the mysteries of the show.

This will probably be the last time I write about L O S T, but I wanted to share one last time some of my impressions about the show. Remember, these are just my impressions. I can be wrong, but I guess we will never know.

The End gave us the conclusion of 2 stories. The story of the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 that crashed on a mysterious island, and the story of the same people in what we believe is a world in which the crash never happened.

I will start with the island first. On September 22, 2004, Oceanic Airlines flight 815 carrying 324 passengers from Sydney to Los Angeles, crashed on a mysterious island of the Pacific Ocean. More than 70 people survived the crash and we later learn that the reason why the plane crashed was because Desmond Hume failed to enter the code into the Swan station computer in time, causing a large burst of electromagnetic energy, thus bringing the plane down. One of the survivors of the crash was John Locke. From day one Locke believed that crashing on that island was not an accident but that they had been brought there for a reason. We later find out that the reason was Jacob, a supernatural entity who protects the island and brings "candidates" to replace him after he dies. I guess the question is, what is the island and why does it need to be protected? I believe the island is the Garden of Eden. That explains why we find vestiges of ancient civilizations in the island such as Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mesopotamian cuneiform scripts. The reason why it needs to be protected is because at the heart of the island resides the Source and according to a previous protector of the island, the Source is a physical manifestation of "life, death, and rebirth". Humans supposedly covet the heart because a portion of the light is inside every living thing —"but they always want more". For me, the Source represents The Light of Christ, which is a divine energy that proceeds from God and gives life and light to all things. And if the light goes out there... it goes out everywhere.

Therefore the reason why the survivors of flight 815 were on the island was to make sure that the light would never be put out. The Man in Black (evil incarnate) is able to put the light out, but only for a moment because at the end, Jack Shephard saves the Island, thus the world, from destruction by relighting the light again. Jack, who was always considered to be a man of science, becomes a man of faith and gives is life to protect his friends and the island. But before he dies, Jack passes the torch to Hurley who then becomes the new protector of the Island. And that is the conclusion of the island story.

The second story that we followed in this episode (and season) was the story of these same people in what we believe is a world in which the crash never happened. At the end of season 5 our survivors traveled to 1977 and exploded a hydrogen bomb with the intent of preventing the plane to ever crash on the island. At first, it seems that they were successful. We see the plane to land on Los Angeles and we see these characters continue to live a normal life but different than their original life. In some way or another, these characters seemed to be able to find redemption in this life. We later find out, in a beautiful way I must say, that this life was not a parallel universe, but an afterlife. A world that these characters made together after they died to find each other, because the most important part of their life was the time they spent together. They made it so they could find each other, to remember, and to move on.

And that was the end of L O S T. After 6 seasons and 121 episodes, L O S T ended in a way that I personally believe was not only beautiful, but played a respectable homage to the show, the characters and the fans. Olivia and I have seen The End three times, and I can tell you that it gets better every time. I don’t think that there will ever be a TV show that will impact our lives as much as L O S T did. It took us to Hawaii 3 times and we can't wait to go back. Someone said, "I never understood Trekkie's... until I became a Lostie". I now know what that means.

For our finale party we decorated our home with an island theme, we got together with some good friends, had some good Hawaiian food and some Dharma food that had dropped from the sky earlier that morning. Here are some pictures.

Namaste

Chicken & Waffles

2010-05-21T21:46:00.003-06:00

Yeah that's right, Chicken and Waffles. Only in America!

Claudio's Birthday

2010-05-16T22:12:00.002-06:00

On Thursday we went to California to celebrate Claudio's birthday. While we were there, we attended “'Lost' Live: A Final Celebration” at Royce Hall at UCLA. What an amazing night. The evening consisted of a concert in which Michael Giacchino played the show’s favorite themes, accompanied by video and pictures from all six seasons.The concert brought almost all the current and former stars of the show and we got to see next week's episode with all the actors, writers and directors. After the event, we had the change to talk to most of he actors, get their autographs and take pictures with some of them.

Here are some pictures of that amazing night.

LOST LIVE: The Final Celebration

2010-05-03T21:08:00.003-06:00

We just got our tickets today to LOST LIVE: The Final Celebration. How cool are these tickets? We can’t wait.

There Is A First For Everything In Life

2010-05-03T20:58:00.002-06:00

Yard Work Is No Fun!

2010-04-25T15:49:00.006-06:00

Yesterday we dedicated most of our day cleaning out our front yard. I'm sure that there's a lot of people who enjoy spending their day removing weeds and making their yards look pretty but we are not one of them. During the whole day we were thinking "We should have bought a Townhouse".

But at the end of the day we were proud of ourselves.

Before

After

Before

After

Backyard

2010-04-19T19:55:00.005-06:00

We just got our backyard done today and we can't wait to use it. But someone was telling me that I need to start mowing the lawn every week. Man, I hate those stupid details.

Hawaii 3.0

2010-04-06T22:20:00.002-06:00

We just returned from Hawaii yesterday and we are not excited to come back to the snow. We had a wonderful time there. We visited our favorite places, ate our favorite food, and we saw some new things. One of the highlights of our trip is when we visited the USS Key West in Pearl Harbor. It was freaking amazing. It was also great to see old friends and meet new people. Click here to see the pictures we took.

Portugal

2010-03-06T09:01:00.005-07:00

It’s really nice to finally spend a weekend at home. Last weekend we were in L.A. and the previous two weekends I was in Portugal, so today I just want to relax and do nothing. But no… we already made plans for the entire day. Grocery shopping in the morning, lunch plans with a friend, and dinner plans and a movie with other friends. Let me rephrase how I started this post. It’s really nice to finally spend a Sunday at home. But I’m excited to see people I haven’t seen in a while.

The week I spent in Portugal was very nice. It was great to see my family and eat the best food in the world, but it sucked not having Olivia with me. It was also really nice to survive the floods and the bad weather that killed more than 50 people while I was there. It literately rained every single day. But whenever it wasn’t raining, it was nice to enjoy the 60-degree weather.

Here are some pictures that I took while I was in Lisbon. I have to say, Lisbon is one of the nicest cities in the world. I know I am a little bias but it’s true.

Sundance - Part 1

2010-01-03T21:11:00.003-07:00

Sundance is a ski resort 20 minutes from our home. My mom and Claudio love that place so I took them there on Saturday. It was a beautiful day.

