courtneystodden: July 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008

HQ versions of Comic-Con Test and Video

Here is a YouTube version thanks to Unai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCVCzplSa6A

Oh no it looks good on you it really does!!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 7

Video Issues

Update: 31st July For people who have been having sound issues, can you try the videos below and let me know in the comments if either one now works for you?

Update: Another article on possible solutions for those having problems can be found here.

A number of readers have been emailing me saying that they are having problems with the videos here at DarkUFO. I thought I'd conduct a poll to see the extent of the issue.

If anyone who previously had an issue has subsequently fixed it please could you leave some comments in this thread as it may help others.

Note: If you have problems can you leave a comment as to which browser you are using ie Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari etc

Update: Some users have emailed saying that they fixed their issues by installing the latest BETA Flash player. The latest current version is the one with an issue apparently. Use the links below to upgrade to the latest Beta version.

To see what version of Flash you have installed click HERE.

Internet Explorer Beta Player
Firefox and Other Browser Beta Player

adobe flash version test
adobe flash deinstall
adobe flash install

If you fixed your problem by upgrading to the latest version, can you post a comment to say that it worked etc.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 6

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

DarkUFO featured on G4 Special

As some of you may or may not know, we were featured on a special G4 Lost special last week. This special was to introduce the G4 Channel starting to show reruns of Lost. One of the segments discussed the "Internet Buzz" and we were lucky enough to be featured.

Thanks to Unai from sl-lost for the video.

Lostpedia Cast and Crew Interviews

Thanks to Sam for alerting me to this great little page on Lostpedia which has all their Cast and Crew Interviews.

Interviews

Warning: Some of the interviews may contain some mild spoilers.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 5

Monday, July 28, 2008

Awesome Online Store- Who doesn't love GOATS?

Check out this awesome online store. I mean goats do say maaaaaa its true why not get a shirt. Who knows you may run into someone who doesn't know that goats say maaaaaaa or maybe you just want a shirt with that kickass goat on it.
http://www.cafepress.com/thegoatshoppe

Prediction League - Fact and Figures

Update: 29th July Go can now see all the entries here.

Here are some brief facts and figures for the Prediction League. This is not all the categories only a hand picked selection.

The Lost Fantasy League - Season 5 Facts and Figures

Update: For those who have forgotten who they have picked we now have the full table online. The Tables are sorted first by the Site whose mini-league you have joined, then by the team name.
Excel Version
Google Docs Version

Having just done the initial processing of all the fantasy league submissions I can present a few facts and figures for those interested.

Total Teams 4860 (We had a number of duplicates which took us below 5000 but still more than double last year)

There are a total of 4243 unique teams.
There was a total of 17,418,240 possible combinations.

Most Popular Combinations - The following teams have all been picked by 6 people

John Locke Jacob Ben Linus Charles Widmore Ji-Yeon Kwon Charlie Pace Mr. Eko Christian Shephard
John Locke Jacob Jack Shephard Charles Widmore Ji-Yeon Kwon Libby Horace Goodspeed Jin Kwon
Sawyer Ford Bernard Nadler Jack Shephard Charles Widmore Ji-Yeon Kwon Libby Horace Goodspeed Daniel Faraday

Popular Characters by Group.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 4

Season 5 Filming begins 18th August

Thanks to Lyly for the heads up from Jorge Garcia who believes that filming for Season 5 will being on August 18th.

Source: Jorge Garcia

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 3

Saturday, July 26, 2008

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 2

Friday, July 25, 2008

New Comment Form testing

Update: 15:25 GMT Thanks for helping with the testing. For those that still want to access the POP-Up comments form from the main page, you will now see a small icon under the title of each post. By clicking on the icon the pop-up comment form will load.

A while ago we ran a reader feedback session and one of the items that came out was to make it easier to comment here at DarkUFO. I've just finished making some changes to the how the comments work here on the Homepage only. If successful I'll roll out the feature to the rest of the site.

The new form removes the need for any pop-up window and also by default hides all the existing comments to make it quicker to leave your comment.

Please feel free to test the new comment form out by leaving comments to this post and I would love to hear any feedback you have, both Good and Bad. The old comment popup form is still available via a link on the new comment form.

Test away :)

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R3 - Match 1

Final call for your Submissions

Update: 26th July The Submissions for this years Leagues are now closed. We will be posting some starts on the the various entries later next week.

Update: 25th July Final Day to get your submissions in. Can we break 5000 submissions? Currently 4944 entries.
Update: 24th July Approaching 5000 people! Just today and tomorrow to get your submissions in.
Update: 23rd July We now have nearly 4800 people signed up, double that of last year!

