Yesterday I kicked off my first recap of the season with a short note indicating that I was going to have to streamline my Lost posts going forward. Here's why: I got a book deal!
As some of you might remember, when I bid adieu to workin' for The Man in mid-2007, my goal was to start a writing career. Because of Long Live Locke, the most awesome gig ever -- covering movie news for redbox, which includes attending film screenings with the likes of Roger Ebert, Michael Phillips and the team from the Onion AV Club (aka: my heroes) -- fell into my lap in the spring of 2008. During that same time, I was also working on a book proposal and searching for a literary agent to represent me. Finally, just a few months ago, those two and a half years of effort paid off: my agent called and told me that he'd sold my book. You could've knocked me over with a feather.
My book has nothing to do with Lost, but rather a very historic business situation that I had a front-row seat for a few years ago. I'll definitely spill more details as its publication date draws near, but right now I am on the hook to finish my manuscript by June 1. And let's just say that doing so is going to be quite challenging, even if Lost wasn't on the air.
I seriously considered closing the curtain on this site because I am so overwhelmed by everything I have to get done over the next four months. However, I know in my heart that I simply can't stop myself from writing about this show. Especially since the encouragement I've gotten from all of you who've been following LLL over the years is the reason why I had the confidence to strike out on my own in the first place.
But there's no way around making some compromises. Uploading pictures, thinking up clever captions and trying to find lyrics that fit the various post sections are some of the most time-consuming aspects of pulling together any given recap. The "best lines" section is getting the boot because that required me to skim through the episode transcripts. And while you can rest assured that I do catch all of the neat nods to certain books and instances of the numbers and whatnot, I'm not going to cover that stuff anymore because while it's cool, I don't think it's critical to the big picture at this point. Plus, there are other great sites that do an incredible job investigating those "easter eggs" and links -- I've listed many of them in the right-hand column.
I used to spend more than 14 hours each week -- usually on Saturday and Sunday -- finishing one post. That's not even counting responding to messages and comments and whatnot. Now I'm going to have to limit myself to about two hours per episode. I figured that time would best be spent writing.
So, please bear with me as I try to find a way to make this work. LA X Part 1 was the exception to this new situation since I had a nine-hour flight from Oahu during which I could mull over the episode and get my thoughts down. That's not going to be the case with the remaining 17 hours.
I hope you are happy for me -- I certainly feel as lucky as AlternaHurley (minus the, you know, "being rich" part). I would not be in this wonderful situation if it hadn't been for your support over the past five and a half years.
So stay tuned for LA X Part 2 -- it'll be up at some point before Tuesday afternoon. Who knows, maybe my posts will actually be more fun to read when I'm completely off-the-cuff and unedited. You'll be getting "pure, unadulterated e." Do you think you can even handle it???
Just a quick reminder that if you're a Lost fan in the Chicago area, I hope to see you tonight at Zap2Locke Con at The Dark Horse in Wrigleyville. All of the details you'll need are in the post below!
As for August's Caption Contest winner, I'll be announcing that after I get through tonight... there's been a lot of fun preparation for the event so I haven't had much extra time to confer with my esteemed panel of judges. But hopefully I'll post the winner over the weekend.
Since I last wrote about Zap2Locke Con, Ryan from Zap2it's Guide to Lost and I have hammered out a ton of details for the event, and I have to admit that I'm really excited for it. I haven't asked you for much over the years, but I am asking you now to help me spread the word. If you're not in Chicago but know of other Lost fans who are, by all means, please send them the link to this post or to the Facebook event page and encourage them to stop by. And if you are in Chicago and are able to make it, then I can't wait to meet you and get our nerd on together. We're hoping that everyone who thinks they might come will either RSVP on the Facebook page or email Ryan and/or me to give us the heads up.
Here are all of the logistics, plus a sneak peek at a few of the things that will be going down the night of Friday, September 18th:
LOCATION: The back patio (walk straight through the bar to the back) at The Dark Horse Tap & Grille, 3443 N. Sheffield in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago. The area we have outside is not only spacious, but also equipped with powerful heaters in case it's chilly, a cover if it's raining, and two huge screens that will be showing the Cubs game (which is away, for those of you worried about home-game traffic -- you're in the clear).
