Who is Simon Campos

by Steve Remington

Little is really known about Simon’s life prior to the Blackout. We know he was considered to be a genius in quantum physics. He was involved with a group that included Lloyd Simcoe, Gordon Myhill, Elizabeth Rhee, Gabe Clayson, and Philippe Tarhan in conducting an experiment that resulted in the Global Blackout; which may have been the direct result or a side effect of the experiment. Simon is able to discuss advanced physics concepts such as the double-slit experiment and Schrödinger’s cat. He has an unidentified relationship with a woman or girl named Annabelle.

After the Blackout
While entertaining his son, Lloyd receives a call from Simon, who says they need to talk. Although Lloyd states it is not a good time to meet, Simon dismisses his claim, saying that meeting up with him is an inconvenience he has to put up with, since they are responsible for the “single greatest disaster in human history.” (Ep. “Black Swan”)

Simon is next seen on a train, and it is revealed through conversation with a young woman passenger that he is a well-known physics genius. He begins explaining theories about time and space, further suggesting his involvement in causing the flashforward. After the two sleep together, Simon reveals that he saw himself strangling a man to death in his flashforward, which the woman is surprised by this information. Simon later appears in the back seat of Lloyd’s car, complaining that Lloyd “never calls,” and Lloyd expresses regret for his involvement in the flashforward before the two drive off together. (Ep. “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps”)

Simon is later seen toying with a bracelet that spells Annabelle. (Ep. “The Gift”)

Subsequently, Simon finds Lloyd in his son’s hospital room, establishes that Dylan will be able to leave the hospital shortly – conferring with Olivia Benford – and engages in a game of poker to settle a dispute over going public about the Blackout with Lloyd. Though Simon was obviously the superior player, he lost in a winner takes all hand with Lloyd.

Simon’s Flash Forward
Simon describes that in his flash-forward he was in a fight with another unnamed man whom he then choked to death. He adds that he then looked down at the man’s dead body with satisfaction. (Ep. “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps”)

Inside Flash Forward The TV Series

by Steve Remington

Welcome to the Flash Forward TV Series blog. The idea of this blog is not just to provide recaps of episodes but also to discuss the ongoing investigation, ponder theories, and discuss possible scenarios. If you have been following the TV series, you certainly have theories of your own as to not just what caused the “blackout”, but why?

And is your destiny written? What about the Officer who saw his flash forward, disliked what he saw, and killed himself?

Who is Lloyd Simcoe and Simon Campos? We know they think they caused the blackout…

Give Nobel Laureate Al Gore Advice? Bad Idea!

by Mainard True

This is a spoof on what could have been repercussions from giving Al Gore, “the Goracle”, advice on Geothermal Energy. The Nobel Laureate s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d his information just a little too far in telling the American people that the core of the earth was “millions” of degrees in temperature. This is a spoof of me receiving a phone call from Mr. Gore after his embarrassment, trying to lay the blame on me. It contains a few surprises.

Pacquiao vs Cotto Full Fight Video – Pacquiao Makes History

by stuckontv Pacquiao vs Cotto Full Fight Video Manny Pacquiao, the great Filipino boxer writes history and became the first person to win 7 world titles in 7 different weight divisions. The fight is bigger than Cotto, it’s about making history. “This fight is about history,” Pacquiao said. “It’s exciting to think I can be the first person to win [...]

Fringe Review – S02E07 Of Human Action

by xerophytes

The Fringe team investigates a kidnapping that led into discovery of a boy who has a capability of controlling other people’s actions using his mind.  Further investigation unravels the connection of the mind-controlling boy with the Massive Dynamic.  My personal take on this episode: Just an okay episode.  A few questions had been answered, the episode teased the audience but the story did not move much.

What we have learned from this episode?

1. Walter’s haunted by his dark past.  This is another episode that shows how Walter felt guilty on what he did in the past.  When Walter was confronted of the idea that Dr. Carson’s son was abducted, he felt uneasy.  When Peter was abducted, he felt agitated.  It was an excellent job done by John Noble as Walter Bishop.

2. Mrs. Bishop.  We learned from Walter that he met Peter’s mom in a Neurobiology conference in Berlin, and that she was introduced by William Bell.  Walter Bishop describes her as a “strong woman”, and apparently, she was there for Peter even he was gone.

3. Bishop and Bell.  We found out that it is the first time that Walter Bishop visited Massive Dynamic, and that the building has 73 laboratories.  Bishop was mesmerized.  Bell and Bishop were meant to form a company together, but Bell didn’t wait him.

