Wow, the new upcoming Ghostbusters video game looks amazing. I really need to get my hands on a next gen video game console (and a flat screen TV – I’m still rockin’ a pre-Y2k boob tube). This game and that Lost video game (which I’ve yet to play, dammit).

This appeared in my Facebook page:

I awoke 2am to use the bathroom and found this creature crawling around in my tub. In my tub. I sprayed it with several types of bathroom cleaners before rendering it immobile. Even several sprays from my trusty can of Raid did not stop it. Eventually, it succumbed to suffocation of the various chemicals that it swam in (and then repeated bashing with the nearby plunger – just in case the bastard was faking it’s own demise). I hate spiders. Normally, I would be all Zen Buddhist and try to capture spiders and set them free outside. Spiders are beneficial and eat smaller bugs, yadda yadda yadda. Except for this bastard. He was in my tub. And had the potential to do nothing else but eat my face and then lay eggs to make more bastards to eat my face some more. I have limits.

Apple released their new iPod Shuffle today. The biggest news is that it has no interface. It talks to you. Controls are seated on the earbud cord, and they have been reduced to just three buttons. Pressing the center will pause and play, holding down the button will make the iPod tell you the song and artist you’re on, holding down the button longer will make the iPod tell you the playlist and give you options for other playlists to select. I think it’s a bit genius. The VoiceOver stuff is still a bit ugly – they should just make the voice sound like a robot – or better, Anthony Daniels. The iPod Shuffle is now 4 GB and can hold enough songs for a nice road trip. Unfortunately, the Redhead isn’t included. She says her name is Hannah, and she works in an Apple store – I guess it’s my job to find that store. It’s not stalking, it’s just confirmation of accurate information…

Yesterday, my new MacBook Pro was delivered to me by Fed-Ex. It’s a beautiful thing. Although I’m a little pissed that Apple took its sweet time in delivering it to me (it’s now an “older” model 2.53GHz – the new ones released last week are now at 2.66GHz). It took almost three weeks for Apple to deliver this sucker – a little word of warning to those who choose to do a custom build. I had an upgraded 7200 rpm hard drive installed (for an extra $50 – no hard decision there). This sucker screams. I mean it’s lightning fast. So the specs: 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo Intel processor, 4GB of RAM, 320GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive, 15.4″ LED display (friggin amazing), and a kick-ass multi-touch trackpad. This model is the newer unibody models, meaning that the body is one piece of carved out aluminum. You can check out more about it at the Apple website.

I also ordered Logic Studio, and it arrived as well. I haven’t had much of a chance to mess around with it but I will through out the week. It took up a massive 36GB due to all it’s instruments and Apple loops. I did manage to play some of the stock instruments set up in some of the demo files – cranked ‘em through my Edirol MA-15D’s and the sounds were lush and powerful.

So what’s with all this power? Well, my old PowerBook G4 has gotten too slow for me. It has been an ordeal just to do a comic or any sort of work on it. It has lasted me for a good 6 years, so I’m grateful for its longevity – but nows the time to step up with some new technology.

So now I’m in the process of updating some of my older apps. Transferring all my settings, files, and apps was as simple as hooking up a firewire 800 cable to my old PB G4 to the MacBook Pro – it took less than an hour. It feels like a different world, now. So expect some new stuff in the upcoming weeks – including a new design for the website and some more comics (about time) and hopefully some music.

Okay, so I missed a post. Since I last blogged, the Oceanic Six came back to the island, Locke got off the island, had a nice chat with Widmore, tried to get the O6 to come back, and got nicely snuffed out by Ben. Now we come back to the exact moment where Locke left the island.

The Statue – Right before Locke turns the wheel, Sawyer and company are still topside. Sawyer is still tugging on the rope that used to hold Locke but is now buried in the ground. They start wondering when in time they are when Miles points out to something. A giant statue looms off in the distance. Now of course, this seems to be the rest of the four-toed statue that we saw from season 2. My theory is this may not be the same statue. I’m thinking there used to be several of these statues around the edges of the island, “guarding” it. The statue here may be that of Anubis, an Egyptian god of the dead. Anubis has the head of a jackal and holds a staff and an Ankh, a symbol of life. In the screenshot, you can clearly see it’s holding something, and that it does have ears and a Egyptian head-dress. Although in many pictures and hieroglyphics – Anubis is portrayed with bigger ears. The other Egyptian gods who have animal heads do not have ears. So my guess it is Anubis. Also, it would explain why it has four toes instead of five. The scene ends with Locke turning the wheel and them blinking out of time again – Miles says it felt like an earthquake – possibly the result of Locke turning the wheel. But maybe this earthquake caused the statue to crumble.

The Truce – After Sawyer and crew find Faraday babbling about Charlotte (who’s body did not jump with them, possibly leaving her corpse in the far past with the statue). They then come across Amy and dead Paul – being attacked by Others. Sawyer and Juliet dispatches the Others, one of which has a horseshoe tattooed on his shoulder. A tattoo? Horseshoe? Do the others have a tattoo parlor in the temple or something? Eventually, I will have to do a long diatribe about the ethnic composition of the Others. Tattoos and english accents… some lost tribe indeed. Anyway… Amy starts to blab about some “truce” between the Others and DHARMA being broken. It looks like she and dead Paul were having a picnic when two Others started to pick a fight.

HERE IS MY THEORY: Paul was originally an Other. Somehow, when this truce got started, Paul fell in love with Amy and jumped ship from the Other’s. These two other Others saw them together and picked a fight with Paul. Why do I think Paul was an Other? Two reasons. One, Paul was wearing an Ankh – the symbol that Anubis statue was holding, and probably a symbol for the natives of the island, the Others. Second, Richard Alpert demanded justice for his people – by taking the body of Paul? That really only makes sense if Richard told his people that Paul shot the other two Others – thereby calming his people and holding the truce, because Paul was an Other to begin with, the DHARMA folks didn’t kill them.

