A slice of cheddar with apples or apple pie is still pretty common. I've never tried the pie thing, but it's definitely not some weird thing only grandpas do.

I'd say the Joplin veers more towards a cover. The tempo of the version made popular by the Sting is a far cry from what Joplin intended. Also, instruments that aren't piano.

@Bernie

What do you mean where did they come from? Jack picked them up off of the bodies. How did they get there? Jack put them there. How did Jack get them? He picked them up off of the bodies. etc.

I think Faraday may have been crying because he already knew about 815 via Desmond, but can't remember it specifically. Granted, Desmond wasn't on the plane, but maybe the vague association was enough to trigger something in Faraday's muddled brain.

While I certainly suspect that Des does return to the island, I don't know why he would need to push the button in a hatch that already blew up in 2004. We've already seen how/why he goes to the island in the first place, and it was nothing like this. Why is the theory that he's stuck in some kind of loop so popular?

No, they're certainly in a causality loop, they just think that they're actions are preventing it rather than causing it. Silly losties.

If Jack dies, then Kate (or some other woman) needs to die with him. I'm pretty much convinced at this point that Jack is Adam, since he still has the stones found on the bodies. Until he hands those off to someone (or anoints their already dead bodies with them), I'm sticking with this theory.

I went to school in suburban Detroit, and roughly half of my graduating class was white. I'm sure a lot changed between the early eighties and the early oughts, what with bussing, redistricting, and gradual easing of the racial tension, but the stories from parents and teachers who either went to school there or had…

@Snape

This is the point I've been making, wookie: there is no outside force determining anyone's role. The circumstances cause the characters to react in ways that will ultimately lead to the creation of those circumstances. Nothing has "determined" it other than the fact that it's already frozen in history—but we can say…

Bourne, you're right. I was being overly reductive. I just resent the idea that no alternate realities = no free choice. Nobody complains about this in non-time-travel narratives. We accept that what happened, happened because thats simply how we experience time.

But what's the difference between predestination and free choice in a fictional story? Every action done on the show *is* predestined—by the writers. When a story is told, we don't consider all of the choices the characters could have taken, just the ones they did take. I really don't see how LOST is any different.

I think the most damning evidence is that, upon Ben's summoning of smokey, John tells Sun that he needs to go do something in the jungle, only to reappear when the smoke monster should (why wouldn't it show up unless it was already there). Frankly, I don't think he's really acting anything like the John we know.

Has there ever been a television show where the characters *could* change the decisions they've already made? Nobody complains that John can't avoid getting pushed out of a window, or that Jack can't reconsider his tattoo because we accept that YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST. Would anyone here say they didn't have the…

Is it possible Charles stole Penny the same way Ben stole Alex?

I, for one, have been looking desperately for a way to celebrate the spirit of Kwanzaa without actually doing any work whatsoever.

I remember watching Svankmajer's Alice when I was in eighth grade and being totally creeped out. It will be nice to revisit.

Take that, Gene Shalit.

Decibel?
Doesn't refer to pitch—so any time Walt gets louder or quieter?