his birthday is Dec 24th-25th , ( date on island )

so why at first FB was it sunny , warm, and no Christmas decorations.. in Portland OREGON it snows.. maybe its a different Portland,

Good catch! :thumbsup:

There is a Portland in south Florida... make more sense with Jules being in Miami...

thoughts?

ooo interesting!!

Wonder if someone will mention it the fact it's Christmas time on the island.

Myha pointed out that if it was in Florida it would make sense why Rachel drove Juliet there... form Miami

There are actually several Portlands in the U.S.: Oregon, Michigan, Maine, Missouri, Connecticut, Indiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas. There is even a Portland Airport in Australia. :biggrin:

I still think they are talking about Portland, Oregon. I know it snows in the Cascades, but I thought it was a little milder the closer you get to the coast. Plus weather is crazy, they could've just been having above normal temperatures for that time of year. Also, they probably do most of the filming in Hawaii for the show and probably couldn't find a place where it is currently snowing unless they went to Canada.

Wow, I think I really overanalyzed this. Point is, I think it's Portland, Oregon. :biggrin:

surely they know is fans well enough to know we will catch something so very obviously wrong. even if it didn't snow, oliva wouldn't be in a thin sleeveless shirt and those short things.. it just wouldn't not in Oregon.

Did they show the liscence plate of the car that picked up Ben's Family? That could narrow the state down.

oo yea but i didn't pay attention * slaps head *
100%
Hmm no license plate.. looked at caps .. not shown

Wait, how do we know the date again? I'm Lost.

I just rewatched the first scene, I didn't see a license plate on the front of the car either.

LOST pedia has a full time line & calculating rughly 90-93 days from crash ( sept 22 )

I will look for link to LOSTpedia time line.. and edit with it

Based on the Julian Calendar for 2004, I have to say Ben's Bday is 12/22.

After looking up the calendar & such, I found LostPedia agrees.

http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Timeline (http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Timeline:December_2004)

(go to December's timeline)

...interesting that this puts the finale/S4 opener at Christmas...ahhhh, the Biblical references continue.

That could put Season 7 around Easter...so YAY ZOMBIE RESURRECTION SEASON!

How appropriate.

I live in Washington state, where the weather is very similar to Oregon, and it RARELY snows in Washington west of the mountains. When it does snow, it is usually later on in like February. Then again, the weather did look way too nice to be in the Pacific Northwest in December, but you never know.

How do we know Ben's Birthday??

There is another car that passes. It clearly has a liscence plate...but I can't make it out. Maybe somebody with highdef can?

cheers

And then the tsunami hits on December 26th correct?

I just watched the clip in the beginning, and there didn't appear to be license plates on any of the cars. Maybe I missed it because it was a little fast and shaky, but I didn't see any.

How do we know Ben's Birthday??

Alex says "Happy Birthday, Dad".

How do we know Ben's Birthday??

Alex said "Happy birthday, dad" just before Ben and Locke departed to visit Jacob.

We know the Losties have been a little over 90 days on the island, and the crash occurred on September 22.

Maybe he's got his own birth date wrong...? I don't know why that would've happened though.

But yeah, if they mean Oregon, then there's a decent chance of no snow. As far as it being so nice out... the average temperature that time of year is low to mid 40s there, I think. Maybe Roger and Emily chose to go hiking that day because it was unseasonably warm.

I just don't see that warm sunny weather on dec 22 in Portland Oregon

This has been bugging me, too. Didn't the Portland from Juliet's flashback turn out to be the one in Florida? Of course, most people will assume Portland, Oregon, when they hear Portland. Maybe we just assumed wrong again in TMBTC.

Funny, too, that we see the mile sign right after they come out of what I assume most people thought was the island jungle. I gasped when I saw the truck roar past. I was thinking they had pulled "The Village" trick on us.

Anyhoo, I'm wondering if setting us up repeatedly to assume they mean Portland, Oregon, isn't just the writers' way of signaling that they have set us up in similar ways on other issues and that our assumptions on wrong there, too. I think it's their way of snickering at us. A good-natured snicker, but a snicker nonetheless.

Okay, first off, the entire show is filmed on Oahu. There's only so much you can do to Hawaii to make it look like winter in Oregon...