Sundance - Part 2

2010-01-03T20:53:00.004-07:00

New Years Eve - Las Vegas

2010-01-03T19:55:00.004-07:00

We welcomed 2010 in Las Vegas. We saw the Beatles LOVE from Cirque du Soleil and we walked around the strip until the clock hit midnight. It was a lot of fun. My mom was a little bit scared because of the crowd but she enjoyed it a lot.

I have always wanted a TV in the bathroom. There was a TV in the mirror of our hotel room. Is this a sign?

Lights at Temple Square

2010-01-03T19:46:00.002-07:00

The snow was coming down that night.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T19:05:00.004-07:00

This was our first Christmas in our new home. Aurora and Big Claudio (Claudio's Parents) came to spend christmas with us and we had a great time during the two weeks they were here. We took these pictures on Christmas eve.

Here is Claudio helping with dinner. NOT!

And here is the typical Christmas food we eat in Portugal. Bacalhau cozido com batatas e couves. (Boiled codfish with potatoes and cabbage).

We also tried to eat ham but it was a difficult task. the codfish definitely won.

Here is Claudio's mother and stepfather. They left last night and the house is very empty.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T12:39:00.006-07:00

This year Olivia and I decided to do something different for Thanksgiving. We went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We spent a couple of days in Miami with the Sallums, we ate awesome Portuguese food and we enjoyed the 83 degrees weather.

The ship departed from the Miami Port, which is a beautiful place.

The farewell party was a lot of fun. They served a nice BBQ on the pool deck and people were dancing all over the place.

Our room was very nice. Not as nice as the one in our first cruise, but better than the last.

But the best part of cruising is definitely the ports. Our first port was Freeport in the Grand Bahama. The beach was great.

But the food was my favorite part. We stopped at this place called Billy Joe’s (Uncle Ben’s for short) and the food was amazing. Sandra had the Lobster, Olivia the Fish and Chips, and I got the Conch Stew. Holy schnikes, that thing was good.

Our second stop was Nassau, where they have the Atlantis hotel.

The hotel is pretty cool but very similar to the hotels in Vegas. Around the hotel there is a Marina with some cool shops where Olivia got a massive ice cream.

We spent the third day (thanksgiving day) in a private island, north of Nassau. It was a beautiful, relaxing day.

At night, we had our turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy – but we didn’t have to clean the kitchen afterwards. That was Olivia’s favorite part.

Here is a slide show of all the pictures we took.

Christmas

2009-11-17T18:44:00.003-07:00

We were very excited to come home tonight and see that the christmas lights were up.

How Pumpkin Pies Are Made

2009-11-17T18:24:00.001-07:00

MUSE

2009-10-28T19:23:00.004-06:00

MUSE became one of our favorite bands recently. Their new song, Uprising, is amazing. Check it out.

But our favorite is definitely the Knights Of Cydonia video. We were watching TV one night and the video came on. We couldn't turn away from it. It was terribly amazing. When it was over, we just looked at each other and laughed not knowing what to say. Five minutes later I ran to the computer and bought it. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did.

Here is another great song.

Monoface

2009-10-25T21:56:00.009-06:00

If you are really bored, this website might help. And you might find yourself a hot lady... or man... or whatever the thing below is.

http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html

Angels Landing

2009-10-12T21:05:00.003-06:00

On our way back from Vegas, Fab and I stopped at Zion National Park and here are some of the pics we took. No matter how many times I hike angels landing, that place always amazes me.

Vegas

2009-10-12T19:48:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday Fab and I went to Vegas to see BYU destroy UNLV. It was a great game. The stadium was packed by BYU fans and there were plenty of touchdowns to celebrate. This was the third time we have gone to games in Vegas and so far we are 3-0. Not bad at all.

Utah

2009-09-30T21:31:00.006-06:00

You gotta love Utah. Yesterday we were at about 90 degrees and today we had snow in the mountains and freezing temperatures in the valley.

I can't wait until the day I can move to Hawaii, or Tahiti, or any of the places below.

Fall

2009-09-29T20:54:00.004-06:00

Today we drove through the canyon to see the leaves change. It was beautiful. Fall is such a great season.

Girl Scouts

2009-09-23T15:28:00.002-06:00

Internet

2009-09-16T16:03:00.005-06:00

I hate not having the internet at home. How did we live in the past without it? Yes we are finally in the new home. We moved in on Saturday and we love it. I need to thank Fabian, Noah, Greg and Brian for helping us move. I also want to thank Mustafar (or whatever is name was) for installing Direct TV and allowing me to watch football all weekend long. And speaking of football, how about them Cougars? And the Patriots?

Well, Olivia loves the new kitchen and an oven that works. I like that too! Tonight, enchiladas @ Olivia’s style. Yummy.

Here are some pictures. Our parents are dying to see the house so we will post more pictures as soon as we have the internet.

Later.

Olivia's favorite part of the house: pantry.

Dragonfly Dr.

2009-09-02T20:49:00.003-06:00

Olivia loves the name of our new street. Dragonfly Drive. I think it's OK but for me there's nothing like North or South, East or West. Today they painted the inside of the house and they put the stucco on the outside. I think we will have a house by the end of next week.

New Pictures

2009-08-29T16:35:00.000-06:00

House Update

2009-08-24T18:57:00.002-06:00

Today we found out that our home will be finished by September 19 and that we will be able to move in by the end of the month. We are freaking excited.

Second Floor

2009-08-22T23:21:00.000-06:00

3 Days Later

2009-08-21T21:12:00.002-06:00

Today we went to see the status of our house and we were amazed with the progress they made in 3 days. We have walls and we can see where the living room is going to be at. It's exciting to see it happening.

Finally!

2009-08-18T23:07:00.000-06:00

It was a pleasant surprise when we went to see if there was any progress regarding our house and there was. The foundation is being built and it seems that we will finally have a house. We don't know when yet, but at this point anything besides a hole on the floor is good news. I promised my parents that I would post pictures every week so here it is.

Brazil Trip

2009-08-18T21:58:00.003-06:00

We arrived this morning from Brazil. It was amazing. We still need to organize our pictures but since several people have asked to see them, here is a slide show of some of the pictures. We will share some of the stories later but now is time to unpack and rest.

New new home

2009-08-04T20:20:00.006-06:00

Two weeks ago we received an email saying that we wouldn't be able to get a permit to start building our house until some time in September, so we decided to pick another lot and hopefully they will start building next week. Here are some pictures of the new place.

They just dug the hole today. Olivia really likes the wall on the back of the house. It is one less think that we need to worry about.

