Two Percent Nation

LOST: can the past be changed?

I was feeling pretty down on Lost after last week's episode "The Variable". Faraday's chaotic return and ultimate death seemed like a monkeywrench in what was otherwise a continuous string of powerful episodes that seemed headed in one direction. I had thought that the Oceanic 6 were coming back with Locke to "save the Island". We don't know yet what the Island needs saving from. Maybe it's the "war" that's been referenced by Widmore and others. Regardless, it seems that the remainder of the season will instead be spent addressing the issue that Faraday brought to the fore last week: can the past in fact be changed?

The producers have said that Faraday is really dead and not coming back. That leaves Jack to take up the mantle of change-agent and carry out Faraday's plan to detonate the bomb and prevent "the incident" from happening. I'm still not entirely clear why changing this course of events is important. That would seem to serve the purpose of sending the Oceanic 6 back to their rightful place in time and ensuring that their flight never crashes. But I don't see how that necessarily saves the Island. Maybe we'll come back to that in Season 6.

I'm looking forward to the return of Locke in this week's episode. Is he the eponymous "Leader" from the episode title? We'll soon find out.

5 Reasons Qdoba is Better Than Chipotle

1. The Tortillas - Chipotle's are thicker and chewier; Qdoba's are thinner and stay out of the way of the fillings. 

2. The Sauces - Chipotle has the basic fillings (e.g. chicken, beef, pork, etc.) that come only plain; in addition to plain Qdoba offers those with tasty sauces including Ancho Chile BBQ and Poblano Pesto, among others.

3. The Rice - Chipotle has way too much cilantro in its rice; Qdoba has a more reasonable amount. For me and people like me (www.ihatecilatro.com) better to have less (or none) and let those who love cilantro add more.

4. The Loyalty Card - Qdoba has one that earns you free food for frequent dining; Chipotle doesn't have one at all.

5. The Ownership - Chipotle is owned by obesity-fueling behemoth McDonald's; Qdoba is owned by the much smaller and cooler Jack in the Box.

Bring it on Chipotle fanboys/Qdoba haters!

Here comes the Dave Matthews Band

With their spring 2009 tour about to get underway tonight at Madison Square Garden things are kicking into high gear for the Dave Matthews Band, my all-time favorite music group. The band has a new album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, due out June 2nd and today they unveiled the album artwork and track listing as well as offered a free mp3 download of the first single, Funny The Way It Is. According to data in last week's Billboard feature on the band even if the new album posts only modest sales it will put them in 5th place in Nielsen SoundScan's ranking of album sales by artist since 1991.  

I'll be going to tomorrow night's show at the IZOD Center in NJ with my wife and am looking forward to our 11th row center floor seats (the benefits of 11 years of fan club dues). Thanks to antsmarching.org you can follow the setlists from home on Twitter via @dmblive. I'm looking forward to hearing some of the songs from the new album which the band will no doubt intersperse into the set list. There will be some sadness, though, as this is the first DMB show (I've seen them 40+ times) I will have seen since the death of saxophonist LeRoi Moore who passed away last August as a result of an ATV accident. I always thought that LeRoi added one of the most unique and interesting dimensions to the band's music and it will be strange to see him missing from the stage.

Billboard put together the video below as a preview of the new album. It features some touching interviews with the band members. I highly recommend checking it out.

LOST thoughts: between episodes 511 & 512

Highlights from the April 6, 2009 edition of the Official LOST Podcast

This week's podcast with the Executive Producers was fairly light on insights. Here are the highlights:

What to expect in Epsiode 512 (Wednesday, April 8, 2009)

• An appearance by Desmond
• A continuation of the Locke/Ben story (Epsiode 511 ended with Ben waking up to find Locke alive and sitting by his bed)

Other notes

• Why was Ben bloody and beaten when he got on the Ajira Airways flight back to the island?
  • The producers implied that it has something to do with Penny & Desmond. In Episode 506 Ben called Jack from a payphone at the marina - theoretically the same marina where Penny & Desmond's boat was docked.  Was Ben bloody from killing Penny as part of his war with Charles Widmore, her father? He threatened to do exactly that in episode 409.
• In episode 511 Miles & Hurley have an in-depth conversation about time travel. This scene was not created by the writers in reaction to any audience feedback about how confusing the concept is on the show but rather was written in advance of the season premiere airing in anticipation of the confusion.

LOST thoughts: pre-Episode 5.11

Tonight's Episode: - The title is -"Whatever Happened, Happened" and will primaily be a Kate episode Questions to think about after the last episode: -Is 12-yr-old Ben really dead? The executive producers have implied that he is likely not dead as a result of being shot by Sayid given the premise of Faraday's time travel theory that the past can't be changed. -Is Alana the bounty hunter really who she says she is? The executive proiducers have implied that she is not exactly who she says she is. My theory is that she was hired by Ben or to make sure Sayid was on the Ajira flight and came back to the island. Things we can expect to learn/see later this season: The four-toed statue -We will see more of it by end of season including enough of it to know what it is a statue of. Why did Ben kill Locke? -Ben himself will explain this in one of the upcoming episodes. Why did Miles want $3.2 million from Ben (last season)? -Miles himself will answer this before the end of the season. Other tidbits: The book The Stand is a major influence on the writers -Draw your own conclusions if you've read this book. *Note: most of this information comes from The Official LOST Podcast Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Palm Pre appearance on Jimmy Fallon

Such a cool exclusive hands-on with the Pre and so cool that Jimmy Fallon is such a gadget geek.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Awesome new mug for my desk

I happened to be in an Urban Outfitters today for the first time in about a decade and came across this awesome coffee cup that I picked up. It's called "I am not a paper cup..." and it's made by Decor Craft Inc. It looks just like a white Starbucks cup with lid (probably venti size) except the cup is made of porcelain and the lid is silicone. It has a two layers of porcelain to keep hot hot and cold cold. It sells for about $20 at Amazon.com. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

ConsumerSearch featured on BusinessWeek TV

Our Editor in Chief, Chris Frietchen, was interviewed by Jill Bennett (who I used to watch all the time on NY1) for a piece on BusinessWeek TV.  I thought it came out well so I'm embedding it here:

Vindigo shutting down?

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Vindigo, one of the pioneers in mobile content publishing and advertising, is shutting down.  

Vindigo is most well-known for its breakthrough mobile city guide application, originally created for the Palm operating system and then rolled out for Windows Mobile and feature phone operating systems (Java, BREW). Founded by Jason Devitt (now heading up Skydeck) the company transformed itself from a developer of proprietary content applications to a mobile publishing shop creating highly successful mobile apps for big brands such as MapQuest and The New York Times.  The company was also an early leader in mobile advertising selling ads as far back as their original Vindigo Palm app.  In 2004 Vindigo was acquired by For-Side, a Japanese mobile content provider.  Since then it's existence has been tumultous, renaming itself Zingy and then returning to the name Vindigo last year.  My take is that the company hit it fairly big with ringtones and wallpapers and never fully recovered when the bottom fell out of that business.

Through the years I've come to know a lot of great people over at Vindigo some of whom have moved on (Carrie, Ludo, Kevin) and others who are still there (Scott, Russell).  For those still there I wish them the best at this difficult time.

Mapping Mister Softee in NYC

I've been playing with Google's My Maps service since it launched last year.  Mostly I've used it for personal maps such as travel itineraries or things like that.  I recently decided I wanted to create a public map to share in Google's directory and see whether I could get others to collaborate.  The arrival of summer in New York City has brought with it the familiar Mister Softee ice cream trucks.  So I've created a Mister Softee NYC map and started it with two of the locations I know of (in Manhattan trucks usually park at the same intersections).  Now I'm hoping to rally the soft-serve loving residents of New York to help me complete the map. If you want to contribute click the View Larger Map link below.

View Larger Map