Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter on the green carpet
Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway have joined the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in London for the royal premiere of Alice In Wonderland.
Hundreds of fans stood in the rain in Leicester Square to greet their idols.
Tim Burton's 3D movie was inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic tale of the young girl who embarks upon an exciting adventure in Wonderland.
A host of British stars have provided voices for the film, including Barbara Windsor, Stephen Fry and Timothy Spall.
Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen in Burton's take on Alice
Hathaway, who wore a sequinned brown dress, agreed the film provided a feminist take on the famous story.
She said: "This is Alice 10 years later... when she goes to Wonderland she's experiencing a return to self and I think it's a wonderful take on it."
Depp, meanwhile, dashed up the red carpet to greet his screaming fans in a dark suit and open neck shirt.
Other British voices in the film include those of Alan Rickman as Absolem the caterpillar, Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit, Paul Whitehouse as the March Hare, and Sir Christopher Lee as the Jabberwocky.
Whitehouse, who starred alongside Depp in the BBC's Fast Show comedy series, joked of the Pirates of the Caribbean star: "He's only a two-bit Keith Richards impersonator. Of course he must have been excited to work with me."
Sheen said his character was full of nervous energy, while Rickman said he did not like the story as a child because it was "full of soppy women".
Boycott
Burton has regularly collaborated with Depp, who has starred in a number of the director's movies, including Sleepy Hollow, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands.
Burton's partner Helena Bonham Carter also stars in the film alongside Little Britain star Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
The premiere, which raised cash for The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, came hours after cinema chain Odeon reversed its decision to boycott the film.
The company said it had reached a deal with Disney over the studio's plan to release the DVD version of the film at the end of May.
It had initially vowed not to show the film in the UK, Irish Republic and Italy as a protest over the plan to reduce the number of weeks a movie is shown in cinemas.
O Pará teve 118 mil casos de abuso sexual de crianças e adolescentes nos últimos cinco anos e 80% deles aconteceram no ambiente familiar. Os números foram apresentados nesta quinta-feira (25) pela Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito (CPI) da Pedofilia. Aproximadamente 20% das vítimas têm menos de cinco anos e apenas 12 acusados foram sentenciados pela Justiça.
A CPI apresentou os resultados após os trabalhos que duraram um ano. A comissão foi instalada após o Pará se tornar alvo da CPI nacional, sobretudo por causa da acusação contra o deputado estadual Luiz Seffer, que teria estuprado uma menina de 9 anos.
No ano passado, Seffer prestou depoimento em sessão da CPI nacional, negou o crime, mas foi pressionado a renunciar ao mandato e deixar seu partido, o DEM. Ele foi denunciado à Justiça e chegou a ser preso, mas foi solto por uma ordem judicial.
O ex-deputado, porém, não é a única autoridade do Pará acusada de abusar sexualmente de crianças e adolescentes. O relator da CPI estadual, deputado Arnaldo Jordy (PSS), afirma que há também prefeitos e vereadores envolvidos em casos semelhantes, além de conselheiros tutelares, médicos, empresários e professores.
A maioria, porém, sai ilesa de qualquer punição já que, de 2004 a 2008, somente 12 pessoas foram sentenciadas. “Só 12 de quase 2.000”, diz o relator. O deputado ressalta que muitos casos sequer chegam à fase processual porque os acusados “fizeram ‘conchavos’ com autoridades policiais ou intimidaram as vítimas a desistirem das denúncias”.
Para Jordy, a CPI mostra a falência do Estado para lidar com a situação. “A cultura policial é machista. Às vezes, o policial diz pra mãe desistir. Diz que a vítima se insinua. Há também propina, interferência política.”
O relator cita ainda casos de flagrantes não investigados. Um teria acontecido no município de Acará (146 km de Belém), onde uma criança de 7 anos foi levada para o depósito de um comerciante. A polícia chegou com a vítima já despida, mas o acusado sequer foi preso.
Em Itaituba (cerca de 1.000 km de Belém), um avô abusou da neta de 5 anos e teve a prisão decretada. A polícia, no entanto, não o prendeu alegando destino incerto, apesar do suspeito não estar desaparecido.
Durante os trabalhos da CPI, seis pessoas foram presas por ordem judicial enquanto prestavam depoimento nas sessões. A comissão pediu cerca de 20 prisões preventivas, mas o relator não soube informar se os pedidos foram cumpridos.
Em seu relatório final, a CPI da Pedofilia faz recomendações ao governo para que “crie condições de combate à impunidade”. A comissão recomenda ainda a expansão do serviço Pró Paz, onde os casos de violência contra a criança são atendidos, para além da capital.
O relatório, de 300 páginas, foi apresentado oficialmente em sessão especial na Assembleia Legislativa do Pará, em Belém.
Serão entregues cópias para o representante do governo estadual, para a CPI nacional, para o Ministério Público Federal e para a Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (CNBB).
Os metroviários de São Paulo e a direção do Metrô chegaram a um acordo nesta quinta-feira e a categoria desistiu de paralisar suas atividades. Em assembleia realizada hoje à noite na estação da Sé (centro), os funcionários do metrô decidiram aceitar a proposta da empresa e descartaram realizar uma greve.
A categoria ameaçava parar caso o Metrô não pagasse os valores referentes ao PLR (Participação nos Lucros e Resultados). De acordo com a assessoria da empresa, porém, o pagamento deve ser efetuado ainda nesta sexta-feira (26).
Em 2007, uma greve dos metroviários deixou cerca de 2,4 milhões de usuários a pé. Com a paralisação, o governo estadual anunciou a demissão de 61 grevistas.
O cônsul honorário da Síria em Mato Grosso do Sul, Kabril Yussef, foi preso em Campo Grande por não pagar pensão alimentícia à sua ex-mulher.
Yussef foi levado na quarta-feira (24) para a 4ª Delegacia de Polícia, mas teve uma crise de hipertensão no início da noite e acabou transferido para um hospital da cidade e mantido sob escolta da guarda militar.
A ex-mulher do cônsul, Cremilda de Fátima, cobra um total corrigido de R$ 86 mil em pagamentos atrasados. Desde 2007, segundo a defesa dela, Yussef paga valores abaixo do estabelecido e se recusa a negociar a quantia.
O mandado de prisão foi expedido pelo juiz Luiz Cláudio Bonassini, da 3ª Vara de Família. Para cumprir a ordem, o oficial de Justiça teve de solicitar uma autorização especial ao juiz para, se preciso, entrar à força na sede do consulado.
Um funcionário do consulado chegou a afirmar que Yussef não estava no local. Mas ele se apresentou ao oficial, pouco depois da chegada de um chaveiro convocado para abrir a porta da representação.
