Lost Links

Readers of The Lost Blog and DarkUFO have been invited to play in the DarkUFO Lost Fantasy League for Season 5. If any of you are familiar with fantasy sports leagues, the premise, rules and scoring will be easy to understand - if you are not, read them anyway because this could be fun:

Here’s how it works:
1) Please complete the submission form using the link below.
2) Please only submit entry 1 per person.
3) We have a new field to enter this year which allows you to select the site that you would like your results to appear in. EG If you are a Lost Blog reader and want to keep track of your place with other Lost Blog readers make sure you select Lostpedia from the Select Site option. NOTE: Everyone is still included in the full table but this allows other sites to easily track their own tables etc. Owners of these sites should be providing details of the league in the appropriate forums/blogs/sites.
4) You must use a valid email address.
5) This email address will NOT be displayed or sold to any third party marketing companies and will ONLY be used to contact you if you are a prize winner and to send you a confirmation of your picks.
6) Only fill out the Celebrity Code field if you have already been contacted by DarkUFO.
7) Make sure you enter your team Name so that it is unique to you. The team name is the name you will use to find your team in the full table- eg Don’t call your team LOST or Sawyer or Jack etc Make it unique like Andy’s Greatest Fantasy Team :) (but please, nothing obscene or tasteless)
8) After you have submitted your team you should receive an email confirming your picks. Please check your Spam/Junk Folder if you don’t receive one within an hour.
9) If you are a member of one of the sites listed, make sure that other site members know about the Fantasy League so that you can compete against your friends.

Make sure to denote you are a reader from The Lost Blog so that we can keep track of our subset!.

Read more about the league and scoring here - http://darkufo.blogspot.com/2008/06/announcing-season-5-darkufo-lost.html

Sign-up here - http://jotform.com/form/81620010342

Once you create a team - feel free to post who you chose and why in the comments section. You have until August (approximately) to register your team.

There’s no shortage of media coverage surrounding tonight’s premiere. You would have to being living under the Black Rock to not know that Lost Season 4 debuts tonight. To tide us over for the rest of the day, since we are obviously too excited to focus on anything else, here’s a list of links to keep us busy while we wait. We thank all of our fellow Lost fans who sent some of these in.

Potential Spoiler Warning

• USA TODAY gives tonight’s episode 4 out of 4 stars in their review: ‘Lost’ rescues a TV season that’s adrift.
  

  Returning with a heart-stopping, perfectly pitched episode that fulfills all the promise of last season’s stunner of a finale, Lost is an oasis in a strike-parched TV desert.

• AOL Television did a “‘Lost’ A to Z Guide” - 26 reasons why season 4 will be pretty interesting. Thanks Andie
• ToeKnee found a few preview articles that are worth repeating here: ‘Lost’ finds new ways to intrigue from the Boston Globe and one from nj.com here: Sepinwall on TV: ‘Lost’ season four review
• Here’s a video interview with Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) on redlasso.com from this morning on the CW 11 New York Morning Show
• This interview with Michael Emerson (Ben) is a good one. He describes the character of Ben here:
  

  He’s certainly an antagonist. He certainly makes things happen. He provokes behavior in the part of others and his methods are mysterious and frightening. We fear Ben because we fear the unknown. If his agenda were more clear, we might feel differently about him. I think a day will come, and maybe I flatter myself here, when we see more clearly what his sight is, who his enemies are, and we may decide he’s a more heroic character than we thought previously

• Finally, you can listen to a podcast interview Matthew Fox from Australian radio station Triple M. It’s broken into 3 parts. Thanks Jason

Enjoy, see you all in the comments tonight!

A little more activity this week related to new characters in Season 4 and a few other interesting items to note:

*Jeff Jensen of EW.com reported this week that Jeff Fahey (of Lawnmower Man fame) has joined the cast for Season 4, so that makes 5 new characters that will be introduced during the story arc for the season.

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse tell EW.com that Jeff Fahey — a cult-pop fave most famous for The Lawnmower Man and most recently seen in Grindhouse — has been added to the show, joining previously announced newcomers Jeremy Davies (Saving Private Ryan), Lance Reddick (The Wire), Ken Leung (The Sopranos), and British actress Rebecca Mader (The Devil Wears Prada, Love Monkey).

Given the lengthy beard that Fahey is sporting these days, there is a ton of speculation about the character he could have been hired to portray.

*Kristin from E! Online had a few snippets related to Lost on her blog this week:

Thomas in Dallas: Any word on Lost? I can’t wait to see new episodes!

We still don’t get new eps until February (a little fact that makes me sob uncontrollably every time I hear it). However! The coolest cast around just went back to work last week in Oahu, and I’m hearing very good things about the new season! Michael is back, the Losties we love are front and center and the storylines are tighter than, well, I’d say Josh Holloway’s backside but, sheesh, I’m a married woman.

Ginny in Ipswich, Massachusetts: Will there be any cast changes this season on Lost?

