Hi, my name is Erin, and I am a LOST fanatic.

srsly.

I was all over the movie Cloverfield upon hearing that it was created by the brilliant J.J Abrams, who is also the creator of my all-time favorite TV show, LOST.

I was completely sucked into the mysterious viral marketing campaign surrounding Cloverfield, which gave the movie itself a new level of intrigue for me (I *loved* the movie)

It seems like LOST is now drawing off of the success of such campaigns and launching its own spew of viral marketing, including some kind of altered reality, bringing elements of LOST directly into the real world.

Pretty stinkin' cool, huh?

I've been researching this for months on various LOST forums and blogs that I stalk, and it all pointed to the fact that something fishy was going on with The Powers That Be (aka, LOST writers.. while they weren't striking, that is)

It's really too complicated to begin to explain, but maybe I can break down the major elements.

We all know that LOST is set in the year 2004. The plane crashed in September of 2004, and as of the most recent episode, the survivors have been living on the island for 3 months.

During last year's season finale, we were shown a flash forward, indicating that the survivors (at least some of them.. I'll get to that later) did indeed get off of the island. There are other clues in the flash forward that indicate that those scenes were from current "real life" time.. 2008 (new cars not around in 2004.. new cell phones, etc)

(As a side note.. did anyone catch the name of the funeral home Jack visited in that episode? "Hoffs-Drawlar". An anagram for "flash forward" Cool, eh?)

Anyway, viral marketing.

These billboards popped up here in good old Knoxville recently:



Rawr! No mention of the show itself, ABC, or any of the cast.. just an advertisement for the fictional airline itself.. which is reportedly now getting "back on its feet" following its downfall after the Flight 815 crash in 2004.

Why Knoxville? If you were paying attention to earlier seasons of the show, Knoxville is the hometown of our resident hottie and redneck con-man, Sawyer. Billboards are reportedly showing up in the following cities as well:


Los Angeles, CA
Tustin, CA
Ames, IA
Miami, FL
New York, NY
Portland, OR
Seoul, South Korea
Sydney, Australia

Head on over to the blog: http://oceanic-conspiracies.blogspot.com/ to read more about this altered reality, which is no doubt going to pull LOST's rankings out of the sewer again.

LOST fans, keep your eyes open! What is so interesting about viral marketing is that clues can show up ANYWHERE.. popular video sites (YouTube, Veoh, Viddler, etc), commercials (did anyone see the Oceanic Airlines commercial during the Eli Stone premier tonight? I had the TV on for background noise and was blind-sided by it! holy crap! A clip of the wreckage of the plane on the bottom of the ocean floor! WTF?? A clip to Sam saying "do not trust these people!" Eeee! I want more!)

All I have to say is that my loyalty to the show was faltering quickly with the endless opening of doors without EVER closing them, but this has completely sucked me back in. Now fans don't have to wait months upon months for new episodes.. clues can show up anywhere, anytime!

Alright, I'm done being a giddy obsessive fan. Carry on.

So, I'm finally sitting down for the first time in about 48 hours.

Well, maybe not literally, but it sure feels that way.

Matt and I spent all day yesterday with house projects that we'd neglected the past few months (finishing the moulding in the kitchen, re-painting trim, organizing some closets, etc) and today we cleaned until every room sparkled. His parents are in a rental vehicle somewhere between Nashville and Knoxville at the moment, so they should be here soon. I made a fresh batch of Chex mix that just came out of the oven, and now I'm just chilling out with Matt while Dexter terrorizes a rawhide bone on the floor between us.

What's sad is that I actually plan to follow "my" way of eating even throughout Christmas, which is eating less than my weight x 10 in calories every day, and nothing after 7pm. I don't really diet, per se, but doing things this way has helped me reach the lowest weight of my adult life, and I don't plan on seeing that scale moving in the other direction anytime soon. I'm currently at 144lbs on my 5'7" frame. I'd like to lose another 10, but I'm in no hurry. It'll come off in its own time.

Happy Holidays!

Confession time. This is my favorite person this year:



Not the biggest Christmas fan this year.

Is it January yet?

On the evening of the 14th, we went down to Chattanooga for my brother's birthday (yes, both Matt and I have brothers with Christmastime birthdays) His wife had arranged for all of us to surprise him at the Vaudeville Murder Mystery Cafe, and had secretly arranged for him to be brought on stage.

I sat my lil camera on the table and let the video mode run while he was up there. I had to be inconspicuous, since cameras weren't allowed!

I don't think I need to point out which one is him:


Then outside I snapped a pic of Kev and Kelly:


And then back in the parking lot we did a (terrible) self-portrait: