The END of the Family
Canadians reading this blog will have no doubt heard about the latest StatsCan figures that are saying only about 50% of families in Canada are married, two heterosexual parent families. The other 50% consists of common-law families, with or without children; same-sex couples, with or without children; and single-parent families.

And it will come as no surprise to anyone reading those figures that the conservatives among us are furious, disgusted, and throwing up their hands in disgrace. Because, apparently, if there are a bunch of people out there who "claim" to be in love and have brought children into this world but don't have a government-authorized piece of paper saying they are legally allowed to be bringing said children into this world or claiming love of another individual, then the world's going to hell in a handbasket.

I just roll my eyes at all of it. When people talk about gay marriage, the opponents somehow believe it will threaten THEIR heterosexual marriage. How does the marriage of two people that aren't you or your spouse affect your marriage in any way? I remember having a discussion with someone who said the problem with gay marriage is there is no procreation, and that should be the key principle of marriage. I just looked at him, with an amused smile on my face, and patiently waited for him to actually stop and digest what he'd just said. He was on his second marriage, both married in their 50s, and had children from previous marriages. They'd gotten married because they were in love, not to have children. And yet here he was passing judgment on someone else for doing the same thing (the difference being, in gay couples they COULD actually give birth to children or adopt and raise a child).

Then there are the ones yelling about common-law marriage. People say that by living common-law, you're not showing a commitment, and the partnership isn't worth it until you've been together for 3 years, because only then are you entitled to half the property of the other person. First of all, I always get a kick out of the fact that these people usually cite the point at which YOU CAN HAVE A DIVORCE as the point where a partnership becomes legitimate, like we all go into a relationship imagining how things will be when we come back out of it. I was with my husband for 10 years before we got married, and after we had our handy-dandy certificate from the government saying we were now legally allowed to say we were in love, I didn't feel any different. I'm certainly not against traditional marriage, obviously, but I just don't see the big deal. If we hadn't spent some money and invited friends to watch us take our vows (which we pretty much laughed through) does it mean we don't love each other as much? And as we all know, if you DO get married, it's virtually impossible to get a divorce in this country. :/

And finally, the biggest demographic taking the hit is single parenthood. People are decrying the lack of the family by pointing out that there are so many single parents around, suggesting the children of those parents will grow up to be complete societal screwups who will fail at everything. Sure, the ideal is to have a strong family base that doesn't involve arguing or yelling or outright abuse, but sometimes when the parents finally bite the bullet and get the separation or divorce, it makes for a MUCH happier home. Is it better for the kids to watch the plates whizzing by their parents' heads each night, or to enjoy the silence?

Of course, I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Often single parenthood is accompanied by low incomes, continued agony as the remaining parent (usually the mother) is the one left behind and now takes out her anger on the children, or there is abuse of some kind that accompanies the whole thing, either by the outgoing parent or the incoming step-one. It's not ideal.

But the problem with any broad survey like this one is that they can say, "50% of families are like this, 20% are like this, 17% like this, and 13% like this" and they think they're covering all the bases. But fevery family is unique. Name two families that are exactly alike. Name one family that is "normal." You can't do it. Because there is no normal, there are only individual situations. No family can be summed up in a stupid survey. These surveys only serve to drive people apart, causing judgement and raised eyebrows, and the inevitable angry letter writers. The National Post's letters to the editor section on Friday was a riot, full of married mothers of 4, 5, even 8 children, decrying the end of the traditional family as if the results of this survey were committing their children to lives of gloom and doom. How ridiculous.

In other news, my husband and I started watching Friday Night Lights a few nights ago and we're already 12 episodes in. If the baby holds off, I'll have finished the season in less than a week. It is mind-blowingly good, and feels like a cross between a big-budget movie and an HBO series.

Today's Opus comic. I love Berke Breathed.

