Finding Joan Crawford!

I don't know if you follow Nik at Nite regular Joan Crawford's blog, but if you don't... check it out. And warning: unless you want to replace your keyboard or laptop every time you check the blog, don't be drinking anything while reading it. It's HILARIOUS. Lately she's been posting about her new bangs and how they're driving her nuts (been there, done that...) and I swear I was laughing so hard my sides were hurting while I was reading about her adventures and her husband's comments. So I asked her to send a pic of herself for this blog, and emphasized that I'm sure those bangs will be in fine form. And... she didn't disappoint. May I present, the brilliant and beautiful Joan Crawford!

Finding Jazzygirl!

I've been meaning to post this photo for ages (sorry Jazzygirl)! Jazzy went to Disney and took a picture of herself standing with one of the Pirates of the Caribbean skeletons, but let's pretend it's the original captain of the Black Rock instead!



She also took a photo of this ABC restaurant menu: check out the top item! Haha!! Thanks for sending these Jazzygirl! Yet another one to hang on our "Beautiful People of Nik at Nite" wall of fame!

More Media Today!

A couple more pieces I interviewed for came out today.

I spoke to Mark Dawidziak from the Cleveland Plain Dealer for over an hour, and he's a fellow fan and writer and it was a ton of fun (I can't say we actually stayed in "interview mode" for the entire thing, and at one point he was asking me why I don't teach a university course on Lost and then explained how I should go about it... now I can't stop thinking about it!) Anyway, he quoted me extensively and I'm really pleased about this article!

I spoke to the Detroit Free Press last week when the reporter was looking for an explanation of the Ann Arbor connection. I gave her the background of the DeGroots and a ton of ideas of why they would choose the University of Michigan as the Dharma headquarters, but she went with other quotes of mine instead, which is fine, since again I'm at the top of the article (with the entire title of the book there, which almost NEVER happens!) so it's perfect placement for me! :)

I also did an article with the Daily Telegraph in the UK and he said it was for the Sunday paper, but now I'm thinking it'll be next Sunday because that's when Lost begins in the UK (I think?)

Over to You: Question Two!

That picture is pretty much giving away what I'm going to say, isn't it?

So, in my series of "questions I keep getting asked by interviewers," here is question 2:

“Who should Kate end up with, Jack or Sawyer? And why?”

Oh, how I loathe this question. Mostly because I know some people out there have strong feelings on this question and are completely inflexible in their stance on it, and no matter how I respond, I’m going to tick someone off. But isn’t that the FUN of shipping? (Did you catch the sarcasm there?) So let’s see if we can answer it by playing nice. I'm going to refrain from giving you my answer on it (if you're a regular reader of the blog, you already know my answer) and instead I'll throw it to you. State who (if either) you think she should end up with, and why. Or, if you don't care, explain why we shouldn't care. And either way, please just state your position without bashing anyone else's.

I know I'm walking into dangerous territory with this one. Why do you think I'm posting it on a Saturday where many people will miss it?

Tune in Monday morning for my Lost questionnaire. I'll be posting a series of questions for you to answer and we'll see how many we can gather in the 24 hours leading up to Lost.

THREE MORE DAYS!!!!

This One's for Humanebean...

Sorry, I just couldn't resist posting this one. ;)

Goodbye, Dollhouse

"It speaks to the schizophrenic in me. Well... both of them, actually."

I think Dollhouse might be the first show in history to air a second part of an episode where they didn't actually air the first part. Anyone who watched the show on Fox but didn't buy the DVDs must have been scratching their heads at the "previously on" section at the beginning, which referred back only to "Epitaph, Part 1." I actually watched that episode right before the finale, and part of me wonders if it would have worked better as a 2-part finale.

I liked it, actually. I liked it a lot. I really enjoyed the Topher bits. This is the guy who, when I saw the first episode, I LOATHED him and wished he weren't on the show at all. And now, two seasons later, it's like he's the heart of the show. He's the guy who made the biggest journey and who becomes the tragic character at the end. Joss loves those guys. (Think Wesley on Angel.)

Joss also loves for someone to go boom as they're saving the world. Spike disintegrates. Wesley dies fighting the good fight. There's always someone who's gone at the end, and choosing Topher had as much impact on me as Wesley's death. I was gutted. Especially at his little, "Huh," as he looks at the wall of photos that always reminds me of the memorial wall on BSG.

Here's a question: couldn't they have put crazy Topher in the chair, wiped him and imprinted him with the old genius Topher's mind? Or was Adelle convinced that it would actually take crazy Topher to come up with the technology they needed to revert Earth back to the way it was?

I really liked the Priya/Anthony storyline. The Caroline/Paul one seemed a little overwrought to me... while I enjoy Eliza Dushku, I felt like her big breakdown scene screamed, "GIVE ME THE EMMY!" much like Angelina Jolie's big breakdown scene seemed overdone in A Mighty Heart. But that aside, when Paul died, I gasped, but not as loudly as I moaned sadly when I realized Priya and Anthony were no longer together. I loved their relationship, that idea that no matter how many times you imprint them or wipe them clean, they will still be drawn to one another. So I really liked how that storyline was resolved by the end.

Throwing Alpha in there as a nice guy seemed a little random to me. While I LOVE seeing Alpha, it's like he was added in just to throw out a few random jokes and be silly before completely disappearing when the going got tough.

Maybe it's because of how much I loved Epitaph 1, but that one seemed like more of a satisfying ending to the series than this one did. I will be haunted for a long time by Whiskey, walking the halls of the Dollhouse because she "has to wait" and refusing to leave, but once she realizes her work is done she gasses everyone, including herself, and just sits on the ramp, her legs dangling and her head calmly to one side as she slowly falls asleep forever. It was an incredible image, and nothing in this episode was quite like that. My husband (who hasn't watched an episode this season) loved the Mad Max stuff with the tech-heads, though, so it was definitely working for him.

"Epitaph 2" was more of a Coda than a finale. The previous episode was the one that brought the season's arc to a close, and this was the one that gave it its exclamation mark at the end. Once again, an apocalypse was averted and the world moves on to live another day.

What would be interesting would be to see Joss Whedon actually explore what happens AFTER an apocalypse, rather than the lead-up to it. Maybe that's why, of the three Whedon finales, Angel will always be my favourite. For me, they will always be rushing headlong into battle, and our imaginations fill in the rest.

I enjoyed the ending, and it left me with a feeling of emptiness and sadness, which is what all good finales do. Joss once again managed to give me heartbreak and laughter. But Dollhouse never resonated with me emotionally the way Angel and Buffy did. That's not a knock against the show -- it was always more a show of the head than the heart -- but while I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the other finales, this one I watched as if I were watching any episode of any show. Yet, I realized in watching this episode just how much these characters have come to mean to me.

In the end, Topher was the one who stuck with me the most, and if Whiskey haunted me from Epitaph 1, it's Topher who will stick with me in Epitaph 2.

Bravo, Mr. Whedon. May you continue to bring us great television, and may you finally align yourself with a network that will not only give you a chance, but will give your show a fighting chance. I can't wait to see what's up your sleeve next.

And Now... Over to You!

SO!! After mentioning the media that I've been doing, now it's time to turn it all over to you guys. We have four more days... and over the past two weeks I'm getting the same questions asked of me over and over, and I'm sounding like a broken record to myself, so I thought hey, I'll post the questions to my readers instead since I think most of the interviews have already been done. And this will help us in our jittery, last-minute moments of weakness where we want to start checking out spoilers. So here goes. Here is the first question, and I'll pose these throughout the weekend and right up to the premiere:

“Describe to a non-viewer what Lost is all about... in 25 words or less.”

