And we dance out of time, and everything goes 'round and 'round (U2)

The box-set-a-thon continues at Yellow Jimi Apartment 6 as we continued to be dazzled, intrigued, amazed, entertained and generally hooked on LOST.

We finished Season One last week and started Season Two this week (we're up to Disc5/6 already), and I can report that the show has only got better and better with lots of plot shifts (didn't see Boone's death or Shannon's death coming) and fascinating symbols (the numbers), back stories, and character developments.

It's also an excellent adventure/survival yarn. I can see why people got hooked when the show aired originally and why the blogosphere is so full of Lost people (like me) still.

The Lostpedia wiki  (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Season_1) is extremely thorough on details and the blogosphere is not short of Lost experts/obsessives adding their interpretations to things.

I found this great map from one such source (Lostysmurf) and a list of all the deaths in Season One in another (http://www.squidoo.com/LOSTdeaths). Interesting that there were so many and since the landing on the island there were actually 8 deaths (and one birth) during Season One.

I like the fact that people care so much about something like this that they create their own websites about the show. You have to admire that degree of obsession. I read one Lost blogger who said he thinks about the show constantly during his day. That may stray onto the unhealthy side of obsession but the show does provide plenty to think about, and plenty to love.

Here are 25 things I love about LOST so far (Seasons One and Two).

1. I'm a newbie in the Lost universe but we've seen each character in a variety of lights. I love the fact that Jack is not the show's hero. He's as messed up and damaged as the bulk of the characters. Maybe the most messed up!
2. The show's setting. I love the scope that a remote deserted tropical island location has for a boys' own adventure series.
3.  Jin-Soo. one minute he's the ultimate chauvinistic caveman, the next he's repairing Sun's garden.
4. Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes. He seems the most genuinely nice guy on the island who acts in a more purely altruistic way towards his fellow survivors.
5. The mystery of the old school computer in the hatch and their need to believe in it.
6. John Locke's name. His namesake was one of the world's great teachers who believed that all knowledge had to be taught. He believed that, at birth, people's minds were a "tabula rasa." Since people were not born with a distinct character, Locke insisted upon teaching character first and academics second, saying the value of good character far exceeded the value of learning to read, write, complete calculations and memorize facts.
7. The 'monster' on the island stops short when he confronts Mr. Eko and retreats. Mr. Eko (a quasi, very quasi, priest) says he does not fear the monster. Hmmmm?
8. The constant battle between good and evil that rages inside characters like Charlie, Sayid, Mr. Eko, Ana Lucia, Kate, and, of course, Sawyer.
9. The record player and the record collection!
10. The flashbacks. I normally don't like this device much - often they slow things down unnecessarily, but in LOST the flashbacks are a crucial part of the show and the layers of mysteries.
11. The polar bear and the black horse are unexplained presences on the island (maybe later but we're towards the end of Season Two remember).
12. Sun-Hwa. She is a mystery all on her own. She has a powerful Korean gangster for a father and a subservient and manipulating mother but Sun is so sweet (at least so far).
13. Desmond (and, later, Michael) can take off into the jungle and be absent for many episodes.
14. The personal connections in the flashbacks that link characters in mysterious circumstances (they are often unaware of the connection).
15. The lava lamp in The Hatch is cool.
16. The mysterious positive power of the island - the way the island 'heals' John Locke's legs and Rose's cancer.
17. The father/son story lines (John Locke and his con artist father, Jack and his father the surgeon, and, of course, Michael and Walt).
18. Big big themes - fantasy vs reality, coincidence vs fate, science and faith, and the previously mentioned good vs evil.
19. The soundtrack (as distinct from the music from Hurley's Walkman or the record player in The Hatch) is exceptional
20. The sunsets on the beach look fantastic.
21. How when it rains, and it rains a lot, no one seems to mind getting drenched.
22. How tidy the beach camp is - no rubbish is left blowing around. The Utopia that has been created by the survivors has at least got recycling sussed.
23. The Dharma Initiative sounds like a cool idea - a large scale community project on a remote island paradise where researchers and free thinkers can get away from it all, chill with some great jazz, read some Dostoevsky, and eat chocolate bars.
24. All the literary nods from the obvious Lord Of The Flies and Robinson Crusoe inspirations to the books on the island that Sawyer reads to all the books found in The Hatch to all the other references found in the series and collected expertly on http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Literary_works.
25. JJ Adams. What a guy - I'm a big fan!

Love and peace - Wozza