The Lost Blog

Just a reminder of a few happenings this week:

*Enhanced Season 3 Finale on Wednesday Night:

From ABC.com:

Get ready for the Season Four premiere of “Lost” with a special presentation of the Season Three two-hour finale, “Through the Looking Glass,” enhanced with on-screen facts and back story about one of the most talked about dramas on television. Whether you already watched the amazing conclusion of “Lost” last season or this is your first time viewing it, the special enhanced “Lost” catches viewers up on the story of the Oceanic 815 survivors in a way you’ve never experienced before. Be there for the enhanced “Lost” Season Three finale, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT on ABC.

*ABC Ties Up with Marvel Comics to Push “Lost”:

In a bid to create further excitement showfor Lost, ABC has announced a mash-up with Marvel Comics. You can discover elements from the show in a number of Marvel Comics titles. ABC marketing has strategically placed images and references from the show in various comic books, including Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hercules, Thunderbolts and Wolverine Origins. It is interesting to note that some of them promote Find815.com, while others give reference to Jack and the other characters being found.

*Season Premiere Official ABC.com Description:

We will drop this again on Thursday, with the preview post for the Season 4 Premiere, but thought some of you might find it interesting -

Feeling that their rescue is close at hand, the survivors don’t know whether to believe Charlie’s final message that the people claiming to liberate them are not who they seem to be. The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must continue to work together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain if they want to stay alive. But as they have discovered during their 70-plus days on the island, danger and mystery loom behind every corner, and those they thought could be trusted may turn against them. Even heroes have secrets…

Less than 100 hours until “The Beginning of the End”…

-Jeff Jensen of EW.com recently posted an interesting theory related to a special ability that Ben might possess, an interview with actor/director/Lost fan Kevin Smith and some other info related to our favorite show:

Like Desmond, Ben receives flashes of the future, too. Of course, while Old Bug Eyes has been on The Island longer, and has actively cultivated a deeper rapport with The Island (or is that just Jacob?), Big Bad Ben has banked many, many, many more flashes than the formerly Hatched-trapped Scot.

Jensen goes on to further support the theory, but I do think that it could at least provide the rationalization for why Ben continues on in his current state of existence. It would also explain why he was so adamant about the demise of the Island which the people that are coming at the conclusion of Season 3 represent.

Related to the other reference of The Island and Jacob above, I have also noted this theory found on Dark UFO, which suggests they may be one in the same. I think the prospect of Jacob being a manifestation and communicable form of the Island is more likely than he actually being a living/breathing person with supernatural abilities, specifically given Cuse’s recent comment about the depiction of Jacob in Season 4, etc.

I know there is still a lot of speculation in regards to the official air date for Season 4, and though there is still no “official” word, I am seeing reports that suggest it will remain on Wednesday night, with the time slot TBD. My understanding is that the date and time will be made official within the next few weeks, one way or the other, with the day either being Monday or Wednesday. Which would you prefer?

A few Lost-worthy items for discussion:

*The Emmy’s will air this Sunday night at 8 PM EST on Fox, so if you have nothing else going on, tune in to see if Lost is able to capture any academy love (Lost was shut out at the “Creative” Emmy awards earlier this week)

*Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV.com wrote an article about the impending Fall launch of shows, and the obvious effect that Lost not being on this fall has on his viewing preferences. In this article, Oscar makes a decent point about being envious of his father, whom he is trying to convince to get the Lost DVD’s to catch up:

I am truly jealous of him, or anyone else, who has yet to discover Lost. At some point, they will have the opportunity to watch Lost from the beginning. They get to meet Jack and Locke, discover the hatch, learn about the Dharma Initiative, witness the power of Mr. Eko’s whooping stick and be in awe of Ben Linus’s complexity.

This leads me to some thoughts about my latest hiatus-hangover helper (say that 3 times fast). Two weeks ago I decided to thoroughly watch Season 1 of Heroes, I had previously caught the first couple episodes earlier this year and for whatever reason stopped watching (in hindsight, I have no idea why!). I have now viewed all but the season finale and I must say, this is definitely my second favorite show now, squarely behind Lost.

Given that Heroes Season 2 starts later this month, I am hoping that will make the next 4 months a little more bearable as I wait for Lost to return. Related to Dahl’s article, I have found watching the show in such a short period of time quite frenetic and much more intense (but enjoyable). It definitely gives you a greater appreciation for a show in it’s entirety. Watching a season arc over a few weeks definitely prevents you from questioning the specifics of any given episode.

Discovering Heroes has definitely helped move me through this long hiatus (albeit brief, considering that I have consumed the entire Season in a rather gluttonous way!) and I look forward to the Blu Ray release of Lost Season 3 in December, let me know how you’ve been spending your time…

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!

One cool link and an attempt at humor by our readers:

-Lost Muckety Map: This is a pretty cool java-based application that let’s you get a visual at the various ways the characters of the show are connected. Tell me your head doesn’t hurt after staring at this for 5 minutes…

http://www.muckety.com/celebs/lost.html

Double clicking on character names expands the map to show more character connections. Thanks to reader Emily Morgan!

-Lost Explained in 30 Seconds? Reader “Ugly” makes a video-based attempt at showing us all how Lost will end…

http://www.dailymotion.com/uglymonst3r/video/x29hy6_lost-in-30-seconds

Enjoy!

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the downtime the site has experienced over the past few days. The primary “goal” in transferring the hosting of the site was to minimize the disruption of service, and hopefully we did not alienate any of you in the process. So, even though the first couple of days have been rocky, we are really excited.