4. Another Fringe science of MD.  The final scene shocked us all.  It finally answered the question on how Nina Sharp communicates with William Bell.  It seems like old technology works best for interdimensional communication.  We also learned that Tyler that we saw is just one of the many Tylers, and he is under the Penrose-Carson experiment.  Could be a tie-in with Dr. Claus Penrose, a scientist who is involved in cloning and rapid aging in the episode The Same Old Story.

The Good.

1. A fair share of screen time.  I’m glad to see Astrid’s out of the lab.  I’m also glad to see that Nina gave her fair share.  I think this episode is by far, best in terms of every character giving a spotlight.

2. True to the tagline.  I’m glad that Fringe staff did not forget their tagline – Someone out there is experimenting, only the whole world is the lab.  Did the writers answered who is that “someone”?  Are we to assume that MD (Nina/Bell) are the ones responsible for this “odd” experimentation?

3. Twists.  The sneak peek last week is successful in misleading the viewers into thinking that the “abductor” has mind controlling ability.  The twist at the end also was unexpected.

The Bad.

1.  Walter and Peter.  I think it is getting old now.  We already see a lot of previous episodes insinuating that Peter is from alternate universe, and Walter feels guilty with Peter’s abduction.  I just hope they drop the bomb soon.

2. Stretched.  I think the storyline is a bit stretched.  I don’t see the need of Peter babysitting Tyler in the bar.

The After Thoughts.

1. Massive Dynamic.  The Penrose-Carson experiment and Nina’s report to Bell suggested one thing – Massive Dynamic is preparing our world against the alternate universe.  Massive Dynamic may be the modern ZFT?

2. Cortexiphan.  Tyler’s treatment with mind control cocktail had a similarity with cortexiphan trial.  Both drugs had been treated to “kids”, confirming my previous post that indeed kids play a significant role in the show.  We knew that Nina Sharp and Dr. Carson knew what’s happening means that Tyler did not just accidentally take in a cocktail of mind control drugs.  Could it be that Tyler was treated with an improved version of cortexiphan?  I am convinced that William Bell is continuing his cortexiphan project.  And that the project aim is to create super soldier, hopefully a stable one like Olivia Dunham.

3. Effect of mind control on Peter.  Peter had been subjected to a lot of mind controlling by Tyler, it makes me wonder if it did affect Peter’s brain or not.  Walter mentioned that mind controlling causes hematomas, of which could lead to brain damage.  It was also revealed in the episode that Peter somehow managed to prevent Tyler from pushing him to put a gun on Broyles’ head.  Is Peter special, well other than being from the other universe?

4. Two.  Double.  Duality.  I think this is another recurring theme of Fringe.  The experiment involves two scientists – Penrose and Carson.  We also heard that the aeronautics division of MD is Fleming-Monroe.  And… we also found out that Bell and Bishop is thinking of making a company together.  And oh by the way, I checked the website of Massive Dynamic and somehow the word ZENO pops up.  A weird connection?

5. Foreshadowing of Observer-centric episode.  Olivia looking through the binocular seems to be a foreshadow of the next week’s episode.  Also the conversation between Peter and Olivia in the convenience store seems to be referring to the observers.

“You think they could be spies? Maybe they’re hiding out in plain sight.”
“Foreign intelligence agents often take mundane jobs so they can blend in while they’re gathering information.”

6. Easter eggs.  Observer can be found standing in front of the white car at 00:48.  You can see a seahorse glyph in the door of the convenience store.  And the store sells SLUSHO!

My ratings - 6.1 Nina Sharp’s seduction techniques

Kelly Blatz on First Disney XD Movie

by tmselbor

Kelly Blatz will star the very first movie of Disney XD the “Skyrunners.”  Disney XD is a basic cable channel under the Disney Channel Group which focuses on mix of live-action and animated programming hyper-targeting tween and teen boys age 6 to 14.

Skyrunners is a science fiction adventure featuring Kelly Blatz and newcomer Joey Pollari. Kelly Blatz can also be seen playing the title role in Aaron Stone TV series which is also aired in Disney XD.

