The Directors Chair

I was recently infected with what I learned to be the Seneka Rootkit, this is a tricky bug that infects your computer and stops all spyware, malware and anti-virus utilities from working. It was a huge pain. I first found it when my copy of Kaspersky Anti-Virus wouldn’t update the latest databases.

Especially when all the solutions I found on the internet pointed to software that could beat it, but the virus wouldn’t let me onto their websites or install any programs because that’s what it does.

Eventually I found a website that linked me to Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware utility. Once “quick-scan” (actually took about 15 minutes) with this tool that both downloaded and installed without interuption and it had found the virus and removed it. Just needed to reboot.

I can’t stress enough how much of a pain this virus is and so if you have it I strongly urge you to get the Malwarebytes piece of software and save yourself some headaches.

This is a movie for every Star Wars fanboy and with a host of cameo appearances from all sorts of fanboys and former Star Wars cast members (Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher) this really is a geekout.

You can read the full review by clicking here.

This was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival with many studios bidding on it however try as it might, the film lacks any punch and suffers from lack of humour.

You can read the full review by clicking here.

Episodes 516/517 – The Incident (Season 5 Finale)

At some point during the 1800′s, whilst the Black Rock is still sailing, a man, Jacob, sits on the beach and cooks himself some fish. He is approached by someone else who accuses Jacob of bringing the ship to the island. He says it always ends the same, with destruction and corruption and people are brought to the island. Jacob says that it only ends once and anything before is just progress. The other man tells Jacob he wants to kill him and one day he will find a “loophole” which will allow him to do so. As he walks away we see Jacob is basking next to the statue.

We get a variety of flashbacks, each one of them feature Jacob in some form except for Juliets. We see Kate stealing a lunch box that Jacob pays for when she is caught, he gives a young Sawyer a pen to write his note to the man who killed his parents, he touches Locke after he is pushed out of the hotel window and seems to revive him, he congratulates Jin and Sun on their wedding day. He distracts Sayid as Nadia is run over, he gives Jack an Apollo candy bar after completing his first operation, he awaits Hurley as he is discharged from prison and tells him that he isn’t cursed or crazy, he is gifted, and he visits a badly injured Illana in hospital where he apologises for not coming sooner. He then asks her in Russian if she’ll help him and she says she will. In Juliet’s flashback we see her as a young girl being told her parents are divorcing, her mother says when she is older she’ll understand how two people can love each other but not stay together.

On the island and present Locke leads the Others with Ben, Richard and Sun to Jacob stopping off along the way at the old beach camp. Meanwhile Illana and her crew, with Lapidus, take the crate to Jacobs cabin. They show Lapidus what is in the crate and he is shocked, they also say he is a candidate to which Lapidus questions what for. When they get to Jacobs cabin the ash circle around it has been broken, the cabin is desolate. Illana takes something from the wall and they burn the cabin to the ground. They head to the statue.

In 1977 Richard and Elly help Jack and Sayid take the core out of Jughead and lead them to a basement of one of the houses at the barracks. Richard knocks Elly out and says he is protecting her as the leader. Jack and Sayid go ahead but there is a full scale operation at the barracks. Sayid dresses them both as Dharma employees and they try to escape in plain sight, but are spotted and Sayid is shot. Miles, Hurley and Jin arrive in the van and rescue them, taking them to the Swan site.

When they get there they are met by Sawyer, Juliet and Kate who escaped from the sub to stop Jack blowing up the bomb. When they returned to the island they bumped into Vincent, Rose and Bernard who had been living in the jungle for the past three years. They say they don’t need anything apart from each other and who cares if Jack is going to blow up the island, they’re just happy they’ve got one another. Sawyer looks at Kate.

Jack and Sawyer talk as Miles offers a suggestion, what if Jack blowing the nuke is the “incident”, what if they do nothing, perhaps that will prevent the future? Jack refuses to listen to Sawyer and they fight, Juliet stops it and changes her mind, they have to blow the bomb. When Sawyer asks her why she changed her mind she says that Sawyer looked at Kate and she knows that despite the fact they love each other, her and Sawyer can’t stay together.

The group launch an assault on the Swan site where Radzinsky is continuing to drill despite Chang’s orders to stop. He says he has worked too hard on studying electromagnetivity to stop. A gun fight ensues and eventually Sawyer turns up and they take control of the scene. Jack throws the bomb down the shaft but it doesn’t detonate. Then everything metal is pulled into the site, the Dharma crew try to escape but Dr. Chang’s arm gets trapped under some falling metal. Miles rescues his Dad when Juliet is caught up in chains and dragged into the pit. Sawyer makes a dash for her and holds onto her as she is being dragged down below. Juliet seems to acknowledge she is going to die and tells Sawyer she loves him so much, he returns the love as Juliet lets go of his arm and falls.

