WELCOME TO THE DHARMA INITIATIVE

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Monday, February 22, 2010

Office Dharma: LOST refrences

I think it is really cool when you get to see LOST references outside of the show. This means that a lot of people have gotten really deep into the show.

In a scene of the U.S. version of The Office, in the episode "Initiation", Dwight Shrute asks Ryan Howard, "What is the Dharma initiative?" This can be seen on the season 3 DVD. He also asks this question to the character Andy in a deleted scene in the third season finale where Andy replies that the Dharma Initiative is the source of all good on the earth. Dwight then corrects him by saying "Wrong. It is an organization created by aliens."

In the 2008 movie Cloverfield, which was produced by J.J. Abrams and the team that made Lost, a slight variation on the Dharma Initiative logo can briefly be seen in the opening of the movie. It is during the introduction of the film which states where the "video" about to be shown came from. It is only visible for a few frames on the lower right side of screen. It looks almost identical to the Pearl station logo.

There you have it Office Dharma and Cloverfied Dharma.

The LOST Numbers

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These are the numbers every LOST fan has memorized. These numbers have appeared many times over and over on the show.

Hurley used the numbers to win the lottery.

The numbers were also engraved on the hatch (The Swan)

In the most recent episode of LOST, it was revealed that Jacob had assigned numbers to various characters on the show.

4 - Locke
8 - Reyes
15- Ford
16 - Jarrah
23 - Shepard
42 - Kwon

Not too sure what this all means but I am hoping we get these answers quick.

Dharma Origin

So were does the word dharma come from and what does it really mean?

I needed to figure this out so I did some research.

So first DHARMA stands for: Department of Heuristics and Research on Material Applications

Dharma also refers to the teachings and doctrines of the founders of Buddhism and Jainism. For many Buddhists, the Dharma most often means the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha. In East Asia, the translation for Dharma is pronounced in Mandarin, beop in Korean, in Japanese, and pháp in Vietnamese.

There is a lot of information on the dharma origin. Check out this link for a little bit more detail on the word and its many meanings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma

Fan Made

Fans are really making some impressive stuff. I want to show LOST fans some of the fan made stuff out there.

First is a computer case that is designed like the hatch. It has a key with the dharma logo. To turn on the computer you actually just turn the key.

Fan made advertising is one of my favorites. There is a whole bunch of them. I just posted one of them here. If you want to check out all the ads click the link. Fan made ads.

Someone even created a replica of the Dharma Initiative van. This has got to be my #1 favorite fan made thing. This is truly awesome. When I find more fan made things I will keep everyone posted.

Thanks for checking back. Namaste!

Dharma Stations

As far as I know there were 10 Dharma stations. Each station had a specific job to perform.

Arrow - has apparently been converted into a storage room. Also a part of the orientation film was hidden in this station.

Swan - The hatch to the right is the swam. The swam was planned to be a lab used for research on electromagnetism.

Flame - Dharma Initiative's communication station. It uses sonar and satellite technologies to communicate with the outside world and other stations on the Island, and can also be used to order food deliveries.

Pearl - where the Dharma Initiative studied psychology. It primarily serves as a monitoring station, to which surveillance feeds from the other stations are sent.

Orchid - features a small chamber adjacent to an exotic matter anomaly, which can be used to warp time and space. Hidden behind the chamber is a further level of the Orchid which consists of pillars and stones with unknown hieroglyphs that have been seen in a few other places on the Island, and ends with a room consisting of a giant frozen wheel built horizontally into the wall.

Lamp Post - is the only known off-island Dharma station. This station was used by the Dharma initiative to find the island. As the island is constantly moving, the researchers developed an equation to predict where the island would be in the future, thereby providing a window of opportunity to reach it.

Staff - is a medical research station, later designed to house pregnant women who were taken there to give birth and/or die.

Hydra - is a zoological research station located on a small island roughly two miles off-shore from the main island. The Hydra facility has cages outside the station in the jungle where polar bears used to be kept. An underwater complex was once used as an aquarium, which housed sharks and dolphins.