Skyrunners was directed by Ralph Hemecker, he is the same guy who directed the TV series “Numb3rs” and written by Richard C. Okie (”Quantum Leap” and “Earth: Final Conflict”) along with Adam Wilson & Melanie Wilson.  The Weta Workshop will design and provide the practical alien creature effects in the movie.  Weta Workshop is a multi-awarded and world leader in special makeup, creature and visual effects.  They are responsible for the special makeup, creature and visual effects in big films like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Skyrunners is all about teenage brothers Tyler (Joey Pollari) and Nick Burns (Kelly Blatz) who commandeer a small UFO that crashes near their town.  They soon realize that the spacecraft is “alive” and Tyler begins to develop superhuman abilities. When the brothers uncover an ominous alien plot to take over Earth, Tyler is captured by the extraterrestrials, so now it’s up to Nick to rescue his brother.

Skyrunners is scheduled to premiere on November 27, 2009 (Friday) on Disney XD as 5:00 p.m., ET/PT timeslot.  You can also watch Skyrunners online.

Source: http://www.byterology.com

Tough Man in the Tender Chicken : Angela and the piglet

by xerophytes

In my previous, I reviewed the case of the latest episode of Bones, which is the Tough Man in the Tender Chicken.  Bones is never complete when you don’t deal with character development and interaction.  In this episode, Angela Montenegro got the spotlight.  We saw her what she thinks about animal rights.  We also found a new development on her celibacy.  And finally we saw how Angie try to interact with the Squint Squad with her charming pig.

The celibate Angie.  Angie’s celibacy is almost over.  And she mentioned this to Hodgins.  But no, they did not hook-up.  Hodgins said he will not be the reason for Angie’s break of celibacy.  Then we saw later in the episode, Angie kissed Wendell.  How awkward it is?  Funny, because Wendell and Hodgins had been like best of friends in the episode.  I wonder who will be the one going to break Angie’s celibacy.  I’m hoping for Hodgins.  Yeah, I’m a Hodgins-Angela shipper.  Another angle to the celibate Angie is her interaction with Sweets.  Angie asked Sweets if she can donate money for her piglet and Sweets did psychology talk to her, saying that she might need to abandon celibacy and reconnect with humans.  To be honest, I’m with Sweets, I think Angie is projecting her lack of human touch with her odd feeling with the piglet.

The friend Angie.  It was the first time we see a strain in the friendship between Angela and Tempe.  Angie was right that they don’t share any similarities with Tempe.  But come to think of it, Brennan does not share anything common with Booth too.  I guess, opposites attract.  It can also be noted that the reason for their fall-out is funny and realistic too.  Most of the time, friends fight over some petty things and yet at the end of the date, true friends patch things up and go back as good friends.

Other character development:

- We learned that Booth dated an identical twins.

- Booth felt bad, because he got fooled by the suspect’s fake confession.  Brennan at the end of the scene reminded Booth that he is still capable of reading people.  Booth saw the love tension between Angela and Wendell.

Katt Williams Arrested For Burglary

by stuckontv Katt Williams Mugshot Katt Williams, the famous comedian has been charged with burglary and trespassing. According to reports he was allegedly breaking into a guesthouse using a crowbar to pry his way into the house and then stealing roughly $3,555 in cash and rare coins. According to Maj. James Yarbrough of the Coweta County Sheriff’s, the alleged [...]

Fringe Review: Earthling

by xerophytes

After the hiatus, Fringe came back with yet another stand-alone episode.  Personally, I feel disappointed with it.  It’s not a good come back episode, questions are not answered, no story continuity, unclear fringe science… and if you missed this episode, I dare say, you don’t miss much.  In this episode, the team investigated a case of strange shadow entity stealing radiation from humans, killing them by turning them into ashes.  Apparently, this is the same case handled by Broyles years ago, which caused his marriage.  In the midst of this, we found out that things are bigger than we thought.  CIA is involved.  Russians has their own fringe case.

What we have learned from this episode?

1. Broyles is a human (at least that is the impression from the episode).  It is the first time that we saw Broyles is a playful person.  I find this interesting as from the previous Fringe episodes, we often see him act like a robot (especially with his kiss with Nina earlier this season).  And speaking of kiss, we also learned that his obsession with this case led to the abandonment of his wife… this made me wonder if Nina Sharp is involved in some way with the break-up?  And speaking of obsession, his dedication to his job is undeniable.  He blurted out to Olivia that he is willing to do anything to protect the make the world a safer place to live in.  Very interesting.  Should we dig on that further?  Anyway, final note on Broyles is that he cares about his people (at least to the Fringe team).