You think I'm joking, don't you? No... I'm not. I get this question all the time. I used to be able to do it... back in season 2. But it’s become a lot more difficult. So, I’ll throw it to you, but I’ll give you some leeway... do it in 50 words or less. And to help you, here's one I've written out (sadly, it's not one I've ever actually said):

Lost is a masterpiece of intrigue, mystery, character development, acting and writing. It’s a story of people who are lost, both physically and emotionally. The plane crash is just the beginning of their individual and collective journeys. It’s a story about how we can find ourselves by connecting with others.

And if they insist on 25 words or less? I shall offer up the following haiku:

Wait... you don’t watch Lost?
Sorry, but I can’t help you.
Mostly ’cause you suck.

So what would YOUR answer be to this question?

Today's Media Update

For the past two weeks I've been doing a lot of interviews and writing and answering a ton of questions. It's just starting to show up in places today. A piece I wrote for the Globe and Mail that will appear in tomorrow's print edition was edited down for space purposes... I'd written a piece on the Top 5 Moments, the Top 5 Fan Theories, and the Top 5 Easter Eggs. They removed the Moments, which is too bad because that was my favourite part of it. But it's OK; they put it up on the website so you can read it here. These are purely my opinion, by the way. I'm sure the comments (which are generally along the lines of "LOST SUCKS AND YOU SUCK TOO" on newspaper sites) will soon start hurling dung bombs at me, but I'll just avoid reading them. Be sure to pick up the paper tomorrow, where you'll see the rest of my piece and TV critic Andrew Ryan's interviews with the cast.

A 40-minute interview with the Mercury News garnered me one sentence in the article that went up yesterday (and my book wasn't mentioned... wah) but then again, that's a huge improvement over ones I've done in the past where the journalist calls me up, asks me a million questions because they've never watched the show before, and then never credits me anywhere in the article. And it's a really good article to get a vast array of voices. AND I'm the lead quotation. So I'm pretty happy with it! Check it out. (Watch for our beloved DocArzt to be mentioned, along with the title of his awesome book, Lost Ate My Life.)

An interview I did with the Calgary Herald appeared in Swerve magazine today (I think it's the entertainment section on Fridays) and it was a good one. I referred at one point to the showrunners "Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse" and I think the reporter wrote down "check creators' names" and in the article I say, "The showrunners, Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber..." Heehee... d'oh! But otherwise it's a good one and I was quoted pretty faithfully. I don't know if it's up on the site. I have a pdf of the article if anyone wants to see it, but I can't post it on here, sadly. So if you'd like to see it, just send me an email. :)

Dollhouse Finale Tonight!

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this (in all the excitement over the Lost premiere, I'd forgotten about the Dollhouse finale! Bad Whedon fan!) The episode is called "Epitaph, Part 2," carrying over from "Epitaph, Part 1," which is only available on the Season 1 DVD and didn't actually air on Fox. Could this be the first time a network show has a sequel for an episode that didn't actually broadcast? Interesting. Anyway, it'll be exciting to find out how it all comes down. The last few episodes have been pretty astounding.

It's Happened...

The opening scene of the premiere of season 6 has been leaked. But I am going to be strong. I will resist. I will NOT go to that link. Let's see if we can do it together. We'll be like our own little AA group. If you're feeling weak and really want to check it out, come to us first and we'll remind you how long you've gone without a fix, and that you just need to go a little bit longer. You can do it!!! And for those who just don't have the strength... sorry, I just can't bring myself to post the link here. You'll have to go to another dealer. But I urge you not to. We can hold it together. Don't look! Don't spoil yourself or others! WE CAN DO THIS. Jeff Jensen at EW probably has his copy of the entire first episode by now and is whipping together one of his brilliant blogs. But for the rest of us? It's waiting time. Let's make February 2 completely special and not know ANYTHING that's going to happen.

I think Evil Blam's behind it.

Reminder: Lost Chat Today!

Hey all! This is just a quick reminder that I'll be conducting the first Lost chat with Globe and Mail TV critic Andrew Ryan today at noon (that's in 45 minutes!) I hope some of you will be able to join us! It should be fun. The chats will continue every Wednesday at noon... today's chat is in anticipation of the season premiere, and from here on in they'll be chats about what happened the night before.

You can join in the discussion here! I hope to see some familiar faces. :)

Lost Fans Care!!

Partners in Health has launched an initiative to help the people of Haiti by getting people who are loyal to TV shows to donate in the name of their favourite series. Now, I know on this blog we don't subscribe to any one series over another (teehee) but today they're trying to get the support of fans of this little show called Lost. They're offering gifts (the Dharma beer pin pictured) to the first 100 Lost fans who donate $25 and $50 (though those may already be gone) and the goal today was to beat out the Chuck fans who donated a total of $1700 yesterday. That's already happened (yay, Lost fans!) and they're at $1800, but they're looking to get to $3500. I say we need to be true fans and get it up to $4200. :)

Come on, fellow Losties, we can do this!!! Go here to find out more and to donate. Thanks to humanebean (who's really living up to his name!) for the link.

Stuff People Send Me

I get tons of Lost links every day, and I never post them fast enough. So here's a jumble here in one post:

Joshua told me about a fun Easter egg on the Kayak travel site. Go here, then choose a flight leaving SYD and going to LAX, one-way, non-stop, leaving September 22, 2010. When you get the results page, scroll down. Funny!

Lindsey emailed me to say that People Magazine is offering a big pull-out refresher course on Lost in the latest issue with Jennifer Aniston on the cover. It's all stuff we'd know, but it was fun anyway.

Don Edwards sent me this chart of Lost character connections. And it's AWESOME.

Thanks for sending me things, everyone!!

Finding Benny!

And here he is, he of the translation of what Rousseau's crew was saying in the boat during the storm and he of many, many amazing insights into the show while it's on (and pdfs of the Dharmaville housing layout). I LOVE this photo... check out all the books around the TV. And I'm STILL trying to figure out how he's balancing the Finding Lost books in his hands like that. Benny's picture is filled with as much intrigue and Easter eggs as an episode of Lost!!

Lost on Twitter!

I'm so bad with Twitter. I really am. I was dragged onto it, and it's one of those things where, when you're on, you're on for ages. And then days can go by where you don't go on. At least... that's what happens in my world. When I post something, I should immediately tweet that post. But I never do. I have friends who post a blog entry then immediately tweet it and cross-reference it on their Facebook "Become a Fan" page and I think, man, how do you get all of those things in synch?!

ANYWAY.

After being off Twitter for a couple of days, I saw a few interesting things on there tonight. Namely, in Carlton Cuse's tweets. First, he says that ABC is going to finally show some season 6 footage in a commercial that will air during Desperate Housewives on Sunday. Wait... does this mean we actually have to watch Desperate Housewives? Because... I really don't have to see S6 footage that badly. ;) (Besides, it'll be up on YouTube minutes after it airs.) So if you're interested, tune in.

Secondly, he says that he's just gotten word that Lost will NOT be going on hiatus during the Olympics. This is good and bad... good because, well, hey, it's not going on hiatus during the Olympics!! Bad because I was actually planning a trip to Mexico and working it to fall within that week so I'd never miss a night of blogging. D'OH. So I'll have to figure out what to do there. If there's high-speed in our hotel room, I guess I'll be blogging one night.

