Random Stuff for a Monday

My big news of the day... I finished my book! Yes, it was handed in to my editor today -- and I prayed she wouldn't faint onto the floor when I told her it's 40,000 words more than the last 2 books, and the finale alone was 10,000 words... eek... (she didn't, because she's all kinds of awesomeness). So, you shall be getting a fatter book for season 5... for the same price! It's Nikki's House of Deals today.

Which means all those plans I had for a season 6 book that would be about 50 pages longer than the previous two? Probably going to be even bigger than that. Succinctness, succinctness... my KINGDOM for succinctness! Y'all know the last thing I am is BRIEF. And apparently I have just way too much to say about season five. (Well, that and the Ulysses chapter is 9,500 words. Sigh.)

Speaking of which, I soldiered through and finished Ulysses last week, and REALLY enjoyed it by the end! I think the final 350 pages really make up for the 650 that precede them. But don't worry: I won't be at the next Lost convention in a smoking jacket swirling my brandy and declaring Ulysses the greatest novel of the twentieth century. (I only do things like that in my head.)

And other news, in case you've forgotten (and talk about PERFECT TIMING... I deserve a gold star for this one) today marks the official start of OUR Lost rewatch! I hope you're all breaking out those DVDs and going back to season 1. I've posted on the rewatch blog all the details of how we're going to go about it this week. My plan is to do two eps on Thursday, two on Friday, and keep up that schedule for as long as I can. (I know many of us are a little worried that we'll fall behind at some point... and I'm sure I will, too... but I'll try hard not to let that happen.)

So... remember a month or so ago when we were all saying, hey, wouldn't it be cool to totally get together and all watch the finale live together?? And then after the shine of that one wore off (and I realized I just would never be able to find an outfit THIS AWESOME to wear to it) and then some of us realized hey, maybe we should watch it on our own and then get together afterward, or have a second-to-last episode get-together (oh, we're a great bunch for making a decision, aren't we??)

Well, I might have the answer to our problems. I say... let's get together in Hawaii in January 2011. Because... there's going to be a Lost conference there!! Remember that Slayage conference I RAVED about a year ago on this blog? The same people who organized that one are putting together a similar conference where academics from around the world can convene in one spot and talk about the magnificence of Lost. And as I reported from Slayage last year, you don't have to be a scholar to appreciate these papers. The conference is still in the early planning stages, but I will be there if it happens. You can read about the early planning here. I'll keep y'all posted on any news that happens.

And speaking of Buffy, thank you to my friend Jeremy for sending me the following hilarious slash comic from Monsieur Whedon himself. Oh no, this isn't fan fiction... this is from WHEDON. Ever dreamed of Angel and Spike making out? Behold... your dreams have come true.

Stuff for an Emotional Friday

Why emotional? Well, one could say that when you're in your final month of pregnancy, every minute of every day is emotional, but today, my daughter turns three. And I don't know where the time has gone. She's still that tiny tiny baby that I first held and vowed I'd never let anything bad happen. Since then she's developed this insanely funny personality, big golden curls, a curiosity that would have had most cats burn through all nine of their lives by now, an attention to detail that maybe only a writer/editor's daughter could have, and an imagination that rivals any novelist. She's perfect perfect perfect. And she's three. So I'm blogging as I stare at the clock, waiting for the moment when it will be exactly three years (at this point, seven minutes away).

OK, so I shouldn't be so excited about this, but one of my all-time fave words is "ginormous" and it has been officially added to Mirriam-Webster's dictionary! Now I can use it with no qualms whatsoever. Though... recently I've moved to using "gabillion" when looking for the perfect hyperbole.

Here's an interesting article on Ali Larter (a.k.a. Nikessica on Heroes) becoming a Bollywood queen. Who'd have thunk?

To show just how out of it I am, I've heard so much about the new series Mad Men (well... not so much about it, just people saying I should be watching it) and the night it premiered I couldn't find it anywhere on my television. I'll have to just set up the PVR to find it, methinks. Anyway, imagine my surprise when I'm perusing TV Guide online and find out Vincent Kartheiser -- a.k.a. Angel's demon child from hell who bonked Cordelia -- is on it! (That's him on the left in this picture.) Why didn't anyone tell me this? Now I MUST find this show. If only to see if Connor gets smacked around a bit. :) Go here to read the full interview with him. (Warning: as much as I find him intriguing as an actor, he's never been particularly charismatic in interviews.)