The rumour mill on Battlestar Galactica is saying that the final season will now be split up into two halves, with the first half airing beginning in January 2008, and the second half to begin airing in January 2009 (!!!!!) What?! Matt Roush of TV Guide rolled his eyes at the fan concerns, before declaring a "mea culpa" and apologizing, realizing it really would be difficult to watch them like that. Sure, The Sopranos did it all the time, but the difference is, as one fan pointed out, these episodes will have all been written, filmed, and finished, and it's just a case of the Sci-Fi Channel not airing them.

I just discovered this truly brilliant blog, where the blogger finds great 70s and 80s Swedish album covers and posts them. (Occasionally the bands aren't Swedish, but 99% of them are.) I just wish it were written in English, because I would love to know what the blogger is saying about each cover. :) Check it out. As you scroll through, you can't help but think, "What were these people thinking?!"

Lost Moving to Mondays?

BuddyTV is reporting that Lost might be moving to Monday nights at 8pm, making Monday night THE night to be home... and seriously hurting me blog-wise. (There's no way I can do long comprehensive blogs on both Heroes and Lost on the same night.) But blogging aside, Mondays will be hella cool if this happens. It will have to go head-to-head with Prison Break, but presumably Lost fans have enough taste that they're not tuning into that show.

I just found this poster today online and was thrilled: Lucy Lawless is a big breastfeeding advocate who did this poster for Breastfeeding Week. The band across the bottom says, "Breastfeeding -- my best role ever." Yay! Lucy is interviewed on TVGuide.com today, where she dishes on why Football Wives failed in the US (in a nutshell, they refused to make it as trashy as the British version), and what it's like playing a damsel in distress. She will also be appearing on the October 10 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and when asked about how avoidy Larry David is, she replies:

He's quiet and standoffish and doesn't really want to say hello or anything, but I was determined to be as obnoxious as possible. When I shot the episode, I had just received the new Xena [greeting] card that Hallmark puts out, so I wrote on it "Welcome to the Lucy Lawless Experience" and gave it to Larry. You open it up and it screams out the Xena war cry. He loved me ever after. So my advice to anyone trying to get on Larry's good side: Have your own Hallmark card.

When I was listing off the new shows I plan to watch, I missed Journeyman, which premieres September 24th on NBC at 10 pm (it will follow the Heroes premiere). It stars Kevin McKidd, best known as Lucius Vorenus on Rome, and you can see the trailer here. It looks wicked.

For Canadians, The Tudors begins on CBC on October 2nd at 9pm. It's supposed to be great, though from what I've heard it's about as historically accurate as Black Adder. I don't care; I know the real story of Henry VIII, so now I'm looking forward to the fake one.

Speaking of which, my Fall TV preview of Entertainment Weekly FINALLY arrived today, so I might be adding some more shows based on their recommendations and rundowns of the shows. The issue is worth it for Dalton Ross's back page rundown of who SHOULD have been nominated for Emmys in an ideal world. With the exception of Annabeth Gish on Brothers and Sisters (I don't watch anything with Calista Flockhart in it), I watch and love all the shows he talks about. You can read the article online here.

In the same vein, Salon.com has awarded its 4th annual Buffy Award (aka the award to the most underappreciated awesome show on television) to Friday Night Lights. My hubby and I have just finished the fourth episode and it ROCKS. I love this show.

My publisher has finally unveiled ECW Press's new website, and it looks pretty awesome. There are going to be lots of extras on it, with video and poets reading their poetry and an ongoing blog, etc. Check it out! Daily! :)

The Toronto Film Festival has been on all week and I've missed it (wah) and apparently the films have been amazing, but according to Variety, the deals have not. Yikes.