In the past couple of days I've done interviews with the Daily Telegraph in the UK, the Detroit Free Press, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Philadelphia Inquirer, IScreenYouScreen (I think I talk to her after every book of mine comes out and she's always a blast to talk to), and tomorrow I'm doing Virgin Radio in Vancouver (I believe it's a taped segment) and some more stuff on Friday.

On Friday, by the way, the first Globe and Mail live chat will be happening at noon in anticipation of the new season. I'll have a direct link closer to the end of the week where I can direct all of you, but it'll be at the Globe site.

And finally, one of my favourite blogs, Stargazing, mentioned my book yesterday. If you don't check out Malene Arpe's blog on a regular basis, do. She's the one who writes the hilarious captions in the entertainment section of the Sunday Star every weekend and usually makes me spit up my orange juice in the mornings. I love her stuff.

Six More Days!!

We're so close... it's less than a week away. Remember last May when it felt like an eternity? It's almost upon us: time to get out your most important Lost paraphernalia -- the DVDs, the posters... and your Finding Lost books! Heeeeeere's Nik at Nite regular Maggie Dixon! I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but... OMG so cute!!:

How to Handle Non-Lost Fans

So those other "previously on Lost" recaps don't cover everything... but this one almost does. If you were stuck on the couch on February 2 at 8:55 pm with someone who was insisting on watching the S6 premiere with you and wanted to be caught up, what would you do? You could dump them, citing Lost as the more important thing in your life; you could pour sulphuric acid in their face; or... you could attempt this. Thanks so much to JS for the link!!

Lost: We Want Answers!

Here's a funny video from the Fine Brothers. (I can answer one question already: Jack got Locke's letter back when the airline did a mandatory search of Locke's body and they gave it to him.) See, one down!!

The Lost Crash in Real Time

You've probably seen this already (people were sending me this a week ago) but if you haven't, it's awesome. I really need to find an assistant to whom I can say, "Upload that video I was watching a minute ago, stat!" rather than waiting until I actually have half a second to do it. Blam used to be my minion, but then he accidentally drank some Canadian beer and has gone completely insane. Half the time I don't know what he's even talking aboot.

Anyway, enjoy this video! Someone has parsed together the various things that were happening at the time of the plane crash, a la 24. Now, I just need someone to do this with the ENTIRE SERIES. ;)

Lost 80s Video Game

Thanks to Popped Culture for the link! Here's one designer imagining what the pilot of Lost would look like if it had been the basis of an 80s video game (oh, how many hours I wasted playing games like this!!) I LOVE the speech balloon above Jack's head (and check out the inventory... haha!)

The Nik at Nite Smackdown!!!

So, when my brother and I were kids, we had one entire room that was the Barbie mansion. I didn't actually have a Barbie mansion -- instead we constructed it from tables, chairs, boxes, you name it. And when we played Barbies, the storylines we came up with verged on the psychotic. My parents complained about the hysterical laughter coming from the room as our stories got weirder and weirder, and to this day we can't really explain them to anyone else and make them understand. Yet, just the thought of us being in that room makes me giggle.

And so it is with regular Nik at Nite commenters, Sonshine Music and AchingHope (pictured here). They're sisters who live together, and clearly have the same warped sense of humour that my brother and I do. The Lost Rewatch officially ended last week, and I posted a special post congratulating everyone for sticking with it, and mainly for not stirring up any arguments. Not ONE time did anyone go after another person for anything. We openly talked about relationships, wars, battles, mysteries, questions, you name it, and did so in a welcoming, generous environment. "Well," I joked, "Except for that time when humanebean and Batcabbage had a smackdown." And then we all tried to envision what that would actually look like.

Well, imagine no longer, for Sonshine and AchingHope have come up with the actual video! And watch to the end for a special cameo by yet another Nik at Nite reader.

And something tells me that, much like the way my brother and I could never actually convey that what we were doing was actually really funny, we probably can't ever express to other Lost fans just how funny this is. This had me laughing all the way through it. I love it!!

New Lost Trailer by Patrick!!

Ever since Patrick and his brother Ryan sent chills down our spine with their epic Lost trailer in December (still my favourite of all of the ones I've seen), I've been waiting for them to do another one. And about an hour ago, Patrick sent me the latest one. He'd told me in advance, when they were still working on it, that this one would be Locke-centric, and they came through. In this one, we see Locke's journey, but not just how it's affected him: how it's affected everyone. You think the first one gave you goosebumps? Check out this one.



Oh, and here is Patrick (bearded) and his brother Ryan. Once again keeping in line with the Nik at Nite obligatory adorableness factor:



Man, I need to get these two to construct a trailer for my books. Could you do one with Sawyer actually reading Finding Lost on the beach instead of Watership Down? Heehee...

Enjoy, everyone!! And thank you once again for sending it my way, Patrick!

A Sweet Finding Lost Reader!

I've been meaning to post this for AGES. One of our regulars on here, LoyallyLOST, emailed me right before Christmas to get a book for her mom. I was out of copies but was able to scrounge one up in early January, because she needed it to get to her mom by January 11... and somehow it arrived EXACTLY on that day (I think Jacob was helping it along...) She was heading to her mom's house to give it to her, and then gave her the book and took a photo of her reaction:



SO. CUTE!! Her mom is a big Charlie and Claire shipper, so here's hoping we get a glimpse of our Chah-lie in season 6, just for her mom. I hope she enjoys reading it!

I've Been Mentioned in Entertainment Weekly!

So, there are moments leading up to the publication of each of my Finding Lost books where I think, Maybe this time? Maybe THIS will be the book that Entertainment Weekly will review? Maybe Jeff Jensen will finally reference it in one of his bazillion columns on Lost? Then reality sets in, and the books aren't reviewed, and repeated calls and emails and packages from my publicist go unanswered, and I have to understand that EW gets a gooberbazillion books and mine are just lost (pun intended) in the shuffle somehow. Sigh. And yet, I continue to love that magazine. How can you not?

So imagine my excitement when reading Jensen's latest column about the Lost "superfans" (which have included many other awesome bloggers and Losties out there like our beloved DocArzt), and seeing that I've been referenced! Not by Jensen, but by the person he's interviewing. Superfan Lyla Miklos wrote a Lost church service (seriously, read the article to find out how amazing she is!) and she says at one point that I might have played a small role in it happening:

The more I watched Lost the more I felt in my bones that there was a church service sitting right in front of me. After I read Nikki Stafford's Finding Lost it helped to organize and cement some of the ideas that were bubbling in my brain. I was able to give the concept some form and shape and focus.

Yay!! So hey, my books might not be considered review-worthy by Entertainment Weekly, but to find out they actually helped someone put together a fantastic church service based on my favourite show? Wicked. I'm also really pleased that Jensen has highlighted Lost's spiritual and redemptive qualities, which are such important aspects of the series.

Congrats, Lyla, and thanks for mentioning me!! (You can access the transcript of her church service here.) And thanks so much to redeem147 for pointing me in the direction of the article. :)

Fringe: "What Lies Below"

I really enjoyed this week's episode -- even though I assumed Peter wouldn't be killed off and Walter would find a way to save the day. But there were some new intrigues that add to ongoing mysteries, and I always like when they go back to the arc stuff and away from the mystery-of-the-week material.