These are the houses across the street from us.

And this is our street. Most of the houses are built already so we wont have to worry about living in a construction zone.

We have just across the street a tennis court and a playground for our future kids,

and a place to grill some steaks and relax with friends and family (and not get the house dirty).

We are very excited about the new location and hopefully we will be able to move in some time in October.

Europino?

2009-07-30T18:03:00.003-06:00

My realtor thinks I am "Europino" since I am from "Portuguese". No wonder why I still don't have a house!

What's My Name?

2009-07-30T17:00:00.001-06:00

The other day I found out that my wife didn’t know my full name. It kind of hurt my feelings. How difficult is it to memorize Cláudio Alexandre da Costa Sá Aguiar?

New LOST Alternate Reality Game (ARG)

2009-07-24T07:44:00.003-06:00

Do you guys remember last year dharma’s recruiting web site? The purpose of the site was to foreshadow the arrival of Sawyer's group and the rest of the Oceanic 6 in DHARMA times in Season 5.

Well, we have a new website that I believe is foreshadowing season 6. It’s http://www.lostuniversity.org/

What do you guys think it means? Will Sawyer enroll in some online classes? Will Ji Yeon, Aaron and Charlie Hume go to school there so that they can find the location of the island and be reunited with their parents?

Let the speculation begin!

Swine Flu

2009-07-23T12:01:00.002-06:00

Wash your hands. You don’t want to be the next victim.

Coldplay

2009-07-21T22:06:00.011-06:00

This past weekend, Olivia and I went to California and we had the chance to see Coldplay. The concert was amazing. I will post more videos tomorrow.

Eggs

2009-07-21T21:54:00.005-06:00

Last week at work, we had the brilliant idea of doing a cleanse in which we could only eat lean protein and some green stuff. Once I found out that we could also have boiled eggs for breakfast I got all excited and went home and boiled 4 eggs. And then I left for one hour. This is the result.

Let me just tell you that we had to wash all our clothes, kitchen ceiling, floor, walls, etc. Five days later our house still smells like ... well, I don't even know how to describe it. The most interesting thing is that this is not the first time this happened to me. Not even the second time. I will end it there. Olivia will be cooking the eggs from now on.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the best…looking!

2009-07-15T16:14:00.004-06:00

So I was checking my typical morning sports column on Yahoo and I couldn’t pass up that Real Madrid is in a training session somewhere near Dublin and saw this picture. I couldn’t just keep it to myself and I thought I would share. Hot. Simply smokin’ hot. I am so glad my husband doesn’t mind my ogling! Enjoy!

Olivia

Happy Valley From the Sky

2009-07-09T21:59:00.006-06:00

We took these pictures when we were flying in from Chicago.

Mount Timpanogos

Point of the Mountain

Salt Lake Valley

Downtown Salt Lake City

Sunset over Salt Lake

Cosmo

2009-07-09T21:54:00.004-06:00

Here is Mr. Cosmo. Olivia loves that dog.

Olivia and her mom relaxing on the 4th of July at home.

Wrigley Field

2009-07-09T21:41:00.003-06:00

Here are some better pictures of our trip to Chicago. Cubs game on July 3rd, 2009.

Chicago Cubs and Portillos

2009-07-03T20:22:00.002-06:00

Today we helped the Cubs beat the Brewers 2-1 in a 10 innings game. The atmosphere was great. The stadium is iconic, the food is to die for and the fans are crazy. A great recipe for an afternoon full of fun in Chicago. Here are the pictures.

On our way home we stopped at Portillos, my new favorite place, and we got some Italian Beef and hotdogs. When are we going to have Portillos in Utah?

Taste of Chicago

2009-07-02T14:36:00.003-06:00

Today we went to the Taste of Chicago and we had a blast. The weather was great and the food was even better. We were only there for a couple of hours because I was afraid that I was going to explode in case we would stay there any longer. Here are some pictures.

Potato Chips

Turkey Leg.

How am I going to do this?

45 minutes later and a lot of determination!

Olivia playing the violin

2009-07-02T00:25:00.000-06:00

Chicago

2009-07-01T23:20:00.001-06:00

We arrived in Chicago at 6:00pm and one hour later we were eating the famous Chicago deep dish pizza. It doesn't get any better than this.
Actually it does. Tomorrow: The Taste of Chicago. Here is Olivia and her sister Angela.

Full CD Listening Party

2009-06-29T18:18:00.001-06:00

I really like this website. You can listen to the full album of most of the stuff that is coming out that week. Here is the link:

http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/#/1

If you like to listen to the album before you buy it, this is a great site.

Enjoy

Boring Weekend

2009-06-22T19:33:00.009-06:00

Olivia was in California during the weekend and I was bored. I watched several stupid movies, such as Speed Racer and Jumper, and cooked some steak everyday. I hate being alone. But I got my new iPhone so that kept me busy for a couple of hours. I also wrote a little bit more. Writing a book is tougher than I thought. But I think I have a title: “The Day Everything Changed”. It’s probably going to change but we will see.

Only one piece of meat. Very sad!

House Update

2009-06-13T22:25:00.002-06:00

Finally! It's only a freaking hole on the floor, but it made me really happy.

Real Salt Lake

2009-06-07T16:38:00.005-06:00

On Saturday, Olivia and I went to see a Real game. The new stadium is a little small but it's pretty nice. They dedicated the stadium right before the game with a 15 minutes prayer (it felt like an hour to me) and David Archuleta had a mini concert right after the game. Half of the people there didn't care about the game at all. It was all about Archuleta. The guy was actually pretty good but the game was better. It ended with a tie 1-1.

LOST Untangled-Season Finale

2009-06-05T16:54:00.002-06:00

Man, I miss this show; and it has been only two weeks.

House Update

2009-06-01T19:25:00.006-06:00

As you probably know, we are in the process of buying a house. So here is an update on how things are going. The company that is building our house sold us a model that hadn’t been approved by the city of Lehi. Unfortunately that was not brought into our attention until after we signed the papers, so at this time we are still waiting for an approval. June 9th is supposedly the day we will find something out. In the meantime, Olivia and I continue to drive by the place every week to look at dirt. But it gives us a good feeling inside. Here are the latest pictures of our neighbor’s houses and the place where one day we will live.

iChat

2009-05-31T11:46:00.002-06:00

I was finally able to help my mom install her camera. We had a lot of fun using iChat.

