A Lostie Speaks.

On October 24 2004, Oceanic flight 815 to Los Angeles crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The survivors of that fateful aircraft found themselves on an mysterious island that would challenge their faith and transform their destinies. On May 23 2010, we witnessed the final chapter in the saga of the Flight 815 survivors.


Yes, I am talking about the hit show LOST. After six years of mystery, mythology, thrills, and numerous twists and turns, the saga of the survivors of flight 815 came to a final conclusion. It's been almost a fortnight since the series came to an end and I am still trying to get to terms with that fact that there are no more new episodes of LOST!


Attempting to explain the story of LOST in mere words, that too the words of an amateur writer would be nothing short of blasphemy. There are numerous online resources that would do an exponentially better job at that. No this is not a synopsis of the show, nor is it a glimpse in to the show’s story. What it is, is an honest and heartfelt reaction of a viewer who went from an intrigued viewer to a disinterested one and finally went on to become an ardent devotee of the series.


The show ran for six seasons and had quite a story to tell with each passing season. Although the main story arc changed somewhat in the latter two seasons, each season formed a unique mini story arc of its own. With every passing season, a new dimension to the LOST saga was discovered. And each season finale cliffhanger literally left the viewing audience thirsting for more.


I'll admit that my interest in the show waned after the first season. I wrote it off as just another wannabe thriller drama series that would go nowhere. What made me change my mind I still cannot recollect, but rest assured, I am glad I did revisit the missed seasons and was fully caught up with the show when I began watching the fifth season. I didn’t even wait for the official telecast in my home country. I had found numerous online resources that let me watch the latest episodes almost the same day as the US telecast.


There are many things about the show that have captivated me over the seasons. Chief among them was the constant tussle between the concept of free will and destiny. These concepts were personified time and again by not just the show’s story-line, but also the protagonists, Jack Shepherd and John Locke.


The show gave many memorable characters that have already found a place in pop-culture. My personal favorite is Desmond Hume. Although he wasn’t the lead of the series in the conventional sense, his character was an instrumental one in the shows final season story line. But frankly, almost every character in the show has evoked strong emotions, be it a happy one or one that is filled with sorrow. Very few shows fictional characters are capable of such feats.


Although many fans, including myself, felt that the series finale left a lot to be desired, there was a sense of closure for the most part. The characters that we had come to know and love over the past six years had finally found their true destinies. But there was SO much more that could have been done with some of the characters. Certain story-lines were left hanging, when they were the ones that could've changed the way the show progressed.


Whatever the verdict on the finale, there is no doubt that LOST has attained cult status. It elevated from a simple series to a pop culture phenomenon. With multiple fan websites and countless forums that discussed the series, its characters, story-lines, episodes and themes to no end, LOST is nothing short of a classic, a piece of television history.


Here's the season three finale scene, one which I personally consider to be the best in the entire series and one that brought a tear to my eye. Jack's last statement in the scene is what keeps haunting me till this day.







In the words of my favorite character Desmond,

"See you in another life brother."

TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

Recently I came across a Website that really changed the way I look at my profession. For that matter, it really transformed my perception about the nature of different professions and how they are in fact related to one another, no matter how diverse. But before I go into the details of the website, a little background about what the web-site is promoting.

TED or technology Entertainment Design started as a conference, held in Long Beach, California way back in 1984, which brought together people from the fields of, well you guessed it, technology entertainment and design. At the face of it this combination seems odd. But this odd mix of people sharing their own stories about their work and their experiences snowballed and today the conference, which is an annual affair is sold out a year in advance, has speakers from many other backgrounds and has inspired millions.

The premise for the conference is simple. Innovators, leaders, experts from each field share their ideas. These 'stories' are aimed at not any specific audience or a privileged few, but at all of us, you, me, and everybody. At the core of TED is the belief that an idea can come anywhere at any time and from anyone. Also that idea can spread at the speed of light and has the potential to move mountains. The TED conference is a medium for those who wish to share their ideas with the world in an effort to improve society as a whole.

The TED philosophy -

• An idea can be created out of nothing except an inspired imagination.
• An idea weighs nothing.
• It can be transferred across the world at the speed of light for virtually zero cost.
• And yet an idea, when received by a prepared mind, can have extraordinary impact.
• It can reshape that mind's view of the world.
• It can dramatically alter the behavior of the mind's owner.
• It can cause the mind to pass on the idea to others.

Many of the ideas are in the form of stories or anecdotes. Speakers come from different walks of life. To give you an idea of the range of topics, here is a list of recent speakers at the TED conferences held in the last few years:

• Eve Ensler -Creator of the Vagina Monologues
• Peter Diamandis - Runs the X-Prize foundation
• Abhay Deol - Bollywood Actor/Producer
• Bill Clinton - Former US President
• Jane Goodall - Renowned anthropologist
• Nandan Nilekani - Founding member, Infosys
• Al Gore - Former US Vice President, Nobel Laurette
  
• Bono - Singer, Activist
• JJ Abrams - Hollywood Producer/Director
  

It is quite apparent that the spectrum of speakers at the TED conferences is pretty colossal. But these are just a few of the speakers that have contributed in the last two and a half decades of TED.And each speaker brings to the floor his or her unique story.