Mike Rowe on QVC
I really should be doing some work, but I found this goldmine and it's distracted me for the better part of a morning. Some of you might know Mike Rowe from his hilarious Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs, where he looks at some of the world's worst jobs and makes you thrilled to know you're not doing one of them. What you might not know (at least, I didn't) is that he used to be one of the hosts on QVC, the shopping channel in the US. Only, unlike the perky, happy hosts that we're used to seeing, he would sit there, clearly showing his disdain for the product he was supposed to be shilling. Half the time he's on the verge of laughter, and his product descriptions are oozing with sarcasm. Check out this clip of him trying to sell a Precious Moments figurine. I was in stitches; you can tell he HATES the little trinket:



Some of my favourites:

Selling a Christmas doll, where he likens the little mouse in her stocking to the one Lenny crushes in Of Mice and Men, apologizes to the doll for sticking his hand up her dress to turn the music on, and then makes fun of the "classic" Christmas song "Oh What a Merry Christmas Day" and encourages you to sing along (then he does, just making up the words because he's never heard the freakin' thing)

Joining another woman who is selling "dickies" (think of the black one Randy Quaid wears under his white shirt in Christmas Vacation) and the look on his face when she first calls them that.

Selling porcelain cherubs, where he tries to define what a cherub is and comes up with "not a homo sapien."

Making fun of seagull jewellery that doesn't have any seagulls on it.

And another one of the best: He has to sell a paper bag for $36.50 and call it a cat toy. He spends three minutes trying not to laugh, especially when they show the "gripping video" of another cat enjoying it. It's brilliant:



I have no idea how Rowe ever managed to sell a single item to the people who would have been watching (think Ellen Burstyn's character in Dying Young) but I wish he were still on: I'd be tuning in every day to watch. You can watch more by going to YouTube and typing in "Mike Rowe on QVC".

Stuff for a Tuesday
TV Guide's Matt Roush finally gets around to addressing Lost's Emmy snubs by answering a letter about it. Interestingly, the letter writer asks Roush if he thinks Lost was influenced by The Prisoner at all, to which Roush replies, "Why not." Actually, it was immensely influenced by it... check out my new book to find out how (plug plug). ;)

Late to be reporting on this, but the fabulous Edie Falco will be appearing on 30 Rock this fall. Falco is thrilled because she loves the show and says it makes her laugh out loud. Tina Fey is thrilled because she's hoping to get the dirt on what The Sopranos finale was all about.

Check out EW.com for a short video interview with Michelle Ryan from The Bionic Woman (using the accent we know and love from EastEnders). Not a lot of insight, but she has a great story about the fight scene with Katee Sackhoff.

Digital Spy has begun a series of stories on the genesis of Joss Whedon's Ripper. As a side note, my pal Crissy was at a film festival party on the weekend and who should be there but Anthony Stewart Head. Unlike most people, Crissy (who I proudly claim as one of my personal Buffy converts) didn't shy away from walking right up to him, telling him how great he was on Buffy, and got not only a conversation but a kiss on each cheek for her troubles. :::SWOON::: Also, when she was talking about his new horror musical called Repo, he thought she said "Ripper" and told her that production would probably be starting within the year on it. From the horse's mouth, people!!!! I saw Crissy yesterday and it took all of my power not to reach out and grab her cheeks just to be a little closer to those kisses.

National Post film critic Chris Knight wrote a hilarious column about having to interview Tommy Lee Jones. Rather than pretend everything went hunky dory and just writing a quick article about what Jones said, Knight revealed to us how humiliating it was to talk to him, what a crankpuss he was, and how he felt like he was going to wet himself throughout the interview. Definitely check it out.

And the Brit-Brit controversy continues. The Globe and Mail ran through what a lot of the major blogs were saying yesterday, including all the morons who continue to lambaste Brit for her body. (I'm sure many of those same bloggers make fun of people like Angelina Jolie for her super-skinny arms and post photos of her with EAT scrawled across the top... you can't have it both ways, people...) The performance was terrible. The body was awesome. Bikini or no. Idiots. Check out this article for the discussion on that topic.

"Dick in a Box" won the Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics! Check out the interview with Samberg and Timberlake talking about the song.