Second, I think it is very interesting to note that Ben is a Capricorn. He fits the description to the "T", I think. I should know, I'm a Capricorn myself... ;)

Capricorn is the tenth sign of the Zodiac and associated with hard work and business affairs. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have an ambitious, modest, patient, responsible, stable, trustworthy, powerful, intellectual, perspicacious and persistent character but one which is also prone to coldness, conservatism, rigidity, materialism, and dullness. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_%28astrology%29)

And I should add, are experts at manipulating people...

his birthday is Dec 24th-25th , ( date on island )

so why at first FB was it sunny , warm, and no Christmas decorations.. in Portland OREGON it snows.. maybe its a different Portland,


I've lived in Portland all 33 years of my life. It snowed ONCE on Christmas Eve -- 1993, I think.

Typically, it does NOT snow in Portland AT ALL in December. We might get two days of snow that barely sticks (or turns to ice) in January or February. Why? Because most of the city is barely above sea level, along the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. The Willamette Valley -- situated between two sheltering mountain ranges -- is typically wet in the winter, but not necessarily cold enough for snow. Fruit such as grapes and apples grow very well in the valley.

32 miles outside of Portland, depending on the direction, COULD be in the hills somewhere, and one might expect snowy conditions. However, there have been many warm Decembers.

Oh, and the show is filmed primarily in Hawaii, not the Pacific Northwest.
100%
Didn't the Portland from Juliet's flashback turn out to be the one in Florida? .

No. Richard Alpert was clearly talking about Portland, Oregon. (I believe he said that Mittelos was located just outside of Portland, which would put it somewhere like Beaverton: real-life home of Nike and countless high-tech companies -- Mittelos would blend in, seamlessly).

Of course, as he revealed at the end of the episode (which was titled "Not In Portland"), Mittelos was not actually in Portland -- not in Oregon, nor anywhere in the United States at all. Because he was lying when he initially told her the facility was in Portland... Because he actually meant "the Island", NOT Portland.

Who goes hiking when they are 7 months pregnant? It seems slightly strange.

If his Birthday was December 21 it would have been the Winter Solstice.

Who goes hiking when they are 7 months pregnant? It seems slightly strange.

Hmm, I didn't think it was strange, since its a good idea to exercise while pregnant as long as its not a risky pregnancy. (Who knows if it was here.)

It must have been a really quick labor though, if they weren't able to get out of the woods before she gave birth. Either that or it was a really long hike.

I thought that Ben looked quite big and healthy though, for being born that prematurely!

Hmm, I didn't think it was strange, since its a good idea to exercise while pregnant as long as its not a risky pregnancy. (Who knows if it was here.)

It must have been a really quick labor though, if they weren't able to get out of the woods before she gave birth. Either that or it was a really long hike.

I thought that Ben looked quite big and healthy though, for being born that prematurely!

Yeah, 7 months pregnant is not too late to go on a gentle day hike. But I think you're being a bit hard on the production crew by insisting they somehow come up with a 2 month preemy to film in their TV show... A baby born that early (and I know this because my son was born at 7 months) would almost certainly require being in a NICU unit for at least a month. To take a premature baby out of a NICU just to add an element of accuracy to this scene would have not only broken union rules, but would probably be a criminal act as well.... Just pretend Ben was premature-looking when you watch that scene... ;)

No. Richard Alpert was clearly talking about Portland, Oregon.
Seems logical, yet can you offer any proof other than a gut feeling?

I would say that walking while you're 7 months pregnant isn't as crazy as flying halfway around the world while you're 8 months pregnant....Claire!

Doctors encourage walking and exercise because keeping your muscles fit eases some of the discomfort of childbirth.
I'm guessing that their house was nearby, since they didn't try to make it to their own vehicle, but to the hiway instead.

Does anyone know the year of Horace's vehicle?

I think the Hawaiian region has its limitations in regards to looking like Oregon in December.

Additionally I dont think that it would be too difficult to suggest that there could be some warm days in that time frame and even in that part of the country. It is more likely to be in the 60's in Portland Oregon on a random day in December than it is that the writers are trying to pull a fast one.

I dont mind being wrong but I feel pretty confident and comfortable with this being Portland, Oregon simply because of this question...How would it serve the progress of the story line in any capacity if we learn later that its Portland, Texas. In my silly opinion it would be a monsterous waste of time and effort to try and keep a viewing audience guessing on which Portland Ben is from.

Who goes hiking when they are 7 months pregnant? It seems slightly strange.