The beauty of TED lies in its simple format. Over a course of 4 days, 50 Speakers get a fixed time slot of 18 minutes each to share their stories. The stories range from the hilarious to the inspirational. But each story is enriching in its own way.

TED is now a global phenomenon, not restricted to the conferences at Long Beach, California. In fact, the latest TED conference is being held right here in India at the Mysore Campus of Infosys and is playing host to many national and international personalities.

This brings me to the website that I mentioned earlier. In an effort to ensure that the stories/ideas of the many speakers don't get lost in the annals of time, TED launched TED.com, a 'clearinghouse' of knowledge, where ordinary people like you and I can view the inspirational videos of the speakers from past TED conferences.

I am sure that most of you watch some of the many many inane (albeit funny) viral videos that are ubiquitous on the net. Every other day someone is posting a link to some funny or ''Awesome' video file on YouTube or the likes. While these videos are a great stress-buster, they're more likely to be forgotten or have little value-addition to our lives or to the society as a whole.

On the other hand watching a video of any of the speakers from past TED conferences on TED.com is an enriching experience. Not only does it introduce us to new stories of people from across the globe and across industries, but also provides a new perspective on many global and local issues. Do yourself a favor, watch at least one TED video in a day (it takes not more than 20 minutes). I guarantee, within a week, you will start looking at the world in a new light.

You can go to the TED website and start viewing these videos instantly. Or you could fill out a simple registration form and become part of the TED community. Advantages of being part of the Community include being able to interact with other TED community members, mark you favorite TED videos and themes, share your idea with others and much more.

To get a taste of what TED is all about, view the video below:



But why? Why go into all this trouble of getting people from disparate backgrounds to come and speak about random topics and experiences?
Well each experience, each story, each idea is random in isolation. But when you rise above the boundaries of individual backgrounds, these ideas are connected. Every idea is the result of someone's imagination. That someone may be limited in his or her thought process and may not see the impact or the reach of his/her idea. But when you throw your idea out their in the open, it starts taking a life of its own, it starts breathing, it grows and it germinates many more ideas. No matter how different our professional and personal backgrounds may be, we are still connected as a human race and hence so are our problems and as a consequence the solutions to those problems. The TED conference, in my view, is a wonderful testament to that notion and thus is great legacy that we can leave for future generations to carry on.

For further information on TED visit the following links
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/5
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/42

Star Trek

J.J. Abrams has done it yet again. His rendition of the cult sci-fi phenomenon, Star Trek is nothing short of brilliant!
The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry includes six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek, and eleven feature films. The franchise also extends to dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and instances of fan fiction, several fan-created video productions, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas.
The 11th movie in the colossal Star Trek franchise is a prequel depicting the origins of the original crew of the USS Enterprise from the 1960s TV series albeit the movie focuses primarily on the back-stories of the captain, James T. Kirk (chris Pine) and his first officer, Spock (zachary Quinto). The other crew members include Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Siomon Pegg), Pavel Chekov(Anton Yelchin) and Hikaru Sulu (John Cho).
The movie is in essence a reboot induced by a time travel accident involving a Romulan, Captain Nero(Eric Bana) and an elderly Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Although Time Travel is not necessarily a spectacularly original concept, this reboot makes for a very good story telling approach. Not only does it introduce a new arc in the stories of our protagonists compared to those featured in previous movies and the TV series, but also provides the producers a great excuse to revamp the entire franchise!
This movie highlights the emotional facet of Spock, something that is not easily visible in the series or earlier movies. Spock's love for his parents, especially his human mother, is endearing and Quinto manages in fact succeeds in portraying this rather beautifully. Kirk's reckless and cynical personality is equally well portrayed by Pine. Also noteworthy is that this Kirk is not as philosophical as the one portrayed by William Shatner. Spock represents the reason and logic whereas Kirk is the embodiment of gung-ho action. The chemistry between these two opposites has been captured well on screen.
Abrams has a few signature sequences in the movie that echo his style of fast paced action with interesting camera perspectives. These include Kirk's birth in space, The car chase sequence involving the younger Kirk and the space dive with Sulu and Kirk, all of which will keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Touted as perhaps the best Star Trek movie yet, the latest flick is a welcome revival to the age old franchise. With the last few Star Trek movies and series not performing well (in fact both the recent series and movie resurrections were considered complete failures), a lot was riding on the success of this one. Abram's Star Trek has received universal acclaim and has been a box-office success raking in over $150 million globally. There are even talks of a possible sequel with the new cast.
For this Trekkie the final frontier just got a lot more interesting!