Finally, today is obviously September 11, and I still remember where I was when I heard the news (during the film festival). When I realized I was due to give birth at the end of this week, my first thought was that I didn't want to have the baby on September 11. Now, if I suddenly go into labour today, I don't think it would be a bad thing -- it would create new happy memories for this day, while I won't be forgetting the original significance of the date.

Just a note that if I suddenly disappear at some point in the next week, I'm probably in a hospital having a baby. :) (In fact, if anyone has any ideas -- scientific, old wive's tales, or otherwise -- on how to induce labour, let me know.)

"It's Britney, Bitch"
Yeah, yeah, EVERYONE is blogging about Brit-Brit's performance at the VMAs last night, so I shall keep this short, and leave the real bellyaching to the ones with the gossip blogs. In short, this performance has finally kicked to death the last wheezing remnants of her career (or the hope that she'd get it back). She's been demonized in the press as a bad mother; she's been in and out of rehab more times than she's worn underwear; she doesn't wear underwear; she's having a fantastically awful time with her ex and the custody battles; she's gone postal on the press. This girl's nervous breakdown has been so public it's a wonder she's still as with it as she is. But through it all, there was always that tiny hope that maybe, just maybe she'd get it together and have that comeback. The single was released a couple of weeks ago and people said, hey, this ain't bad. Maybe Britney IS back, bitch.

And then, the colossal disaster of last night's showing at the VMAs proved otherwise. She was lipsynching -- ooh, knock me over with a feather for how shocked I am. That's by no means the surprise of the evening (that gal always lipsynched, even when she was at the height of her career...does anyone else think the past tense should be lipsanched?). People complained that she was this out-of-shape jellyroll hulking around the stage. Um... I WISH I were that out of shape. Most of the people making those comments would never dream of being in a bikini, and if they did, they should stop dreaming immediately. The real issue was just her demeanour. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but on stage. She wasn't hulking around the stage, she was sulking and slouching and wandering aimlessly like she had no idea where she was, what she was supposed to do, and what the hell song she was supposed to be doing it to. Her "dance moves" were a joke. We've all seen how she used to dance -- last night I think I could have outdanced her. Everything was lacklustre, like she'd rather get back to her drinking and partying than be wasting her time with these overchoreographed people around her. It was just sad.

There have been a lot of excuses from people -- she'd overheard Sarah Silverman's rehearsal where she referred to Brit's kids as the most adorable mistakes imaginable, or said at the age of 25 Spears had accomplished everything she was ever going to; the heel of her boot was broken; she was supposed to be doing a magic routine with Criss Angel and the MTV producers pulled it at the last minute and told her to just follow the dancers, so she actually had no idea what to do instead -- but it just sounds to me like rumours generated to make even more excuses for Spears. How does some blogger sitting at home know that any of this stuff happened? They don't. I just don't think Britney wants to be doing this anymore, and she's being pushed to do it. It's time we just leave her be -- maybe when she becomes a has-been, it might be the therapy she's been looking for. Britney is over.

The rest of the VMAs were as confusing and confused as Britney was at the beginning. I used to love the VMAs. I thought last night was complete chaos. Never watching again.


My husband and I watched season 2 of Big Love in about a week. And it was brilliant. If you're not watching this show, please please do. It's the cream of the HBO crop. It's got the family quirkiness of Six Feet Under; the wars between families of The Sopranos; the weird, insular political intrigue of Deadwood; and it's fun. After about two episodes of the first season, I still couldn't shake my befuddlement. How could ANYONE live like this? These women don't have rights, I thought. They're giving up their womenhood and agreeing to be barefoot and pregnant and sharing their husband with two other women so they can help their hubby get into the "celestial kingdom," which is a load of bunk as far as I'm concerned. Yet by the end of season 2, when Barb's family is showing their utter disdain and disgust for her polygamous lifestyle, I'm thinking, "How DARE you?" because I love her sister-wives so much. It will make you think about a situation you might never have considered before, but it will draw you in to a world that seems as normal as your own family. It's so brilliant. Season 1 is out on DVD, easily rentable or bought, and season 3 has already been ordered for next year.

