Saturday, November 25th

[squirmelia]

Life After God

I stare at t-shirts with "4 8 15 16 23 42" written on them and then step over cables used for filming Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and wonder just what kind of made-up world I am now living in.

Steam rises from the drains and I keep thinking the pavements are on fire.

I repeat the words "SeaBus" and "SkyTrain" to myself as if they were an incantation. Many people travelling by SeaBus and SkyTrain seem to be carrying snowboards.

Comments

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

When I went to Vancouver they were filming the first Fantastic Four movie! There was an entire block made up to look like New York. It was most surreal and disconcerting. I liked it.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Apparently they were trying to turn bits of Vancouver into Shanghai:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/f4movies/

[mooism.livejournal.com]

How did they get my lottery numbers?!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Maybe when you filled in a lottery form and handed it to the cashier, the cashier was actually the Silver Surfer and your numbers did not go through, oh no, they ended up on a t-shirt and used repeatedly in a television programme.

[ptdc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reminding me to buy a lottery ticket tonight. This time next year I'll be millionaires!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Good luck in becoming a millionaire!

[deerfold.livejournal.com]

I have one of those t-shirts.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

With mooism's lottery numbers on it? ;)

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

I was thinking those numbers would have been some kind of simple reference or joke, but after a quick google I've just ended up digesting entire sites that attempt to find meaning in them. Guess it's obvious I haven't seen this "Lost" show now, eh?

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I've now been drawn into looking at sites attempting to find meaning in them also. Tch. It's just as well I didn't buy a t-shirt.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Worse - I have now been alerted to the fact that lost wasn't just a drama series about crash survivors. (I assumed it was kind of a fictional version of "Survivor" or "I'm (not yet) a celebrity, get me out of here!")

Sounds curious. I don't have a TV (intentionally) though.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

It seems to be lacking in cannibalism.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Just wait until Laura Palmer turns up wrapped in plastic, and we discover the island is actually located over NERV. Then we could see if Fox Mulder can pilot an Evangelion.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I suspect that happens in series 3. Perhaps inside Laura Palmer there are partially digested spaghetti numbers resembling "4 8 15 16 23 42".

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

I'm sure some particularly meticulous Lost-searcher would be able to find an episode where you can momentarily see that there was in fact an empty can of said numbers seen in a campfire. Of course no-one noticed at the time because there was a small tap-dancing penguin running around screaming Bizzaro! repeatedly, but that must just have been a diversion from The Truth.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

No wonder the hogs and polar bears have been scared off if there are tap-dancing penguins. I wondered what had happened to them. I suppose they just think they have no chance on Lost Animals in Your Eyes, but actually, the hogs that mosh and the polar bears that pogo don't scream as much, so would probably get more votes.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

That is true - but every now and then the audiences fall for a novelty act that dares to break the mould. And you've got to admit, that penguin had a pretty good viral marketing campaign going on! Building up an entire cult TV series, purportedly about people stranded on a mysterious island, but finally revealing it to have been a launchpad for the penguin's LAIYE attempt. A masterpiece! I do hope the fans see the funny side..


I should probably have stopped reading (about Lost) by now, but I just can't seem to help it. Have you seen http://lostpedia.com/ ? That is scarily comprehensive. Although maybe it's full of red herrings put in by the production company? TRUST NO ONE! Oh, wait, wrong series.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I try not to read many of the Lost sites, due to spoilers, although it is very tempting.

"One of the producers might be a Commodore 64 fan" diagram (http://home.no.net/hmsoft/images/lost_cbm64.jpg) on the Lostpedia amuses me though.

Argh, have started reading more pages now. I must stop before too much is revealed and I find out that the polar bears do actually win.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

I love the way the human mind will try and find patterns in things. Try so hard that it even finds patterns where there are none.
I wonder how many of the theories and patterns and co-incidences fans have spotted were even thought of by the creators? (Although no doubt they'd pick some up once they saw them)


I'm not too worried about spoilers - I haven't ever seen the show, but now I'm curious enough to be skimming over episode summaries. More in an attempt to catch up :)

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

You mean I didn't really see an octopus of the woods? ;)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/squirmelia/81681631/)

It would indeed be interesting to find out how many of the coincidences were ones the creators had actually thought of. Some seem quite obviously chosen, but others (like the C64 pattern) just seem unlikely to have been.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

and by including both 23 and 42 in The Numbers, they're hooking into a network of pre-existing conspiracy theories so vast that they're practically part of the subconscious by now..


(http://www.flickr.com/photos/wintrmute/39199887/)
I didn't think that could really be the famous face in the rollright stones, until someone confirmed it.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

23 and 42 are about the only numbers I ever really remember of the sequence, so I think that proves it.

Did the face say anything? The stones look interesting. I shall have to visit them sometime.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

It wasn't very talkative that day. Unfortunately someone had been around daubing yellow paint on the stones, and I think they were sulking.

Worth a visit there sometime though. It's a nice ride through the country roads up around there too.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they would prefer a nice splash of green paint so that they can be camouflaged amongst the grass. Or magnetic paint!

I've not visited that area much at all, so shall contemplate it.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

with magnetic paint, and perhaps some giant magnets underneath the earth's crust, we really could animate those standing stones.

but it probably won't happen unless Coca Cola decide to use it for an advertising campaign.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it would be during the ad-break while Lost is on, with a little molten coca-cola pouring out of the standing stones, more like a volcano than a fountain.

Since Lost already has giant magnets that make planes crash, it would be easy enough to bring in some spookily animated magnetic standing stones. Although the penguins might not like it.