Nesta quinta, a Folha entrou em contato com a sede do consulado. O funcionário que atendeu a ligação não quis se identificar e limitou-se a dizer que "não havia ocorrido nada", que "tudo já estava resolvido" e que a "dívida já havia sido paga".
Procurada no final da tarde, a defesa de Cremilda de Fátima disse que não havia recebido nenhuma informação sobre um eventual pagamento das dívidas. O delegado Wellington de Oliveira, titular da 4ª DP, disse que não havia recebido o alvará de soltura e que, "para todos os efeitos", o cônsul continuava preso sob escolta no hospital
Chávez chama órgão de direitos humanos de "máfia" e anuncia saída
CLÁUDIA JARDIM da BBC Brasil, em Caracas
O presidente da Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, anunciou nesta quinta-feira a saída de seu país da Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos (CIDH) ao qualificar como "infame e indizível" um relatório da organização publicado na véspera com duras críticas ao governo.
"[A Venezuela] vai denunciar o acordo através do qual se inscreveu (...) nessa nefasta Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos, e sairemos daí então", disse o presidente em entrevista coletiva na sede do governo.
Chávez voltou a acusar a CIDH de ter apoiado o fracassado golpe de abril de 2002 contra ele. "Essa é a mesma comissão que respaldou a [Pedro] Carmona aqui, em 2002. É a ameaça permanente, a tentativa de nos isolar, mas ai estão os resultados", afirmou Chávez, ao fazer referência à decisão dos países da região de levar à Caracas a próxima Cúpula da recém criada Comunidade de Estados Latinoamericanos e Caribe (Celac) que será realizada no próximo ano.
Estados Unidos
O presidente venezuelano disse que a CIDH é "uma máfia", um "corpo politizado", que é utilizado "pelo império para agredir" aos demais governos da região.
Chávez afirmou que as críticas a seu país são parte de uma articulação internacional. "As agressões contra a Venezuela correspondem a um plano, não tenho a menos dúvida e isso coincide com a visita da doutora [Hillary] Clinton pela América Latina, a do chefe da CIA em Bogotá e a provocação [discussão com Álvaro Uribe] lá em Cancún", afirmou.
Na véspera, relatório da CIDH, que pertence à OEA (Organização de Estados Americanos), disse que, na Venezuela, ocorrem "sérias restrições" aos direitos humanos. O critica o que consideram como "intolerância política", "falta de independência dos poderes de Estado", "restrições" à liberdade de expressão, violência e impunidade.
Apesar das críticas, a CIDH também destacou os avanços sociais e econômicos registrados no país nos últimos anos. "A prioridade dada pelo Estado aos direitos econômicos, sociais e culturais (...) constitui uma base importante para a manutenção da estabilidade democrática", diz o documento da CIDH.
O relatório da comissão foi elaborado sem que seus membros visitassem o país. O governo da Venezuela veta a entrada da CIDH ao país por não ter reconhecido a tentativa de derrocamento de Chávez como um golpe de Estado. Horas depois do anúncio da desfiliação, Chávez criticou a OEA, ao afirmar que a organização chegará a seu fim, porém, que sua extinção "não se decreta, será fruto do processo histórico", disse Chávez.
A linha 1A, inaugurada em dezembro do ano passado no Rio de Janeiro, coloca a vida dos passageiros em risco, segundo o doutor em engenharia da UFRJ Fernando Mac Dowell. A linha liga a Pavuna, na zona norte, ao Botafogo, na zona sul.
Os usuários reclamam dos vagões lotados e dos intervalos entre um metrô e outro. O Ministério Público Estadual entrou com ação pedindo a paralisação do novo sistema.
Lost writers laud the return of Australian actress Emilie de Ravin. Photo: Supplied
It's a series that radically altered the TV landscape and cultivated a fervent and proactive fan base. Lost, the perplexing yet thrilling serialised drama that began with a plane crash on an island somewhere in the Pacific between Sydney and LA, before developing into a rumination on life, is weeks away from its conclusion. (And closure for fans.)
It was Lost, along with Desperate Housewives, that helped galvanise the Seven network in 2005 and deliver its eventual knockout ratings blow against Nine. Yet, after a frustrating third season, Lost's local ratings eventually collapsed. By 2008, Seven had banished it to 10.30pm.
At the same time, the show was on a creative high. And in a courageous move, the show's runners, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, announced 2010 as an end date.
Lost continues to rate well in the US and figures highly in the country's pop culture. Although that's not the case locally, multi-channelling means the series is at least back on in prime time. 7TWO is screening the final season each Wednesday, one week after its US screening.
When Green Guide contacted Cuse and Lindelof at Lost HQ in Hawaii, they were writing the final four episodes. The pressure and expectation are building. The duo say that in their show-runner roles, which combine writing, editing and producing, they are working on nine episodes simultaneously.
"We made this show by relying on each other's judgment and via collaboration," Cuse says. "We'll keep the same process going until the end."
After trusting in flashbacks to tell the castaways' stories, Cuse and Lindelof shifted the show's storytelling device dramatically by moving to the so-called flash forwards, where viewers learnt of the fate of the characters after they had escaped the island and returned "home".
Last season - and stay with us - time travel was prominent in the series. This season, the narrative device is via what Cuse and Lindelof call "flash sideways". The series is telling two stories, one focusing on the fate of the characters on the island, the other via a scenario where the plane did not crash in 2004, and what became of the characters once they landed, unharmed, in LA.
"Some people are confused by this," Cuse concedes. Yet both producers believe that as most fans have watched the show's 105 hours or caught up via DVD, they should be willing to go along for the ride. "We've earned the benefit of the doubt," Cuse says. "We are confident in our plan. Because it's too late for us to turn back now."
When Lost was conceived, networks were obsessed with self-contained procedural dramas such as CSI and Law & Order, which rate better in reruns. "At the time we came along, 'serialised' was a dirty word," Lindelof says. "The concept was if people missed an episode, they could never get it back in. And the more complex Lost became, the harder it was to keep its audience. It creates great pride in us that so many shows have now tried to emulate the Lost model."
The show's production is both elaborate and complex. It is almost two months between each episode's conception to completion. This week, filming takes place on the fourth-last episode.
This season's performances from the show's core group of Josh Holloway, Evangeline Lilly, Matthew Fox and Terry O'Quinn have been excellent.
"There is something special happening," Lindelof says. "They know the journey is coming to the end. But it's a great job, too. They are in Hawaii, they work just a few days a week. But everybody has risen and made this season their best work."
Lindelof also lauds the return of Australian actress Emilie de Ravin, as Claire. "We're blown away. We think the audience will love her."
The duo are more coy about the irrepressible Ben Linus, played by Michael Emerson. "If there's a debate regarding Ben being redeemable, we feel like we've done our jobs," Lindelof says.