Funny things I've read in the past couple of days:

In a pamphlet with breastfeeding instructions that came with a pillow I recently bought (the pillow I used on my first pregnancy was awful, and I swear contributed to problems I had), it said, "Make sure you wrap the pillow tightly around your waste." Ew. Why would I do such a thing??

I went to McDonalds to get a hamburger today (a staple of my diet for both pregnancies), and the wrapper was for a bacon cheeseburger. On the top was a sticker that said: Special order: bacon cheeseburger, no bacon, no cheese. O...kay. They probably could have made that one easier on themselves.

Last night, post-Big Love season 2 finale, we immediately launched into Friday Night Lights. I'd already seen the pilot, but it was a year ago when it first aired, so we watched it again and it was as amazing as I remember it being the first time. But it gave me that moment of "mother of a boy" anxiety that I'm going to soon have, where I look at the brutality of the sport and think, "I hope my son never takes up football... or hockey, for that matter." It's not just boys who can do the big contact sports -- one of my best friends in high school was a hockey goalie, and my sister-in-law sports new bruises every week as someone who practises Muay Thai -- but I think typically this is more of a son worry than a daughter one.

I had season 3 of The Office in my hands last week, and then figured I'll look for it at Costco. But it was hard to put down. On the back it said extras included Lazy Scranton, an interview with Joss Whedon, and Kevin cooking stuff in the office. How could I have put that back on the shelf?! I cannot wait to watch it again.

Do Authors Read Your Reviews?
I'm sure a lot of people leave reviews on Amazon.com not realizing that authors pore over those comments as closely as they do reviews in magazines or newspapers or anywhere else. I'm not addicted to checking Amazon, but I'll admit I probably go in there a couple of times a month and click on my books. And honestly, reviews by the public are just as important to me and most other authors as reviews from leading papers are. Maybe even moreso, because this is our actual public, the market that we write to, and not some person behind a desk assigned to review our book when they may not know the subject matter. Think of the news that was made when Anne Rice responded to her bad reviews by blasting the people who'd left them. Yes, even the big authors read their Amazon reviews (don't let any author tell you they don't).

The nature of the Internet in the age of Web 2.0 is that anyone can have an opinion, and can sway the opinions of others if said opinion has been built up to be a trusted one. I'm guilty of it right here, writing every week on my favourite shows and blasting them if I was unhappy, or praising them if I'm over the moon in love.

Amazon.com was one of the first places on board to do such a thing -- allow the general public to become journalists, reviewers, and the ones who will sway the opinions of others. Of course, there's very little monitoring going on. My brother published a non-fiction book, and someone wrote a review saying he revealed that the subject he was writing about suffered from AIDS and was a pedophile. He complained, Amazon looked into the matter, and the review was removed. But if someone makes a claim that sounds credible, but is in fact completely made up, Amazon will leave it there.

Should there be more policing? I don't think so... people always take the reviews on Amazon with a grain of salt. The best-reviewed book I have is my last one, Finding Lost. If you go to the Amazon page, you'll see a lot of 5-star reviews, which warms the cockles of my heart. What author wouldn't love that? Of course, there's the one review that stands out, written by a person allegedly named Jane Tamaras. The review has given my book one star, and says, "You should look elsewhere fro LOST guides. There are so many errors, I found myself wondering if the author has ever seen this televisio show! Better look else where for factual and timely information about your favorite TV show."