Heck, I took a 3-5 mile hike (around my urban neighborhood and up and down the lakefront) when I was in labor, trying to speed things up. It's a common technique. Generally speaking, the more exercise the better, all the way through pregnancy and labor.

I didn't think the hike was strange. They only seemed to be about a half-mile off the road. That kind of sudden labor emergency at seven months would be quite rare.

I did like the psych-out about where they were. Of course I kept thinking it was the Island, and we were being psyched out by the lack of palm trees in the scene. Then I thought we were being psyched out by the paved road, truck and Portland sign. We know there were once halfway decent roads and presumably heavy vehicles on the Island, and maybe Portland was the Dharma name for Otherville. (And Juliet really was going to Portland). But of course in the end I realized we were being psyched because the wilderness was not on the island, so the writers were a step ahead of me after all.

I know its filmed in Hawaii, but if they take all the necessary steps to make it look like Africa, Australia , and such for other FBs why not do more here? they KNOW we would find any flaw and this seems to careless to be an accident.

It seems untypical for them to do this

A baby born that early (and I know this because my son was born at 7 months) would almost certainly require being in a NICU unit for at least a month. To take a premature baby out of a NICU just to add an element of accuracy to this scene would have not only broken union rules, but would probably be a criminal act as well.... Just pretend Ben was premature-looking when you watch that scene... ;)

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't expect them to have tried to get an actual 7 month old, that would not be a good idea, (and like you said, probably not legal!) It didn't bother me or anything, I just remember thinking, 'jeez, Ben looks really good!'

I know its filmed in Hawaii, but if they take all the necessary steps to make it look like Africa, Australia , and such for other FBs why not do more here? they KNOW we would find any flaw and this seems to careless to be an accident.

It seems untypical for them to do this

I don't think it was a lack of effort to make it look like Oregon, I think it was just a psych-out to make us believe Ben was being born on the island for the first few minutes. It was intentional to make the scene look like it was the island.

Never having been really anywhere in the US besides New York City for a weekend (and Disney World ages ago), I didn't notice!

I was born and raised in Portland, Or, and Ben's mother and father weren't there in the show. In December the temperature hangs out in the 30 to upper-40 degreesFahrenheit range. For the majority of the winter, the sky is overcast with drizzles or all out rain. Even on a clear day, it is not the time for a nice hike in the woods wearing a sundress - at that time of year, we used to drive around the Columbia Gorge and look at the frozen over waterfalls. I like the the theory that the location ob Ben's birth was near Portland, Florida.

Okay, first off, the entire show is filmed on Oahu. There's only so much you can do to Hawaii to make it look like winter in Oregon...
You can close the convertible top on the car and dress the actors in appropriate clothing.


I like the the theory that the location ob Ben's birth was near Portland, Florida
Except that, in the scene where the truck goes by http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-1287-12.html there appears to be a good sized hill in the background. Do they have hills that big in Florida? I wonder if Ben knows when his birthday is or if he didn't just pick a date.

I think that if it is in florida it would make sense why rachel drove Juliete to mittelos from Miami.

and why they were all in summer clothes as well. Its just not logically Portland, they make Hawaii look like Africa, LA, Sydney, ect. hey could make it look like Portland Oregon if it was in fact there.

If they were so non challeant about they i will have lost respect, they always are so careful about that.

This is a big budget show. None of the actors in the first scene were ever seen before, so I dont think it beyond their budget to shoot that scene in the US, then fly the father and the driver to Hawaii for the other scenes. It seemed obvious it was shot in the same jungle where everything else was shot - the flora must surely look different in Oregon. I know that was what we were supposed to initially think, but the wow factor of the reveal (oh its not the island!!) didn't really make it worth it - just made it seem cheap.

I know its filmed in Hawaii, but if they take all the necessary steps to make it look like Africa, Australia , and such for other FBs why not do more here? they KNOW we would find any flaw and this seems to careless to be an accident.

It seems untypical for them to do this

I really really think you're being way too critical here. I've been in the Willamette Valley in December, and it honestly did not look all that different from what they were showing us in that scene. Come on, from what some people are trying to describe, it sounds like they showed us someplace that was totally NOT like the Portland Oregon area... It was a pretty fair facsimile, in my opinion. Time to move on, folks...