Weeds premiered in the U.S. with high ratings, and I couldn't find it anywhere on Showcase, here in Canada. I went to their site, and lo and behold, it's scheduled for a fall release. Sigh... in the past, they've run it pretty close to the U.S. airing, so I have no idea who came up with this boneheaded idea. Now I have to keep my head down and avoid spoilers.

And I just looked at the clock and it's exactly the time she was born. :::sniffle:::

Last night was the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. I'll be honest, I came into this one right near the end at the urging of my pals Crissy and Sarah, and because I know practically nothing about dance I just watched it, kinda fascinated, but probably never truly appreciating it. And when you have a PVR and can skip over the judges comments, especially that screechy Marie Osmond lookalike in the middle, then you just never fully commit. But that said, I was surprised at the final choice. First of all, the show was two hours long (and full disclosure, I watched it in less than 10 minutes, jumping through most of the numbers I'd already seen, all the blahblahblah in the middle, every single judge comment... I only stopped to watch people get voted off). And yet, despite it being two hours long they announced the winner three seconds before they had to switch off, so Cat says, "And the winner is SABRA, and now stay tuned for your local news" and it was over. No thank you speeches, no long good-byes for Danny (we got tributes to Neil and Lacey but not Danny), no big tribute for Sabra, etc. But did anyone else feel like the choice was contrived somehow? As in, Danny SHOULD have won, but they've had 2 guys win and it was a girl's year so they threw it to Sabra? I dunno... I like Sabra, but I just thought Danny was better. But what do I know... I watched most of it on fast-forward.

Hell's Kitchen, on the other hand, I watch a lot more carefully. And if you didn't see this ending coming, you were watching a different show. Just like Heather seemed destined to win from the first episode of season 2, Rock was the obvious choice from the first episode of season 3. I called it in the very beginning, and never wavered. It was like by voting Jen off in the previous week, Gordon made it even more obvious and easy for us to know that Rock was going to take this one. Not that Bonnie didn't fight all the way to the end. Just as in the last ep of season 2 I had fallen in love with Virginia and kinda wanted her to win, this time Bonnie had really won me over. The finale was fun to watch, mostly because you realized just how BLOODY inept all the other chefs were (honestly, this was SUCH an easy choice for Gordon it's almost funny). Josh was his usual self. I think he'd be more suited to a job at McDonald's. Solely on cash, never near the grill. Jen was great, kept to her game, and never faltered. Melissa was a disaster, never getting a clue how to cook a prawn, and only telling Bonnie that they were out of something when they had three people ordering that something. Dave surprised me at how hard he was willing to work to help Rock win. Vinnie was pretty forgettable. But Julia... Julia was the big one. This is the gal we all said goodbye to with sadness, thinking of how much she wanted it. Gordon had an immense amount of fondness for her -- as did we -- and offered to send her to cooking school. I never wanted her to win (the girl had never heard of a creme brulee, for god's sakes), but I liked her push. But there was always something about Julia that was a little... off. She was never friendly in any way. You rarely saw her smile. She was in this for herself and the others could all be damned.

And yet, knowing all of that, her behaviour in this final episode was just unbelievable. She bawled her head off at simply being there. She was so emotionally unstable that even though Rock and Bonnie knew she was a hell of a cook, neither one wanted her on their team until they had no other choice (when Bonnie is faced with Julia and Josh, even she knows you do NOT pick Josh). Julia made it clear to the camera that she thought Rock should win, so she couldn't care less if she threw the game for Bonnie. She was rude, ignorant, and a very bad team player in the final, refusing to listen to Bonnie, telling her to go away and she wasn't going to argue with her, and just acting like a complete cow. Yeah, if I were an executive chef watching this show Julia is TOTALLY the girl I'd hire for my kitchen. What an idiot.

When they stood behind the doors, ready to open one and walk through to victory, the camera kept panning to Rock's wife and two small children, and I knew he'd won at that point, as if they were reminding us of the solid family he had and how he could really use that $250,000 (did you notice the little girl totally falling asleep on Mommy's shoulder, and then when they starting popping champagne corks she awoke with a jolt and began crying?? Poor little thing... I bet they were filming this at one in the morning or something). I'm glad Rock won, even if he had a bit of an anger management problem. But then again... look at Gordon.