As for the show's moral heart, Fox's Dr Jack Shephard, expect closure. "The show has never been about the search for happiness," Cuse says. "It's more redemption."
Was there ever a point where the writers yearned to keep the show going past 2010?
"We're grateful to our bosses allowing us to end the show on our terms," Cuse says. "The idea of drawing it out any longer would be disturbing. It would be damn near exploitative of fans to wait another year to be told, no it's not happening. We'd be tarred and feathered."
Season six of Lost screens on Wednesdays at 8.30pm on 7TWO. Episodes are repeated the following Wednesday at 11.30pm on Seven.
I have been with “Lost” since the first episode and I was looking forward to this final season answering some questions and bringing the series to a satisfying conclusion. So far, this season has had just as many lows as it has had highs, and has produced more yawns than thrills.
This episode fit the pattern of the final season, alternating between the primary timeline and the alternate one. This week, Jack takes center stage. While the episode was decent, it simply wasn’t all that interesting and, in my view, ranks as an early season filler episode. In the alternate timeline, Jack Shepherd (Matthew Fox) has a teenage son named David (Dylan Minnette). It is never stated who his mother is, but Jack only sees the boy about once a month. David plays a pretty mean piano, a fact that Jack discovers late in the episode.
Also, Jack’s father’s will is opened and Jack’s mother asks him if his father ever mentioned Claire Littleton. Jack is obviously struggling with his role as a father, and Matthew Fox did a fine job here, but this part of the storyline simply wasn’t that interesting.
Back on the island, at the urging of Jacob’s apparition (Mark Pelegrino), Hurley (Jorge Garcia) leads Jack to a lighthouse which, by some twist of fate, they simply never noticed before. The lighthouse has a set of mirrors, and when they are directed to the coordinates that correspond with each of the survivors, it is clear that they have been spied on for quite some time. Of course the numbers for each person are the same ones that were written on the cave ceiling, and the ones Hurley played in the lottery.
Meanwhile, Claire (Emilie de Ravin) helps Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) with his wounded leg, courtesy of a bear trap Claire herself planted. Justin (Dayo Ade), the Other who is captured by Claire, is bound, and he pleads with Jin to untie him, insisting that Claire intends to kill them both. Jin tells Claire that Kate (Evangeline Lily) has her baby and has raised him, but Claire kills Jusin anyway. Jin later retracts his story when he realizes that Claire would kill Kate.
While this episode introduced a couple of interesting elements, the episode lacked a sense of urgency. Perhaps there are fans out there that weigh every little piece of trivia and symbolism and ascribe a great deal of importance to it, and they could probably find a few intriguing little Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the episode. Unfortunately, dotting a relatively weak script with a few tiny insignificant nuggets of information does not make for must-see television. At some point, the story that is being told has to matter. This one simply did not.
What Worked
Apparently, some events are fated to occur. Jack finds a scar from having his appendix removed, but in the new timeline, this occurred when he was a child. Also, Jack apparently was fated to meet up with Dogen (Hiroyuki Sanada), whom he encounters at his son’s piano recital.
I like how the alternate timeline includes sweeping changes and shows what could have been. It makes the stakes much higher. If it comes down to only one reality left standing in the end, then regardless of which timeline wins, some stories are bound to end in disappointment and tragedy.
What Didn’t Work
Jack came back to the island because he was broken and he thought the island would fix him. Am I the only person who has trouble with that line of reasoning? It seems like the island is what broke Jack in the first place. Sure, the island fixed John Locke (Terry O’Quinn) and Rose (L. Scott Caldwell), but I just can’t seem to get my head around what Jack exactly means by this. Perhaps I’ve just grown weary of all the dialogue that attempts to elevate the island to the level of a god.
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
"Lighthouse" was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. It was directed by Jack Bender. “Lost” stars Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn, Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, and Michael Emerson.
In the season premiere of Lost three weeks ago, Jack Shephard looked at himself in the mirror and saw a small cut on his neck that left him baffled. He wondered: How did that get there? We wondered: What does it mean? In last night's episode, ''Lighthouse,'' Jack's man-in-the-mirror season continued with a series of peculiar looking glass encounters. On the Island, Jack's story began with a shot of the flawed and fallen castaway leader scrutinizing his reflection on the surface of Temple Lake like a seer trying to discern his fate in a scrying pool. It ended with Jack smashing the enchanted glass inside the Lighthouse after peering into it and seeing the haunted manse of his unhappy childhood home. He was left to ponder the implications while gazing out on the ocean; here's hoping his deliberations will include the epiphany that his paranoid conclusions about what he saw inside the Island's derelict divination tower were all wrong. (That's my theory, at least. More on that in a little bit.)
In the Sideways world, Doc Shephard spotted his appendix scar in the mirror and struggled to recall the forgotten/suppressed memory of when the ruptured organ was removed. Again, he wondered: How did that get there? Again we wondered: What does it mean? This story ended with Jack looking into the episode's most unusual and most miraculous of mirrors — the eyes of his son, David. What he saw in them was the very thing his Island self should have recognized in the Lighthouse: an invitation to let go of the past and move into the future.
The Sideways World The Dead Father Lives!
Dead, but still with us, still with us, but dead. The Dead Father, Donald Barthelme
''Lighthouse,'' the fifth episode of Lost's sixth season, was the mirror twin to ''White Rabbit,'' the fifth episode of the show's first season. ''White Rabbit'' — which was referenced numerous times in various ways during the hour — was the one where Castaway Jack chased after the now-you-see-him/now-you-don't ghost of his dead father. The subsequent jungle journey led Jack to Christian Shephard's empty coffin, denying him the opportunity he was truly pursuing. And what was that opportunity? Follow the rabbit trail of pain. You don't have what it takes, Christian told Young Jack during a boozy stupor. That one left a mark. Father Shephard was actually trying to teach his son a lesson — that being a hero isn't something you choose to be, but rather something that you just are, and that when you try to be a hero, and you fail, then what you become is a failure, at least in your own eyes, and that's a mighty hard thing to live with, if you can live with it at all. If you've watched all of Lost, then you know the great irony of Christian's harsh wisdom: Jack has pretty much proven his father correct. But did Christian correctly identify Jack's fundamentally flawed nature — or did he nurture it with his problematic brand of parenting? And the debate rages. Yet we must also remember that Jack had wounded his father, too. ''White Rabbit'' flicked at that when Mama Shephard ordered her adult son to go save Christian from his bender down under by telling him that he had no choice in the matter, ''not after what you did.'' We learned exactly what Jack did two seasons later in ''A Tale of Two Cities'': Gripped by the paranoid conviction that Christian was sleeping with his ex-wife Sarah, Jack wound up subverting his alcoholic father's bid to go sober and atone for his past sins. Put another way, Jack returned the slight his father had given him as a child; Jack's faithlessness left Christian convinced that he, too, lacked the right stuff for heroic endeavors. Jack brought all that pain and all that guilt with him to the Island, and so when he thought he saw his dead father beckoning him into the jungle, he gave chase, thinking divine forces that he had never before believed in had given him the opportunity he yearned for, be it consciously or subconsciously: a chance at redemption; a chance at reconciliation; a chance at restoration. But the coffin was empty. His father? Not there. And so Jack's sick soul has festered like an infected appendix on the precipice of bursting and poisoning him with icky toxic pus, and my brain just quit on this paragraph, but I think you get the idea. It's basically what Claire's said: ''If there's one thing that'll kill you around here it's infection.''
