I got to meet Andrew Divoff, better known to Lost fans as "Patchy," at the HorrorHound film festival in Indianapolis.

 Andy told me that there were rumors of him appearing in Season 4 and there are rumors of him appearing in Season 5. 

He had some interesting stories about his experience on the set of Indiana Jones 4 (ask him about the stunt coordinator) and you should keep an eye out for his new movie, "Dead Matter."

[CUNNINGHAM] Mid-20s to Early 30s. Any ethnicity. Athletic, used to living outdoors and off the land. He is a loyal soldier but willing to compromise with the enemy to protect his men...VERY NICE CO-STAR. THIS ROLE IS INTRODUCED IN 502 AND HAS 3 SCENES IN 503.

Doc Says:  Hello, this would be a hostile in my opinion.  So we'll probably be seeing Locke in this episode.  Also, 5.02 is alleged to be a Hurley flashback.

What do you think?

What is your opinion on the new ARG? ( surveys) What is your opinion on the new ARG? ( surveys)Another test starts, another cheat is embedded, and another server crashes.  The leaderboard is a study in multi-level-marketing, and there is no narrative.  The games don't even evoke the 'flavor' of LOST.  On the other hand, it's free.

I'm still giving the game a chance, even though I can't play it at the moment because the site is down, but come on guys... the counter argument to those who are legitimately, and with good reason, frustrated by the game - that it is 'free' so we shouldn't complain - is inane, and I'm getting a bit tired of hearing it.

Personally, I find the rationale that we shouldn't complain because the game is free to be a bit sycophantic.  It's tantamount to saying "Hey Hoodlum/ABC, watch me school these fools for you.  I'm your friend.  Send me game spoilers.  Please."  Not to say if you honestly feel that way there is anything wrong with it, but as suspicious as I am -- I question motives.  It is, though, a flower-child like haze of acceptance and tolerance that Dharma's true hippy roots would be proud of.  There's nothing wrong with sucking, man, at least it's freeeeeeee. [Insert bong gurgeling sound here.]

Since when does the cost of something make it immune to sucking?   If I rent a movie for a dollar, can it only suck a twentieth as much as one I bought for twenty?  The logic doesn't work for me. 

On that, how about another rant.  Yeah, the game blows... and here is why...

First, is the obvious.  There was no preparation for the volume of traffic, which is really kind of inexcusable since this is the third go-round.

Second, is the tone of the game.  The pastel blue 'alternate' reality Dharma's soft tones are no match for what could have been a Room 23-esque parade of surreal and bizarre thought experiments.   Instead, the tests are softball brain-teasers that seem to be injecting a moral dilemma, do you cheat or not?

Third, there is no story.  Maybe there is one, and I'll tip my hat on a bit of a spoiler here... I've been told by someone who has had a role in both of the previous ARG's that the real action won't start for months... that Dharmawantsyou.com is - as it says, in so many words - merely a massive recruitment effort - not for the Dharma initiative, but for the game to come.  Other sources say: no, this is it.

The 'in name only' Dharma 2.0 lacks a specific LOST flavored motivator.  Sure, there may be one six tests from now, but by then will anybody care?  In the meantime, to be passive enablers of crappy planning by continuing to rationalize it is a bit... tacky.  Just because something is free doesn't mean it can't suck.

You thought you'd seen the last of her, but she's back.  That's right, Ana Lucia.  Michelle Rodriguez is confirmed for at least one episode of LOST, the question is... will she appear as an island ghost, or does this mean there is at least one character flashback in our future.

Some fans may not be overly excited about this since she was one of the characters fans couldn't wait (seemingly) to get rid of.  Her exit was made bitter-sweet by the conjoined exit of Cynthia Watros.  The introduction since then of Paulo and Nikki have sort of softened - for me at least - any feelings of out and out disdain for Ana.  Compared to them, I'd rather have Doctor Arzt come back as the defacto leader of the island peep.  Wait a minute, what am I saying?  That would be a brilliant idea.

Source: The Ausiello Files

Our good buddy Ryan sent along a link to a YOUtube of some footage that was shot of the recent filming involving Sayid and Hurley.  




Source: The Transmission

Ryan observed the shooting of a very interesting scene last night from the Lost season 5 premiere "Because You Left."

The scene involved Sayid and Hurley approaching an apartment stealth style and having it out with the occupants resulting in Sayid throwing one guy from the fourth story balcony, and Hurley shooting up the remaining baddies.