2. Fringe is bigger than we think.  At first, we all thought the Fringe cases were interconnected and they all pointed out to the “Pattern”.  Then, we got into the alternate world.  And now, we have a possible “international fringe”.  More importantly is that the Homeland Security (Broyles) seems to be not alone in investigating the fringe cases.  CIA is now involved.  A senator of US is involved.  This made me think… how big is “the Fringe” in the show?  In Fracture, we even have the military (Pentagon) involved.  I don’t want Fringe to get complicated, so I hope to have less groups going each other as possible.

3. The Space Entity.  Although, the entity is not so clear yet, we still see a possibility of the “creature” coming back to the show.  We learned that the space entity is able to integrate itself to its host; it is capable of projecting itself as a shadow and it seems to need radiation to survive (or get stronger?).

4. The Fringe Division – no longer “exist”.  We see Broyles’ files in a public storage facility.  I think this is the most obvious evidence that the division is closed and the team had gone rogue.  This made me wonder, what is the job of Olivia?  Broyles is still in the Homeland Security.  Should Olivia be transferred back to wherever she is originally working?  Just confused that she is still like working for Broyles.

Disappointments

1. Stand-alone episode.  We have the Night of Desirable Object and Dream Logic as stand-alone episodes, but I got to say this episode failed miserably for me.  In the previous episodes, we saw some story continuity, this… nothing.  I don’t mind getting some stand-alone episodes, but I wish the writers would put in bits and pieces of the mythos or at least answer some of the questions.

2. Character development.  We saw Broyles character improved from a robot to a human.  But that seems to be all the character development in the show.  A Broyles-centric episode was done in the expense of other characters.  Is it not possible to see development of other characters as well?  We are dealing with some space entity here, and in the previous episode, Peter seems to be so into space, so why not improve his character as well (and have a story continuity?).

3. Crazy science.  Walter found the titanium chloride.  But what it is?  What does it have to do with the case?  We found out that the shadow is stealing radiation, but failed to explain why.  Where did the formula come from?  How does radiation kept a person intact?  I think the time constraint (or could it be writers’ laziness?) led to a lot of Walter’s eurekas but never explained these.

4. Half-baked.  Again like crazy science, we failed to understand how does Timur was able to keep his brother “off the grid” for a lot of years.  More importantly, how he managed to kept the entity into the body for a long year.  And yeah, there are tons of questions on the space entity.  For example: Does it have the mind of its own?  Why did the entity killed “his brother”?

The After-Thought

Even if I am so disappointed with the episode, I still try to understand the episode more.  So I tried to look at in a different angle.

1. Broyles – an observer? We saw in the public self-storage facility a black briefcase.  Is that a big shoutout and clarification that he might be an observer?

2. Separation of organic and inorganic. If I remember it right, the first thing Walter did is he separated the organic and inorganic part of the “molecule”.  Chemistry 101: Organic chemicals contain carbons while inorganic does not.  Organic chemicals form the basis of all earthly life processes.  This made me realized that the inorganic could be an indication of the “alien” entity.  This reminded me of the “Andromeda Strain” by Michael Crichton.  The alien virus is actually composed of Sulfur bonds, as opposed to carbon.  The final eureka (with the tinkertoy) sealed the deal, the inorganic alien entity can’t be separated from the organic chemical of human.

3. Kimba the white lion.  The girl in the motel is watching the Kimba the White Lion.  I am not so familiar with this cartoon show, but the lines said by Kimba caught me.

He’s not one of us, get rid of him!

I may have a different color, but I’m still a lion like you!

Sounds like a shoutout to Peter and the alternate universe?  When I tried searching Kimba the White Lion in wikipedia, I found out that Kimba seems to be the peacemaker between animals and humans.  Is this a sign that Peter could be the peacemaker between two universes?

4. Tara.  Tara is the girl in the motel room watching Kimba the White Lion. Strangely, she reminded me of Ella, Olivia’s niece.  Remember in the episode of Season 1, No Brainer, that she was almost “died”.  Both of them are actually staring at screen (Ella, a laptop screen while Tara, a TV screen). It was suggested that maybe Ella could have something special on her that made her susceptible to the “virus”.  Could it be that Tara has the same thing?   Kids in the show looked oddly important in many aspects.  We have the cortexiphan kids, the “kiddie observer”, 8-year old Peter…

5. Number shoutouts.  47 occurred again.  This number is seen in the address of Tomas (4747 Broadway).  Number 8.  The door number of Timur’s motel room.

6. Red/Green color patterns.  Again, we saw this color pattern.  I guess, it is just a recurring theme of the show.  Some red/green – lights when Timur is attempting to confine the entity to his brother’s body, red roses and green leaves in the first scene, tinkertoys.