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This is Michael Schack on Roland’s V-Drums TD-4K, an electronic drum kit that is about $1000. If things turn into a blur for you, watch the higher framerate version on the Roland site, here.

This is my favorite version of CPE Bach’s Solfeggietto so far. Most YouTube videos feature players that just go balls out too fast. There is still an art and a rhythm to it. One day when I have some peace and solitude, I will learn this piece if it takes forever.

Björk talks about her TV. Hey, what’s Icelandic word for “batshit-cute”?

Ok, I missed a post last week, so I’m two episodes behind. Let’s see if I can shoot out some theories and observations…

We’re Baaack! – I’m surprised the Oceanic Six got back to the island as quickly and seemly effortlessly as they did. Although missing from this story is how Sayid, Kate, and Hurley did a 360. I’d like to point out that the plane did land on the runway that Sawyer and Kate were building in season three. The plane did not crash, Frank Lapidus is too much of a badass to let that bird go down.

Paging Ms. Hawking – Yesh, she’s Faraday’s mum. Told ya. I want some confirmation that she was the Ellie on the island in 1954 (the army photo kinda confirms this – but I want a solid admittance).

Charlotte Has Some Chocolate and Checks Out – God in Heaven, why’d you have to kill off such hot snatch? Seriously though, I’m surprised Charlotte lasted this long. Charlotte grew up on the island, no shocker, but was is was that Faraday appeared to her then as grown man (a kinda creepy-scary grown man) and warned her never to return – which I’m sure we’ll see in an upcoming episode. So here’s a paradox – Charlotte told Daniel this happened, so why does Daniel warn the child Charlotte later when he knows it obviously didn’t work?

Locke is Pining for the Fjords – Observe:

Or he could have been juiced up on Medusa spider venom. Co-workers at the office have had enough of Lost’s shenanigans – but I offer this: It’s a fantasy that revolves around fantastical questions – if they were answered all at once, there would be no point of watching the rest of the seasons. On TV, people come back from the dead ALL THE TIME. Frankly, I don’t know why this is the deal breaker – after smoke monsters, polar bears, time travel, ghosts, hallucinations, and freaky prophetic dreams – resurrection is off limits??

Also, you notice that Locke’s injured foot kinda looks like it only has four toes? I think Locke eventually gets tossed back a few thousand years BC on the island and not only becomes the island’s first leader whom the locals make a giant statue in his honor, but also has his consciousness become “unstuck” in time – becoming Jacob.

Trapped in Time – At the end of last episode, we see Jin pull up in a new blue DHARMA van wearing a jumpsuit. Apparently, Locke fixed the wheel and island skipping, but stranded the remaining survivors in 1970′s – the beginning of DHARMA on the island. This explains why Daniel Faraday was inside the orchid station with Pierre Chang (Dr. Marvin Candle). Looks like Chang is going to be the group’s Dr. Emmet Brown (if you don’t know who Doc Brown is, shame on you – go watch all the Back to the Future movies again). Dr. Chang is Miles’ daddy, and knows that cute little red haired girl, Charlotte. So once Jack and the rest of the Oceanic Six show up, everybody is stuck in the age of bell-bottoms and sideburns. Groovy.

And they introduced a new character, Jack’s granddad, Ray. Why do I get the feeling that Ray has been on the island and might show up in the 1970′s? Either as part of DHARMA or as an Other. Maybe Christian Shepard was born on the island as well, an interesting parallel to his drinking and Jack’s.

Danielle and the Smoke Monster That’s a big temple the Smoke monster is guarding. We also get a glimpse into another possible power of the smoke monster – either duplication or mind control. Her crew and her lover all try to kill her and her unborn child, I would think that level of brainwashing wouldn’t suffice. I would go with duplication, just like the smoke monster could create the Horse, Dave (Hurley’s friend), and Eko’s brother, Yemi. I also believe that these “duplicates” or whatever the island does to them, are who the others are. Maybe there are many smoke monsters – either aliens or spirits, that can inhabit the body of the living or the dead.

Hurley New Groove – the only reason Hurley would have a guitar case is to have a lifetime supply of stashed twinkies and ho-hos to enjoy on the island.

Kate is Preggers – My friend Erika offered up this juicy bit: If the passengers of Ajira Airlines 316 are trying to recreate the conditions of the first 815 crash, then we can surmise the following:

• Jack is Charlie the junkie. Also Sawyer the letter carrier.
• Locke is Christian Shepard the dead guy.
• Sayid is Kate the fugitive.
• Hurley is Charlie the Rockstar (guitar case).
• Ben is Locke the cripple. Also Hurley the late passenger.
• Sun is Sawyer the avenger, and Rose the ring bearer.
• So would it make sense that Kate is now pregnant, taking the place of Claire? Wouldn’t that drive Jack bananas, since she’s obviously going back for Sawyer and has had enough of Jack.
• Or another person that’s as pregnant as Claire was is none other than Jack’s ex, Sarah. Ben could have easily put her on the plane in coach. Now we have some sort of weird love pentagon happening: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, and Sarah. Freaky, eh? And do you think that Juliet will take Jack back after he ditched her on the island and shacked up with Kate? That’s going to be an awkward confession.

So here is my new theory:

• The island is actually the upper part of a giant inter-dimensional spaceship. The smoke monsters are the ship’s passengers subjugating the locals and treated like gods. The ship is powered by exotic matter, which gives the island it’s powers.