The implications are huge:

- Hurley seems to be out of Santa Rosa and has joined Sayid on his Ben sanctioned murder spree.  So in sense of time-lines, it would appear this is perhaps a little further after Hoffs-Drawler than we originally thought.

- Hurley's 'warrior' side is even more pronounced here, but is he killing out of self preservation or because he has a greater agenda, perhaps fueled by more of Ben's manipulation.  Ben recruited Sayid by convincing him that the death of Nadia was the fault of Widmore's people.  Did similar circumstances drive Hurley to join up with Sayid?

- Is this scene part of the timeline proper, or part of a flash-forward?

- Week one down, no reports of on-island filming.

Read Ryan's in person, on the ground report HERE.

This spoiler-break is brought to you by Ryan Ozawa of "The Transmission," whose full report can be found here.

Lost is shooting at Central Union Church, previously seen in the Lost Season 2 episode "Orientation" as the place John Locke rook anger management classes at.

The rumor is that Naveen Andrews and Jorge Garcia will be shooting at the church today.    This confirms, for those who have been keeping track, no on-island folk filming at the half-way mark.

Of course, that means nothing.  It could just be that the urban shoots are more complicated to schedule, therefore they will do those all at once and get them out of the way.  Then, of course, there is that secret shooting that took place earlier this month in Van Nuys. 

In the meantime, don't forget to watch Ryan's blog as I have it on good authority (his) that he may have some more intel before the night is out. (Click the pics to enlarge).

Need some new LOST spoilers to brighten your slow-loading ARG plagued day?  Here you go, two new characters for episode 2 of LOST Season 5!

[DARLENE] Early 20s, any ethnicity. A bored clerk who hates her sucky job and looks for any burst of excitement to get through the shift. Alternative in dress and style, plays guitar in her own band but needs the day job to pay the bills...CO-STAR.

[JILL] Late 20s to late 30s; any ethnicity. A butcher who is one hard-as-nails cool chick. A tomboy, bit of a searcher, and highly competent beyond her station in life...CO-STAR.

Shooting is scheduled to begin 8/28 and end 9/12.  Is there any significance to the fact that these are both female characters?  Speculate below.

Well the game seems to have finally, officially started (knock on wood).  The first challenge is a Tangramish puzzle, which is weird because my first theory on the dharma dots was that it was a Tangram.  Completely unrelated, but anywho.  Here are some tips for solving the puzzle and posting some impressive times (hopefully more impressive than mine).

1) There are always two pieces that do not belong.
2) The two extras are seldom corner pieces, so...
3) start in the corners then the wall pieces.

I played about six times and only saw one false corner piece.  For entertainment purposes, here is a video of me fumbling through one of the videos and scoring a very weak 72.

Get the Flash Player to see this player. var s1 = new SWFObject("/flvplayer.swf","single","457","255","7"); s1.addParam("allowfullscreen","true"); s1.addVariable("file","/solving-dharma.flv"); s1.addVariable("image","/breaking-dharma.jpg"); s1.addVariable("width","457"); s1.addVariable("height","255"); s1.write("player1");

So, you think LOST started filming this past Monday right?  Wrong! Lost actually did some filming earlier this month before the filming of the LOST season 5 premiere "Because You Left,"  in LA!

It isn't revealed what was filmed, but the article at RedOrbit indicates the LOST crew did some shooting at a new facility called "Avenue Six" in Van Nuys.  The studio, according to the date of the article, opened earlier this month, so the idea of the Chang video being filmed there is out.  It is still possible, though, that this wasn't filming for "Because You Left," but rather for game content for the currently running (sort of) ARG "DharmaWantsYou"  (Although, nobody is quite sure what exactly Dharma wants us to do, other than die of boredom.)

From RedOrbit:

ABC's popular series "Lost" was one of the first clients to film at the new studios. Its producers said they were pleasantly surprised by the experience.

"We were shocked and quite happy with the setup, and the personnel were prepared," said co-producer Samantha Thomas.

"They had nice rooms, hair and makeup stations," added Gregg Nations, another co-producer. "It's a dream set."

What sort of shooting could have taken place?  A scene so secret that the Lost producers wanted to be sure it was kept far away from the prying eyes that seem to be everywhere on "The Island" (aka Oahu)?   Maybe something with a particular actor that didn't have availability for a quick sprint to Oahu later in the month.  Time will tell...