7. Observer.  Observer passed by Gate 43 while Broyles speaking with Olivia.  It is the second time that we see the observer passed by while one of the main characters is talking in the phone.

My rating : 4.747 phi-centred molecular models

The Case: Tough Man in the Tender Chicken

by xerophytes

Woodchuck Scouts, sponsored by the Jeffersonian Institute, found a dead body floating in the Savage River.  Preliminary investigation of Cam and Wendell revealed that that the victim is a middle-aged male with missing fingers and tissue samples has a high content of hydrogen sulfide.  Wendell and Hodgins had a suspicion that the man could be an experimental subject of suspended animation.  Angela’s facial reconstruction revealed that the victim looks like a half-man and half-chicken.  In the autopsy room, Hodgins found a gapeworm in the victim’s neck, proving further that the victim might be a chicken super-soldier

Who doesn’t like conspiracy theory and the concept of super-soldier?  I just totally love it when Hodgins do this crazy conspiracy theory.  Then Brennan thinking about using worm for super-soldier just made me laugh.  I’m sure the writers of Bones had been laughing with these things – imagine, half-man and half-chicken.  Then you have half-man and half-worm.  To add more, Booth has to call DARPA to find someone who look like an animal… then Bulldog.  I just had to laugh.  It reminded me of my high school days.  We nicknamed one of our teachers – bulldog. LOL.  Unfortunately, though, we are not dealing with anything like super-soldier, because Angela’s sketch matched someone named Nick Rabin, the head of personnel at Clucksten Farms.

Brennan and Booth went to Clucksten Farms to find a group of animal (particularly chicken) right activist.  Guess what, they are swearing the people – CLUCK YOU.  LOL. They questioned the wife of the victim and so, the activists were pointed as possible suspects.  Brennan and Booth confronted Josh Parsons, the leader of the “cluck you” group and he called for Code Yellow.  And so the protesters poured a gooey yellow stuff on to them and cover them with feather.  It was a hilarious to see B&B that way (you can even see Emily can’t contain her laughter).

Josh was interrogated and he gave in by giving the raw video.  This turned out to be taken by the wife of the victim, who apparently fed up of getting threatening phone calls and so wanted the farm to get shut down.  She pointed another possible suspect, Roy Meyers.  Brennan and Booth then found out that Rob Meyers own a cigar cutter which could be use to remove the fingers of the victim.  This apparently was disprove by Hodgins.  And you also have Angela obviously disturbed about what had “happened“, taking the words of Hodgins and Cam as a reference to the incidence. Traces of electricity in the victim’s digit and beak-and-feather disease in the thumb pointed to Gina McNamara, the beak clipper, as a possible suspect.

In the Ookey room, Wendell became a guinea pig for a demonstration of the parameters of the murder weapon.  Cam’s face was so hilarious when Wendell was smashed with red paintbrush all over his face. Brennan then realized how the victim died.  The chicken plucker was brought to the lab.  Brennan demonstrated that the wrenching of the neck of the victim is due to the tie getting into the equipment.  She also suggested that a hand in the machine likely caused some of the strange markings on the skull (I’m sure all Brennan and Booth fans cheered, when they see Brennan’s hand on Booth’s face).  John Collins was called for an interrogation due to his record of having a broken hand.  It was then found out that John fought with the victim over a gas allowance.  He told B&B that it was as an accident.  Booth was about to believe him when Brennan proved that broken hand suggested that he pushed the victim’s head into the machine.

The After-thought:

At first, the case is interesting.  You have the element of super soldier and conspiracy theory but later you found out that it is nowhere near these things.  It was a story about a chicken farm and how they had mistreated chickens, which in irony, the head of the personell mistreated his employee.  I think the whole point of the case is not so much on who-done-it or not even mysterious in nature, but the writers and producers of the show wanted to give an insight to many people on how should animals be treated well.  They deserve a good place, and dignity if you may.  But again, this made me think, do we have to refrain from eating animals?  Shall we go for veggies for life?  Personally, I don’t want to!  I love chicken.  I love meat.  I am an omnivore.

We are also animals… well, we are classified as animals.  So, like those poor chickens, we should treat and be treated well.  If you are an employer, you should be able to put yourself in the shoes of your employee.  Understand what their concerns are and give what is appropriate for him or her.  What you give is what you get, so if you don’t want your face to be shove into a chicken plucker, I guess, it’s time to be human to them and don’t treat them like “animals”.

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