Crap!!!

2009-05-30T21:53:00.001-06:00

Olivia is starting a new diet. Does anyone want to invite me for dinner?

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-24T16:09:00.003-06:00

Man, I love them Holidays. Especially the ones in the United States since you end up having a 3-day weekend most of the time. In Portugal we celebrate the holiday on the respective day. I remember those Saturdays or Sunday holidays; I hated them with a passion. But I also remember those Thursday holidays in which we didn’t work or go to School for 4 days. I guess every place has its pros and cons.

So Olivia and I were planning to go shopping on Saturday, but we realized that it would be better to get rid of stuff we don’t need before we would buy more stuff and before we move into our new place. I discovered a few interesting things.

Can you believe that I have been keeping every letter that I have received in the past 6 or more years in boxes? How freaking stupid is that? And I mean it when I say every letter. Bank statements, emigration papers, school letters, tax documents, almost anything that come in an envelope has been going to one of those boxes. So as you can imagine, I couldn’t just throw everything away. I have been going through every letter, one by one, to find out what needs to be archived and what needs to be shredded. This project will probably take several weeks.

We also acknowledged that Olivia and I don’t tend to throw clothes away that easily either. I had stuff in my closet that I brought from Portugal 10 years ago and that I haven’t use for at least a couple of years. Between us we were able to fill 4 large garbage bags of clothes and shoes and finally all that stuff is now property of Deseret Industries. What a relief.

So what did we do at the end of the day? We went to Banana Republic and spent hundreds of dollars in new clothes to compensate what we had just thrown away. According to Olivia that was a very smart move because everything was half off and we were able to save a lot of money. I love my wife. She is such a smart shopper.

At the end of the day we spent some quality time with out neighbors, enjoyed a nice barbecue in their new backyard and played cards almost until 1am.

Bon Qui Qui

2009-05-19T21:48:00.003-06:00

I wish there was a King Burger around. This is hilarious.

LOST Recap 5x16/17 The Incident

2009-05-18T08:05:00.002-06:00

LOST season 5 finale was epic, just like most LOST season finales.

The first 4 minutes of the episode is, in my opinion, the most important segment of the show so far. The episode starts with none other than the mysterious Jacob. He is sitting at the beach, eating his gold fish and looking at the horizon when he sees, I suppose, the Black Rock arriving to the Island. Another man, who’s name remains unkown, whom I will call Mr. Loophole, arrives and has a conversation with Jacob. It goes something like this:

JACOB: I take it you are here because of the ship.
MR. LOOPHOLE: I am. How did they find the Island?
JACOB: You'll have to ask them when they get here.
MR. LOOPHOLE: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?
JACOB: You are wrong.
MR. LOOPHOLE: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
JACOB: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
MR. LOOPHOLE: Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?
JACOB: Yes.
MR. LOOPHOLE: One of these days, sooner or later... I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.
JACOB: Well, when you do, I'll be right here.

It seems that Mr. Loophole doesn’t like visitors. According to him, “They fight. They destroy. They corrupt.” He doesn’t seem to have much hope for humanity and according to him: “It always ends the same.” On the other hand, Jacob believes that it doesn’t need to be that way, and he keeps bringing people to the Island to prove Mr. Loophole wrong.

It all seems a big game to me, a game between good and evil, faith and doubt, destiny and free will. I just wonder how long this game has been going on.

In this opening scene we also find out that Mr. Loophole wants to kill Jacob, but for some reason he can’t. But right before he leaves, he tells Jacob: “One of these days, sooner or later... I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.” And as we see at the end of the episode, he does!

Let the Games Begin

In this episode we see how Jacob “touches” our main character’s lives in one way or another before and after Oceanic flight 815. He first visits young Kate when she is caught stealing a lunchbox. Jacob arrives and offers to pay for it leaving Kate off the hook. He then makes Kate promise that she will never steal again.

He then visits young Sawyer at his parent’s funeral. Sawyer is starting his letter to Anthony Cooper when his pen runs out of ink. Jacob gives him a new pen so he can finish the letter.

Next, he visits Sun and Jin at their wedding. He gives them his blessing and tells them that their love is special. He also tells them to cherish their time together and to never let it go.

Locke is Jacob’s next recruit. Jacob witnesses the moment Anthony Cooper throws Locke out of an 8-story building and after reviving him he tells him that he is really sorry about what happened to him.

My favorite visit was Jacob’s visit to Sayid, especially because I saw them filming this entire scene when I was in Hawaii in March. When I saw this scene being filmed I got the impression that Jacob was the one to blame for Nadia’s death. When I saw it again on TV I got the impression that Jacob was protecting Sayid from getting killed. It was very sad to see Nadia go.

Next we see Jacob help Jack get his Apollo Bar from the vending machine and giving Hurley a ride, the moment Hurley gets out of jail. He tells Hurley that he is not crazy and that he needs to be on Ajira Flight 316. He also leaves Hurley a guitar case that contains… well, we don't know.

So here is my question. If Jacob wants to prove Mr. Loophole wrong and show him that it doesn’t always have to end in a way where people fight, destroy and corrupt, why did he get the people he did to prove his point? After all, Kate murdered her own father, Sawyer is a con man, Sayid was a torturer, Hurley was in a mental institution and believes he is cursed, Locke has failed in everything he has tried, Sun was cheating on her abusive husband, Jack … well Jack has a lot of issues. Why these people? Will they be able to prove Mr. Loophole wrong? I guess that will be the core of Season 6, Destiny Found.

In one of the flashbacks we also see Jacob visit Ilana at the hospital. Jacob asks her to help him and even though we don’t know how she will help Jacob exactly, we know now why she is on the Island. But the big reveal of the episode was the content of the crate Ilana is carrying. Last week I wrote: “Whatever Ilana is holding in that box will be extremely important for the finale but I can’t think of what it is. Is it Widmore? Another bomb? The real Locke?” Well guess what? It was the real John Locke. Dead, just like he was when Ben left that hotel room in LA.

What’s Special about John Locke?

In 1977, Richard asks Jack if he knows John Locke. He tells him that he visited Locke three different times but didn’t notice anything special about him.

In 2004, Richard talks to resurrected Locke and tells him that he has been on the Island for a long time, that he has seen things on the Island that he could barely describe but that he has never seen someone come back to life. The clues were everywhere. Dead is Dead. The van that was carrying John’s body in LA had an anagram for reincarnation. But we kept missing the clues and in some way or another we all wanted to believe that John Locke was special. So what’s special about John Locke? Nothing.