There is just a few days left to get your Fantasy League and/or Predication League submissions in. Make sure you don't miss out on the fun and prizes next year. Remember to tell your friends and the sites that you belong to get their submissions in ASAP.

Also remember to get your Character Cup Predictions in. If you want to take part in the Bracket/Prediction competition for the Character Cup make sure you fill out your entry form here.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Lost G4 Special

Just a reminder that you can catchup with Lost again on the G4 Cable network starting tomorrow. Here is a little snippet from TV Guide about a special Lost show.

Damon Lindelof remembers the day clearly. Not long after turning into ABC a 23-page outline for a show that would be called Lost, his phone rang, on a Sunday. It was Lloyd Braun, who at the time was the president of ABC Entertainment. "I'm going to greenlight this show," Braun said. Lindelof's immediate thought? "Oh, s--t!"

That story and many more reflections on the serialized phenomenon concerning castaways, Others and others are shared in Lost: A G4 Special, premiering Friday, July 25, at 10 pm/ET on the G4 cable network.

Among the Losties sharing their views on the series' secrets and theories are Matt Mitovich (that's me), Entertainment Weekly's Jeff "Doc" Jensen and MediaWeek's Marc Berman. If you get a chance, tune in and check it out. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

Source: TV Guide

Comic-Con is here

The ODI and his team of DarkUFO bloggers have arrived in San Diego and are already starting to provide us with some coverage of the event.

The Lost Panel and related Lost events such as Octagon Global Recruiting stand will be reported here. We will also be updating the Octagon Global Recruiting part of the site with any updates as they happen.

We will also be covering the rest of Comic-Con as part of our SpoilerTV coverage here. This will include all other shows and movies.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the live reporting there will be some duplication of information and potentially spoilers.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 15 and 16

Congratulations to There's No Place Like Home and The Shape of Things to Come for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins. Today sees the last of the Round 2 Matches. Tomorrow marks the first of the Last-16 battles.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 2 people have a 45 from 46 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 43 from 46. Below are the final percentages from yesterdays matches.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

MSMMA

The Monkey Suit is proud to announce its new venture Monkey Suit Mixed Martial Arts or MSMMA, the new MS. Monkey Suit and Gang have begun training and are sure to have all sorts of awesome MSMMA action to post. All is sure to enjoy us beating the crap out of each other.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 13 and 14

Update: 17:30 GMT The Bracket site is now back up.
Update: 15:15 GMT The Bracket site is currently down for maintenance.
Congratulations to The Beginning of the End and Walkabout for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 2 people have a 43 from 44 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 42 from 44. Below are the final percentages from yesterdays matches.

Monday, July 21, 2008

More from our strange World!!!

Conjoined Birds how does that happen?

Mini Me Sex Tape, yes that's right Mini Me sex tape

Who doesn't love goat?

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 11 and 12

Update: 15:00 Fresh from his honeymoon, G-Man has kindly updated the graphical draw so far for the Cup which you can see below.

Congratulations to the Pilot and Flashes Before Your Eyes for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins. I have a feeling today's matches might be a little closer.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 3 people have a 41 from 42 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 40 from 42. Below are the final percentages from yesterdays matches.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 9 and 10

Congratulations to the Confirmed Dead and The Man Behind the Curtain for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins. MOSMOF is the first premiere or finale episode to be knocked out.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 3 people have a 39 from 40 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 38 from 40. Below are the final percentages from yesterdays matches.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

New Site Section - Octagon Global Recruiting

As you may have seen, ABC seem to be gearing up for a new ARG related to the OGR stuff that has been floating around for Comic-Con. In case this does indeed turn out to be a new ARG I've started work on a new part of the site that we will use to run the game.

http://lostoctagonglobalrecruiting.blogspot.com/

This can also be accessed via the navigation menu at the top of the screen.

