My Lost Men

In a way, it feels a bit like living in a zombie film. I just hope this is a spoof zombie film, and not a real horror film. At first, it just seemed a bit odd, or maybe it was just that Peter was sick and unable to work .... But then the telltale signs started multiplying, and now I am realizing that it is not only my three men: countless people all over Linz have already been infected.

First there is a flurry of furtive text messaging, phone calls, then suddenly DVDs start appearing. Like an astonishing number of our friends, all three of my men are hooked on this idiotic American TV series called "Lost", and they have detailed mental map of Linz to keep track of who has which DVDs from this series. I have no idea how many seasons of this show have already been released on DVD, but it goes on endlessly, literally day and night. And somehow my three men have this pact that they have to watch all of them together. Anyone who misses out a number of episodes due to irritating interruptions like school and work, has to catch up as soon as possible (even if it 3 am), so that they can continue watching together. I have no objections to father and son bonding, but I really feel left out now. I don't like TV series under the best of circumstances, and they have certainly convinced me that I never want to watch this one. The reasons that they all come up with for why they have to continue watching this series – not only my three men, but also very intelligent and critically thinking friends – are really quite impressive. Not quite plausible, I think, but nonetheless impressive.

I would like to be able to rejoin the conversations, however, so I sincerely hope that the supply of DVDs currently circulating in Linz is not really as endless as it appears to be at the moment.