Anyway, this is all to say that the Sideways Jack that we got to know in ''Lighthouse'' was a lot like the Castaway Jack we've come to know over the past five season, but also very different, in ways both obvious and not so obvious. (Has there ever been a less helpful sentence ever written than that last one?) We met him as he was washing a hard day's work off himself and talking with his mother about the mystery of Christian's missing coffin. Yep: still missing. Probably in Berlin, according to the airline, but nobody knew for sure. The Widow Shephard was flummoxed. How could someone possibly lose a dead body? The lack of resolution had left her proverbially paralyzed; she needed Jack's help in settling Christian's affairs. (In more ways than one.) It would be wrong to say Jack was unfazed by his father's Lost-in-the-system corpse (he certainly seemed moved by his mother's need), but at the same time I didn't get the sense he was haunted by it, either. Perhaps the wise words of Sideways Locke at the airport back in the premiere had given him some peace. ''They didn't lose your father,'' Locke said. ''They just lost his body.''
But I wonder if the perplexing puzzle of Jack's appendix scar told the real story of Jack's seemingly mature serenity. Eyeballing the blemish, Jack suddenly realized he couldn't recall when the damn thing has been cut out of him. His mother reminded him that it had happened when he was 7 or 8 years old, that he had collapsed at school and his father had wanted to perform the surgery himself but was denied. Now, we all know that the castaway version of Jack had his appendix removed on the Island back in season 4 (more on that episode in a sec), and I think Lost wanted us to once again wonder if these Sideways characters are psychically linked to their Island counterparts or possess their memories somewhere the backs of their fogged-up minds. Consider this: If we assume that Jack is about as old as Sawyer, then that means it's very likely that Sideways Jack had his school collapse/appendix episode the very same year that a certain group of time traveling castaways were blowing up Jughead on the Island. What if Young Jack's collapse was caused by Castaway Jack's mind/soul getting blown into him? What if Young Jack's appendicitis was reflexive a psychosomatic response to the appendix-free Castaway Jack's sudden psychic migration into his mind? What if Castaway Jack's mind/soul has lain dormant within Sideways Jack ever since, but now is starting to stir and take hold? What if Sideways' Jack's appendix confusion and other instances of spotty memory manifested in this episode are symptoms of an identity crisis caused by this trippy-tricky of mental operating systems?
For now, I'm going to say that the answer to every single one of those preceding ''What if...?'' questions is a big fat NO. Instead, I'm going to say that Sideways Jack is a man who's dangerously out of touch with his emotions and with others, because he's a self-absorbed jerk, or because of pain he's been spending most of his life trying to avoid, or both. As ''Lighthouse'' progressed, we learned that Sideways Jack's relationship with his father was also marked by fear and hurt; and so I wonder if a simple explanation for his fuzzy recall of the appendix drama was that he had suppressed the memory. The only psychic entity lurking within Sideway Jack is his own wounded child, and for his entire life, he's kept him heavily tranquilized. His story in ''Lighthouse'' was about choosing to recall and feel childhood pain, about rousing that sleeping, hurting kid... and then letting him go. FUN FACT! Like season 6 Jack, the tragic hero of Greek myth Narcissus also was fond of looking at himself in reflective surfaces. According to Wikipedia, the word ''Narcissus'' is derived from a Greek word meaning... ''sleep'' and ''numbness.'' (Wow. That tangent was both short AND possibly relevant!)
And you thought Michael and Walt weren't on the show anymore...
Nope. They're here — they just look a lot like Sideways Jack and David, whose strained, distant father-son rapport recalled the relational chasm that defined Michael and Walt during the first half of season 1. Backstory? We got little. Should we assume that Jack was married, had a child, then separated or divorced? We could. It was clear that Jack had been a relative non-entity — a veritable ghost — in his son's life for quite some time. Jack had no idea that David had cultivated a prodigious musical talent, although David wanted it that way; apparently, when they lived together as a family, Jack had been a hovering, hyper father, over-invested in his son's success and radiating angst about the boy's potential for failure. It was clear that David loved his father, craved a relationship with his father; but it was also clear that Jack was too risky for him to trust with the person he was becoming. At the same time, when Jack tried to engage with his son via old touchstones — Alice In Wonderland; baseball — David shrank away, the attempt at connection only reminding him of how unconnected they were. ''We see each other once a month,'' David said. ''Can't we just get through it?'' By the way, if Jack's reminiscing about reading Alice In Wonderland to David as a child sounded familiar, it should: we saw him reading the book to Aaron back in... FLASHBACK WHOOSH TO... ''Something Nice Back Home,'' the season 4 episode in which we saw Jack try to play surrogate father to Aaron and good mate to Kate and fail miserably. The reason: Jack's inability to let go of his past baggage. Which is interesting. Sideways Jack seemed to be a guy who couldn't even deal with his past baggage — who hadn't properly claimed it, if you will. The result: The same. Crap and busted relationships. The lesson: If you want something nice back home, then you gotta deal with and dispose of your old useless toxic psychic appendages properly. Okay?! Okay.
BY THE WAY? ''Something Nice Back Home'' was also the episode about Castaway Jack's ruptured appendix. Jack's then-love interest, Juliet (they had kissed a few episodes before that), performed the surgery, and if you recall, Jack initially wanted to perform the surgery on himself, and even when Juliet talked him out of it, he still tried to coach her through the process by... watching her in a mirror. He wound up passing out, but before he did he yelled for Kate, which cinched it for Juliet: Jack would never be her man. BURNING QUESTION: Who's David's Mom? Who's the female participant in the creation of this inexplicably conceived Sideways child? Who's this phantom woman that Sideways Jack was once with and now isn't? Wouldn't if be totally ironic and fitting if she was the Sideways iteration of Lost's resident fertility doc/Jack dumpette, better known to us as Juliet? And you wanna know why she wasn't home last night? That's right, kids: Going dutch on coffee with new boyfriend Sawyer. (Your goosebumps? That's right, I did that.)
Five thoughts about four things concerning that scene between Jack and his mother.
