Now that I am *finally* caught up to the 4th season of Lost, I have a new favorite theory.

When I was a kid, my dad told me about the inner Earth and the possibility of a hollow Earth. Because Lost is all about daddy issues, I have to give special weight to a theory purported by my own dad.

So, the Hollow Earth can be accessed from the South Pole, and exited from the North Pole. The South Pole entrance explains the polar bears. It also explains why Penny's team looks to be in an antarctic bunker -- that is the closest place they have picked up a signal. The Oceanic 815 plane departed Australia for Los Angeles. I know when you fly Seattle to Europe, they fly over the North Pole to save time. Surely, an Australia-L.A. flight would do the same. They got sucked into the South Pole and down into inner earth -- Agharta.

Legend has it Hitler himself when looking for inner earth, and may have found it and escaped there.

The opener of season four dropped us several clues that the island is within the hollow earth. 1) Hurley saying Charlie was in front of the HoHos, and 2) Jack getting H-O in a game of horse with Hurley. Both references to Santa -- the poles.

If the show is flashing forward, and Jack and Hurley are traveling back to the island -- they will first need to go to the South Pole.

More about the Hollow Earth: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/03/01/85-inside-the-hollow-earth/

Very Weak and Still Lost

I must come clean that after saying I would watch no more Lost, I continued to camp out on the couch and watch episode after perplexing episode.

This morning, in a hazy, sleep-deprived moment of clarity, I arrived at the answer to every question raised on the show. And there are many:

http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Unanswered_questions

What I think is the most important question is not on this list: Why does Ben tell Juliet that taking women off the island to conceive is not possible? This question is the key to nearly every other question. I ran this through a thousand possibilities, and even mind-mapped it. Here's the solution:

There are two types of Others -- those who were "born" on the island and those who were brought there. Those who were "born" there cannot step off the island because they are holograms. That's also why they cannot go to term with a pregnancy -- they themselves are not flesh and blood.

The idea came to me as I was staring at the ceiling in my office repeating to myself, "Why can't they leave? Why can't couples just honeymoon in Fiji and come back and have a healthy baby?" Then I thought of Professor Moriarty on Star Trek. He could not leave the holodeck because he was a hologram. One foot off and he would disintegrate. In the same way, a young Other couple cannot exist in Fiji. Ben knows this but he won't tell them.

Many of the objects are also holograms. I believe the island, besides sustaining its holographic inhabitants can also implant memories and replicate items. The implanted memories, like Kate's black stallion or Sayid's cat, coincide with the materialization of the subject of the memories in the place in which the physical person exists.

So, how can a hologram have a tumor? Easy. Ben thought about a tumor for some reason and it appeared on his back. How can Jack operate on a hologram? Just like the game operation. The guy with the big red nose isn't really human.

Ben learned this truth, and has made it his life's work to become real -- just like Moriarty wanted. He wants to step off the holodeck. He has recruited off-islanders like Ethan and Juliet to this end, by promising them miracles. And if you were a hologram and wanted to be real, what would you do? Study real people.

Now reframe all your Lost questions with this in mind. Doesn't it all just make sense now?

Cutting my "Lost"ses

I have decided not to continue my quest to catch up to Lost. After three straight days of watching Lost DVDs, I have become disenchanted with the show.

Last night, I watched the first episode of season three. Jack got angry and cried a lot, they all did whatever the Others told them, Sawyer acted like a circus animal. They all basic lost whatever shreds of dignity they had left.

I couldn't relate anymore. Not to mention, of the thousands of questions the show raises, some they beat you over the head with the answers and others they leave on a raft in the ocean, figuratively speaking. And the flashbacks are boring my to tears.

Besides, I have greeting cards to scan, so TV ban is back on.