LOST Tales of an Extra: The Jacket or Why Victoria Hamel is a Goddess

A WORD ON NAMES

I have a confession to make. Except for Sherry, Dawn, Shawn, Tiffany and the actors on set, I've made up all the rest of the names on my posts. I should say it's to protect people's privacy, but the truth is I simply can't remember them. Instead of keeping them anonymous, I've chosen names I think represent them accurately or ones that MIGHT be their names.



However, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the guy who took this picture of me in The Jacket! I can't even think of a good substitute name! So from now on, this very kind person will be referred to as The Photographer.

BEHOLD THE JACKET

Does this jacket scream Beverly Hills Doctor's Wife to you? No?

That's what I said! Actually, I said "EWWWW!" when the 300 pound woman at wardrobe pulled it out. I quickly retracted [because she glared at me, and she was flipping scary] and blamed my outburst on lack of sleep and the early hour. I got the impression that not too many people crossed her on a regular basis and lived to tell about it. I apologized, thanked her profusely and skittered off to the hair line.

While I waited (and scratched Lulu's ears), I wondered why on Earth anyone choosing wardrobe for the day would choose to throw The Jacket into the truck. How did that decision past muster on any standard scale?

And why me? Before I donned The Jacket, I looked kinda like a Beverly Hills Doctor's Wife, or at least a Beverly Hills Doctor's Not So Cheap Girlfriend On The Side. In fact, I thought I looked well enough to pass for Beverly Hills Doctor's Adult Daughter Who Still Uses Daddy's Money To Go Shopping.

However, wardrobe took one look at me and pulled out the one garment (out of hundreds) that made me look 1) older, 2) fatter, 3) shorter, 4) dumpier and 5) like a homeless librarian.

All I had to go on to explain this phenomenon were the words of the beautiful (obviously unavailable) man from wardrobe who helped me put it on. He assured me The Jacket was "texture." From his tone I gathered this type of thing was an unfortunate but necessary aspect of filming. He suggested that'd I'd be grateful for The Jacket in the end because, I'd be "easy to spot" when the show aired.

Easy to spot, I thought, Sure. As in: "Awww, look -- she must have been Jack's deranged piano teacher!"

@Loster21's Tweets O' the Day and Week 2010 Year in Review

Hey all, don't worry, I'm still going to do a Tweets O' the Week for this week, but I've been looking over all of the TOTD/W recently and have had a wonderful time reminiscing over the wonderment that was LOST, LOST fans, and LOST tweets in 2010.  I was going to pick a Top Ten Tweets but that's just impossible.  Instead, I'll just point you towards a few posts that were particularly memorable during this particularly memorable year.  Note: Tweeters change their profile pictures periodically, which is why their pictures may not appear correctly in the linked posts.  And obviously, the posts ARE NOT SPOILER FREE, so if you haven't finished watching LOST, go do that, then come back.  Right now.  Go on.

A great way to relive the season is by reading the tweets people posted during and after viewing a new episode.  I started posting "Reaction Editions" to the episodes starting with the Sundown Reactions Edition .  Other reaction editions: Dr. Linus, Recon, Ab Aeterno, The Package, Happily Ever After, Everybody Loves Hugo, The Last Recruit, The Candidate, Across the Sea, What They Died For, and of course Finale day Tweets O the Day from *sigh* May 23, 2010 and The Day After .  These are a great way to revisit your favorite episodes, or the season.

There were also other special editions that are great reads.  For great behind-the-scenes info check out Special Mark Goldman Edition from 2/12/2010, Behind the Scenes with LOST Editor Mark Goldman, Live Tweeting with LOST Editors Mark Goldman and David Eisenberg, and Behind the Scenes Photos by Asst. Editor Chris Braun.  There are also two terrific hashtag editions: #ThanksToLOST, when everyone wrote what they were thankful for about LOST; and the hilarious #lostbandnames and #lostmovies edition - Losties are so creative!

And finally, two very poignant special editions: Fan Reaction to "We're Done, Amen", tweets in response to Damon's and Carlton's simultaneous tweets.  Post-production wasn't complete yet, but filming was.  Then on September 22, 2010 came the LOST 6th Anniversary and some terrific tweets about it.  Thanks so much to Amy for making a special Tweets O' the Week tab where every Tweets O' the Day and Tweets O' the Week are archived, so check them all out if you're in a particularly Lostie mood, because they're all great. 