1. Jack declined a drink. His mother praised him for it. My thought: This Jack is not his father. He doesn't deal with his angst by drinking it away. Mama Shephard wanted to affirm that. STUPID THEORY I JUST CAME UP WITH THAT I DON'T BELIEVE AT ALL SO WHY AM I EVEN TELLING YOU THIS? The Island World is the place where all these more serene, mature Sideways souls have banished their exorcised demon selves. It's like a landfill for their toxic/unwanted/debilitating emotion. It's like Don DeLillo's Underworld meets the Bizarro episode of Seinfeld. It's like I'm totally tired and I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm on a horse.
2. Mama Shephard couldn't find Christian's will. Then she did. My first thought: This was a metaphor for something. Missing will = Castaway Jack's subverted free will? Castaway Jack's lack of instruction on what he should be doing? Sideways Jack's recovered will? Sideways Jack's newfound clarity of purpose? Still processing. My second thought: That missing will turned out to be pretty easy to find. Jack should do her a favor and recommend her to one of his optometrist friends. And how mean am I? Mocking Mama Shephard for what's probably a grief-induced case of scatterbrainitus. Then again, to quote the flying philosopher Linus: Who cares? She's just an irrelevant Sideways character. Probably going to get negated out of existence when the Anti-Monitor starts snuffing out parallel worlds when Lost goes all Crisis On Infinite Earths in 10 episodes. Call it: The Purge Goes Cosmic. And 83% of you have no clue what I'm talking about right now, do you?)
3. Christian Shephard left something for Claire. My thought: Well, that answered that question. Sideways Dad was an intercontinental horndog, too.
4. Jack confessed that he had been terrified of his father as a child. Margo told Jack that David might feel the same way about him. Jack was shell-shocked — and it totally activated Jack to take action in exactly the same way that Castaway Jack's mom activated him go to Australia and rescue Christian. My thought: The chase was on. Or rather:
White Rabbit Redux
Jack went home. He brought pizza and the hope of bonding time with his son. But David wasn't there. David, in fact, was MIA. Jack freaked. He wondered if his son had pulled a Castaway Jack and escaped Lame Dad Island and fled to the place that for him was truly home. And so he chased after his son, just as he chased after his dead father back in season 1. Jack got in his jeep and drove over there, to a house which I suspect was once his, as well, and let himself in using the key hidden under the ceramic rabbit. Inside this warm and cozy warren, the total opposite of his own austere, minimalist high-rise digs, Jack found the cave of his son's bedroom, filled with mementos of his son's rich, dynamic inner world. An epiphany occurred here, and I think it was this: Look at this boy. MY boy. I've been missing out on this. On who HE is. We remember that in ''White Rabbit,'' Jack failed to find his dead father, but the quest led him the Caves, with its intriguing details and more importantly its life-giving fresh water spring. And what did Jack do? He moved in. Made it his home. ''Lighthouse'' was the same story. Sideways Jack went chasing after a different kind of dead father — himself. And inside the cave of his son's bedroom, the sleeper awakened and began to feel again. Resurrection. When he pressed play on the answering machine and solved the mystery of his son's whereabouts, an audition for the prestigious Williams Conservatory, Jack moved toward him, bolting toward life like Lazarus out of the tomb.
Jack arrived at the audition. He followed the sign directing ''the candidates'' to the auditorium. Inside, Father Jack bore witness to his piano prodigy son exercising his awesome gift. It took his breath away. It was all very end-of-Billy Elliot. Jack swelled with pride, with joy, with selfless happiness for his son — with life. The piece: ''Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor'' by Chopin. Last season on Lost, another child prodigy played the same number for us. I am referring to Master Daniel Faraday in ''The Variable.'' We remember his fate: how his mother cut him off his from art; how she redirected his brilliance toward physics in a doomed bid to save him from her future bullet; how she drove him and rode him and smothered him. He died, anyway. A failure, anyway. I felt Lost was offering a belated toast to the late Faraday in Sideways Jack's surprising cross with Sideways Dogen, whose son was also auditioning for Williams. ''They are too young to have this kind of pressure,'' Dogen said. ''It's hard to watch and be unable to help.'' Rest In Peace, Daniel. Sorry your Mom sucked. (I look forward to getting Island Dogen's backstory and seeing how much of it ironically synchs with this small peek into his Sideways world.)
Afterward, Jack the Born Again Father engaged his son and connected with him. How? By allowing himself to feel the pain of his frayed relationship with his father — and then redeeming that painful past by applying what he could learn from it. David shared that he felt the weight of his father's expectations and fears upon him — exactly what Jack felt about his father. And so he told him: ''When I was your age, my father didn't want to see me fail, either. He said: I didn't have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I don't want you to feel that way. In my eyes, you can never fail. I just want to be part of your life.'' I was moved by Jack bid at reaching out to his son — and I was struck that his words included some extraordinary grace for his father. To me, it sounded like Jack understood his father loved him, even if he had a clumsy way of showing it, and that he himself bore some responsibility for choosing to believe in his dead father's judgment. Regardless, what I heard and saw in that scene was the forgiveness and catharsis that the Jacks of both Lost worlds have been chasing after for five seasons. Sideways Jack had finally gotten his, and walked into the future of his life finally liberated from the shackles of his past. As for Castaway Jack, the road is stranger, and longer still...
This Island Earth Number 23, Heal Thyself!
''“You must become your father, but in a paler, weaker version of him. ...Fatherhood can be, if not conquered, at least ''turned down'' in this generation — by the combined efforts of all of us together.'' — From section 23 of ''A Manual For Sons,'' included within The Dead Father
For Sideways Jack, the formidable responsibility of fatherhood and formidable fear of fatherhood were certainly things to be conquered, and we were left to hope that redemption and restoration will come from the effort. But for Castaway Jack, aka Candidate Number 23, fatherhood was definitely something to be turned down. Of domestic bliss, Jack told Hurley, ''I guess I wasn't cut out for it.'' He also told him this: ''I would make a terrible dad.'' But we were left to wonder if he was seeing the matter clearly. And by ''the matter,'' I mean himself. His perspective on his own bad self was obstructed, and as usual, it was the psychic haze of his past — his father issues; his busted relationships; his failure as a leader, fixer, savior — that got in the way. Perhaps he'd feel differently about his paternal ability with more enlightenment.
There was much I enjoyed about Jack and Hurley's journey into mystery, their ''old school'' trek through the jungle, en route ''to something we don't understand.'' I'd love to give a big chunky paragraph praising Hurley for getting the story off to a strong, appealing start with his hijinks and hilarious line readings at the Temple, which went a long way toward de-Hydra-fying that polarizing place — but we're running long and late, and the gleaming mysteries of the Lighthouse beckon. Hurley was tasked by the ghost of Jacob (also full of good-natured humor) to get to the episode's titular landmark and set it ablaze in order to help bring a mysterious someone to the Island. But first, the Dude had to light a fire under Jack's butt and get him to come, too. That was part of the deal — perhaps the most important part of the deal, based on what we learned by episode's end. Hurley succeeded to motivate Jack to more by uttering the magic words given to him by smirky, all-knowing Jacob: ''You have what it takes.'' Jack did that eye flutter thing that he always does when he's profoundly flustered and rose to his feet full of piss and yearning. Take me to your Jacob. Take me now. It didn't need to be said what it was — or rather who it was — that Jack also hoped to find at Hurley's mystery meeting place. But in case you find me totally obtuse, I'll spell it out: I'm sure Jack was hoping for a rendezvous with dead papa — the long-delayed fulfillment of his failed ''White Rabbit'' hunt.
Along the way, Jack tried to pick up some baggage: Kate. But Hurley said No, that Jack had to come to Jacob alone. It made sense: Kate is now part of the painful past that Jack has to learn to let go of, part and parcel of the Something (Allegedly) Nice Back Home dream/nightmare that he has to grieve and detach from. All this was okay with Kate, who had her own quest: finding Claire. ''I hope you find what you're looking for,'' Kate said, and left her former lover to his white rabbit hunt. Fittingly, the next stop on the trip was his old home, the Caves, the Edenesque patch that Ghost Father helped him discover, complete with cryptic black and white rocks and the Adam and Eve skeletons. Hurley went meta, winking at a fave fan theory. ''I totally forgot these were in here,'' Hurley said, already making cackle with knowing laughter. After all, we haven't forgotten they were there, have we? He continued: ''What if we time-traveled again to dinosaur times and we died and got buried here? What if these skeletons are us?'' He could be right. And I'm sticking with the theory that Adam and Eve are Rose and Bernard. But I also had to wonder, in an episode full of mirrors and the threat of impending war, if Hurley's caveman yarn was a wink at ''Through A Glass, Darkly,'' a poem written by Gen. George S. Patton that expressed his belief in reincarnation by tracking his many incarnations, from caveman days to WWII days, while also struggling to glean the divine purpose behind his forever and ever of past and future lives.
So as through a glass, and darkly The age long strife I see Where I fought in many guises, Many names, but always me.
And I see not in my blindness What the objects were I wrought, But as God rules o'er our bickerings It was through His will I fought.
So forever in the future, Shall I battle as of yore, Dying to be born a fighter, But to die again, once more.
Or maybe Hurley was just being funny. Jack, meanwhile, was getting deadly serious. His trip to the Caves got him reminiscing about his father — and, I think, excited by the prospect of an imminent reunion. At the very least, there was the promise of revelation of purpose, and that appealed to him as strongly as it did to Sawyer last week when the Locke-ness Monster enticed the con man to Jacob's cave by vowing to answer the question: Why are you on this Island?
At last, they came to the Lighthouse, another in the Island's series of ancient-looking stone structures. Hurley's crack archaeological analysis: It was clearly built before electricity. Jack was baffled. How come they had never noticed this thing before? Hurley's loaded response: ''I guess we weren't looking for it.'' I might refine and narrow Hurley's response even further. I very much got the sense that the Lighthouse may have existed solely for the benefit of one person: Jack Shephard. And my guess is that he never had eyes to see it before because he was not yet the kind of man to admit the following: ''I was broken.'' There was more to the statement, but let's just begin with that phrase, an extraordinary admission of humility from a once-proud man of science who spent years arguing for the strength and supremacy of his own agency. But Jack's full statement was: ''I came back here because I was broken, and I was stupid enough to think this place could fix me.'' Jacob would later suggest to Hurley that Jack couldn't be more wrong, but the good news was that Jack had grown enough in his journey to summon a magical beacon, one that could to light the way to the his journey's homestretch. Literally.
At the top of the Lighthouse, Jack and Hurley found a series of mirrors and a giant dial stenciled with names around its perimeter. Each name had a number. All the names were crossed out — except for Number 23 (Shephard), and Number 16 (Jarrah), and presumably the other castaways associated with the Numbers. Jack was perplexed and troubled. He expected to find Jacob, or his father, or both waiting for him. Instead, he found more mystery — another empty coffin. Hurley thought — or hoped — that he could summon Jacob by cranking on a chain and turning the dial to its 108 setting. (Though I didn't see it, the Web consensus seems to be that the name attached to this number was ''Wallace.'') But before the contraption could reach 108, Jack saw something in the mirrors — images of buildings that shouldn't be there. He then got a scary thought: What would he see if he turned the dial to his number, 23. He pushed Hurley out of the way and changed the ''channel'' and there on the ''screen'' was a live shot of his childhood home. Jack then came to some conclusions. He concluded that the Lighthouse was a mystical surveillance device. He concluded that Jacob had used it to spy on him all his life. He concluded that Jacob wanted something from him, and he angrily demanded that Hurley summon Jacob ASAP to explain himself. Hurley explained that it didn't work that way, that Jacob was a ghost — a sometimes there, sometimes not non-entity. Which is how Jack also experienced his ''white rabbit'' ghost father. Which is how David Shephard experienced Sideways Jack — at least until their cathartic reconciliation. Worlds within worlds of pain collided within Jack, who expressed his rage over yet another profound experience with absent fathers and missing instruction by picking up an amber spyglass and trashing the joint — an agonizing howl directed at both father and Island all-father, both full of outrage and questions. Where are you? What are you? Why won't you show yourself? Why won't you tell me what to do? Do you even exist?FUN FACT!The Amber Spyglass is the third in Phillip Pullman's acclaimed fantasy trilogy that functions as Narnia for atheists, brimming with angry rebellion against a distant god. Parallel universes, the story of Adam and Eve, the death of god, fallen angels, and the liberation of hell are essential elements.
In the aftermath, Jack took a seat on the cliff to stew in his confusion and anger. Meanwhile, Hurley and Jacob debriefed. Jacob seemed to suggest that contrary to Hurley's panic (and armful of inky instructions), everything had gone according to plan. Jack was supposed to look in the magic mirrors. Jack was supposed to see what he saw. And maybe most importantly, Jack was supposed to have the response that he had, even at the expense of his magical mirror, mirrors on the Lighthouse walls. The purpose, I think, was to correct Jack of one misconception: He was not stupid to believe that the Island holds redemptive purpose for him. It does. Jack just needs to keep his eyes open and look for it. He also needs to do one thing more, and I think it's the thing that Lighthouse mirrors were designed to show him. Hurley and Jack got it wrong. The Lighthouse doesn't cast light outward. It casts light inward, and reveals the state of your heart. For Jack Shephard, his heart is still locked up in his childhood home, his father's house, his past, and he won't be free and realized until he leaves all of it behind. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's a prerequisite for the job Jacob wants Jack to take: replacing him as Island protector. Yep: I'm thinking Jack is right at the top of Jacob's list of candidates. So hurry up and fix thyself, Number 23 — because you're going to be the new Number 1.