Smoke Monster

We also learned that the smoke monster can use the form of another person, and I assume that person needs to be dead. The smoke monster has become Yemi, Dave, and now Locke.

Mr. Loophole knew that only the leader could meet Jacob, so once Locke became the new leader, Mr. Loophole used the smoke monster, in the form of Christian, to tell Locke that he needed to die. He then used the smoke monster again, in the form of resurrected Locke, to tell Richard to tell Locke that he needed to die. Complicated, I know. We saw that scene last week in Follow the Leader. Once dead Locke returns to the Island the smoke monster becomes John Locke and he is able to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob.

Is Christian a manifestation of the smoke monster? I think so; just like Alex was when she tried to convince Ben that he needed to follow Locke's every order. Man, I need to give props to Mr. Loophole. He knows what he is doing. There’s still one thing that I am trying to understand: Is Mr. Loophole the smoke monster or can he control the smoke monster? What do you think?

I Need Attention

John and Ben finally see what lies in the shadow of the statue. “Ille qui nos omnes servabit" or "He who will save us all." When Ben meets Jacob, he is looking for a little attention from the person that he so faithfully and blindly served for 35 years. But Jacob doesn’t give him any and Ben kills him just like Locke asked him to. Right before he dies, Jacob mentions the words “they are coming”. Who is he referring to? Ilana’s team? The survivors stranded in 1977? The polar bears?

The Hydrogen Bomb

Jack reunites the gang and they are all on board to explode the Hydrogen Bomb. After some gunshots and deaths (I particularly liked seeing Phil die) Jack drops the bomb in the pit of the hatch but nothing happens. Then, all hell breaks loose. The metal stuff starts flying around, just like it did when Desmond intentionally didn't press the button, and unfortunately Juliet is caught by the storm and is dragged into the pit. Severely injured, Juliet notices the bomb and decides to detonate it with a rock. And then, BANG! Everything turns white and the 9 months of torture begins.

What Will Happen Next

I think that Miles was right when he said that Jack created the incident by trying to avoid it. The incident was the explosion of the hydrogen bomb. Remember, Whatever Happened, Happened, just like Dead is Dead. My theory is that Oceanic flight 815 will not land in LA and the incident will bring our survivors back to 2007. They are the ones who are coming according to Jacob and together with Ilana’s team will save the Island from the evil forces of Mr. Loophole. That will be their destiny!

LOST 5x16 - The Incident - Sneak Peeks

2009-05-12T08:11:00.002-06:00

LOST Recap 5x15 Follow the Leader

2009-05-11T17:07:00.002-06:00

Follow the Leader was another great episode in which we saw John Locke emerging as the new leader of the others. Here are some of the things we found out in this episode.

· John has a purpose and that purpose is to kill Jacob. And yes, Jacob is real despite popular belief that he is not.
· Jack has a purpose and that purpose is to blow up a hydrogen bomb. He believes that by doing that he can change the future and erase the last 3 years of their lives. It’s really interesting to see Jack talking about purpose and destiny.
· Richard tells Sun that he watched Jin and the rest of the Oceanic 6 die in 1997. Interesting.
· Pregnant Eloise and Richard help Jack find the bomb which is hidden in the tunnels beneath the Dharma Barracks. Are we going to see the birth of the smoke monster?
· Sayid is back and he is helping Jack. Kate is trying to get help to stop Jack. Oh the irony!
· Dr. Chang finds out that Faraday was telling the truth and evacuates all nonessential personnel off the island including his wife and son. Miles sees the whole thing. Very sad!
· Sawyer and Juliet leave in the submarine. They express their love for each other right before Kate is also put in the submarine. Did you see Juliet’s expression? Priceless.

Favorite Scene

John, Richard and Ben at the Beechcraft.

Favorite Lines

DR. CHANG: Your friend Faraday said that you were from the future. I need to know if he was telling the truth.
HURLEY: Dude, that's ridiculous.
DR. CHANG: What year were you born? What year?
HURLEY: Uh... 1931?
DR. CHANG: You're 46?
HURLEY: Yeah. Yes, I am.
DR. CHANG: So you fought in the Korean War?
HURLEY: [Pauses] There's... no such thing.
DR. CHANG: Who's the President of the United States?
HURLEY: All right, dude, we're from the future. Sorry.

and

RICHARD: I'm starting to think John Locke is gonna be trouble.
BEN: Why do you think I tried to kill him?

What I think is going to happen in the finale.

· We are going to find out that Jacob brought all of them to the Island. They were all brought to the island for a reason and we are going to find out the reason. At least I hope.
· I think that Locke thinks that he is HELPING Jacob by killing him.
· I don’t think the Incident is the explosion of the bomb. I think that by exploding the bomb Jack saves the Island from the Incident. But I am probably wrong and the bomb is going to explode and they all are going to die just like Richard said and that will be the big game changing finale.
· Whatever Ilana is holding in that box will be extremely important for the finale but I can’t think of what it is. Is it Widmore? Another bomb? The real Locke? Your mom?

Well, we’ll see. I can’t wait until Wednesday.

Paz

St George

2009-05-10T20:00:00.002-06:00

Olivia and I went to St. George this weekend and we had a great time. The weather was great and I hiked Angel’s Landing while Olivia stayed at the hotel working on her tan. I was all excited to take some pictures of the hike but I forgot my camera at the hotel. How convenient! I ended up taking some pictures with my phone.

We also made a stop at In-N-Out. I can’t wait for this place to open over here.

Star Trek

2009-05-08T23:18:00.001-06:00

J.J. did it again. The ones who know me know that I am not a big fan of Sci-Fi or fantasy but I have to admit that the new Star Trek movie was pretty awesome. It was intense and funny at the same time and the special effects were amazing. I would definitely recommend it. We watched it at the District and when the movie was over we looked at each other and said: “I could watch it again right now!” Too bad they all die at the end. I’m kidding Elabela.

LOST 5x15 - Follow the Leader - Sneak Peeks

2009-05-05T19:31:00.003-06:00

The Y

2009-05-03T18:01:00.006-06:00

It’s kind of funny that I never hiked the Y while I was going to the BYU, but since I graduated, I have been doing that quite a lot. It’s a 10-minute drive, a 1-hour hike and you get an amazing view of Happy Valley. You can’t really beat that. So I did that again on Sunday. The weather was pretty good and there was hardly anyone on the trail. Here are some pictures.