DATE/TIME: Friday, September 18th. We've set the official start time at 7 PM, but we'll definitely be there before that for those of you who might want to come straight from the office.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Mostly we just wanted to use Ryan's trip to Chitown as an excuse to throw a little shindig and meet some of the readers of our sites. But there are a few special things we have in store above and beyond standing/sitting around and talking about Lost for hours:
- There will be periodic Dharma food drops of Katesadillas, Paulo's Pulled Pork Nachos, Hurley's Hummus and Mr. Cluck's Chicken Wings. This is not a joke, there will be the aforementioned appetizers circulating... until funding from the Widmore Corporation runs out.
- Ryan's fellow Zap2it blogger, Andy (aka "The Bloopmeister"), has secured us wonderful drink deals: $3 draft beers, $3 well drinks and a $3 Lost-themed special (we're still deciding on a name for that one). Widmore's not paying for drinks, though, so everyone's on their own as far as beverages are concerned. There will of course be other options for both appetizers and drinks if you want to order anything else The Dark Horse offers. (Did I mention we're going to kick out anyone who can't handle their booze and starts acting like Hillbilly Bearded Jack?)
- I'm going to be handing out small tokens of appreciation to attendees, but supplies are limited, so it's first come, first served for those goodies. The Zap2it folks might have a few swag items to dole out to some lucky people as well.
- We're going to hold a raffle later in the evening, and the main prizes are three sets of Lost Season 1 and Season 2 Blu-ray DVDs, generously donated to Zap2it by ABC. Woo-hoo!
I have to save a few surprises for those who are able to join us, so that's all you're getting for now. If you can't be there physically but want to be there in spirit, you can follow the festivities the night of the event by using the #Zap2Con hashtag on Twitter. We'll try to upload pictures and send updates between talking about our favorite episodes. And by the way, Ryan might be holding more of these get-togethers in other cities in the near future and will continue to use that tag for anything else he throws together in, say, Boston or NYC.
OK, now send this to all of your Windy City Lost-loving peeps! And if you can make it, remember to either email me/Ryan OR RSVP on Facebook here... pretty pretty please.
As Bananarama might say, it's been a cruel, cruel summer. One that has gone by much too quickly -- how did it get to be mid-August already?
In years past I would've made a comment right... about... now where I told myself that it's all good because each passing month brings us that much closer to the Lost premiere, but since this time around we're approaching the series' final eighteen hours, I am actually in no hurry for Season Six to begin. I'm one of those people who gets all depressed before I go on vacation because I start thinking about what a bummer it's going to be to return to the real world afterward, so I simply can't bear to think about the grand finale of our beloved show just yet.
Thankfully, there are a few things to keep me occupied and prevent me from falling into despair anytime soon.
COME ON BABY DON'T YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT SAME OLD PLACE SWEET HOME CHICAGO
The first is Zap2Locke Con, a mini-con (short for "conference," for those of you who don't know your Comic-Cons from your kamikaze shots) right here in Chicago. OK, so it's not really a conference in any way, shape or form, but it still sounds cool, right? Behold its magnificent logo!
This means all you Windy City area peeps need to come by and witness one of the few times I'll ever be away from my laptop for more than a couple of hours. My good buddy Ryan from Zap2it's Guide to Lost is going to be in town, and in his infinite wisdom he proposed that we try to bring together readers of our sites and any other Lost fans that we can round up in the vicinity.
Details are below... but if there's absolutely no way you can make it to Chicago for the event, then you can jump down to this spot, where I'll explain what else I have in store for other faithful LLL readers.
OK, so for those of you who are in Chicago or close enough to justify a trip into the city for this most momentous of occasions, here are the details for Zap2Locke Con:
Where? The Dark Horse Tap & Grille in Wrigleyville, 3443 N. Sheffield. Chosen in honor of the enigmatic black horse Kate saw both on and off the Island. (Think they'll ever explain THAT mystery? No? Me neither.)