This made me laugh out loud. I LOVE when they do Brit-Brit. :)

Superbad opens this weekend. I am SO excited to see this (and a film critic friend of mine whose taste runs pretty similarly to my own saw it a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it). I won't be able to see it this weekend, but maybe next week.

I did see The Simpsons Movie and LOVED it. I had no idea it was going to be as funny as it was, but there were moments when I was completely doubled over (well, as doubled over as I could be with a giant belly in the way), and one moment -- "Spider Pig" -- when I thought my husband was going to require medical help, because he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. If you love the Simpsons, you'll love this film.

I saw Waitress with Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, and it was a great little movie. The pie-making will make you hungry, and the pregnancy tensions and worries are more realistic (if less funny) than in Knocked Up, and for a while I was a little worried that it was a little too anti-baby, until it got to the end. What a lovely film.

I'm FINALLY starting to watch season 1 of Big Love, and it's fantastic so far. Possibly the best pilot I've seen of an HBO show; usually it takes me 2 or 3 episodes beyond the pilot to like an HBO show, and then I love it, but this one nabbed me from the get-go.

And I still haven't watched John From Cincinnati, but the season finale was this past Sunday and it was written by none other than Zack Whedon, Joss's baby brother. Now it's worth watching the entire series just for that one. I wonder if lil' bro has the same Whedon magic?

And... there's my segue into Whedonland. I was surfing apple.com's trailer site last night and hit the preview for this movie, Death at a Funeral, and it looked hilarious. One of the stars is Alan Tudyk, who Whedon fans know best as Wash from Firefly and Serenity.

James Marsters has accepted a role on Without a Trace in the fall, according to his official website. It's unclear how many episodes he'll be in, but let's hope, like with Spike, he's able to win over audiences and stay on.

There's a rumour that Joss Whedon will be directing another episode of The Office. EEEEE!!!

The AV Club at The Onion, who always does fantastic interviews, has done a long one with Joss that is awesome. In it he explains that if Buffy Season 8 continues to do well, there may be a season 9, but again, in comic book form:

There's not going to be a Buffy season nine on television. I don't think Sarah [Michelle Gellar] has the slightest interest in doing that, and quite frankly, I don't think it's a good idea for me, either. I do have to prove at some point that I can do other things.

I interviewed Alexis Denisof a couple of years ago when working on my Angel book (he was absolutely lovely and talked forever) and he told me that Joss never would have killed off his character if the show hadn't been cancelled. Joss confirms that statement in this interview. Joss also talks about Wonder Woman, and gives a little taste of what would have been in the movie had he written it.

My favorite thing was the bracelets. I mean, the bracelets are cool, but how do I make that work? In the original comic book, they needed them because they fire guns on Paradise Island. I don't think I'm going there. So, I thought about it for a while, and I realized, "Oh, right, this is how this works." So in my version, she left Paradise Island with Steve, who was a world-relief guy bringing medical supplies to refugees, which is why he was so desperate to get off the island. She goes with him, and the moment she sets foot on land outside of Paradise Island, somebody shoots her in the chest. And it hurts. [Laughs.] She's just so appalled. And obviously, she heals within a few hours. She pulls the bullet out herself, and kind of looks at it like, "What the hell is this?" She heals, but she's appalled and humiliated, and the next time someone shoots at her, she puts her bracelet in the way because she's terrified of getting shot. It's just a reflexive thing. She has these bands that they all wear, just
a piece of armor, and she puts it up. And then she gets good at it. By the end, it's kind of her thing, but it's because she got shot one time and didn't think that it was awesome. I think that is probably not the feeling the producers wanted to have. Though honestly, that could have been their favorite thing. I don't know, because when I asked Joel Silver, point blank, "Well, if they don't want what I'm doing, what do they want?" he said, "They don't know."

Ah, the world of what ifs... sigh.

And finally, the Buffy comic #8 cover has been released (Brian K. Vaughan's Faith arc will be issues 6-9). Behold the awesomeness:

And finally finally, my brother has been bugging me for ages to watch this trailer, and I finally saw it and laughed my head off. If the movie is 1/8 as good as the trailer, I am THERE.

Joss Whedon Speaks... and Other News

Again, apologies for not updating this every day. I was doing SO well! And then I really had to get back to work. Seriously, SOON I will be posting the table of contents to the Lost book. And whenever a cover gets done of the other book that I'm working on, I'll post that and talk about it, too.