Thirty years later and on a trek to the statue Locke tells Ben that he wants him to kill Jacob, why not? After all he had never met him, had to watch his daughter die, get cancer, what did Jacob ever do for Ben? When they reach the statue Richard shows them the way in and Locke takes Ben inside. He gives Ben a knife and says things will change once Jacob is dead, there they find Jacob sitting in a dark corner.

Outside, Illana’s crew arrives and ask to speak to Ricardo. Richard steps forward and they ask him what stands in the shadow of the statue, he replies, in Latin, “he who will protect/save us all”. They open the crate and inside is John Locke’s dead body.

Inside Jacob immediately recognises Locke as an imposter and tells Ben he has a choice. Ben asks Jacob why he was never granted a chance to see him, he asks “what about me?” Jacob asks “what about you?” Ben then stabs Jacob who whispers to Locke “they’re coming” as Locke kicks him into the fire.

In 1977 Juliet wakes up at the bottom of the shaft, she is hurt and the nuke lies next to her. She picks up a rock and smashes the bomb with it, nothing happens, she hits it eight times when suddenly there is a loud noise and a flash of white light as the show ends.

Why do we now have to wait until February? Why!?

Ok, so Locke wasn’t really Locke, does that mean that Black Smoke Alex was also duped or was she working with this man all along, it does seem suspicious that Alex forced Ben to follow his orders, which included killing Jacob. Is this because the man himself can’t kill Jacob so needed a “loophole”, needed someone else to stab him? What does this mean for the island? Who are Illana and crew and what is Frank a candidate for? Stopping impersonator Locke because he’s been to the island twice and could go back to his first encounter and change history?

Did the bomb really go off or did the island just jump through time once more? Please don’t kill Juliet, I love her, Sawyer loves her. If it was the bomb, did it work? Will Jack wake up on the island or will the plane land at LAX? If it wasn’t the bomb then it’d make sense that the hatch gets encased in concrete, because there is an unexploded nuke down there. Probably the reason no one in Dhara can have babies.

Freakin’ fantastic!

Warner Home Video has announced the technical specs and special features for the upcoming Blu-ray release of ‘Watchmen: Director’s Cut’, which is due to hit store shelves on July 21 in the USA and July 27th in the UK. Video will be presented in 1080p VC-1 accompanied by a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack.

According to Michael Emerson (Ben Linus in Lost), the season five finale is going to be a shocker. Not only that, but there are two!! What the heck is going to happen? What lies in the shadow of the statue? Is Richard right when he said he saw all the 1977 folk die? Why didn’t Richard die in the explosion, or Eloise Hawking, or Charles Widmore? So many questions…

“Ours is a show that specializes in big shock endings, but I think season five…” Emerson tells

Episode 515 – “Follow The Leader”
Starting off as Kate and Jack watch Daniel approach the Others camp and get shot by Eloise. Jack and Kate try to leave but Widmore and another Other on horseback knock them down and take them to the camp. They explain they were with Daniel and Eloise puts them in her tent. Widmore wants to know why Dharma are declaring war on them but Eloise says they’re not from Dharma.

In her tent Eloise asks what Jack and Kate are doing and Jack says she wouldn’t believe them if they told her. She tells them that when she was younger she escorted the man she just killed to a bomb and he told her he was from the future. If they tell her what’s going on she will believe them. Jack tells Eloise that by using the bomb they can undo everything that’s happened and stop her killing her son.

At the barracks Juliet and Sawyer are being interrogated, Radzinsky wants to know where Kate went and where to find the hostiles. Sawyer doesn’t say anything but Radzinsky doesn’t want to hear nothing. He clashes with Horace over who has authority here and Phil says he has a way of making Sawyer talk. Phil hits Juliet which enraged Sawyer. He also says there is another name on the list from the sub, they need to find Hugo Reyes.

Hurley is with Miles and Jin when Dr. Chang appears. He asks if they are really from the future and they deny it. Chang interrogates Hurley who can’t answer the questions about 1977 and admits that they are indeed from the future and Miles is Chang’s son. They says that if Daniel had told him to evacuate the island, then that’s what he needs to do.