Things I Noticed:
• The glyphs at the end of each act spell out WINDOW.
• The company where everyone was trapped was called Vitas Petrol. Vitas is the singular version of vitae, which is the list of everything a person has done in their life.
• Maybe it's because I'm reading the book right now, but this episode REALLY made me think of Stephen King's "The Stand." The difference is, the virus in the book moved about the same way the agent said it would if it weren't contained.
• That dude from Dexter seems to be typecast as an older agent/detective/cop type. He's actually the brother-in-law of a friend of mine... which is odd.
• "I have no patience for small-minded bureaucrats!!"
• I'm not sure if the name "Vandekamp" is supposed to have some sort of meaning. I did a quick anagram search on it and it came up "Naked Vamp." So... maybe this is an episode for Twilight fans?
• Why is Astrid so loyal? I've been wondering for some time if she could actually be a secret agent, trying to glean info from Walter to eventually use against him or something. And yet here she risks her life to stay with him to the end. And when he refuses to answer her question at the end, is that the first time he's shut her out? Is he detecting something from her?
• Olivia tells Peter, "You weren't yourself." Is Peter ever, technically, himself, since he was switched at a young age?

Did anyone else hear this week that JJ Abrams has gone to FOX and asked for an end date? He's realized it worked so well for Lost that he'd wondering if they might offer the same guarantee for Fringe, since he has a complete mythology for the show worked out in his head and needs to know exactly how to unfold it. That would be interesting!

Catching Up on Lost... in Minutes

There are a few tongue-in-cheek videos out now that are summing up the previous seasons on Lost. One of them has been going around since season 3, when it summed up the first three seasons in 8 minutes, 15 seconds, and now it's doing all 5 seasons in that same time. If you've watched it, it's a lot of fun to watch. If you know someone who hasn't watched it before... don't send them this link and think they'll be ready for season 6. ;)



"Gotta love Des."

However, if you're looking for something a little goofier, check out the Lost Untangled version of the first 5 seasons (this one in only FIVE minutes!) There were a couple of Jack moments that had me laughing out loud (despite the REALLY annoying screechy voice). Especially when the helicopter goes down and Jack's in the water going, "What HAPPENED?!" (Also, I LOVE the Ben evil giggling...)



"This island party is starting to SUCK."

If Pierre Chang Were a Muppet...

Time to Get Serious

We've bought the Lost DVDs, and all of the books (especially those with the words "Finding" and "Lost" in the title)... some of us have bought t-shirts, action figures, buttons, posters, and other ephemera.

Now I'm appealing to you to put your money in a different place. Any amount would do. Yesterday Haiti suffered the second massive earthquake in a week, the "aftershock" that was as big as many regular earthquakes. The country is devastated, and the people need help.

Please check around and see where the best places are to donate. If you are in the US, here is a good list of various charitable organizations that are currently in Haiti and could use your support. Here's a list of the Canadian ones (and the Canadian government has just announced it will match all donations, so you can double the money!). And here's a good list of ones in the UK. If you live outside of these three countries, please do a google search on "how to help haiti" and your country, and you'll probably find a listing.

Any charity is good, and any amount will do. I know we can pull together and do what's right for people who are in dire need of our help. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to have gone through a second disaster when everyone is still reeling from the first. My prayers are with them and their families and loved ones who live outside of the country.

Attention Canadian Lost Fans!

CTV has announced their plans on the lead-up to the Lost premiere on Feb. 2. First, they'll replay the S5 finale on Tuesday, January 26 from 9-11 p.m. (all times EST). Then they're playing "Pilot, Part 1" on Sunday, January 31st at 7 p.m. (that would actually be an interesting experiment to watch the end and the beginning right after each other). Then following the pilot, they're playing the clip show, "LOST: The Beginning of the End."

And that's all in anticipation of the two-hour premiere on February 2, starting at 9 p.m. (Is anyone else getting jittery with excitement just reading those words??)

You can read the full article here at the CTV site.

Michael Emerson Interview

Michael Emerson has been interviewed by TV Guide, and you can go and read it here. I will warn you, however, that I haven't read it, for fear it might be a little spoilery. Just the teaser at the top revealed the return of two characters, and I kinda wish I didn't know about them (this wasn't the first I've heard about their return, though).

So check it out at your own risk. I wish I could read it! (And please don't post any spoilers in the comments on this post.)

Lost DVDs Super-Cheap at Amazon!

So... are you a fan of Lost but don't have the DVDs yet? Or perhaps you've never seen the show and you stumbled upon my site by accident and you know you SHOULD be watching Lost? Well... there's still time before the February 2 return of the show to catch up. (Granted you do nothing else and drink a lot of caffeine.) And to get you started, Amazon has greatly reduced their prices! You can get the new season on DVD for $19.99!! (Thanks to Blam for the heads up on this.) I just might have to order it; I have the limited edition ginormous version and, as I geekily proclaimed here a couple of weeks ago, I really wish my sets all looked alike.

Oh, and as Blam mentioned to me in his email, you get free shipping if you order $25 or more. So if you just need one season... I suggest getting the Finding Lost companion volume to go with it! (Look to the left of the screen for those links. Yes, I'm shameless...) Here are the links to each season on DVD:

Lost: The Complete Fifth Season

Lost: The Complete Fourth Season

Lost - The Complete Third Season

Lost - The Complete Second Season

Lost - The Complete First Season


And if you live in Canada, they're also on sale at Amazon.ca.

Lost: The Complete Fifth Season

Lost: The Complete Fourth Season

Lost: The Complete Third Season

Lost: The Complete Second Season

Lost: The Complete First Season

Wait... Is it Even POSSIBLE Lost Fans Could Be More Annoying?!

Thank you to the dozens of people who sent this to me last night. ;) This had me howling.


Final Season Of 'Lost' Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

Best Picture: Did Avatar Deserve It?

I had the chance to see Avatar over the Christmas break, just after Christmas, in 3-D. I didn't go for the IMAX version of it (I had to leave The Hurt Locker because the motion was making me sick, so IMAX probably isn't my friend) but the 3-D version was pretty spectacular.

This is a movie where, when I saw the trailer, I said to my husband, "Who the hell would want to see THAT?!" It looked boring. Then people started going, and word of mouth was getting around that I absolutely HAD to see this film. So, trusting some of them, I went. And I'm not disappointed that I went, and would recommend it to anyone.

With a caveat, of course. I think Entertainment Weekly said it best when they described Avatar as being like a rollercoaster ride: when you're on it, it's exhilarating, and as soon as you get off, that's it. It's over. Nothing more to say, nothing really to think about, and you move on. Or you go and experience it again.

The look of Avatar is extraordinary. The LOTR trilogy are three of my all-time favourite films, and after seeing Avatar I wished WETA had had the technology they gave Avatar when Jackson was making those movies (let's just say I'm even MORE excited for The Hobbit now than I was before!) The CGI is unparalleled. Watching the blue avatars blending with the Na'vi, I was entranced. You cannot figure out where the actor ends and the computer takes over. It was like James Cameron had really found this tribe of blue people and asked them to be in his movie.

There is a scene when the protagonist, Jake, is stuck in Pandora overnight by accident, and these things that look like a cross between a jellyfish and a puffy seedling of a dandelion come floating through the air and land all around him. It's incredible to watch (and with the 3-D, many people were reaching out to try to grab them) and the lights and the music and his facial expressions were mesmerizing. I loved the idea of scientists creating avatars of themselves that were controlled by their minds, but separate from themselves physically (yet if something happens to the avatar, the real body suffers as well). There's a scene where Ana Lucia the pilot played by Michelle Rodriguez flies them up into the floating mountains that is breathtaking, and is worth the entire movie.