But first, JOSS. :::love::: Joss spoke to Entertainment Weekly while he was at Comic-Con, and came clean about Wonder Woman, what it really meant to him losing that script, why he continues to come to Comic-Con, how things are going on the comics, and a bit about his new movie, Goners. Click here to read the entire article.

Speaking of which, Issue 5, "The Chain," was released yesterday, and my pal Crissy and I went over to our local comic book store to pick it up, and... wow. Like, wow. It's a standalone comic, and when it begins you're all, "Huh?" and by about halfway through the entire thing is coming together. By the end, you're speechless.

Highlight the paragraph below for spoilers, otherwise I'll put it in white so no one else sees it. More news below.

The comic doesn't actually feature Buffy in it, but instead focuses on one of the two decoy Buffys that have been set up to throw the demons off-course. The decoys are mentioned in the first comic (one of them is cavorting with The Immortal in Rome, and was the person we saw in the Angel episode, "The Girl in Question") and I thought it would be left at that. But this time we see something new, deep, and sad. We see what it's like for a Slayer to be called, to go from being a Potential to an actual Slayer. Sounds tough, you realize (like we watched Buffy do for seven years) the huge responsibility on your shoulders, and you want to excel. And then... you do, and you're chosen to be Buffy. In other words, a target is painted on your forehead. In the opening panels, this particular Slayer is killed, and the monster believes that he's killed Buffy. It cuts to a panel of someone looking like Buffy saying, "I never even met her" and I thought it was Buffy saying she'd never met the decoy, but it was actually going into the past with this Slayer saying she gave her life pretending to be the ultimate Slayer, and never actually met Buffy. It's seriously powerful stuff. I loved it.

I read this blog post yesterday and it's truly sweet. You hear all sorts of stories of celebs signing materials at conventions and the fans who talk to them. There are horror stories -- the fan who will NOT shut up and tries to bogart all the time of the celeb. Or the Creation conventions, with some volunteer who has WAY too big an ego shouting in your ear while you get the quickie autograph that you paid $75 for or something, so Creation can put it in their pockets and then pretend it's actually going to a good cause (them). Or the celebs who sign, have nothing to do with the fans and hurry the line along as if they're too good for the people who watch their show. But this one is truly sweet. Joss Whedon is a sweetheart, the fan is a true crazy fan, and you'll love it.

Remember Sark on Alias? That super-hot bad boy who was evil to the core, but you just wished he and Sydney would get together? He's coming to Heroes! Only... he's playing a Japanese kensei warrior. Huh? Well, I guess we'll be finding out more soon! Check out this hilarious interview with Masi Oka, who spills some of the beans of the upcoming season (no major spoilers in there that I can think of, just some teasery stuff) and who jokes that maybe if Hiro will always be unlucky in love, he can keep time traveling until he's got all of the women together in some sort of Big Love situation.

Hell's Kitchen was great this week. The later episodes of every season of Hell's Kitchen are what I look forward to, because he goes from being the world's biggest jerk to a serious chef who is trying to mentor a bunch of bright lights that he truly believes in. Last week's ousting of Julia was sad, and he hugged her and promised to send her to cooking school, telling her how impressed he was by everything she did. At this point he's no longer booting people because he thinks they're "donkeys," but because he thinks the ones who are left are just a little bit better. This week Jen went home. She was actually my favourite (can we just forget about the garbage thing? Thanks.) and so I was sad to see her go. I say that even though in the beginning I bet that Rock would be the one to win the whole thing, and he's still poised to do so. I just don't see Gordon giving the keys to ANYTHING (except maybe his hotel room) to Bonnie. When he asked her in the kitchen to yell at him and be aggressive, he looked a little too excited when she did... The thing about both Jen and Bonnie is they've made massive improvements in themselves over the weeks, whereas Rock seems to have plateaued. He was great when he came in, and hasn't changed much. But I think he'll still win the whole thing.

Buffy Season 8: Upcoming Issues

Stop reading now if you think the covers of upcoming issues of the new Buffy Season 8 comic book series would be spoilers.