When? Friday, September 18th, at 7 PM (but Ryan and I will definitely be hanging out on site earlier than that)
Who? Myself, Ryan from Zap2it's Guide to Lost, our respective spouses, bloggers from Zap2it's other channels, and anyone else who enjoys Lost and wants to hang out for a bit. You do not need to be an uber-Lost fan or anything; there will not be a quiz with 108 questions that you must ace in order to join us. There will not be judgments passed by the likes of Smokey. There will not be snowman riddles you have to answer. Jacob did not give us a list of pre-approved attendees. We just thought it would be a fun thing to do while Ryan was in town.
How? Um, we'll just show up at The Dark Horse, find a spot in the outdoor garden area, and wait around for people to come by. If nobody does then the Zap2it folks and I will have no choice but to drown our sorrows in MacCutcheon's whiskey.
Why? Because you KNOW you want to see if I'm as big of a freak as you've imagined me to be! And because you need to at least think and talk a little bit about the show during the hiatus or you're going to forget everything by the premiere next year. And because we'll be giving away stuff! Ryan has a dozen or so bigger-ticket items that will go home with a few lucky attendees and I have a couple of small things in store -- but alas, I didn't finagle a Terry O'Quinn appearance. The promise of some free stuff is better than no free stuff, though, right?
If you think you can make it and you are on Facebook, please please please RSVP through this event page so that we can keep a semi-accurate count.
If you can make it and you're not on Facebook, either leave a comment below and/or write me at e@longlivelocke.com just to give me a heads up.
I have been lucky enough to meet a few Long Live Locke readers in the past and we've always had such a great time, so I really hope that if you're in the area you will be able to join us!
Finally, for those of you who've not yet had the pleasure of reading Ryan's musings on our favorite show, you need to click on over to Zap2it immediately. Ryan is seriously one of the most -- if not the most -- hard-working Lost bloggers on the planet. He cranks out four completely original posts on our favorite show each week -- yes, even during the break. One of my all-time favorites includes scenes from a Lost musical he dreamed up (sample lyric, set to Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child o' Mine," in reference to Zeke: "He's got a beard that seems to me, reminds me of Gorton's fishery." BRILLIANT!) If you like my writing style, you will definitely like his; anyone who was able to join one of our live chats saw first-hand how he and I will often make the same comments simultaneously -- it's like we are of one mind. Which is a scary thought indeed.
I was sad not to be able to make it to Comic-Con in San Diego this year for the last-ever Lost panel, and was also disappointed when one of the events for the latest Lost viral game was held out in LA, so I wanted to be sure that I still show a little love to everyone who reads this site and is not near my hometown and therefore can't attend Zap2Locke Con (read: the vast, vast majority of you).
I haven't figured out all of the details yet (and am open to suggestions, so if you have any cool ideas, let me know), but what I am sure of is that I intend to run a series of games, contests and online events between now and the series finale so that I can not only "meet" more of you, but also dole out a few small tokens of appreciation for the time you've spent reading my posts, leaving comments, writing to me and enriching my Lost experience so, so much over the past five years.
Some of these contest-game-thingies will be held solely on this site, others might be Facebook-based and still others might be Twitter-based. I'm proud and envious of anyone who has resisted the temptation to give in and join Facebook (which I actually like) and/or Twitter (which I kind of despise), so rest assured that there will still be ample opportunities for you to participate in many of the (most likely bizarre) competitions I dream up even if you only check this blog and nothing else.
That being said, if you ARE on Facebook and/or Twitter and haven't yet connected with me, you can do so here and here. While not all of the games will be time-sensitive (as in, "the first person to respond gets X!"), you'll definitely be made aware of what's going on more quickly if you're linked to me through FB and Twitter.
I will also be sure that a good percentage of the games will be open to those outside of the U.S. -- I'm a sucker for your accents even if I can't actually hear them.
So stay tuned for the first Long Live Locke contest... I'm hoping to have it up before the end of August and then continue with at least one new game or event per month until next May. Remember you can sign up for the email notifications or the RSS feed of my posts through the links in the right-hand column so you don't need to keep checking back.
(I can't end this section without giving a huge shout-out to LLL reader, FB friend and graphic designer Mair Daliessio for creating the "Locke in a LLL t-shirt" graphic above! Thanks!)