Looking Glass - is located on the sea-bed at approximately 60 feet (18m) depth, some 600 feet (182m) from the beach. The station is used to jam communications going to and from the Island, as well as generating a beacon to guide the submarine to the Island. When the Dharma Initiative was still active, the Looking Glass was used to resupply the submarine.

Tempest - is a chemical weapons development station on the Island. It is used to control the release of poisonous gases over the Island. Every day, before his death, Goodwin would travel to The Tempest to press a button to prevent deadly gases from escaping.

There you have it, a quick overview of all the Dharma stations.

Dharma Gear

Dharma gear is available for LOST fans. You can pick up a replica of the Dharma Initiative jumpsuit in either a gray colour like you can see to the right or you can get one in a dark blue colour. Th dark blue suit was worn by Kate in the series.

If you don't want to get a jumpsuit you may be interested in a lab coat.

Get all the Dharma gear and LOST accessories only at the abc store.
Check it out: ABC STORE

Alvar Hanso

Who is Alvar Hanso and the Hanso Foundation? Alvar Hanso is the man responsible for the existence of the Dharma Initiative. He is the man who funded the whole project. Not a whole lot is known about this man.

We know he is Danish and the great grandson of Magnus Hanso, a 19th century shipping captain whose boat just happened to crash land on the island. An unruly amount of people have died on the island, including natives, employees, and castways alike and some say Hanso is to blame for disturbing the island’s slumber.

Check out the Hanso Foundation website to learn more.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Dharma Logo Line Patterns


Trigram FigureKorean NameAttributeAnimalBodyFamily
1||| (☰)Ch'ien, The CreativeStrength, creativityHorseHeadFather
2||¦ (☱)Sun, The Gentle Penetration, FollowingFowlThighEldest Daughter
3|¦| (☲)Li, The ClingingBrightnessPheasantEyeSecond Daughter
4|¦¦ (☳)Ken, Keeping stillStillness, StoppingDogHandYoungest Son
5¦|| (☴)Tui, The JoyousPleasure, Joy, AttractionSheepMouthYoungest Daughter
6¦|¦ (☵)K'an, The AbysmalDangerPigEarSecond Son
7¦¦| (☶)Chen, The ArousingMovement, initiative, actionDragonFootEldest Son
8¦¦¦ (☷)K'un, The ReceptiveDocility, receptivityOxBellyMother

There is a lot of meaning behind the line patterns in the dharma logos. Each set has a meaning like danger, strength, pleasure and a few more.

Check out this link for more information about the dharma logos and their meanings: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/DHARMA_logos

Dharma DVD


Attention all Lost fanatics!

If you have not picked up this collectors item, I strongly suggest you get on it.

The contents of the season 5 dvd set are as follows:
- Dharma logo patches
- DVDs in sleeves that look like floppy disks
- VHS tape that has the whole mysteries of the universe series
- Letters from Richard
- Job Descriptions

The whole set is enclosed in a dharma binder.
The dharma DVD is also available on bluray.

The dharma DVD box set is going for about 100 bucks at some stores and the bluray is about 20 bucks more. Expensive? Yes, but I think its worth it :)

I got one and it makes a great addition to the collection.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Mysteries of the Universe

Mysteries of the Universe is about the Dharma Initiative. This 5 part series provides a lot of insight about the Dharma Initiative. A very interesting watch. Check it out!


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Dharma Initiative inspired Nike shoes (Dharma Shoes)

I think this is something that a lot of die-hard fans will want to get a hold of. I have not been able to find these shoes yet. If anyone has any idea where to get these, please let know. The Dharma Initiative shoes. Gotta get these Dharma shoes!

Here is a link to a little bit more information: http://hypebeast.com/2010/01/lost-dharma-initiative-x-nike-sb-blazer-hi/

NAMASTE!

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out my blog. I made this blog because I am a huge fan of the show LOST. I am a huge fan of the Dharma Initiative. I am going to do my best to give as much information on the Dharma Initiative as possible. Enjoy!