I haven't posted anything on the comics yet, though I'd been meaning to for some time. I'm actually working on a much longer article on the books, but suffice to say, I LOVE this series. If you are a Buffy fan and have not picked up the new Season 8 comics, you are seriously missing out. These aren't like the comics that were being released while the show was still on the air -- featuring stories that could have happened, but didn't, and weren't part of the television show canon. This IS canon. The first issue begins a couple of months after season 7 ended, and the storyline is brilliant. Joss Whedon wrote the first 4 (they were released in March, April, May, and June) and then July was a month off. The first 4 was an arc called "The Long Way Home," and it was about Buffy and her friends coming together again. Buffy is with a gang of new slayers (no longer potentials, since she made them all active in the season 7 finale) and Giles, being the lone Watcher, is trying to train an army of them, and realizing he thought he had it tough with Buffy, but this is MUCH worse. Xander is running Command Central, complete with a sexy eyepatch and special uniform, where he stands before several television sets and coordinates their activities. Dawn's been turned into a giant after she hooked up with a thricewise, and Buffy goes to see her so they can argue like sisters. Willow is off in another land, but she finally comes back in the third issue (and WHAT a return it is!!) and it's awesome to have her back in the fold. But a new (or should I say old) enemy lurks, and Buffy and the gang are up against someone who knows them, and HATES them.

On August 1 the series will pick up again with issue 5, also written by Joss. Here's the cover:

Awesomeness. I have my suspicions about who is hiding under the Buffy mask, but if you haven't read the first 4 yet, I won't say, for that person is revealed in issue 3, I believe. The new series is called "The Chain," and Joss will just be writing the first one. There's another option of who could be hiding under the mask, for one of our FAVE characters will finally be returning in issue 6 (stop reading now if you don't want to know!) and there's a good chance she's the one under that mask. Here's the cover:

Did you just squee? I just squeed, and I'd already seen it. :) How frickin' excited am I for this one??? Written by Brian K. Vaughan, who created the Runaways comic (which Joss is now partly writing) and as of last season joined Lost as one of the writers, the arc turns to our beloved bad girl, Faith. Who will no doubt KICK. SOME. ASS.

If you've never read a comic book in your life, it doesn't matter; you will get sucked back into the Buffyverse with these stories in a way we never thought possible after May 2003. Buffy is back, and she is awesome.

The Return of Buffy!

SPIKE: Watch your mouth, little girl. You should know better than to tempt the fates that way.'Cause the Big Bad is back, and this time it's . . . urgh . . . aaaaahh!!

That's right, folks, Buffy is returning! (Let's hope it's better than Spike's return in season 4 just before he's zapped by the truly annoying Initiative.) Unfortunately, it's not Sarah Michelle Gellar and Co.: it's in comic book form. And yes, I can hear you saying that Buffy's been in comic book form for almost a decade, but this is different: Joss Whedon is at the helm, and says the 4-issue comic book series will comprise the "pilot" of what would have happened in season 8 of Buffy, had the show continued. The complete Scooby gang will be there, as will Spike and Angel, though the WB sold off the rights to Spike and Angel out of Joss's hands (???) and so he will be using them "sparingly," and says he won't reveal what would have happened after the season 5 cliffhanger. So, presumably this will be happening concurrently with season 5 of Angel. Or something.

DRUSILLA: Angel.
ANGELUS: Yeah baby, I'm back.
SPIKE: Is it really true?
ANGELUS: It's really true.
DRUSILLA: You've come home.

According to Joss Whedon in an interview he did with EW, things won't be as cozy and liberating as they appeared to be at the end of "Chosen," Buffy's series finale. ''Not that everything is dire and angsty and season six-y, But she's dealing with the consequences of having empowered thousands of girls around the world. She may have closed the Hellmouth under Sunnydale and defeated The First. But evil? Still rampant!''

After the 4 issue start, which will be completely written by Joss, the remaining issues in the projected 30-issue series will be written by others, but Joss will oversee it (kinda like every season of Buffy, when the episodes were written by his other writers). I'm praying he can lure back writers like Jane Espenson, David Fury, Drew Goddard, and Drew Z. Greenberg.

And maybe... just maybe... he'll be able to lure back his stars for some sort of Buffy movie. With lots of Spike in it, WB be damned.

GILES: Can you forgive me?
BUFFY: For what?
GILES: I never should have left.
BUFFY: No, you were right to leave. We're just . . . stupid.
GILES: I know you're all stupid. But I never should have abandoned you.