So yes, this is a movie to go and SEE. Take it in, imagine what it would be like to live in such a dangerous glorious paradise, and just be awed by the sheer brilliance of the look of it.

But as for the story? Ugh. As my husband said, "It's like Dances With Wolves... with blue people." Exactly. And a friend of mine (right before the big controversy erupted) told me that as he watched the movie, he was stunned by the sheer post-colonial ignorance of it all. White man goes in, becomes "native" and is the white knight to save these "noble savages" because they're too stupid to do it themselves. Think Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. Think Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Both great movies, but they both shared this same inherent "white man must save those who cannot save themselves" mentality.

Now, I'm not trying to be controversial or political; this was just my thinking as I watched it. The Na'vi come across as more intelligent than the typical stereotype, I'll give it that. But, quite simply, James Cameron is a mediocre writer. We all marveled, jaw-dropped, as the Titanic went down. It was spectacular and mind-blowing. Aaaaaand... then a crazed Billy Zane with a gun is rushing through the sinking ship trying to kill Leonardo diCaprio. I mean, come ON. Really? You thought the boat going down wasn't going to create enough tension or suspense? You REALLY needed such an OBVIOUS bad guy to do it? Well, at least Cameron learned his less- oh wait. No. There's Giovanni Ribisi standing at the deck, looking at these people living in their beautiful land and growling from the side of his mouth, "Tear it ALL DOWN, boys!!"

I DID enjoy the idea of the people being connected to the Earth (connecting the strands of their hair to the animals or to the tree was a very unique stroke I hadn't seen before). So I will give Cameron kudos for that.

But... the metal the "bad guys" are about to destroy Pandora to find? It's called "unobtanium." SERIOUSLY. I laughed out loud when they said that. It's a word that's often used as a JOKE in sci-fi, and he goes and actually calls the stuff that. It's like he skipped creative writing class when they were doing the "subtlety in writing" subsection of the curriculum. I'm surprised he didn't send in all of the redshirts who get blown out of the sky in ACTUAL RED SHIRTS.

A friend of mine described James Cameron's writing as like that of a little boy. It's full of adventure, clumsy romance, and bad guys dressed in black and white guys dressed in white, and it's like he's never matured beyond the age of 14.

So. Last night when James Cameron took Best Director, my husband (who actually would disagree with the positive stuff I said above, because he REALLY disliked the movie) said he didn't deserve it. I argued that he absolutely did. Avatar is the best directed film of the year. He had to coordinate thousands of people. He brought his vision of Pandora to life. He pulled together the actors, the CGI, the music, the story. This has nothing to do with the writing of the script, the over-acting, etc., this has to do with the look of the movie. So I argued that he 100% deserved that award.

My husband, on the other hand, said a director's job is to weed out the crap of a script, to bring in the best performances of his actors, and to make all of the elements perfect. I said no, that would be a Best Picture award: to give a movie that indicates that everything worked well together, that it was well written, well acted, and well directed. I said I thought Cameron deserved the Director award, but not Picture (this was before he won that). Hubby disagreed.

(And when he DID win Best Picture, hubby simply got up and left the room. Angrily. We get a little too involved in our pop culture.)

So do I think Avatar deserved Best Picture? No. Did it deserve Best Director? Absolutely. And would I recommend it to people? Yes, but go because you want to be bowled over by a visual masterpiece. Just ignore the silliness of the story, and you'll still enjoy yourself.

Your thoughts? Do you agree with me or my husband? Or do you disagree with both of us and you thought the story was well told?

Golden Globes

So I hope y'all are tuning into the Golden Globes tonight. Ricky Gervais will be hosting (i.e. comedy GOLD) and I heard Matthew Fox will be presenting an award. I'm thinking of live-blogging it but haven't decided yet. I can't wait!

Israeli Lost Commercial

Thanks so much to Adi for the heads up on this one. I love that other countries are rising to the challenge of creating their own Lost commercials as they face the lack of ads coming from ABC (and no promo video to work with). Check out this link to see the one in Israel (apparently Disney is considering translating this one and using it on US TV the way they've bought the Cuatro one that I showed you here). Oh, and this is me plugging Patrick's Lost trailer again, and also mentioning that he emailed me last night to say he's working on a second one and we might see it in about a week. Yay! If you haven't yet gone to see it, do. I LOVE IT.

TV Return Dates

Someone posted in the comments recently asking if I'd give everyone a heads up of when shows would be returning. Thanks to my recent copy of EW, I can do exactly that! Here are the shows I'm looking forward to coming back, and you can mark these dates down on your calendar:

Big Love: It already returned last Sunday, and I meant to do a preview of it, and ran out of time. If you're not watching this show, you should be. It's fantastic. It airs on TMN in Canada and HBO in the U.S.

24: This comes back this coming Sunday (Starbuck is going to be joining the cast!) for the 2-hour premiere, followed by the second 2-hour episode the following night. From that point on it moves to Mondays.

Damages: Returns to FX on January 25. And because I haven't posted this in a while, let's check out once again this show's kick-ass opening theme song. I LOVE THIS SONG.



Flashforward: Returns March 4. I've heard production has momentarily halted on this, so we'll see if they've worked out the kinks. I'm definitely looking forward to it!

The United States of Tara returns March 22 (on Showtime in the US or TMN in Canada). The first season was excellent, and the second one will show us some new alters.

V returns March 30 (we got 4 episodes, and then a 4-month break). The show bored me a bit, but the last episode was intriguing enough that I'd tune in again to see what's going to happen. It'll be interesting to see if it can hold its audience.

Glee is coming back April 13 and will run its final 12 episodes. Not sure if it's without a break or with, but here's hoping they run straight through!

And finally... something's coming back on February 2. It's on the tip of my tongue...

Pictures of the Day

OK, girls... here's my Friday gift to all of you today. (And don't worry, boys... I'll find something soon for you to drool over, too. Y'all want some shirtless pictures of Desmond, right?) And, actually, you should also give props to Marebabe, since she's the one who brought these to my attention. Here's Josh at the photo shoot for his new Cool Water ads. Let's let the pictures speak for themselves:

Fringe: "Johari Window"

It's been a long time since I blogged on an episode of Fringe. As I mentioned last week, my husband and I finally caught up on Fringe over the holidays (we rang in the new year finishing off season 2) and I'm completely in love with it. So I'm going to attempt to blog after it each week (we'll see how long this lasts once Lost gets underway). This will be in no way as comprehensive as my Lost posts are, since I'm only starting to skim the surface of this show, and need to watch each ep a couple more times to really start to look for the threads of meaning throughout the series. But here's hoping all of you Fringe fans out there can help me out.

I jumped online after catching up last week, and was happy to see that many of the comments my husband and I made while watching fell in line with what other fans had been saying. In fact, we were referring to the "Spot the Observer" moments as "Where's Baldo?" and I was surprised to see that's exactly how Fox had been publicizing it.

I didn't see the Observer in this ep, but I wasn't really looking (and I'm presuming he was probably in that crowd scene where the sheriff was addressing the group of Edina inhabitants, or he's walking down the street in Edina when they're about to go into the diner). Did you find him?