QUICK HITS:
If Jacob is such a good guy, how come he never tells the truth? The episode was filled with conversations about truth telling. It began with Jack and Dogen praising each other for their mutual honesty. Claire demanded total honesty from Justin the Other as well as Jin, who told the truth about Aaron, then lied about telling the truth to save his life. The episode ended with Hurley scolding Jacob for not playing straight with him. Interesting: the Lockeness Monster professes to be the straight-shooter of the two Island deities, and after this episode, we have no reason to doubt him; the revelation of the Lighthouse didn't contradict anything UnLocke told and showed Sawyer last week in the cave. Meanwhile, Jacob has resorted to lies, puzzles, and possibly supernatural coercion to get people to do what he wants them to do. And yet, I STILL find myself thinking that Jacob is the good guy and Lockeness is the bad guy in their feud. What do you think?
How come you haven't said anything about Claire? What's there to say? I thought she was compelling and scary and well played by Emilie de Ravin even if the girl swings an axe like... well, like a girl. But she also left me with so many questions, I really don't know where to begin to summarize, except by rattling them off. I want to know of she's really ''infected.'' I want to know about her Rousseau makeover and if she's self-aware of her Rousseauness. I want to know all about the creepy faux baby with the skull head in the crib. (Genius.) I want to know the story behind her Temple torture. I want to know the story behind how she got shot in the leg and see how she stitched herself up. I want to know what happened between her and her father and why her father is no longer around. I want to know when she met Fake Locke, how they became friends, and how he convinced her he wasn't really John Locke without freaking her out. I want to know if she's just lost track of time or if Fake Locke worked some magic on her to keep her ignorant of three years missing time. But most urgently, I want to know if she and Lockeness are going to let Jin live — or if Sun is about to become a widow.
Don't you think there's so much more to say about the Lighthouse? I do. We could spend much time analyzing all the names around the dial. We could wonder if the looking glasses really are remote viewing devices, or windows into parallel worlds, or (my theory) magic mirrors that conjure metaphorical representations of the heart state of the Numbered candidates who gaze into the glass. (Though part of me likes that parallel worlds idea and wants to theorize that Jacob is capable of synthesizing various parallel worlds to create one timeline that represents the Best of All Possible Worlds.) I could go on and on, but my time is up, and I've gone very long, and besides: There's always room for elaboration on Twitter
and on next week's Doc Jensen column. Thanks for your patience with the late posting today, folks.
Like many fans, I am happy to be lost in Lost. Savoring it, in fact. Locke as the Smoke Monster? Bring him/it/whoever on! A ''flash-sideways''? I like coming in on that new angle! As the final pieces of TV's trickiest jigsaw puzzle are being wedged into place, the burden is on the guys who run the show — Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof — to have the sixth and final season not end up looking like...one big jigsaw puzzle.
How to do that? So far, they've got the right idea in finally establishing that Lost isn't just a mind game: The Island has always been a metaphor for the heart — the center, the life force. Now many of the mysteries of the heart are being revealed, along with alternative glimpses of how the lives of so many did or may or could have turned out.
One of the best things Lost is doing is returning to its core characters, devoting a strand of each episode to, say, Locke (Terry O'Quinn) or Kate (Evangeline Lilly) or Jack (Matthew Fox), allowing us to take full measure of how far these people have come. Some of those actors are giving superlative, career-high performances — no one on TV today is showing greater range and emotion than O'Quinn, for example.
What it comes down to — the essence of what's making this final season so good — is summed up in a little speech that Cuse and Lindelof wrote for Hurley (Jorge Garcia) in the Feb. 23 episode, as the Rotund One and Jack ambled through some lush greenery one more time:
''This is kinda old-school — you and me, trekkin' through the jungle, on our way to do somethin' that we don't quite understand. Good times.''
Mystery solved! Sorta. We now know that the numbers in the all-important Valenzetti Equation each stand for a potential Jacob replacement. Who should get the gig? Doc Jensen and Co. weigh in
Image credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Locke NUMBER: 4 MOST LIKELY: John Locke
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: He loved the Island, believed it was his destiny to be there, and can handle a diet of boar meat and palm frond water.
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: Easily manipulated by anti-Island smoke monster and can be easily distracted with button pushing. If his father should pop up as a ghost, he might get flustered. Or crippled. Oh, and he's dead. —Jeff Jensen
CANDIDATE NAME: Reyes NUMBER: 8 MOST LIKELY: Hugo ''Hurley'' Reyes
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: He's got faith plus driving skills, both capably expressed when he magically revived the dead Dharma bus in season 3. That ''I see dead people'' super power is pretty handy, too. And let's face it: the Island — with all its hydrogen bombs and smoke monster madness — is sorely in need of a leader able to deliver a humorous quip or two.
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: His sheer size might make it difficult for him to become adept at escaping Smokey's grasp. Also, might be averse to working with Numbers. —Kate Ward
Image credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Ford NUMBER: 15 MOST LIKELY: James ''Sawyer'' Ford
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: As a confidence man, Sawyer has an ability to swiftly take the measure of someone which would come in handy when judging a person's intentions with the Island. Plus, deep down, he's a real softie.
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: That softie is really deep down; usually, Sawyer just looks out for Sawyer, a trait Juliet's death only seems to have magnified. —Adam B. Vary
Image credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Jarrah NUMBER: 16 MOST LIKELY: Sayid Jarrah
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: Simply put, he's a badass who gets the job done, thanks to his military background and all-around MacGyverness. (Modify a hydrogen bomb right now? Done! What else you got?)
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: Ever since he came back to life after being drowned in the Temple's magical-yet-malfunctioning spring, something's a little off about this dude. And his torture tactics couldn't have pleased the (seemingly) pacifistic Jacob. —Dan Snierson
Image credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Shephard NUMBER: 23 COULD BE: Jack Shephard?
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: He's a natural born leader who can make hard decisions for good of the group. And he's a healer by profession, surely a plus in the eyes of touchy-feely Jacob.
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: Ummm, he led the charge to blow up the Island? We're pretty sure that doesn't fall under the category of protecting it. —D.S
Image credit: Mario Perez/ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Shephard NUMBER: 23 OR COULD BE: Christian Shephard?
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: He enjoys the Island so much, he came back from the dead just to wander around it. And to spend time with kids Jack and Claire.
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: Might flake off if the kids leave. His preference for cloistered, shadowy locales (Jacob's cabin, the frozen donkey wheel cave) suggests discomfort with more outdoorsy aspects of the job. Also, he actually might be Smokey in disguise. P.S.: Boozer. —J.J.