Feliz Dia das Mães

2009-05-03T17:52:00.003-06:00

Maezoca,

Esperamos que tenhas tido um dia incrível. Temos muita pena que não podemos estar ai contigo mas logo, logo vamos estar juntos.

Beijos muitos grandes, adoramos-te.

Claudio e Olivia

LOST Recap 5x14 The Variable, NOT the Constant

2009-05-02T22:39:00.004-06:00

The Variable was another great LOST episode. We had some reveals, gunshots, explosions, romance, and the death of a major character. Great way to celebrate LOST’s hundredth episode.

Throughout the episode we learn more about the complicated relationship between Daniel Faraday and his mother Eloise Hawking. She is a female dog. Daniel is forced by his mother to dedicate his entire life to science by avoiding any type of distractions and becomes the youngest doctor to graduate from Oxford. In the Constant we learned that Faraday is researching time travel and later uses himself and Theresa as guinea pigs as part of his research. Faraday ends up with memory issues and Theresa ends up in a coma as seen in Jughead. Charles Widmore invites Faraday, his son, to go on an expedition to the Island and claims that it will help him with his mental problems. Faraday is uncertain about going but his mother, Eloise, convinces him to go saying that it will make her proud. Woof!

On the Island Faraday tries to find out why the Oceanic 6 returned to the Island and tells them that they should have never returned and that they didn’t belong there. He then tries to warn Pierre Chang that something bad is going to happen in 6 hours at the Swan station and that he needs to evacuate everyone from the Island. Pierre Chang doesn’t believe in him so Daniel tries to find another solution, and that solution is his mother, the same person who convinced him to go to the Island. Saywer refuses to help Faraday but Kate and Jack decide to go with him. Our Losties get separated once again but plan to meet at the beach afterwards. I am actually excited to see them all reunited at the beach again. I wonder if Rose and Bernard are there waiting for them. Maybe they are at the caves taking a “long nap”.

OK, let’s go back to the Dharma camp. After some gunshots and explosions, Kate, Jack and Faraday are finally able to get a Dharma Jeep and leave to the hostile’s camp. In the meantime Saywer and Juliet are packing to go the beach when Radzinsky arrives and finds Phil in the closet. Uh! It seems like Saywer is going to be late for the beach. Man, I really don’t like Radzinsky.

Faraday then explains to Jack and Kate that he wants to explode the hydrogen bomb (Jughead) preventing the incident from happening, preventing the hatch to be built, preventing Desmond from not pushing the button and crashing Flight 815, pretty much preventing everything we have seen so far from happening. I don’t know if I like that. I like the idea that you can’t change the past and Whatever Happened, Happened. Faraday believes that a person can be a variable and their choices and free will may allow them to change their destiny. The problem is that Eloise doesn’t know anything about any of this and when her son Faraday shows up with a gun asking for her and looking for the hydrogen bomb she shoots him to dead. Well I suppose he is dead, but we are talking about LOST and anything can happen. Daniel then realizes that his own mom sent him to the Island knowing that this was going to happen. That sucks!

My question is, when was that film shown at Comic Con with Faraday and Chang done? Is Faraday really going to live? I hope not, otherwise this show will become a second Alias where Dead isn’t Dead. What do you think? Also, do you think that Jack and Kate will become a Variable and will be able to change the future?

Next week, right before the season finale we will see Follow the Leader. Here is ABC’s synopsis: Jack and Kate find themselves at odds over the direction to take to save their fellow island survivors, Locke further solidifies his stance as leader of "The Others," and Sawyer and Juliet come under scrutiny from the Dharma Initiative.

In the meantime, enjoy LOST Untangled.

Gnome

2009-05-01T13:23:00.006-06:00

I fount it!

Great Movies - Maybe My Top 5

2009-04-27T22:37:00.004-06:00

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about some of my favorite movies. I don’t know if I am ready to make my top 5 yet, but these 5 movies were the ones that came to my mind. If you haven’t seen them, I would encourage you to do it.

Crash
Good Will Hunting
Into the Wild
Life is Beautiful
Schindler's List

Do you have your own top five? If you do, let me know what they are.

Claudio

4th of July in Chicago

2009-04-26T21:05:00.003-06:00

We just bought tickets to go to Chicago for the fourth of July. Olivia talks about the taste of Chicago all the time so I am really excited to go. We are also trying to get tickets to a Cubs game.

LOST - 5x14 The Variable - Sneak Peeks

2009-04-25T14:07:00.005-06:00

After a short hiatus, LOST is coming back this Wednesday with what appears to be an explosive 100th episode. Here are 3 shorts sneak peeks of what is to come. The episode is called The Variable and I don’t know about you but I am going to re-watch The Constant before The Variable airs on Wednesday.

Thanks to DarkUFO

The Secret

2009-04-22T17:58:00.002-06:00

So, yesterday I started to read The Secret. What a stupid idea. Really? You think positively and the Universe will give you want? Well, this is what I think. Someone is making a lot of money out of people that are looking for an easy way out. I’m happy that I didn’t spend a dime on the book. I was taught that I have to work hard to get what I want. I hope I will never forget that.

Wicked

2009-04-19T17:38:00.001-06:00

We went see Wicked again. Man, Olivia loves that show. It was our third time and I think I could fill in for Boq if I had too. I was a little bit pessimistic because it was the tour group and not the original cast, but it turned out to be a great production, much better than I was expecting. Favorite songs: Popular for Olivia and probably As Long as You're Mine for Claudio.

Time Capsule

2009-04-18T23:05:00.003-06:00

I want this. Actually, I want everything that is on the Apple site. I hate Steve Jobs!

Tom Sawyer

2009-04-17T20:46:00.008-06:00

Tom Sawyer was my favorite show growing up. I just found it on YouTube. This is the Portuguese version of the first episode which is divided in three parts. If you speak Portuguese, enjoy.

Some Like it What? A Recap of Episode 5x13

2009-04-16T21:53:00.004-06:00

"Some Like it Hoth" was another great LOST episode. It was entertaining and we were able to find out more about a character that has been growing on me lately, Miles. Here are some of the things I took away from this episode:

Miles is confirmed to be Dr. Pierre Chang’s son just like most of us thought. He has been able to communicate with dead people since he was a child and that gift brought him back to the Island, even after his mother told him that he could never go there.

We also found out the reason why Miles asked Ben for $3.2 million. It’s called greed. I guess $1.6 million wansnt enough for him.