Note: If and when this is confirmed as being a new ARG we will be looking for some contributors to the site, so stay tuned.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 7 and 8

Update: Some people will see an error message on the polls when they hit submit. Don't worry your votes were still recorded and you can see the results here. Poll 1 and Poll 2

Congratulations to the Live Together, Die Alone and Cabin Fever for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 3 people have a 37 from 38 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 36 from 38. Below are the final percentages from yesterdays matches.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 5 and 6

Congratulations to the The Hunting Party and Exodus for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins. For those of you that like to look at the numbers/analysis of the results, one of our Forum users is keeping a eye on the results here.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 3 people have a 35 from 36 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 34 from 36. Below are the final percentages from yesterdays matches.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Octagon Global Recruiting and Lost Comic-Con Panel - New Email and Web Site

Update: 20th July The Image has been updated again as you can see below. (Click to Enlarge)

Update: 19th July A number of users have been emailing me about strange dots appearing on the new site. Thanks to lostfan for the image below. (Click to Enlarge)

Thanks to Jason for sending this through. A new Octagon Global Recruiting email is going out currently and there is a new Dharma website that looks like it will be launched soon, probably to coincide with Comic-Con.

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.

"My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us."

The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.

If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.

The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.com

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com

Thanks to Hipster for finding the following in the source code from the page.

…If you’re reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I’ve got intel about his little “recruitment drive.”
They’re doing some kind’ve personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their “booth,” he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you’ve got your Bluetooth on and visible – he’s rigged up a little something.

The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn’t it?
Well, I’m getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I “pass” (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I’m gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 3 and 4

Congratulations to the The Constant and A Tale of Two Cities for progressing into Round 3 with 2 easy wins. For those of you that like to look at the numbers/analysis of the results, one of our Forum users is keeping a eye on the results here.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 10 people have a 33 from 34 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 32 from 34.

Below are the final percentages.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Full Emmy Nominations List

These are the Categories where Lost will be competing for Emmy's this year.

Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series
Lost • The Constant • ABC • ABC Studios
John Bartley, A.S.C., C.S.C., Director of Photography

Outstanding Drama Series
Lost • ABC • ABC Studios

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score)
Lost • The Constant • ABC • ABC Studios
Michael Giacchiano, Music By

Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
Lost • There's No Place Like Home (Parts 2 & 3) • ABC • ABC Studios
Henk Van Eeghen, Editor
Robert Florio, Editor
Mark J. Goldman, Editor
Stephen Semel, Editor

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series
Lost • The Shape Of Things To Come • ABC • ABC Studios
Thomas deGorter, M.P.S.E., Supervising Sound Editor
Paula Fairfield, M.P.S.E., Sound Editor
Carla Murray, M.P.S.E., Sound Editor
Maciek Malish, M.P.S.E., Sound Editor
Lloyd Jay Keiser, Sound Editor
Joseph Schultz, Sound Editor
Jim Bailey, Foley Artist
Cynthia Merril, Foley Artist
Alex Levy, Music Editor

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour)
Lost • Meet Kevin Johnson • ABC • ABC Studios
Robert Anderson, Production Mixer
Frank Morrone, Re-Recording Mixer
Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixer

Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs
Lost: Missing Pieces • ABC.com • ABC.com / ABC Studios
Damon Lindelof, Executive Producer
Carlton Cuse, Executive Producer
Barry Jossen, Executive Producer

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Lost • ABC • ABC Studios
Michael Emerson as Ben

Source: Full List@Emmy TV

Final call for people attending Comic-Con

With Comic-Con just around the corner, if there is anyone here that is going to Comic-Con who wants to be part of our Live Blogging team please email me here.

We will be covering the Lost Panel and related Lost events here. We will also be covering the rest of Comic-Con as part of our SpoilerTV coverage here.

So if you are attending and have not already contacted Myself or The ODI then please drop me an email and I'll send you instructions about how you can report live from the event and have your posts/photos etc appear live on the site as things happen.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R2 - Matches 1 and 2

Update: There is a problem with the Poll Results. Your results are still being record but the results view is throwing up an error. To see the results page click here and here.

Congratulations to the ? and The Brig for progressing into Round 2 with 2 very easy wins and completing the Round 1 Matches

Today sees the first Round 2 Match-up and for those playing the bracket competition, a correct pick is now worth 2 points.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. 17 people have a 31 from 32 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 30 from 32.

Below are the final percentages and the score in brackets is the % score from the bracket competition.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Very Funny Website full of deliciousness!!!!

Check out www.fistagoat.com it is a very funny website closely tied to the Monkey Suit himself. Check it out then let me know what you think.

New Chat Software - New Chat is Live

We're pleased to launch today the new Chat rooms that so many people have been asking for. The previous Chat Software Yaplet (harshly nicknamed Craplet by the regulars lol) has out lived it's usefulness.

With the fantastic help of my good friend Congested (and others BauerUK!) we now have a fully functional and robust chat area that all readers can enjoy. This Chat Room will be able to cope with almost unlimited number of users during peak times, won't crash and won't be so open to abuse from trolls and other pesky Internet folk. The Chat is IRC based for those of you who have used IRC before. The new chat rooms also give us the ability to create a number of unique features that are not available in other chats like Automated Bots, Automatic updates whenever a new post appears on the site etc. We will be looking to develop the chat further.