I was also thrilled to discover there's a glyph alphabet, and that every time they show one of the glyphs before they go to commercial, it corresponds with a letter in the alphabet. I remember saying to my husband, "Do you think the glyphs have any sort of pattern?" And it turns out, they do. Use the alphabet, and you find the word.

This week's word: MUTATE.

Did You Notice?
• The episode's title comes from a psychological test that is used where people describe themselves as they see themselves and then as others see them, and they create a grid of four "rooms" (which, when drawn on a piece of paper, looks like a window) where they create the 4 facets of it: the first room is the person we and other people see. The second is what other people see but what we might not realize about ourselves. The third is the subconscious part of ourselves that neither we nor anyone else can see, and the fourth is what we know to be true about ourselves, but which we keep from other people.
• There were several Wizard of Oz references in this episode, almost all from Walter. He refers to the Cowardly Lion and the flying monkeys. There have been Oz references in other episodes as well, and it's apt here, just as it is on Lost. Dorothy goes over the rainbow to find a world that looks completely different and seems wonderful, but hidden beneath is a sinister underbelly, and she just wants to go home. I was disappointed that the population sign in the town said there were 1,943 people. I wish they'd gone with 1,939, which would have been the year of the Wizard of Oz movie. (But maybe 1943 is significant as a year, too.)
• Walter also refers to lions a lot. In "Snake Head," the episode right before the break where they found the parasitic worms in people, Walter was left behind in the car and was singing a song about Daniel in the lion's den. Here he refers to himself as the Cowardly Lion.
• When Teddy is sitting at his desk when his parents are setting the table, he has his comic book open to a page where you can see Robin and the Penguin's umbrella. The Penguin was similarly a deformed creature who turned to evil.
• Just like these people, Walter has undergone a metamorphosis (we saw a moment of bad Walter in "Grey Matter") and Peter's perception of him is different under certain circumstances. Peter is blind to the fact that Walter isn't really his father, he just appears to be.

Questions:
• Did anyone else think of that SUPER-CREEPY X-Files episode, "Home," where the inbred family kept Mama under the bed? That one was deranged to the extreme, and thankfully this episode never went there.
• Why did the cop take Teddy away from the area where he's running away from? Presumably he's still within the Edina city limits when the cop picks him up, since he still looks like a boy, and the cop, rather than return the boy to his parents, drives him far away out of town. That didn't make a lot of sense to me.
• I have to think more about the butterfly/moth dichotomy, and whether or not they meant for it simply to mean butterfly = beautiful; moth = ugly. I don't think it's that simple (and I also think most butterfly lovers wouldn't be disgusted with a moth).
• Again, I don't know if this is a general fan thought or just mine, but I LOVE Astrid and really wish they'd use her more. I really liked the scene of her sitting with Teddy.

This episode lacked the punch of the final few episodes of Fringe before the break, but it was still a good one. What did you think?

Life as a Pundit

So yesterday I went down to Space (Canada's sci-fi network) where I've done a ton of bits there for Buffy and Lost, and they wanted to interview me for the return of Lost, and when they found out ahead of time that I'd been watching Fringe they wanted to talk to me about that, too (yay!). I got there and was immediately put into makeup. I said I'd never done makeup for Space before -- other shows, yes, but not for Space. They told me that now that they're owned by CTV, you do makeup. So I got into the chair and explained I didn't wear a lot of makeup (something that was actually self-explanatory) and the makeup artist started in. She was really sweet, talked about a lot of TV shows she watched. She was the makeup artist for Beyoncé and Michael Bublé (I felt like I needed to put an accent at the end of my name) and she got the foundation there, and then stopped mid-air and said, "You know what? I could do some amazing smokey eyes on you." Uh... "I don't wear a lot of makeup," I repeated, visions of Jenny Humphrey in my head. She said no, no, let's do smokey eyes. "Go big or go home!" she said. Well, I thought, I guess "smokey" eyes are appropriate for Lost, but by the time I was done... it didn't even look like me anymore.

After we filmed the segment another guy came in who they referred to as their "go-to geek" for all things comics, TV, movies, music, you name it. He told me that he actually visits the blog regularly and has posted a couple of times under his pseudonym, Wordburglar (he's a hip-hop artist from Halifax who records under that name)... and then he pulled all of my books out of his bag! It was pretty awesome. I told him to be sure to come on and post here so we can include him in our little cyber family, so we'll all keep an eye out for him! (He was probably wondering why I had so much makeup on!)

Speaking of which, I went to pick up my son from daycare, forgetting what was on my face, and the lovely lady there just sort of stared and smiled like I looked like that all the time. I guess there are a lot of people who DO walk out of the house looking like that, but I'm not one of them, so I felt like everyone was staring. And then I got home, where my daughter was already waiting, and she did stare. It wasn't my imagination. She stared and then finally, in a low voice, said, "Mommy... what happened to your eyes?!" You'd have thought Marilyn Manson had just walked into our house. When I said to her, "Don't you think Mommy looks nice with the makeup on?" she said, "No, I think you're prettier without it." Aww... love you, kid. Here's a chocolate bar and a new dollie. Keep those compliments comin'.

So all of this is just a warning that if you ever get a chance to see those spots I filmed for Space, no, I'm not going through a mid-life crisis where I feel like I have to cover up those crow's feet with makeup. And hey, it was kinda fun for a day!

This morning I did a long interview with MediaBistro that is now up and streaming for anyone who wants to listen in. It's in the book section of the site, so they talk a lot about the Finding Lost books themselves, plus the books seen on the show, which is one of my favourite things to talk about. The two hosts, Jason and Matt, are the real deal, and REALLY know their Lost, which is awesome. It was a lot of fun chatting with them!

Oh, another warning: At one point I say "Looking Glass station" when I meant to say "Lamp Post station." D'oh. I hope I don't lose major Lost nerd points on that one. But the one thing with these interviews is, you have to talk fast. And listening to the playback, MAN do I talk fast. I'm like one of those voices at the end of pharmaceutical commercials that comes on and gives the list of side-effects. Anyway, enjoy! And if the following embedding code doesn't work, click here.

Picture of the Day

After yesterday's Sayid pic, many people requested the Sawyer promo pic. I don't have it yet, but until then, here's Josh at the TCA Conference yesterday (thanks to DarkUFO for the pic):

Media Update

For everyone in London listening in to Tucker & Taz, despite what I was told (that it was a live segment) they just phoned me and recorded it to use in a broadcast the week before. They didn't tell me what day (they didn't know) so unless you listen in regularly, you'll probably miss it. Sorry about that! Here's hoping the 11am will actually be live (I'm told it will be!)

UPDATE: My publicist just contacted me with an apology and telling me the Peace River one will be taped, too! I guess that makes sense... people are getting their segments ready now to run the week before Lost, but in these cases I can't tell you when they're going to run. I always prefer live ones, but I'll probably have a bunch of those in the week leading up to it.

Anyway, enough of this... back to us rewriting Lost characters making sandwiches!!

Nik @ Nite Lost Characters Making Sandwiches

After I posted the list the other day of Lost characters making sandwiches, a few people suggested we should do our own. So I say we do just that! First, Brooke posted ones that her husband and friend came up with:

Sayid:
1. Go to Georgia and torture peanut farmer into providing peanut butter.
2. Kill peanut farmer.
3. Go to a fruit field, the dirtier the better, and torture fruit farmer into providing fresh fruit jelly.
4. Kill fruit farmer.
5. Steal a loaf of bread from a defenseless kid.
6. Kill the kid.
7. Determine you’re not worthy of a sandwich. Out of guilt, help everyone else make their sandwiches.

