Found In the Woods

I'm a big fan of ABC's show LOST , which most of you will know. The show sucked me in back in the middle of season 1. All of the guys in my group at work would toss theories and ideas about the show all day long, like some crazy obsessed conspiracy theorists. So, after a little looking online and a hot tip I downloaded the first 21 episodes using BitTorrent. Loaded 'em up on the TiBook and using VLC we watched them rapid-fire at home on the TV.

Immediately Kristin and I were hooked. We'd watch 3-5 episodes a night, constantly forming our own theories as the story unfolded. The writers did a wonderful job of opening plot lines and intertwining them back and forth in a complex weave. One theory would open to another, one line crossing into another, joining, then separating, making a hard right turn and into another line. Characters lives intertwined mysteriously laid out in cutaway flash back scenes. Discoveries on the Island had relevance to their history. There was more than meets the eye. So, when we caught up with S1 we were able to jump right into the running with everyone else, forming our own theories, scouring the internet for relevant elements and ideas…

And so here we are, halfway through season 3 and on a hiatus. 72 more days until the next episode. (Last season the creators took a lot of flak for having an off-and-on schedule (show 2 episodes, then 2 reruns… show 3 episodes, then a few reruns; herky jerky) so this season they're doing a chunk of episodes, a long break, then a larger chunk of episodes) LOST has managed to keep me addicted, although I've had my highs and lows, mainly with the aforementioned scheduling. It's tough to keep interest in a show like this when there are so many breaks. Fans of Fox's 24 (of which I am not) laugh at us LOSTies because 24 shows all episodes in a row with no breaks for reruns. This is the way a show should be, but networks have all sorts of sweeps weeks and promos and crap… but I digress.

Now, to my point. With all this, LOST still has it's attraction. There are still theories to conjure up and plot lines to resolve. In fact, there are A LOT of them. IGN did a little exposé on the top 50 (yes 50) plot lines still to be resolved on LOST. This is a little troubling as much as it is exciting. I mean, I know the creators of LOST are trying VERY hard not to go the way of Twin Peaks (once everyone knew who killed Laura Palmer, most folks stopped watching… silly fools!) and give away too much… but come on! Top 50 unfinished plot lines is a mighty big matzo ball.

So, as I count down the days until S3 resumes, in the great words of Monty Python, I call on the LOST creators to GET ON WITH IT!

Goldshire… Westfall… Azeroth… Ironforge… Stormwind… no, it's not some sort of Lord of the Rings reference, rather geographic locations in World of Warcraft ; my latest obsession/interest/hobby. If any of you know me well, you know I'm a HALO junkie. Well, WoW ranks up there with HALO as the best games I've ever played. I have never played a game (an MMORPG in this case) where the immersion is so high, so complex. The folks at Blizzard have built this game so extensively and so comprehensively that it allows you to play for weeks and not have the same (or even remotely similar) experience as you go through it.

You are free to roam wherever you want. You are free to fight whatever monsters you want. You have various races, classes and alignments to choose from. You can customize your character. You can interact with almost anything and the greatest thing about the game is that you're playing with over 7,500,000 other real people! The draw of the MMORPG is that you are actually playing, real time, with other real people from all over the world. You can join forces and fight monsters, go on quests, explore, etc.

When I hear about folks playing this game for days at a time, it comes as no surprise to me. This is because I can relate. After playing this game for a few weeks I can see the draw; it's so darn addictive. For me, I have distractions that keep me from playing; kids, chores, work (sometimes). However, the wife is into it too so we will play together for hours and hours which is nice. What I'm not quite understanding is all of the high level mumbo-jumbo that the really serious players are into. Folks who play this game have their own lingo and processes for in-game play which baffles me. I guess I need to play more to get up to speed.

It's a fun game and worth a try. In January they're releasing an expansion pack so things are about to get even better. If you play, I'm on the server Gurubashi and my current character is Dobrhaltar. And before you start pointing fingers and laughing, yes, I realize how nerdy this is… and I love to bust on it.. but I still love the game!