matchless

The genius of Homer is matchless. His masterpiece, and this is saying a lot, is the man of twists. There is no character (not even Hamlet) who commands the attention of Odysseus. His flaw is the absence of piety. This is the opinion of Virgil who constructs his "homeric hero" in the Aeneid; however, all skill of the Roman poet does not make Aeneas interesting. Dante presents two stories of Odysseus in the Comedia. Dante prefers the Trojans for complex political reasons. There is the trickerster in Hell. Later, there is a story unique in Dante (a story not previously told in any other work). It is the only instance in which the order of heaven, purgatory and hell is broken. It is a second Odyssey that breaks the boundary between the living and the death. In Shakespeare's Trolius and Cressida, he is given a great speech in which he explains the order of the universe. He is a clown, boaster, a cold killer, a defender of his kingdom, clever and cautious yet is arrogant to think himself immune to the power of the gods. He is the subject of every poet. He is said by some to have reached Portugal and found that nation. By others he is said to be a Jewish advertizing salesman living in Dublin. Borges has said that all of Dante is empty of humanity except when Odyssues appears. He is matchless in arrogance and in caution. He swears to honor the gods (esp. Athena), yet insults them at every turn. He swears he loves peace, but he destroys Troy and almost turns Ithaca into a kingdom of heaping corpses. He returns nearly naked, a king who is fearful of finding no allies. Despite all this he is the mastermind, the leader, blessed with every talent. He has a dutiful son, a brave father, and has for a wife the clever and virtuous Penelope. In Homer's Fairy Tale full of gods, giants, seductive witches, there is at the center, the most fascinating character in all of literature and the most real character ever invented.

cards on the table

Ok, I am going to put my cards as much as I can on table. I am the part that the patient experience before people like Jack (surgeons). I am the guy that shows up about the operation fails, after the rehab. fails, after the emotional strength that people like Jack think everybody has fails.
I am the guy that gets called when the chemo is beginning, when the spinal intervention does not work, when demenza has set in. I do internal medicine, forensic medicine (I fall into that by accident), endocrinology less oftem than I like and psicoterapia using a theoretical paradigm, that is fundamentally European in origin with with North American trappings. I know Jack, Christian, Juilet better than any others. Juilet's a bitch, got no use for her. Jack and Christian are batting overall in the low 200's.
You are right: Igot no interest in talking to jack or christian or the real life counterparts; I am interested in their results. Miles, p. chang, sawyer, I met them all. And, if you ask them, even james bond, not mention 2 Cia agents. I know sayid and eli widmore (usually her hair is bluer. Folks like jacob and Mib, those I have known too many to count. I wish I had met someone like locke, ben, charlie, hurley, or faraday.
Oh, I knew Charlie. Charlie was the best teacher I had. In return for methadone, he taught how to be a therapist. I entered the lab when I was 18. I am trying to finish my 7 th book ( which I owe to you folks. I cannot tell you why but I find ... how can I put gently ... As in The Hounds of the Baskervilles, the dog did not bark. I am 53 now; american social security has set my date for retirement 02/23. I do not if i can i make that far. That's God's business. I kinda a small scale of Charlie Widmore. As you may since the election of Obama, American embassies have making of ex-patriots (Pun-Intention) who want to renounce their US citizenship. I am not looking for redemption like the suddenly silly Ben: I am not on that list. I play the cards I was dealt.

you must remember this

No, i do not want to direct you to a church or to belief in God (S). I want to direct you to my rude, pompous comments. I am happy to be ill-received. I am glad to be unsympathetic. I want you to go out, get library cards, and tell me how wrong I am. If you live in the US, you must know that your liberties are being destroyed in the name of wars that are impossible to win. If you lived where I do, where no vast public librariesstand open to the poor and rich, maybe you'd you wanted put freedom of expression above all else. I live in a country where a quarter of the population cannot read. No, my friends, I have profited greatly from our exchanges. It is shame that you do not remember that same man that wrote the Declaration of Independence, fought for a statute for religious tolerance ( while he personally despised the theology of mainstream Protestant faiths and thought Catholics were the servants of a foreign enemy),and gave (sold) his books to form the nucleus of the Library of Congress. I am old, rude,pompous; pick your adjective. But I know that those who do not test the limits of liberty will soon be without it.--