As this astounding year ends, one of the biggest years of my life, I want to thank LOSTblog editor in chief, my website mentor and friend Jon LOST_boss for taking me on as intern and for giving me this great gig.  Thanks as well to owner Alex, and to my friends the LOSTblog staff for pressing the button in the Swan along with me.  My neverending gratitude goes to every person whose tweet appeared in a Tweet O' the Day or Tweet O' the Week this year; the posts would literally have been nothing without you.  I love you all.  See you on Twitter, and here on LOSTblog.  Peace, love, and Namaste.

Tales of an Extra: Don't Be The Pogue, Part 2

DON'T MISS YOUR SHOT

I don't really have a Career career. Instead, through the years I've had 100 (or so) hobbies [I like to call them "projects"]. Sometimes I use a hobby to make a little money, and sometimes the hobby uses me. Rarely, a hobby takes over my life and requires a Hobby Intervention, with Hobby Rehab and/or a Hobby Exorcism as appropriate to set me free.

Free to pursue the NEXT hobby, that is.

One hobby that's stuck with me since childhood is photography. I'm not talking snapshots of emotional reactions to various life events, either. Almost as soon as I could point and click, I've been waving for people to scoot, duck, turn or leave the frame. I became a lifer after receiving my first camera for Christmas [one of those disk cameras -- remember them?], and from that moment on I was willing to stand in traffic or climb the nearest tree (or car or buddy) -- anything to get The Shot.

And I'm not too bad at it. In fact, photography has saved my ass every Christmas for the past two years because despite the fact that O'ahu is Hawai'i's haven for litterbugs, it's still pretty easy to snap a beautiful picture of something natural, rub out the tourists with Photoshop, sign it, frame it and send it to your mom [and it's WAY cheaper than that new coffee maker she wanted].

Yep. Everybody loves a pretty picture of "paradise." However, during the time frame of Christian's funeral, I was getting bored with landscapes and was digging into what I call "Algae Abstracts." Basically, I take extreme closeups of interesting things because I like how the final image morphs into an abstract composition. They aren't crowd pleasers per se, but the ones I take can only be taken in Hawai'i, and I won't live here forever. Therefore, I take my camera everywhere just in case because there's nothing more aggravating to folks like me than seeing The Shot and not having a camera handy.

I'm sure you already see where this is going.

LOST Tales of an Extra: Of Golden Moments

Welcome to Celebrity 101

I've been asked to briefly clarify a few celebrity-related terms I've thrown around. After much consideration, I figured that the quickest (I'm sure you're thanking God) and easiest way to explain them is to give textbook examples of each one.

1. The Golden Moment

Briefly defined, a golden moment is a chance encounter with a celebrity that is "cool." It's usually positive, makes a good story and often results in a memento of some kind.

Example:

Remember that church youth group ski trip? One of the ladies chaperoning us was a brilliant musician -- classically trained pianist, perfect pitch, 4-octave singing voice -- the works. Her musical talent was developed early in life, and her parents (having big dreams for her future away from nowhere'sville, Mississippi) set her up with a voice coach who matched her with 2 other girls to form a singing group. Once the group had a little practice (in church, of course), the coach decided her girls were ready to hit the road and win some contests.

One such contest was at the Mississippi State Fair, which trolled around the state every fall. After singing (and losing to some guy with an accordion), the four of them walked around the game booths -- Ring Toss the Duck, Pop the Balloons with Darts, Baseball in the Basket -- that sort of thing. As they passed by the Knock the Pyramid of Little Bowling Pins Over Booth, a guy drew his arm back to throw and accidentally smacked our girl in the face! He turned around and apologized profusely. He made sure she was okay and threw balls at pins until he won the biggest prize, a huge stuffed animal, which he then gave to her with MORE apologies.

That guy was Elvis [effing] Presley.

Unfortunately, this was before Elvis was really HUGE and our girl led too sheltered a life to recognize him. She didn't even keep the stuffed animal [ACK!!], and proceeded to go on with her life not realizing that she'd had the Granddaddy of ALL Golden Moments until she was older. She graduated from high school then quickly married a man who, eventually, preached that Rock 'N' Roll was "devil's music" because it incited youth to lose control, disobey their parents and have lots of sex. (Ironic, right?)

