The New York Times have produced an interactive Timeline of the ‘Lost’ Universe to help us Lost addicts keep straight in our heads the non-linear flow of the events of the previous five seasons.
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Category: Reviews
The subplot involving Dana and her criminal ex-boyfriend continues to annoy me with the stupidity of both the character and the plot. Not only is she endangering national security by allowing this to distract from critical work but she’s allowed herself to be blackmailed into becoming part of a criminal conspiracy.
Would her access of an NYPD computer network not be logged and cause questions to be raised? Plus is it likely that CTU would have a legitimate reason for the creation of a keycard to access an NYPD secure warehouse. Then all this is compounded by the fact that she then gives him a secure comlink so that they can communicate. Firstly there is no way that CTU would allow their staff to take equipment like that without having to sign it out and secondly any communications over their network would surely be logged if not actively monitored.
The subplot involving the radiation poisoning of the Russian mobster’s son is almost as bad. The doctor informs the elder brother that the patient has received a dose of 400 rems, not necessarily fatal although a slightly higher dose did kill Harry K. Daghlian Jr. and states that a bone marrow transplant is needed. So far so good, but then the doctor talks about administering drugs to flush out the radiation and warning that radiation is transferable through bodily fluids. Complete rubbish unless the guy ingested some of the uranium there is no radiation in him to need flushing out or that could be transferred to anyone else in his bodily fluids.
Jack’s impersonation of a German arms dealer was not all that convincing even if he did have a lovely graphical display for his encrypted bank transfer that went via multiple accounts to prevent it being traced.
Encrypting Locations Alpha 4 All Accounts Verified
Good scene with the CTU sniper taking out members of the Russian gang but did they seriously believe that a German arms dealer would come alone to a deal like this.
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Lost Season Six Promo
Lost returns to our screens this week for its sixth and final season and ABC has released a promo that of course poses more questions than it answers. Like who are the two new characters with the large hourglass and who are they giving a chance to redeem themselves?
Also The Guardian asks Matthew Fox How will Lost end?
Not much security related in this episode but still lots of ridiculousness and illogical situations.
The Russian mobster’s son is dying of radiation sickness but he refuses to allows his other son to take him to the doctor. Really not much a doctor could do anyway as there is no cure a doctor can only alleviate the symptoms with anaesthetics (to relieve the pain) and antibiotics (to prevent infections due to the compromised immune system). If he is dying why not put him out of his misery?
Of course number one son ignores his father’s sage advice and not only takes his brother to a doctor but then tells the doctor it’s due to weapons grade uranium. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure that it is not medically relevant to know what isotope it was that caused the radiation sickness.
I love Jack’s hypocrisy, Renee is no more unstable and brutal than he’s ever been. Even her death wish is not that far removed from some of his behaviour in previous seasons.
The subplot regarding Dana’s mysterious past stands out so far as the most stupid element of this season so far. Would CTU agents be allowed unsecured cell phones at work? Apparently her past involves being an ex-con, as an accessory to murder! Then her ex-boyfriend seems to be succeeding in his plan to blackmail her into violating CTU security to give him classified documents that he can sell. I think that for any sane person that the risk of being caught and tried as a traitor would be a far worse scenario than merely losing one’s job.
How did the nuclear material get smuggled into the US and how do they propose to smuggle it out again? Since 9/11 there have been great strides in outfitting US and borders with radiation detection equipment and under the Container Security Initiative foreign ports that are shipping containers into the US, so this would appear to be a nigh on impossible proposition in the real world. Ironically the CSI according to Misha Glenny in his book McMafia has created a situation where it is now easier to smuggle goods into the US because foreign officials can be bribed to overlook what a container might have in it as long as it does not have nuclear material.
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Passwords in House M.D.
In Episode 17 (Season 5): “The Social Contract” of House M.D. there is a throwaway line about how Wilson never password protects his patient files.
The context is that House has sent Taub to discover what Wilson is up to behind his back instead of going to the Monster Truck Rally with him. Taub brings back a bunch of print outs of deleted emails including one exchange between Wilson and a fellow oncologist from another hospital which included a patient file that couldn’t be printed out because it was password protected.
I’d be very worried if doctors were not routinely encrypting files let alone merely password protecting them if they are sending them via email.
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David Simon interview in Vice magazine
Vice magazine interviews David Simon about The Wire, politics and his new TV show Tremé.
Marc Bernardin of the io9 blog asks Where’s My Goddamn Gotham Central TV Show?.
I have to agree. Not only is Gotham Central one of the best written comic book series of the last ten years but it is ideally suited to be adapted into a television series.
Gotham Central is a police procedural whose story focused not on Batman but instead on the Gotham City Police Department and the difficulties of its officers living and working in Gotham City replete with supervillains and also having to deal with less fantastical stuff such as corruption within in their own department.
There were rumours at the time of its publication that it might be adapted into a television series but following the failure of Birds of Prey it was decided by Warner Bros. Television not to pursue the project.
But that was before the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. They could and should capitalise on the renewed interest in Batman and Gotham City and as police procedurals are a staple of US television I believe it is not all that much of a gamble.
Gordon Ramsay chose his winner of the Best Local Restaurant 2010 and it is Lasan, due entirely to their brilliant if a little arrogant chef Aktar Islam. I would not be at all surprised to see him go on to open up his own restaurant at some point down the line.
I’m a little disappointed for Jay Scimshaw and The Pheasant but on the night perhaps he was a little too adventurous with the food he prepared and so the diners preferred the food of Lasan.
I think off the back of this competition that both chefs will go far and should be winning Michelin stars of their very own in the not too distant future.
The F Word has been looking for Britain’s best local restaurant and this week we are down to the semi-finalists, the final will be broadcast tomorrow.
I think that if the competition really is about finding the best restaurant then Gordon Ramsay made the wrong decision in the first of the semi-finals. He chose Lasan over Santa Maria because he believes that Aktar Islam the chef of Lasan has a ton of potential, however if the decision was being based upon the restaurant as a whole then given the evidence presented in the show Santa Maria as a whole worked better.
True Santa Maria have a narrower repertoire but if your restaurant produces the best steaks in the country then what more do you need?
The second semi-final was more clear cut because The Pheasant won out in all areas and in Jay Scrimshaw they have a chef that is willing to push the boundaries of his food and create dishes truly worthy of Ramsay’s three star restaurant.
Based on the evidence so far I think that The Pheasant should win it because despite the genius of Aktar Islam of Lasan the service is not quite at the same level as that at The Pheasant.