Jacob:
1. Contemplate your life on a mystical island, realize that you would be much happier with a sandwich
2. Create the perfect sandwich recipe in hieroglyphics on woven papyrus
3. Execute 5000 year master plan using time travel, electromagnetic energy, Egyptian mysticism, cultish worship, and a judgmental smoke monster to arrange the necessary preconditions that would bring together hundreds of different people in an epic struggle of free will versus destiny as it relates to morality and the duality of man so that, in the end, someone will bring you a damn sandwich
4. Mess up and die in a fire


AliBags then posted this short one for Michael:
Shout very loudly for a PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SAAAAANDWICH! over and over again.


LOLZ!! So let's come up with some of our own! Here's my attempt for Jack:

1. Get two pieces of bread.
2. Pull the butter out of the fridge.
3. Start spreading the butter, only to realize it's still hard and it just ripped the guts of the bread apart.
4. Madly try to repair it, only making it worse, ignoring Kate, who is saying just start over again and put the damn butter in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it.
5. Close your eyes and count to five.
6. Open them, and calmly turn to Kate, look deep in her eyes, and tell her to trust you.
7. Continue to mangle one piece of bread while Kate mangles the other one, because she trusts you're right.
8. Eventually realize it's just not going very well, and that you and Kate will never be able to make this sandwich work.
9. Stand over the garbage, holding the two pieces of bread aloft. Look at Kate, who, with tears in her eyes, nods at you. Drop the pieces of bread, and...
LOST

Picture of the Day

Me in the Media

So I know you've been DYING to listen to my voice as I expound on the mysteries of Lost (all three of you!) and so here is the media I'll be doing in the next few days (all times are EST):

If you're in the London, Ontario area, I'll be on FM 96 on the Tucker & Taz show at 9am tomorrow morning (Tuesday, Jan. 12). If you're outside of the southwestern Ontario listening area, you can go here and click on "Listen Live."

At 11am tomorrow I'll be on Morning Mojo on KIX FM 106.1 in Peace River, Alberta. And again, if outside the listening area, you can listen in live here (near the top right corner you'll see the Listen Live button).

I'll be interviewed by the St. Petersburg Times in Florida tomorrow afternoon, as well as the Oakland Tribune, so I'll link to those stories once they go up.

On Wednesday I'm heading down to Space (Canada's sci-fi network) to film some spots they'll be using as they air season 6 of Lost (I believe they'll be airing it on Saturdays following the initial airing). I've done Space before, and it's lots of fun, so I'm looking forward to it!

On Thursday morning I'll be interviewed live for Media Bistro at 9:30am on the Morning Media Menu. I believe it's going to be in the Galleycat section of the site.

And finally, I'm pleased to announce (and will be mentioning this often!) that I'm going to be one of the three people involved in the Wednesday afternoon Lost chats at the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper! Every Wednesday at 12 noon, I'll be chatting with Andrew Ryan, the TV critic, and Christina Vardanis, the deputy arts editor, as we dissect the episode from the night before, talk about what questions have been answered, what remains, how we see the story changing, etc. And we'll be taking questions from readers (I think) the same way the Washington Post chat worked, which means you guys can all jump in there with your say. I can't wait! I'll let you know when it starts up; I believe there's going to be an introductory chat on January 29, but I'll let you know if that happens for sure.

That's all for now, folks! I have a busy week ahead of me. I hope some of you will be able to listen in! :)

Lost Characters Making Sandwiches!

Thanks to JS for the following link! This is someone's take on how everyone on the island would make sandwiches (though I think the Hurley and Darlton ones sound like they're written by someone who's more of a casual viewer...). My favourite ones are for Locke and Libby. Here's Locke:

Locke
1. Sit idly by, believing that the ingredients will find a way to make a sandwich out of themselves
2. Lose faith and make the sandwich anyway
3. Realize that you were the instrument by which the ingredients chose to make a sandwich after all
4. Run around the room and grab everyone’s knives, insisting that their sandwiches will do the same in time

Go here to read the full list.

Oh, and I have no idea why, but this totally made me laugh. It was titled, "Jack + Emo Cat."

Getting Ready for Season 6: Tribute to the Cast and Crew

This video just went up and it'll bring a smile to your face... and perhaps tears to your eyes, because it feels like we're already saying goodbye to this cast and crew. Let's look forward to the beginning of season 6 by looking back at how glorious the people are who work on the show. This video's from campetin, who's been bringing us many of the preparation videos:

Weekend Potpourri

I know many of you keep blogs of your own, and so you've probably seen things where you go, “Oh, man, I am SO blogging on that,” and then you can’t even manage to get a tweet out on Twitter because you can’t find the time? That’s kind of my life. Unless it’s to do with the Lost rewatch or photos of people holding my book. ;) In that case I will always post!

So now here’s just a bunch of odds and ends I’ve been meaning to chat about.

Shows I’m Watching and Not Telling You About:
I really need to do some more blogging about shows other than Lost, but I’m still watching (and adoring) Modern Family, and I’ve started watching The Big Bang Theory and LOOOVE it with all of my heart. I’ve been PVRing it for months, and finally sat down to watch a whack of them. There’s one that opens with the guys playing Klingon Boggle that had me laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. And then when they were on the train with Summer Glau? Brilliant. I think Jim Parsons is a genius as a comedian, and the entire ensemble just works for me. I feel like I’m laughing with them, mostly because I’m kinda one of them (I say "kinda" because I, sadly, have never attained the glorious level of geekdom they have... I'm secretly jealous of people who know so much about comics and RPGs -- I've never played D&D or anything like that). I just watched the Wil Wheaton one and it was hilarious. What a great show.

But more importantly... FRINGE. I used to blog on this show in the very beginning, loved the pilot and second episode, and then after about the fifth episode it kind of fell off my radar and felt too episodic. However, I always intended to go back and watch again, until the DVDs for season 1 were released a full four minutes before season 2 began (what was THAT all about?!) so I’ve been trying to catch up on season 1 while PVRing season 2. Anyway, hubby and I finally watched all of it during the holidays when all other shows went on hiatus, and from mancupines on airplanes to bald ratboys in the sewers and everything in between, I am in LOVE with this show. We finally finished Grey Matters last night, so I’m all caught up. Next week it comes back, and I cannot WAIT! (This is honestly the first show in a long time where I’ve thought, “Hey, I’d like to write a book about THAT!”) I’ll post more coherently on it next week in anticipation of the return. But I DO have to say here... now that I’ve seen how the parallel lives theory is absolutely central to Fringe, doesn’t Flashforward feel even MORE like a greatest hits of both Lost and Fringe? And yet it doesn’t do it as well as either of the other shows. Anyway...

Friday Night Lights: I haven't posted on it because it's still being shown on DirecTV and isn't yet on NBC, but honestly, it's AMAZING. Please please please watch it when NBC airs it because you will not be disappointed. They had to insert a few game-changers and make it a new show, and it works on every level. I cry in almost every episode, and yet I'm also laughing out loud. My HUSBAND cried in two episodes... there's no other show on television like it.

