Regarding Danielle's not so French accent...

I think in some ways that was deliberate. She also spoke a bit of Spanish (Donde esta Alex) when she was questioning Sayid so God knows how many languages she knows.

Don't know why the distress call was only in French though. Probably to get the message boards abuzz.

But, like, French name. And everyone (including the casting sheet, it seems) calls her a French Woman. I gather that Catherine Deneuve was too expensive, but French != Croatian.

Not that there are any major political philosophers with Croatian last names, unless you count Josip Tito. (I think that was a pseudonym anyway.)

I can't imagine how hard it must be to learn to speak a second language with an accent other than that of your native tongue, though. I'm willing to handwave the linguistic accuracy if we get Mira Furlan for our troubles. Maybe she came from a small village in the French countryside where everyone had immigrated from Sarajevo a generation before? (Not as wacky as it sounds—the husband of a friend of mine comes from a small Mississippi townlet where Czech was spoken in everyone's homes.)

Okay, some screencaps of the map.

One fom further back
Closer view
Photoshopped to a black and white map, still not corrected for angle.

I think that there is something inherently wrong with me. I have missed the beginning of every episode so far. This week, I missed about twenty minutes, but I'm trying to remain somewhat unspoiled about it, in the hopes that they replay the ep on Saturday.

And, I LOVE Hurley. That golf course is the best. He can't play worth anything, and it doesn't even bother me that the have the heavy guy being the comic relief, because he just rocks.

Being heavy myself, having Hurley be "the jolly fat guy" was irritating at first, but they've redeemed him a bit in his exchange with Charlie last week, as well as having him be the morale officer on the island. Now, all he has to do is figure out (maybe with Sayid's help?) how to rig up a still, and they're in business!

I'm willing to handwave the linguistic accuracy if we get Mira Furlan for our troubles.

So am I.

Interesting on the maps -- it looks like there could be a central valley -- consistent with this being a volcanic island, especially if the "mountains" are the sides of a massively worn-down crater.

Since the series is filmed in Hawaii, the terrain is consistent with what you can find in an authentically volcanic island at least. :-)

And black rock, oh yes. Maybe there's a huge block of Obsidian somewhere....

I am Hurley's size, (maybe bigger, I'm a horrible judge of how huge I appear to others) I had trepidations also. But he's been more than just Jolly, he's been smart and dumb and inspired and a little crazy. He was even tired and clueless about Charlie's guitar back in "the Moth." In other words, they aren't making him always comic relief, Just like Charlie. I like that.

I enjoyed the crazy laugh he gave when he was running off to build the golf course.

I think Cleolinda was the one who snarked about why they brought the bags they had found to Hurley. I think that's because Hurley has become Jack's de facto company clerk/assistant. They were dropping them off at HQ, basically.

I'm seeing Hurley these days as Quartermaster and Chief of Morale. Which are not bad roles to have, even if they're not Leader and Healer or Shaman and Hunter.