RAPPER'S DELIGHT
Before the first contest is announced, here's a little something to keep you entertained. I sent this out via Twitter a month or so ago, but I wanted to make sure that all of you have seen the very impressive and equally hilarious video below called "The John Locke Rap." I've come across so many Lost spoofs that as I pressed play and settled in to watch this one, I figured I'd probably only be able to deal with it for about thirty seconds before deciding that it was too lame to continue wasting my time on. But lo and behold, these guys really went all out with their rhyming skillz and I was thoroughly entertained for four and a half minutes. (The video may take up to a full minute to load, be patient... it's worth it. Here's the direct link to it on YouTube, as well.)
Those guys are like Lost fandom's version of Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake, no? I emailed them to tell them how much they rock and they wrote back and said that one of them is in a band called My Broken Hero, and that their second album was entitled "Man of Science/Man of Faith." Love it! If MySpace kills your computer like it does mine, you can check out their Facebook fan page here.
OK, since it took me a full week to finish writing this relatively short post, I better wrap it up and get working on the first contest, since the end of August is almost nigh.
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer so far! And yes, I do still plan to write about what went down at Comic-Con (or what I learned went down, as I wasn't actually there -- sniff), but I have no idea when I'll get to that. Oh, wait, yes I do: before January.
First and most importantly, I hope you've all been having a wonderful summer (or winter, I guess, depending on where you live) so far. I've been as busy as ever and -- over 1.5 months after the finale -- am finally getting to enjoy a weekend at home without writing about Lost for eight hours on both Saturday and Sunday.
I'm still planning to publish a few posts with additional thoughts about Season Five during the hiatus, but in the meantime I am really excited to be joining my man Ryan from Zap2it's Guide to Lost for another real-time text chat this coming Tuesday (June 30th) at 7:30 PM ET. We've had an absolute blast on other chats and I'm sure this time around will be no different, especially since we've all had some time to better digest everything that went down on our favorite TV show between January 21 and May 13.
Please forgive me, but I will be out of the country for the seventh (and supposedly critical) episode of Lost on March 13th. This is where I will be:
The above is on a tropical island, but unfortunately it is not THE Island. Regardless, I will still be on the lookout for mysterious black smoke.
Anyway, I don't return to Chicago until March 19th, the day before the eighth episode. I am going to try my hardest to have something posted by that night, but I'm setting expectations that not only will my write-up be late, but it will also probably be a little less in-depth than you've come to expect. I will be on my trip with Miss M, and while she is a dear friend and loves Lost and supports my writing, I have no intention of being holed up inside frantically writing my next post while it's eighty degrees and sunny outside, because she would rightfully call the loony bin to come collect me. So please bear with me and thanks in advance for your patience.
The good news is that I've contacted our resort and they claim to get ABC. And yes, they thought I was crazy.
Just a quick note to make you aware of some updates I made to this site (and to According to e) over the past weekend. I was a big ol' nerd and went crazy with my HTML skillz!
Here is what is new, in the off-chance that you, too, are a nerd and care about these sorts of things:
- "Favicons" in the URL field and in tabs (in some browsers) - you will see a "mini Locke-head" if it works on your browser. - Labels for all posts I've written to date. So if you are looking for, say, every Locke-centered episode recap I've ever written, you can find them easily in the "Posts Served Up All Sorts of Ways" section to the right. - A more easily navigable archives section in the right-hand column as well. Click on the arrows to expose the next layer for any given month or year. - Emailed posts! If you cannot access 'Long Live Locke' at work or forget to check the site often, you can now get any new posts emailed to you by signing up in the field in the right-hand column. If your email system accepts HTML-coded messages, you will even get all the pictures (but, alas, not my roll-over captions). Just be sure to check your bulk/junk email folders when you first sign up, because when I tested it out, the sign-up confirmation email and the first message with a new post went into my junk folder until I designated them as "not junk." - RSS feeds! Actually, I've always had an RSS feed, but now I've added the icon in the right-hand column so that I don't need to keep reminding everyone about it.
Hello my dear friends -