As Richard and Charles ponder why Daniel looks so familiar to Charles, Eloise appears and orders Jack and Kate be untied, they’re going to the bomb. Charles and Eloise argue and Jack asks Richard who the man is, Richard says it’s Charles Widmore and implies that he and Eloise are in a complicated relationship.

Back at the barracks and Dr. Chang enters, he says they are evacuating the island of all non essential personnel. Sawyer says he’ll talk if they put him and Juliet on the sub.

Jack, Kate, Eloise, Richard and Erik arrive at the creek, Eloise says they need to swim under the water to a tunnel that will take them to the bomb. Kate doesn’t want to be part of this and says she is turning around and going back. Erik threatens to shoot Kate if she leaves, a shot is fired but it is Sayid shooting Erik. Kate leaves as Jack explains to Sayid about changing the future. Sayid says he already has by killing Ben, but Jack tells him that didn’t work.

Back at the barracks and a warning alarm is playing over the loudspeakers and a message that the sub will leave in thirty minutes. Miles, Hurley and Jin watch as people go to board the sub including Charlotte and her mother and at the dock Dr. Chang angrily forces his wife and baby Miles onto the sub and Miles realises that his father had to be angry to save his wife and sons life. They also see Sawyer and Juliet handcuffed being escorted to the sub.

Hurley says they must have a plan as Sawyer quips that he’ll buy Microsoft and bet on the 78 Cowboys. He apologises to Juliet and says they should have left three years ago, but Juliet was glad she stayed behind. They confess their love for one another as someone else boards the sub, it’s Kate.

Jack, Richard, Eloise and Sayid swim underground to the tunnels where the bomb is located. Sayid asks Jack if he knows what he’s doing, Jack vouches for Eloise as she is the one in thirty years who helps them get back to the island but Sayid isn’t convinced. They reach the bomb and look at each other as Eloise says ‘Now what?’

Thirty years later and at the Others beach camp, Richard is making a ship in a bottle when Locke arrives at their camp with a boar on his back and accompanied by Ben and Sun. Richard wonders where he has been and Locke says he has a new purpose and needs Richard to come with him immediately. Sun questions Ben on who Richard is and Ben says he’s an advisor and been around a very long time. Sun approaches Richard with a picture of the Dharma group from 1977 and asks if he knows them. Richard says he recognises them because he watched them all die.

Locke, Richard and Ben head into the jungle, Richard asks where Locke has been the past three years and Locke is surprised that he doesn’t know. They arrive at the beechcraft and Locke tells Richard that he must take a bullet out of a time-travelling Locke’s leg and tell him that he has to die. We then see Locke appear at the beechcraft and watch from another view as Richard tends to a time travelling Locke.

Present Locke deduces that Ben has never met Jacob as Richard returns. He says it seemed to go OK and is thankful that Locke didn’t actually have to die. Locke says that he did.

Back at the camp Locke announces that he is going to see Jacob and he invites everyone to come with him. Richard looks worried and admits to Ben that Locke may become a problem in the future. Ben says that why he tried to kill Locke. Sun questions Locke who assures her that he is going to bring their people back to the present.

The next morning they head off to find Jacob and Ben tells Locke that Richard is uneasy about this. Ben says that he is committed to Lockes cause to reunite his friends but Locke says he doesn’t care about that, they’re going to see Jacob so that Locke can kill him.

Episode 514 – “The Variable”
Desmond is rushed to surgery at the hospital, Penny is distraught. As she waits for news with Charlie she is approached by Eloise Hawking who says that Charlie has his fathers hair. She explains she knows Desmond and his being shot is her sons fault. Penny asks if her son is Benjamin Linus and Eloise says no, her son is Daniel Faraday.

In flashbacks we see Daniel as a child, he is playing classical music on a piano and he is amazing. His mother approaches and says that his mind is special, she asks him how many times the metronome has ticked since he started playing, Daniel without hesitation says 864. Eloise says that he now must focus on his destiny and focus on science and mathmatics, Daniel says he wants to continue music, he will make time for it.

Later we see Daniel graduate, his lab assistant Teresa is also his girlfriend. Eloise approaches and wants to take her son to lunch. Here she learns Daniel has been offered a research grant by Charles Widmore and Eloise says to take it, giving him a present before leaving. It is his journal.

Later still we see Daniel crying at the footage of the 815 wreckage when he is approached by Charles Widmore. Daniel says that he has a condition where he forgets and he tested it on himself before he did Teresa. Charles knows about Oxford and Teresa but wants to offer Daniel the chance to continue his research. He tells him of a special island where he needs to go and it’ll heal him. Widmore confesses that he staged the wreckage of 815 and is happy to tell Daniel because he knows he’ll forget about it. Daniel says Charles sounds like his mother to which Widmore says they are “old friends”.