We understand there are big shoes to fill to taking over an effort that Andreas, and the contributors to this site (i.e. YOU), have put a lot of intelligent effort into. My name is Will McIntosh and I have been a fan of Lost since its inception, and in the process have followed this blog for quite sometime. When it became clear that Andreas was looking to sell the website to focus on his future career, I became interested for a couple of reasons:

• The readership is quite impressive
• The intelligent conversation that takes place amongst the individuals that participate in the dialogue associated with Andreas’ posts is second to none in the world of Lost websites
• The format that Andreas has created (site design, providing before and after commentary on episodes, following the tangential paths of the actors and actresses, facilitating conversation, etc.) works quite well

Most Importantly

It would have been disappointing to have seen someone else purchase the blog and take it in a totally different direction. I will not be managing this site alone (hence the “we” references above), and will have the help of a few of my friends that are similarly passionate about Lost and who can positively contribute to the collective effort.

Much like Andreas, we will not use this website to overtly spoil anything that is going to be happening in the coming weeks related to Lost, as there are plenty of those sites out there, and when we do reference any type of “spoiler” information, we will mark it accordingly.

I wish the best of luck to Andreas and hopefully he will contribute when he has time; and I also thank you for your past and (hopefully) future participation.

Will

I started The Lost Blog back in December 2005 to write about one of the best shows in television history. Over 400 posts later, it is time for me to move on to new adventures.

It is amazing to look back and see how much the site has grown in both size, popularity and quality during the last year and a half.

A big part of what makes the site so great is the intelligent discussions in the comments. The site wouldn’t be the same without you guys, and neither would I. This site and the discussions we have had will forever be a part of me.

I would also like to thank those of you who have contributed with posts, and in particular Cecilia who not only wrote over 120 posts during her time as a regular contributor, but also helped out in a lot of other ways and was of great support.

The site has been sold to a bunch of great guys who I’m very confident will do a great job running the site. I would like to welcome the new owners, The Widmore Corporation! Haha, just kidding. The new owners will introduce themselves in the next post.

Last minute predictions

I couldn’t possibly leave without a few last minute predictions about the future of Lost so here we go:

• Locke’s father, Anthony Cooper, is the real Sawyer.
• Desmond is the most important character of them all.
• Adam and Eve will turn out to be Jack and Kate, or possibly Desmond and Penny.
• Jacob will turn out to be someone we have seen before.
• Juliet won’t be able to go through with whatever plans Ben had when he sent her to the beach.
• The island is or was protected by a sphere-like electromagnetic shield and is either hidden in Antarctica or is constantly moving.

So what should I do now? Whatever comes next

I’m still a big Lost fan, but I realized that if I want to reach my goal of becoming a movie director, I need to focus 110% on that goal and work very, very hard. However, it is not without at least a little regret that I leave. I will miss running this site and I will miss you guys.

Look for the title “Directed by Andreas Climent” on movie posters in about 5-10 years.

If you want to get in touch with me, I can be found at my personal site.

The Lost Blog has now officially been sold and it’s time for me to bid you all a very fond farewell. At least for now.

Andreas

There is no need to worry, we haven’t been hacked, abducted by aliens or anything like that. The site was just moved to a new server and unfortunately we couldn’t avoid a little downtime.

A few comments might have been lost during the move, and if that is the case, we apologize. Other than that everything should be back to normal.

Oh, and the permalinks don’t work yet, but we’re working on it!

It’s soon been a year since I finished school and I’m starting to realize that if I want to reach the big goals in my life, I need to focus 100% on my dream of becoming a screenwriter and director.

I’m still a big Lost fan and couldn’t be happier about the site and the great community of regular commenters, but if I follow my dreams I won’t be able to spend much time writing posts and managing this site, so I have decided that the best solution is to sell the site and let someone else take over.

I’m looking for offers from prospective buyers, so if you think you have what it takes to run The Lost Blog and maybe even improve the site, I’d be happy to hear from you.

If you’re already starting to miss me, don’t worry, it’s entirely possible that I will write a guest post now and then if the new owner likes that idea. Also, I’m very proud of the site and will not be selling it unless I find a person who I think will be able to maintain the quality of the site.

Here are some stats related to The Lost Blog

• Last month The Lost Blog had 78,000 unique visitors and over 150,000 pageviews according to Statcounter.
• Average unique visitors per day is 2,500. Some days we have 1,500 visitors, some days over 6000.
• Close to 1,500 persons subscribe to the site through e-mail or RSS-feeds.
• We have over 500 posts and 9000 comments.
• According to Alexa, this is the 182,881 most popular website on the Internet.
• Ad revenue is $150-250 month via Adsense
• The site uses around 30 GB Bandwidth a month. I’m currently paying $10/month for the hosting.
• The Lost Blog has been mentioned in articles by Google, The Guardian, several books and an uncountable number of websites.
• We have received interview requests from among others, MSNBC and Time Magazine and have helped Lost production company Touchstone Television to find suitable persons for their test groups.
• According to this site, The Lost Blog is worth over $81,000. According to this methodology, it is worth $32,400
• I’m a bit more realistic and would be happy with $3000-4000. Lower offers will also be considered though as I’m not primarily selling for the money but am looking for someone who can keep up the quality of the site.

If you are interested in taking over the site and want to make an offer, please send me an e-mail, the address can be found at the top of the sidebar.

If you have any questions, ideas or advice, please leave a comment and I will answer as soon as possible.

Have you ever read all the comments in a thread only to come back later, find a bunch of new comments but have no idea which ones are new and which ones you’ve already read?

Since I try to read all the hundreds upon hundreds of comments, the above scenario happens to me all the time, so I’ve just added a new feature to the site that should make life a bit easier for all of us.

When you return to a post and comment thread you’ve looked at before, new comments since your last visit will be marked by a small green triangle on the left side of the comment, just like in the picture above. Old comments will not be marked by the triangle so finally it should be a bit easier to keep track of the Lost discussions.