You Guys Kill Me
According to my numbers, there are hundreds of you lurking out there and just reading and not commenting (this is me waving hello!) and I hope you’re enjoying what you read. But I must say that the past few days have garnered some of the funniest comments on these posts I’ve ever read, here and over on the Lost Rewatch. So if you’re just reading my posts, you’re only reading about half the entertainment over here. Definitely click on the comments and see some REAL craziness. Sometimes a totally innocent and innocuous post can turn into something completely different in the comments section!

Where’s My Best of the Decade List??!!
So, somewhere around the first of December I saw my first "Best of the Decade" list, and it caught me completely off-guard. It's like seeing a best of the decade list in 1996 for the 90s. It just didn't make any sense. I thought it was a mistake, and then I saw another one, and another one... and I'm thinking, but the new decade starts NEXT year, doesn't it?! And then it occurred to me... no, we all celebrated on December 31, 1999, like it was the turn of the millennium. We had no choice; we'd been brought up on Prince, knew all the words to the song, and since in two thousand zero zero the party would be over, oops, out of time, we were gonna party like it's nineteen-ninety-nine, dammit!! So everyone acted like it was the turn of the millennium in the wrong year.

But for some reason this decade just didn't feel final to me. When we're kids, the first thing we learn is to count from one to ten. Not zero to nine. If you had 10 items in front of you on a desk, you wouldn't start counting with 0 and end with 9 and consider it done, and then count from 10 to 19 to count the following ten items. No, those ten items wouldn't be finished until you counted to 10, and similarly, our decade isn't actually finished until we hit the end of 2010.

I know I'm being a stickler -- to be honest, I kinda hated the people who bemoaned celebrating the turn of the millennium on December 31... I mean, come on, dude, ALL of the numbers in the year were changing!! It's like staring at your odometer when all 6 numbers are about to turn over!!! It's just not a moment to be missed. (I make my own fun.) And it comes down to naming the decades. 1990 just feels like the first year of the "90s." 1970 is the first year of the 70s. Saying 1970 is the last year of the 60s just sounds... wrong. So I get why people are doing it, and why, culturally, we've embraced that.

But that's why I haven't composed my best of the decade yet. I will... but it'll probably be late. In fact, it'll definitely be late because EVERYONE ELSE has already done it.

Why I'm the Luckiest Blogger I Know
And while I wanted to post this at the time, I thought it might look like I was mining for more Christmas presents from people, so I decided to wait until the Christmas season was over to show you what I got. A few of my readers actually sent Christmas cards to me at my publisher's office, and some of THOSE were accompanied by gifts. Marebabe sent me a list of her favourite YouTube videos, which is PERFECT for my "While You're Waiting for my Lost Post" pre-posts that I do every week. Humanebean put together a mixed CD of his favourite Christmas music, from the traditional to the wacky, and I loved both of these. JW sent me a signed copy of his Lord of the Films book (surprisingly, I work with many authors who I never get to meet face to face, and therefore I never get to own signed copies of their work, so I was THRILLED to get this!) And then there was Sonshine Music, who made me my own tote bag, and when I opened it at work, I did something I never thought I'd do: I actually said the acronym "O.M.G." out loud. And then the other people who work there had the same shocked looks on their faces:




Isn't it glorious?! I hope many of you will be able to make it to the Lost conference in Hawaii in 2011, because I will be wearing my bag there! After all, a Dharma researcher has to wear the badge somehow, right? ;) Thanks again to everyone who was so thoughtful. You guys are seriously awesome.

Lost S6 Premiere Officially More Important than State of the Union

So, I was working on a long post of odds and ends that I was going to post here, and the first part addressed the SOTU thing that's going on. I was going to post it live tonight, and then the story completely changed. So, I'll just run it the way I originally wrote it, and put my epilogue at the end.

Yes, a few of you have emailed me or posted on here about the big State of the Union SNAFU that’s happened in the Lost community. If you haven’t heard, this is a campaign that started on Twitter, I believe (I saw it a few days ago) where people realized President Obama has scheduled his State of the Union address for February 2. If that happens, Lost will probably be pre-empted, and after waiting SO long for it to start, we have to wait another week, then suffer through the next two weeks of no Lost because the Olympics, where it will be pre-empted once more. There are several petitions going around by Lost fans begging Obama to change the date.

Because, I’m sure, when it comes to national security, not upsetting Lost fans is his #1 priority. Heehee...

I don’t mean to be facetious here (you guys know that I, of all people, will be sobbing like a child whose toy was just taken away from her if that should happen), but I highly doubt he’s going to change the date to appease a few million TV fans. Instead, here’s hoping ABC is the one that steps up and says, OK, let’s just move Lost to 10pm or wherever it’ll be safely away from the SOTU. Will that make MY life hell? Yes... because I watch it twice before posting, which means I’ll get to bed somewhere around 1:30am or something that night.

Or maybe Obama really IS the coolest president ever, and he’ll change the date! Could you just imagine the press conference beforehand where Obama appears, looking very freaked out and a little sweaty, “Um... my, uh... f-f-fellow Americans? I have an announcement...” he leans forward for a drink of water, and only then do you see a puff of smoke behind him... “I, uh... the, um... my State of the Union address isn’t nearly as important as... the will of the... I can’t believe I’m saying this... the will of the island.... so I will be postponing it to a Saturday night, when it will not affect Lost.” He leaves the podium, accompanied by Jacob.

So that's what I had written, and then it changed, when a statement was released by a senior official saying no, don't worry, it WON'T interfere with the Lost premiere. Um... maybe his administration really IS the coolest one ever!

YES. We have reclaimed Groundhog Day as the Official Lost Day. Hurrah, pop culture wins! The real world can wait.

Is it just me, or did my fantasy world just invade the real one?!

UPDATE: Here is the actual exchange that happened at the press briefing. Wow... Lost is even more powerful than I thought. Boo-yah!

The topic came up at today's White House press briefing when ABC Radio reporter Ann Compton asked about the scheduling situation. Gibbs responded, "I don't foresee a scenario in which millions people who hope to finally get some conclusion with Lost are preempted by the president," and then remarked that he was intrigued by ABC News reporters querying the White House on this topic on behalf of their corporate cousins at ABC Entertainment. At which point ABC White House correspondent and noted Twitterista Jake Tapper (@JakeTapper) quipped, "How about on behalf of the Dharma Initiative?"

Nicely played, sir!

As for the reaction from Camp Lost, cocreator and executive producer Damon Lindelof tweeted, "OBAMA BACKED DOWN!!!! Groundhog Day is OURS!!!!!!! (God Bless America)...Okay. So Obama didn't technically 'back down.' He leveraged Carlton and I to do something on the show. Two words. MORE FROGURT." And partner in crime Carlton Cuse tweeted, "No State of the Union conflict with LOST! We go Feb. 2!"

Finding Contest Winners!

To shake things up a little bit, here's a pic of Shari Donk, who was one of the two lucky winners of the S5 limited edition Lost box set on DVD, holding up her prize. But if you look closely... the writing on her box is backwards, which means she's aligned with Evil Blam!! (Check out how she's looking up at the white flash... she's about to jump through time! Maybe she's trying to ESCAPE Evil Blam...)



By the way, I was sent the limited edition DVD for running the contest, which was nice, and I wanted to do another less-disastrous video podcast, but I still don't have a new microphone for my computer. [Insert anti-PC sentiment from humanebean here.] But if you guys haven't seen it yet, I'd love to show you what's inside. While it's not the sort of thing I would have bought (because I like all of my DVD box sets to look alike, which my husband says makes me a supergeek), it was pretty awesome.