Image credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Kwon NUMBER: 42 COULD BE: Jin Kwon?
WHY HE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: He's an expert fisherman, which means he can survive well during long stays in sequester at the Four Toed safehouse. He's had mobster goon training and is pretty kick-ass at martial arts, so he can fend off potential invaders/exploiters. He has great familiarity with the Island from his days as a Dharma security guard, and he's seen Smokey at his arm-ripping worst, so not easily Monster-spooked. Can swim. And if sperm count is an issue, no worries: Jin is now fully loaded!
WHY HE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: Won't take the job unless wife and child are part of the deal. —J.J.
WHY SHE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: She's an expert gardener, which means she, too, can survive and thrive during long stays in sequester at the jungle cabin. She can be ice-cold ruthless if need be and ain't afraid of Charles Widmore, so she can go toe-to-toe with him should Chuck show up with merc muscle and go Grenada on her. At the same time, she's proven capable of working well with Others — namely (and especially) Ben Linus. And she has great familiarity with both the main Island and Hydra Island from her many, many, many episodes searching for Jin.
WHY SHE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: Won't take the job unless husband and child are part of the deal. Also, not a dude, which might be a deal-breaker given chauvinist boys' club nature of Island power-playing. —J.J.
Image credit: ABC
CANDIDATE NAME: Kwon NUMBER: 42 OR COULD BE: Ji-Yeon?
WHY SHE SHOULD BE THE NEXT JACOB: She was conceived on the Island, so she's most likely spiritually attuned to it. Her parents will be able to teach her their respective skills sets, turning her into, like, Super-Kwon! And it might be nice to have a young, idealistic female perspective guiding the Island for a change, don't you think?
WHY SHE SHOULDN'T BE THE NEXT JACOB: There's an immediate need for leadership, and at 3-years-whatever old, Ji-Yeon is simply too young. Also, she's been getting spoiled rotten by moneybag mobster couple Grandma and Grandpa Paik, so she's probably been corrupted by their worldly, materialistic values, if not turned into a tub of cookie-fattened kid lard because Grandma Paik is such an aces baker, thus rendering Jin-Sun spawn ill-equipped for jungle adventuring. Besides, she probably won't make a move without her future soul mate: Aaron. [Editor's note: Grandma Paik's alleged baking skills aren't canon.] —J.J.
CANDIDATE NAME: ?? NUMBER: ?? HEY JACOB, WHY DOESN'T KATE AUSTEN GET A NUMBER?
WHY JACOB SHOULD CONSIDER HER: She's scrappy, resourceful, an eagle-eyed tracker, and relentlessly pursues getting what she wants.
WHY HE PROBABLY LEFT HER OFF THE LIST: The wish (or command) that Jacob shared with Kate when she was just a girl: ''Be good, Katie.'' Yeah, she didn't so much live up to that, huh? —A.B.V.
La Agencia Estatal de Meteorología ha emitido este jueves un aviso especial para alertar de vientos muy fuertes y un temporal en la mar que se espera azoten las islas occidentales de Canarias, el norte y noroeste de la Península, zonas altas del resto del norte y oeste de la Península y zonas marítimas atlánticas a partir de este sábado.
La causante de estos vientos es una borrasca que se profundizará muy rápidamente en el Atlántico, al oeste de Madeira, ciudad que sufrió graves inundaciones por las fuertes lluvias, y que se desplazará hacia el Cantábrico por el noroeste de la Península, provocará vientos muy fuertes y temporal en la mar a partir de la madrugada del sábado 27.
El viento alcanzará rachas de fuerza 11 en Finisterre y provocará un temporal muy duro
En las islas occidentales y cumbres de Canarias podrán alcanzarse rachas de 100 a 120 km/h. En Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria y en las cordilleras cantábrica, central, ibérica y Pirineos, rachas de 120 a 130 km/h y en algunas zonas del resto de la mitad norte peninsular de 90 a 100 km/h.
En la mar, en áreas de las zonas marítimas de Finisterre y oeste del Cantábrico el viento alcanzará fuerza 8 a 9, y probablemente hasta intervalos de 10 y 11 en Finisterre, con temporal duro o muy duro y mar muy gruesa, con olas de 4 a 6 m.
Problemas para aterrizar en Bilbao
El aeropuerto de Bilbao (vídeo) ha registrado a primera hora de la mañana de este jueves múltiples cancelaciones y retrasos en sus vuelos como consecuencia de los fuertes vientos que había. En la costa el viento dejaba la playa vacía, sin apenas paseantes y en Barakaldo, el ayuntamiento ha vuelto a asegurar los contenedores de basura para evitar que se muevan o invadan la vía.
Árboles caídos y desprendimientos en Galicia
Galicia ha sido una de las comunidades más castigadas por el temporal. El temporal ha supuesto la pasada noche la salida de numerosos equipos de emergencia para retirar árboles de las vías y solventar los problemas causados por desprendimientos de tierras, contenedores sueltos o inundaciones de bajos y garajes.
3.000 alumnos de 14 centros educativos de A Coruña, Pontevedra y Ourense se han quedado sin clases por el temporal
Fuentes del 112 han informado de que las caídas de árboles la pasada madrugada afectaron a carreteras de diversas zonas de Galicia, como Cangas, Ourense, Porriño, Boiro, Pontevedra o Carballiño.
En Vigo, los fuertes vientos han provocado multitud de incidencias, entre ellas la caída de varias planchas del tejado de la grada de Río del estadio municipal de Balaídos, así como el desplome de un andamio en la calle Elduayen.
Además, unos 3.000 alumnos de 14 centros educativos de las provincias de A Coruña, Pontevedra y Ourense se han quedado sin clase al ser suspendidas por precaución debido a incidencias derivadas del temporal. Según los datos de la Consellería de Educación, si bien a primera hora la jornada transcurría con normalidad con incidencias puntuales, finalmente han sido suspendidas "por precaución" las clases en seis centros coruñeses, seis pontevedreses y dos ourensanos.
El jefe del Ejecutivo autonómico, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, ha hecho un llamamiento a los gallegos a "extremar la precaución", utilizar las medidas de protección y a evitar "desplazamientos innecesarios" durante los próximos días.
El viento azota ya la Península
La Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (Aemet) prevé para este jueves viento fuerte o muy fuerte en numerosos puntos de la Península y precipitaciones fuertes o persistentes en Galicia y en zonas del sistema central. Dieciséis provincias de la mitad norte peninsular se encuentran en alerta naranja (riesgo importante) precisamente a causa del fuerte viento, que alcanzará rachas de hasta 110 km/h en La Coruñay Lugo, zonas donde la alerta es ya roja (riesgo extremo).
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