protagonist

I have not seen the epilogue. Although I am a Catholic, I object to the Christianity infused in THE END. There could have been a better ending. I have written multiple endings that are displayed in other places. Most involve Ben and Faraday. For me, the final episode of St. Elsewhere was perfect: it ripped your guts out, left you in mid-air without a parachute, yet made perfect sense in the context of the story. LOST failed. Sure, I will read about the epilogue. So far the only thing that pleases me is that Michael's actions are fully justified. With this we can see that Michael's appearance to Hugo was a test of Hugo's character. As for the Ben-centric epilogue, once more (by sheer luck and the incredible Emerson), Ben is the central character, the protagonist. Once more, when Ben killed Jacob, he gained all Jacob's powers. It was Ben's decision not to kill MiB. The flash sideways was a message to Ben not to kill MiB. For me, Ben should have continued to blackmail the principal, shot Ilana, and returned to Locke to kill him. The choice was explicit in Ben's history lesson: Napoleon at Elba. Ben should have wrecked the divine plan of whomever(God, Faraday, Jacob). Who has such will? Try the poem Invictus: that was Nelson Mandela's mantra during his years in prison.

past recaptured, present explained

Grammar is a great theory; it often serves expositonal writing. But the ear for human speech and the ability to put all pieces to build the marvel are the storyteller's gift. The workshop is the human heart in conflict with itself. The last phrase belongs to Faulkner. It is from his Nobel address; it rings through the ages. Grammar teaches us the rules to break. Huck Finn breaks them all. Moby Dick dumps digestion upon digression (yes, it's neologism at its worst and a pun). Darlton failed as storytellers. They went with the Christian (pun) ending. Instead, they could had Faraday arises from the shadow of the statue. He turns time back, everybody gets home safely: Richard with his wife, Ben cleaning the floor in Dharmaville as his father did. Faraday puts flowers on the graves of his parents. He turns to Jack and says: just having one God seems kinda boring. Why not two? Or Ben kills MIB: "You know old habits are hard to break. I let them die just to give you a false sense of security. It's just a courtesy, you die quickly. My name's Jacob. Bye-bye, brother." This would explain Ben's kung-fu fighting in Tunsia as well.

The scripture tells us that Jesus wept as he look up upon The City of David (as in Jack's fictional son). Clue, somewhere the alternative ending that I (perhaps only I) saw in that moment and so many others. The manipulation of Desmond, the figure of Hugo, the fact that Faraday nevers meets Ben except through Desmond's fists. Ben, like Hugo, terrify angels, demons, and even God. Faraday glimpses Ben's soul and understands how much Widmore would do to keep Ben hidden from the world. The writers chose a different route, much to my displeasure.


In my myopic opinion, this is the key episode in the series. The End would have worked better without this episode. This episode sets us up for everything that needs to happen, but did not. Faraday is a divine figure, another Christ. the term has been applied to both St. Francis and Spinoza) His death at the hands of mother mirrors Christ's death. It was the proof that Jack demanded of God's existence. It sets up a three way conflict between the female goddess and Faraday and that character that is the true protagonist, Ben. (Please my comments on ben and mib in another blog concerning mr. sheep) The concept of sideways as Faraday's "kingdom come" springs forward from his death. It could have foreshadowed the final duel between Ben and Faraday's army to borrow a phrase from Harry Potter. Ben would have destroyed MIB. Sideways time would have become real as Ben is defeated. Jack lives, Locke walks, Sun and her husband live, Desmond takes over Widmore's empire. Hurley remains to give Ben a choice: go back to sideways time and take your chances OR remain here among the ghosts. Hurley remains explaining that he has learned that he can pass effortlessly between life and death. He must remain; the island is his kingdom. Finally, we say Hugo digging in the sand and Faraday appearing alive and well in the shadow of the statue. the final ambiguity: is Faraday living or dead or beyond such distinctions as Hugo is. BUT this was the road not taken.


Ms (Miz Wanda), I missed something in you comment: In no way do I seek to be a hero: nor a leader nor a demon nor an extra-terrestial! I seek to learn, and what I have learned I have down in books: I do not happen to live in the USA. I started my own publishing company to publish my work. In the same manner I started my new medical practice. I am closing my farms (on which people grow fruits and vegetables. By the end of the year, I will have but one "share-cropper" left.I have bought and sold houses for property. Now I am attempting to sue some folks who took some land from me. I work two jobs as a physician. I have no time to anybody's hero. I am all over the internet. My book titles are there. The scientific papers I worked on, the number of my infamous patent: they are all there as well. I am too busy minding my own business to be a leader or hero. My own to-do list is long.