2. The Reverse Golden Moment

This is a little trickier to explain. The reverse golden moment is an encounter with a celebrity where you recognize them, they realize that you recognize them, and then you let them go (outta the goodness of your heart).

Example:

When I was in college (oh so many years ago), R.E.M. was BIG. I mean, mainstream, all-over-MTV big. They were on tour and (for some strange reason) did a gig in our crummy little town.

Later that weekend, my pal Christine was at a very crowded bar, inching her way past the barstools to the bathroom. She said it was shoulder-to-shoulder, one of those "this place is TOO flipping CROWDED!" nights. Anyway, she hit a slow spot and stood waiting for the mob to shift, so she could get by. She was belly to belly with a (shorter than her) guy. She prepared to say something funny and appropriate for the moment because she's "from the South, and that's just good manners."

When she looked down, she found herself locked eye-to-eye with Micheal Stipe [lead singer of R.E.M.], who saw that she recognized him. After a momentary rush of excitement, Christine noticed that he looked ABSOLUTELY terrified, worse than deer-in-headlights, scared to DEATH. She quickly put together that his being recognized in that bar with all those people would spark a near riot.

So she did the "only humane thing." She looked away and moved off like nothing ever happened.

How much you wanna bet he told that story to "the guys" on the tour bus?

(Me too!)

If you have a Golden Moment or even a Reverse Golden Moment, feel free to share in the comments section. They are more common than you think!

I'm sorry, but is there a celebrity out there sexier than Elvis in his prime?

I don't think so.

(Sorry Matt.)

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Podcast is Up

Jon aka @LOST_boss and I have a BIG discussion on a little short story by Ambrose Bierce titled, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. We also do some talking about next month’s book, the future books of the bookclub and we even talk a little bit about a non-LOST related book.

Click here to listen.

Or stream it here:

LOST Tales of an Extra: Don't Be The Pogue, Part 1

"THE SHERRY"

My pal Sherry despises Matthew Fox.

It's not HATE hate, where she might "accidentally" run over him with her car if given the opportunity. It's more like she finds him profoundly offensive. You see, Sherry believes in a bottom line of human behavior. Anything below this line is Rude, and anyone who knows better but still hangs out below that line is a Jackass. Since most people you meet instinctively try not to be a Jackass, pretty much anyone at any given time can meet you halfway even if it's no more than a "Hey" when you catch their eye as you pass by them on the street. This is the key to Sherry's super powers: she gives everyone the benefit of the doubt and a minimum level of respect before she ever says a word.

[Well, that and the fact that she's totally hot.]

She and I have discussed this at length, and although we do agree that "Feigning Ignorance and Interest" is the best way to get a man talking, we disagree on the level of skill it takes to schmooze like she can. She says that all you have to do is ask, and I say, no, all you have to do is ask the right person the right way at the right time. There's a big difference. What she does is put the whammy on people with her fantastic PR skills. It's so amazing to watch in person, I started calling it "The Sherry."

For instance, during our day shooting Christian's funeral, Sherry chatted up the crew, who are mostly male and mostly home-grown [born and raised in Hawai'i], about what it's like to work on LOST full-time. They liked her so much, they gave her a crew T-shirt [unavailable to the public, mind you] AND a copy of the call sheet for the NEXT DAY [a REALLY BIG Deal]. She got a crew member to snap a polaroid of me and Shawn on set, which was the only picture of any extra on set that day because our cameras were not allowed.  [In fact, if anyone was seen with a camera or shooting pictures with their cell phones they were immediately tossed out on their ass.]

And she did all this without actually asking for anything because that's not why Sherry does what she does. She just likes meeting new people. Period. And they like meeting her because she's friendly, interesting, intelligent and fun, [And totally hot. Let's not forget.] and they give her stuff just to make her smile [because she has a really great smile].

What makes it even worse is that she's a genuinely nice human being. More than once, she's gone out of her way to help me out of a jam, and she's the first one to defend the cashier at the grocery store if the customer in front of her is acting like a total jerk. For minimum-wage-earning retail alumni (like me), Sherry is a dream come true in a sea of jerkies!

So it really cracks me up that she can't stand Matthew Fox.

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