And what’s up with Ilana’s friend Bram? I always knew that they were not working for Widmore but I thought that they were working for Ben. Now I don’t know anymore. Can they be part of the original Dharma team or "the winning side"? I guess we will see? I just know that if I ever want to go to the Island I better find out “What lies in the shadow of the statue”. Either that or be part of the circle of trust.

There has also been a lot of speculation regarding why did Dr. Pierre Chang (a.k.a Dr. Marvin Candle, Dr. Mark Wickmund or Dr. Edgar Halliwax) abandons his family. I think Miles tells him that he is his son and also tells him about the purge. In order to protect them, Chang sends them to the main land and Miles is raised without a father, which means Miles himself is the reason why his father is not part of his life. My theory is that Miles will die trying to save his dad from dying, hoping that his dad becomes part of his life later on… um…I mean earlier on. You know what I mean, right?

OK. One other thing. See the video below and tell me what you think?

The video was shown at 2008’s Comic Con and it appears to be a message that either Faraday or Miles put together with Chang in 1977 to prevent the end of the Dharma Initiative. Did Ilana and Bram see this message in the future?

One of my favorite scenes of the episode is the conversation between Hurley, Chang and Miles in the Dharma Van:

HURLEY: What about your kids?
DR. CHANG: I have a 3-month-old son, so, no, I haven't told him.
HURLEY: 3 months? Wow! Congrats. What's his name?
DR. CHANG: Miles.
HURLEY: Small world. That's your name, too. Right, Miles?
MILES: Yeah.
HURLEY: So are you a fan of jazz, Dr. Chang? Like Miles Davis?

Hurley has always the best lines. Another good one was “Polar bear poop. Got it.”

It was also really cool to see the construction of the Orchid and the Swan stations. Hurley sees the numbers being engraved on the door of the hatch and I was thinking that maybe the numbers are not that special. Maybe the numbers are just a random code that Dharma used to get to the 108 minutes. Hurley heard the numbers from Leonard who heard the numbers from Sam Toomey who somehow is connected to the Island and that by coincidence thinks the numbers are cursed and kills himself. The reason why the numbers show up so many times throughout the show is just to mess up with our minds. But most likely I’m going to be completely wrong and the numbers will be the most important thing on the show. I guess we will find out more about the numbers in two weeks with the return of Faraday.

Other noticeable things in this episode:

• It was great seeing Hurley trying to rewrite the Empire Strikes Back with "a couple of improvements".
• Phil finds out that Sawyer is the one who took Ben. Someone is in trouble!
• Faraday returns to the Island in the Submarine. "You can't change the past". Ya dude, we know that already.
• Kate is still hot but not very smart. Is she in love with Roger Linus or what?

The Next new episode will be the 100th episode “The Variable” and it’s supposed to be a great one.

In the meantime, get LOST!

Claudio

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!!!

2009-04-16T08:11:00.002-06:00

What is going on with this weather? It’s April for goodness sake. I don't remember snowing this much in December?

LOST - 5x13 "Some Like it Hoth" Preview

2009-04-15T00:03:00.010-06:00

This is ABC's preview for tonight's episode.

Suspicions about a possible breach intensify after Ben is taken from the infirmary, and a reluctant Miles is forced to work with Hurley when he's asked to deliver an important package to a top Dharma official.

Happy Second Anniversary

2009-04-14T22:24:00.008-06:00

Today Olivia and I celebrated our second anniversary. Congratulations! We didn’t do anything special because our main celebration happened when we went to Hawaii but we wanted to go to a nice place and Olivia chose the restaurant La Caille. What a nice place. I had the Caneton de la Saison and Olivia got the Tournedos Vin Champignon. I still don’t know what I ate but it was pretty good. The place was amazing; it looked like an old European castle and Olivia loved it. Here are some pictures.

Easter Dinner

2009-04-12T16:55:00.008-06:00

We hope you had a great Easter. We surely did. Olivia made me a turkey, a buttermilk pie and now its time to lie down and watch some TV. I know, I’m spoiled. It reminded me of Thanksgiving without having the next 3 days off. That part sucks. Well, it’s naptime.

Paz

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T12:47:00.002-06:00

Is Dead really Dead? A Recap of Episode 5.12

2009-04-10T08:08:00.009-06:00

Wow, what an awesome episode. Ben, Locke, the Monster (a.k.a. Smokey), Widmore, Penny, Desmond… it was a feast!!!

The episode starts in 1977 with a younger Charles Widmore arriving at the Others’ camp on horseback. He is not happy that Richard brought Ben to the temple but Richard tells him that Jacob wanted it done. Did Richard say that to shut him up or was it really Jacob’s wish to save Ben? Widmore goes and meets young Ben and it seems that Ben doesn’t remember what happened to him. Maybe that explains why in 2004 Ben doesn’t remember Sayid when he meets him. Ben tells Widmore that he doesn’t want to go back but Widmore tells him that eventually he will need to go back but that doesn’t mean he is not one of them. So it appears that I was right last week – by not helping Ben, Jack “made” him one of the “others”.

We go forward to 2007 and we see Ben waking up to find Locke alive. I loved that scene. Ben almost peed his pants but as a professional deceiver he was able to explain why he seemed so surprised. “Because it’s one thing to believe John… It’s another thing to see it”. And of course I believed him. Man, that man could kill his own mother and I would still believe he did it for a good reason. He then tells Locke that he broke the rules and that he came to the Island to be judged by none other than Smokey! What? Do you remember what he did to Mr. Eko? Holy crap!

We go to commercials and when we come back, we see team Ilana moving “some stuff”. Interesting, we will come back to them later. Ben tries to help them but he is rejected so he goes and tries to convince Caesar that Locke was not on the plane and he is dangerous. “You know, I don’t remember him from the plane. Do you? … What if he was already here before we crashed?” Son of a b&@#*. You just killed the guy, give him a break.

We go back to 1998 and see Ben and little Ethan on a mission to kill Rousseau. However, when Ben sees Alex, he has a change of heart and decides to let Rousseau live, but takes Alex with him. He warns Rousseau to stay away, especially when she hears the whispers. Hmm! Interesting. Now my question is, why didn’t Rousseau recognize Ben in 2004 when he was caught in her net? Wouldn’t you remember the face of the man that kidnapped your daughter even 16 years later? Maybe not, I don’t know.

Back in 2007 Locke tries to talk to Ben about the “Elephant in the Room”. Ben explains that killing Locke was what he needed to do in order to help him come back to the Island. See, he was just trying to help Locke. Locke then asks Ben why he stopped him from killing himself? Ben said that he had critical information that would have died with him and then once Locke had given it to him, quote: “well I just didn’t have time to talk you out of hanging yourself … so I took a shortcut.” Classic Ben. Love it. But after all Locke was just hoping for an apology.

Ben then kills Caesar and goes to the main Island with Locke. Wait; did I just say Ben kills Caesar? Man, you are a Bad Ben! Ok, when they get to Dharmaville they meet Sun and Lapidus and Sun shows them the picture of the class of 1977. Ben seems surprised to see the picture. Wait, isn’t he supposed to remember the Ocean 6 back from the old days? I guess we will find out later. Maybe he didn’t return to Dharmaville until after the Ocean 6 had left.

Back in 1998 Widmore is outraged when he finds out that Ben didn’t kill Rousseau and brought her baby with him. He tells Ben that he should kill the baby but Ben tells Widmore to do it himself. Smart move Ben. Of course he was not going to kill a baby in front of his people. But was Alex supposed to die and Ben delayed the event just like Desmond delayed Charlie’s death? Did the Island use Rambo, a.k.a. Keamy, to correct the past? Who knows?! Well I’m sure Jacob does. Speaking of Jacob, have I told you that I met Jacob when I was in Hawaii this past March? Let me know if you want more details.

Ok, let’s go back to Dharmaville in 2007. Someone noticed that everything was left just like it was in 2004 when “Rambo’s team” attacked the barracks - Even the Risk game that Hurley and Sawyer were playing. Interesting. So Ben uses the secret passage with Egyptian hieroglyphs to summon the Monster. But the Monster doesn’t come so Locke takes him to the Monster. So, is Locke in command now? According to Christian, Locke is the one that can help Sun return to Jin. Is Ben following orders now? It seems so. And Ben hates it. Sun can’t understand how Locke is alive and asks Ben if he knew that this was going to happen. Ben replies: “I had no idea that this was going to happen. Dead is Dead. And the fact that John is walking around this Island scares the living hell out of me.” Ben’s ability to lie is brilliant. When you know he’s lying you hate him, but at the same time you are cheering for him for being so good at being so bad. I’m definitely Ben’s number one fan.

Back in the 1990’s, Ben goes to the dock to say goodbye to Widmore who was just expelled for leaving the Island frequently and being a man-whore. Yes, I said that. Man-whore! He had a child with an outsider. Scandalous. Are we talking about Penny? Faraday? Could they be brother and Sister? Is Eloise the mother? Probably not. The polar bear perhaps? Let the gossip begin. “You broke the rules” says Ben. They have an interesting conversation with each other. Widmore asks Ben what makes him think to deserve what is his. Ben answers and I quote: “Because I won’t be selfish. I will do anything to protect this Island.” Anything? Even letting Alex die? I guess you can’t fight the inevitable.

But the scene I was waiting for the whole night was the scene where Ben supposedly went to follow through on a promise he had made to an old friend. If Ben would have killed Penny, I would have immediately became part of team Widmore and I felt sick to my stomach when Ben asked Sun to tell Desmond he was sorry. But he didn’t kill Penny. He does have a heart and you will see that I was right about him all this time. Maybe Ben is simply incapable of leaving a motherless child alone in this crazy world since he knows exactly what that feels like.

We then see team Ilana taking control of the Ajira beach. It’s seems that if you don’t know what lies in the shadow of the statue you are not part of the team. Do you think it might be a snow man telling another snow man that it smells like carrots? I guess Juliet will shoot one of these guys in a future episode while in pursuit of another canoe.

At the temple Ben hopes that the Island will be as generous to him as it was when he was a child. It healed him once physically, now it’s time to see if it can also heal him spiritually? It is not until Ben realized that it wasn’t Widmore who killed Alex but he whom was ready to be judged. The last five minutes of the episode were amazing. We see a mural of the Monster with the Egyptian god Anubis, the god who protects the dead and bring them to the afterlife. Didn’t we see Anubis before? One time with only 4 toes and one time from the back carrying an Ankh which is also the Egyptian hieroglyphic character for eternal life. Is this what the show is all about? The fountain of youth? My friend Fab thinks so. I still think that this entire thing is happening in the mind of a cat and the show will end when the cat wakes up. But let’s go back to the temple and the last five minutes of the episode. Ben is judged and he survives the wrath of the Monster but he is reminded by the Alex Ghost that he needs to follow Locke’s every word otherwise she (it?) will hunt him down and destroy him. Did she say that Ben was already planning to kill Locke? What the crap is that Ben? Take it easy my friend. Michael Emerson was great in this episode and this last scene almost brought tears to my eyes.

So here are some questions about this episode:

• How did Ethan become a member of the Others?
• What is the meaning of the picture in the Temple?
• Why did the Monster demand that Ben follow John Locke?
• Why did the Island allowed Locke to be resurrected?
• What is the meaning of Ilana's question?

I can’t wait for next week’s episode: "Some Like It Hoth". According to Carlton and Damon this is going to be a funny episode but after we should be prepared for a rollercoaster of major events! Holy crapola.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this episode. This was probably my favorite of season 5.

Get LOST!

Note: This was my first LOST recap and will probably be the last. It took me more than two hours to write this thing.

Claudio

Enjoy LOST Untangled.

Whatever Happened Happened

2009-04-07T23:14:00.014-06:00

OK, I just finished re-watching last week's LOST episode "Whatever Happened Happened" and even thought it wasn't my favorite episode this season, it was still a pretty good one. We found out that Ben is still alive (of course) and the reason why Kate returned to the island. She went back to find Claire. At least that's what she told Claire's mom, and then she gave her Aaron before returning to the Island. I still don't understand why she couldn't tell Jack what she did to Aaron but my only thought is that we haven't seen the whole thing yet.
My favorite scene of the episode was when Hurley and Miles tried to explain the whole time travel thing. It was hilarious. I'm still confused about the whole thing but at least the writers tried to give us some hints to what is happening.
We also found out that by not wanting to help save Ben's life, Jack helped Ben become what he is today; "one of them", or in other words, an "Other".
I'm really excited about tomorrow's episode. It's all about Ben and I hope to find what happened to Penny. I still believe (hope) Ben has a heart.

I hate that I love this show.

Claudio Aguiar