The riveting spectacle of the inauguration almost made me forget about the premiere of “;Lost”; Wednesday night. Our new president's speech and festivities were a tough act to follow, but Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof efficiently reviewed the first four seasons, the Dharma Initiative and the histories of key characters before escorting us into Season 5. Even viewers with little background knowledge could bring themselves up to speed on the multifaceted plot. According to an NPR blog, nearly 263,000 people signed up on Facebook as “;officially booked viewers”; before the evening began.

It seems that all traumas have arisen from the departure of the Oceanic 6, which has placed the castaways remaining on the island in danger. Three years have passed since the island disappeared, or jumped to another time, but the first episode effectively filled in the gaps on the island, which required some attention. “;Your camp isn't gone,”; explains Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies). “;It just hasn't been built.”;

To convince Jack and Kate to return to the island, which is the only way to save it, John Locke has to die. But is he really dead? I liked the way the first new episode began with a jolt into the past, but the rest of it didn't capture me as I hoped it would (an eight-month break tends to increase expectations, I suppose). Perhaps I'm alone in yearning for more character-driven stories over machinations revolving around time travel, however clever they might be.

The conflict seems to revolve around getting every member of the Oceanic 6 to return. “;We all want the same thing, to go back to the island,”; Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) says to Hurley in his most convincing voice. “; If you come with me, you won't ever have to lie again. Please.”; But it's not going to be quite so easy to gather the scattered group, even with Jack and Ben working together. Looks like we're in for a fascinating season.

  The University of Hawaii at Manoa will host open auditions for a short film scheduled to shoot on Oahu this spring. Michael Pantzer, a film student at the Academy for Creative Media, earned the first-ever Indigenous Filmmaking Initiative grant for his screenplay entitled “;Not in Service.”; Though he's already shot the majority of the film about the struggles of teenage girls in Hawaii, he plans to use the resources the grant provides to expand his original ideas.

Auditions will be held tomorrow and Sunday, with final calls Wednesday, in Crawford Hall, Room 115, at UH. Call 699-1813 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

  Remember Hannah Cornett, the gorgeous blond actress/surfer/athlete? Her show, “;Sports Explorers,”; went live last week on http://www.kushtv.com/sports/sportsexplorers. It also airs on goarmy.com and other Internet sites, featuring a variety of extreme sports rolled out in slow motion, as well interviews with the people who pioneered them. She's cute when she gets out there and tries some of the wild activities, such as mountain boarding. Look for it on Spike TV at the end of March.