Daniel is then seen playing the piano, but he’s not as good as he was. Eloise appears, she said she would have called but Daniel would have only forgotten. She asks if he’s been offered a job, Daniel says he has. Eloise says he has to take it, Daniel asks if it’ll make her proud of him, she says it would so Daniel agrees to go.

Back in 2008 and the nurse tells Penny she can visit Desmond, he is OK and tells her that he will never leave her. Eloise leaves and is met by Charles Widmore outside, Charles asks about Desmond and is told he is fine. Eloise says his daughter is inside but Charles says he has had to sacrifice his relationship with his daughter to which Eloise angrily retorts he knows nothing of sacrifice as she had to send her son to the island. Charles says that Daniel is his son as well and Eloise slaps him and leaves.

On the island Daniel asks Miles to take him to Jack where Daniel asks how he got back to the island. Jack says he got on a plane and Eloise said it was his destiny to get on. Daniel says that she lied to him, they do not belong here in 1977. Dan gets Miles to take him to the Orchid where he speaks to Doctor Chang. Daniel tells him that he is from the future and that if he continues to drill at the site of the Swan he will release a charge of energy that will kill everyone. Chang laughs at this saying the energy has been contained but Daniel says that Miles is Chang’s son from the future. Daniel demands he orders an evacuation of the island. Miles disagrees and Chang drives off.

Back at the barracks Sawyer sits everyone down, they have to decide what to do, either commandeer the sub and escape or head back to the beach and start all over again. Hurley and Jin say they don’t want to leave on the sub so they agree to head to the beach. Faraday and Miles arrive back and ask to be taken to the hostiles. Sawyer refuses saying they’re going back to the beach but Jack turns to Kate who knows where they are. Juliet offers them the code for the fence (141717) and they meet up at the motor pool.

As Jack and Kate get some weapons Daniel spots a young Charlotte on a swing, he approaches her and she says she’s not supposed to have chocolate before dinner. Daniel says he won’t tell but soon Dr. Chang is going to order people to leave the island, Charlotte and her mother have to be on the sub. Daniel says he tried not to tell her this because he didn’t think he could change things but hopes that maybe he can.

Jack, Kate and Dan are about to leave when Radzinsky and some others approach, when they see Dan carrying a gun they open fire and a shootout ensues. Jack blows up some gas tanks and they manage to escape but Dan has a slight graze. When they reach the sonar fence Jack tends to a wounded Dan where Daniel reminds Jack this is “their present” and they can die. They head into the jungle in search of the hostiles.

Back at the barracks Sawyer has ordered people to grab what they can ready to leave. Sawyer asks Juliet if she still has his back and she asks if he has hers. After the gunfight at the motor pool the alarm has sounded and Radzinsky goes to Sawyers house, they find Phil tied up and Sawyer and Juliet surrender.

On route to the hostiles Jack and Kate ask Daniel to explain his plan. Dan says in about four hours Dharma are going to release a huge energy blast from work at the Swan which leads to the hatch being built and the computer that requires a button to be pressed. Eventually, one day, Desmond will forget to press that button which leads to Oceanic Flight 815 crashing on the island. Daniel says he was focused so much on the “constants” in his research he forgot about the “variables”. He says that they are the variables, people with free will so they can stop these events from happening. Daniel plans to explode the hydrogen bomb to negate the energy release and preventing the hatch to ever be built and thus flight 815 to land.

As they approach the hostiles camp Daniel enters and demands to speak to Eloise Hawking. Kate asks Jack if this is wise, it means everything they’ve been through will be erased. Richard Alpert approaches Dan and says Eloise isn’t here at the moment. Dan points the gun at Richard and gives him to the count of three to tell him where his mother is. On two a shot is fired and Daniel hits the ground. Daniel looks up and sees the woman who shot him, he says she knew this was going to happen but she sent him here anyway. Eloise asks who he is and with a dying breath Daniel says he is her son.

Wow. We forgot about the variables too right? Crazy episode where I’ve heard people complain about Daniels death but they seem to forget that this is the island where a young Ben was shot and survived not to mention they’re with Jack, a miracle surgeon. If Richard saved Ben, surely Eloise will save Daniel? But changing history? Can it really happen? And if so, surely then Hurley will disappear like in Back to the Future, unless of course he has to die on the island to relive on the plane? As we reach the end of the season, I’m on tenterhooks.