Having been in both Oregon and Florida, i tend to believe that if the producers are trying to make Hawaii look like one of those two, then they are chosing Oregon......
Florida is FLAT and more palm trees tropical flowers _ which would be easy to photograph in Hawaii :LOL

bawstngrl

I'm pretty sure it's Portland, Oregon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon#Geography_and_climate

Just wanted to pop in and say, they made it snowy Buffalo NY in Rose/Bernard's flashback - on an Oahu street.

Speaking of Rose and Bernard, and since this is a birthday thread, I wanted to repost something I put in the Alpert thread. Someone there already made a less-than-friendly comment, so I'm giving this new home a shot. ;)

Ok, this is random, but the birthday discussion reminded me of a previous birthday discussion on the show:

Rose: Don't pay him any mind, honey. He's just mad at the world because he forgot my birthday.
Bernard: I didn't forget. I don't even know what day of the week it is, Rose.
Rose: It's Saturday, Bernard.
(Thanks losthatch.com)

The similarities to the R/B conversation seem to inform (me anyway) that Richard and Ben had a very close relationship, one that should warrant Richard remembering Ben's birthday - particularly if Richard thinks he is important to Ben and Ben's birthday has been a long standing sore spot for him. The two have clearly been #1 and #2 for the Others for decades, and Richard clearly acted jealous/stunned/pissed that Locke was being taken to Jacob, or enough so to indicate that he knows he is being bumped down a rung. ...

Argh, where am I going with this? I'm getting confused. :undecide: All I'm saying is, to the person who's birthday it is, a person who thinks the other knows him/her intimately, remembering a birthday is critical. So, is it as simple a reason as not knowing the day of the week? Remember, Richard wears a watch....

In the episode where Ben takes Juliet to the Flame to show her Richard's video of Rachel, doesn't he tell Mikhail to get him "Richard in Acadia"? I always thought this referred to Acadia National Park, which is very close to Portland, Maine.

The foliage in The Man Behind the Curtain was far more Portland, Oregon-like than the photos in Richard's Mittelos slide show. (Good job, location scouts!!)

Perfect psych-out, as has been mentioned in this thread, all around.

LOL this all so very interesting. And i am totally on track with rose.bernard thing jenny!


I think this is something that does deserve investigation, those of you who take it at face value, you may be correct, but i still am not satisfied with it.

Well, I can't see Roger & Emily Linus going on a forest hike on Christmas Day, so December 22 does seem the more likely date.

Hummmm. . .if the first 2/3 of the eppy took place on Dec. 22, then it ended the morning of Dec. 23. Which is probably where the narrative will pick up on Wednesday. If the Others' attack is scheduled for the next day, Dec. 24, then the retaliation would probably take place ASAP. Which could actually mean that the Finale--and a BIG BATTLE--could happen on Christmas Day.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, Islanders! NOT.

Well, I can't see Roger & Emily Linus going on a forest hike on Christmas Day, so December 22 does seem the more likely date.

Hummmm. . .if the first 2/3 of the eppy took place on Dec. 22, then it ended the morning of Dec. 23. Which is probably where the narrative will pick up on Wednesday. If the Others' attack is scheduled for the next day, Dec. 24, then the retaliation would probably take place ASAP. Which could actually mean that the Finale--and a BIG BATTLE--could happen on Christmas Day.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, Islanders! NOT.
STH, Very good thinking ahead.

In the episode where Ben takes Juliet to the Flame to show her Richard's video of Rachel, doesn't he tell Mikhail to get him "Richard in Acadia"? I always thought this referred to Acadia National Park, which is very close to Portland, Maine.

yeah and when juliet is hired they first said that the job is in Portland...so i just search in wikipedia... and find something named isle of portland , apparently it's in England!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Portland

In Trivia there's a story about rabbits

yeah and when juliet is hired they first said that the job is in Portland...so i just search in wikipedia... and find something named isle of portland , apparently it's in England!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Portland

In Trivia there's a story about rabbits
We discussed this and it seems to be a location outside of Miami.

http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=76048&highlight=acadia

I love the LostPedia timeline and it indicates that Ben's birthday is 12/22. It's easy to work out the timeline since Ben told Jack the Losties had been on the Island for 69 days in The Glass Ballerina. Yes, yes, Ben lies but its helped solidify the timeline. And, to my great shock and delight, Ben and I share a birthday. He was born ca. 1962-63 (the company that provided the cars in the scene by the highway was told to make sure the cars they used were in production in 1963), I was born in 1959.