Aside from the newbies we announced last week (much thanks to Korbi for that scoop!), Entertainment Weekly is now reporting that Grindhouse’s Jeff Fahey will join the island crew this year. I can also tell you that although I’d heard a while back we’d be seeing a little less of Matthew Fox this season, so far there are no signs of any “Jack-off” days on the production schedule (sorry, I couldn’t resist, I’m 12). So, we’ll see.

So, even though we are still months away, at least we know they are shooting Season 4, that our favorite characters are front and center, and that we will have at least 5 new characters this year that somehow fit into this ever-growing puzzle!

A few interesting stories this week related to Lost:

*Michael Ausiello of TVGuide.com is reporting that there is currently a casting call for a new character:

Question: Still six months of hiatus before Lost comes back. Can you help us survive the waiting with some scoop?— Fran

Ausiello: New character alert! The show has started casting the recurring role of Arthur Stevens, a very tall and thin corporate recruiter who is smart, capable and ruthless. “He may smile and his words may sound soothing,” reads the casting notice, “but their effect can send chills up your spine.”

Corporate recruiter… Could be DHARMA related or perhaps have something to do with the people coming to “save” the Losties? Ausiello reported earlier this month these new character descriptions:

First up is the recurring character of Russell, described as a brilliant mathematician in his late thirties who is “capable of great insights and has a tremendous knowledge across various scientific fields.” Well, won’t that be helpful. Unfortunately, he tends to be too direct for his own good, and as a result, his personal relationships don’t always add up. Russell is scheduled to turn up in Episode 1.

Also recurring is Charlotte, a hot twentysomething who is said to be “precocious, loquacious and funny… a very successful academic who also knows how to handle herself in the real world.” Interestingly, she, too, has a tough time relating to people. Beneath the surface, there’s “lots of repressed and pent-up emotions.”

*On a related note, Kristen Bell of “Veronica Mars” fame has turned the aforementioned role of “Charlotte” down for the upcoming season - Her loss!

*Season 4 filming should begin next Wednesday or Thursday, according to Dark UFO and courtesy of Jorge Garcia

Here are a few quick bits of the latest news surrounding Lost.

• Looks like we will be getting a new day and time for Season 4, based on this report by BuddyTV: The article also says ABC may be announcing the END date for Lost sometime around May 15th as well
• We are also seeing conflicting reports on when the END date will be, based on this report, it looks like we are in for 2 more seasons

Lost: The Answers

ABC is set to air a Lost special this month titled Lost: The Answers, which will be hosted by Damon and Carlton:

“Among the topics that will be covered: the father of Sun’s baby, what caused the Oceanic 815 crash, what happened to DHARMA, why polar bears are on the island, how Locke ended up in a wheelchair, and the identity of the real Sawyer.”

Here are the latest links related to Lost.

• Lost Video Game - Damon and Carlton commented about this in the most recent podcast, but it looks like the video game is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal (these guys worked on the Splinter Cell series) for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC platforms. A definitive release date has not yet been announced, but it should be this calendar year.
• Entertainment Weekly - EW recently did a piece on the ratings decline, the decision to off Nikki and Paulo, and what would make for a suitable time to end the show. There are a few spoilers in the article, but it is a good read.

Remembering The Lost Experience

Watch the official Channel 4 story below as they document their work on The Lost Experience, a collaboration with Hi Res! and the creators of Lost in 2006.

(via BuddyTV)

Here are the latest links related to Lost, and in particular Lost co-creators Damon Lindelof and JJ Abrams:

• Stephen King has confirmed that JJ and Damon will be adapting his “Dark Tower” books into a film.
• Several Lost actors will be participating in a play-reading session to raise money for the Honolulu Theater for Youth.
• It has been confirmed that JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof will not only be producing, but JJ will also be directing the upcoming Stark Trek movie.

  According to rumors, Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise are in talks to star.

• There is a nice little interview with Evangeline Lilly at ABC News.
• TVSquad has an interesting post titled How crucial is Jack?

Sorry for the lack of updates during the last two days. I’ve been struggling with a leaking dishwasher, but at last it looks like it’s fixed so things should be back to normal.

Here are some interesting links to check out while we wait for this weeks Lost episode:

• Josh Holloway has been selected as the new face of Davidoff Cool Water
• A small nod to Lost was seen in a recent episode of Heroes
• A few new Lost action figures have been announced.
• More thoughts on the possible, or impossible, return of Michael

Lost Links is a new feature on The Lost Blog where I link to recent articles, videos or other things related to Lost which I didn’t feel like writing an entire article about, but which are still of interest.

• Film from Lost was ruined when security employees at the Honolulu International Airport accidentally X-rayed the canisters despite warnings labels asking them not to. The scenes have been re-shot and Lost is still on schedule.
• IGN has interviewed Josh Holloway and Yunjin Kim.
• Joley Wood has written a nice analysis of “Not in Portland”
• CollegeHumor.com has published a funny alternative theme song and opening for Lost
• The Tailsection has taken a closer look at the book Aldo was reading in “Not in Portland”.