Shortly the Navigation and Chat buttons throughout the site will be updated to include the link to the new chat rooms.

Please read the information below before trying out the Chat Room.

1) There is a Mini-FAQ on the chat page that will be updated when we make changes. Please read it before running the chat. There is a Full FAQ here and it's strongly advised that you read this and understand it.
2) The chat currently has a ZERO-Tolerance on spoilers. DO NOT POST THEM - you will be banned. Shortly we will be opening up a Spoiler Chat Room for those that like to discuss spoilers.
3) If you have a problem with Chat or have any suggestions please visit this thread in the Forum. Do not email me with issues please, and please ensure that you have read the FAQ's mentioned before making a post.
4) You have the choice of accessing the Chat either via the Web Version or by using an IRC Client. More information can be found in the FAQ about advance features and how to access using external client.
5) Make sure you read the FAQ to find out how to reserve your Nickname/Username in the Chat.

Thanks to all the beta testers that helped us during the testing period. We hope you enjoy the new chat room.

Launch the new chat here.

The DarkUFO Episode Cup - R1 - Matches 31 and 32

Congratulations to the Through The Looking Glass and The Man From Tallahassee for progressing into Round 2 with 2 very easy wins.

Today see the final Round 1 Match-up before we start with Round 2 Tomorrow. Bracket points for Round 2 are double now.

The Brackets Table has been updated with Yesterdays results. We've finally lost our only 100% correct pick yesterday when "Felix "Effgeh" Griep" picked The Other 48 Days over TMFT. Only 19 people have a 29 from 30 record. How are you faring in the Bracket? I'm currently 28 from 30. Remember, points scored in the 1st round are not worth as much as points scored in later rounds, so you still have a chance even if you have several picks wrong currently.

Below are the final percentages and the score in brackets is the % score from the bracket competition.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Site Update and Schedule of Events

Here is the latest state of play of the various events and activities on the site.

Fantasy and Predication League
There is just 1 week left to get your Fantasy League and/or Predication League submissions in. Make sure you don't miss out on the fun and prizes next year.

Episode Cup
The Episode is well underway and Round 2 will be starting shortly.

Character Cup
When the Episode Cup has completed we will start the Character Cup. If you want to take part in the Bracket/Prediction competition for the Character Cup make sure you fill out your entry form here.

New Quiz
Today we launched a new "Hardest Quiz", test your knowledge of Lost against others.

Comic-Con
Comic-Con is with us next week and we will be providing Live Lost coverage here. Make sure you don't miss out on any scoops. We will also be covering the rest of Comic-Con as part of SpoilerTV for other shows and movies etc. You can find the rest of our Comic-Con coverage here. Note: These sections will almost definitely contain spoilers for the upcoming seasons of many of the covered shows.

New Chat Room
We have been Beta-Testing the new Chat Room for a couple of days and things have been progressing well. We hope to launch the new Chat Room tomorrow if all goes well, so stay tuned.

Reader Feedback
Just a reminder to any of you who may have missed the results of our recent Reader Feedback.

Twitter
For users who like to follow us via Twitter, we now have both a DarkUFO Twitter page and a SpoilerTV Twitter page.

The Hardest Lost Quiz Ever! - The Revenge!

A while ago we asked you for your questions to help us create another very hard Lost quiz. We have now collated all your questions and listened to your feedback from the first quiz. You can still take the Original Quiz here.

IMPORTANT - Read Before starting
1) There are 35 Multiple-choice questions.
2) You pick either A, B, C, D or E for your answer by clicking on your choice.
3) You are then told if you got it right along with the answer and the % of other users who also got it right.
4) You have 30 seconds to complete each question and the quicker you answer the question the more points you get
5) To take the Quiz you must FIRST create a free account HERE.
6) Only take the quiz ONCE if you want your score on the league table at the end of the day.

Good luck and let us know what you thought of the quiz in the comments. Also feel free to let your Lost friends and other message boards know about the Quiz or you can click on the "Grab Quiz" button to add it to your own site. Any problems just leave a comment or email me.

Current Leader Board - Top 10
Lostgill 3283
Deckert 3280
smellyberry 3250
danakman 3211
jgill 3118
manzoire 3040
novey 2897
ManchesterUTD 2860
Finrod 2768
dundees 2763