First of all, how much do I love that this person criticized the editing of the book, while misspelling three words? But to be honest, the moment I saw this review a few months ago, I was thrilled. Seriously. Because the reviewer is none other than Jim Stewart, a man who published another Lost guide that is apparently terrible (and full of typographical and grammatical errors). But people have caught on: you'll notice 1 out of 22 people have said his review was helpful, so they know it was written by him. If you go to the page for his book, you'll see several positive reviews that were allegedly written by him (some of them signed by him), and then several negative reviews written by others. The really entertaining part is to click on the comments of the reviews, and see Jim responding angrily to them, calling them names, and saying all other Lost books are simply copies of his because he had the idea first (my Lost book is based on the writing model I've been using since 1998). Finally someone said to forget his book, buy mine, and he went and left the nasty review on my page in response. I was one of the last ones to be attacked by him, though; he'd already gone through most of the unofficial Lost books and left his mark. (I was starting to wonder why he didn't think me worthy of attacking!)

I'm sometimes annoyed that his one-star review has dragged down my overall rating, but should it be removed? No... because to police this one review would make it difficult for anyone who legitimately thought my book (or any book) really did lack grammatical merit. And that's a fair assessment of any book. In my case, he's just made it up, but I know I've read books where I've thought that about them.

I've gotten a lot of reviews on my other books, good, bad, and otherwise. Some people don't like that I include a bloopers or nitpick section in my book, and think I should just praise the shows without pointing out things that were wrong. And that's a fair thing to say. Is it true that authors remember praise-worthy reviews as good things, but could probably quote you the bad reviews word for word? Absolutely. It's ingrained in us. I've worked with so many authors over the years who have sold lots of books, gotten heaps of praise, and then one tiny, insignificant review comes along and it shatters their world. I try my best, "Hey, any publicity is good publicity!" pep talk, but the truth is, I'm exactly the same. For instance, there's a review of my book, Once Bitten, where the reviewer says that I went on and on about how there's an empath demon but it doesn't look like Lorne (I read that review a couple of years ago, and still remember it; I didn't have to switch to the page just now). In the actual book, it's a minor nitpick, where I say something like, "The demon in this episode is an empath demon, but interestingly doesn't look like Lorne." But this reviewer made it sound like I was shrieking on a mountaintop like a banshee about it, devoting endless space to this one point. Then the person says one other thing about it and based on two things I wrote in about 350 pages, she says don't buy this book. Another review says the name "Lindsey" is spelled "Lindsay" in a photo caption, and not to buy the book based on that. There was nothing more in the review than that. (The name was spelled correctly by me, and was mistyped at a production level and then not caught at the proofreading stage.) I remember being annoyed that after everything I'd written in the book, it would be written off for a bad cutline.

But what these reviews do is help shape how I'll handle future books. In one review for Angel (or maybe Buffy... I think it was Once Bitten, though), someone goes on at length about my nitpicks, and how they don't care about my opinion, and then they say something like how I don't give plot summaries. Yet in all of my books, I include an introduction that says exactly that -- this book will not contain plot summaries, but will assume you've seen the episode and then will discuss it indepth with you afterwards. And that the nitpicks are simply my opinion, and I might be wrong on some of them, and if I am, here's my email address and please let me know what you thought instead.

So for Lost, I took that bit out of the introduction (which apparently everyone skips) and put it right into the book, and voila, no one has complained because they go into the book knowing that I am not going to rehash plots, and that the nitpicks could have an explanation, I just haven't found it yet. Without these reviews pointing out that I wasn't making my point strongly enough, I wouldn't have known to do that.

No one likes a lousy review. But they make us stronger in the long run, I think. But hey, good reviews are SO much better. :) So please let us know what you think... because we're all reading what you write, just as you're reading what we write. And whenever I get another good review, it makes writing these books completely worthwhile.

Important TV Premiere Dates
Mark your calendars! Here's a quick list of return dates for existing TV shows, and start dates for new shows that I'll be watching (I'll put those in red). Am I missing anything I should be checking out?:

K-Ville: September 17th (9pm, FOX)
**This one's iffy: I typically don't check out new shows on Fox, since they don't last beyond episode 4.

America's Next Top Model: September 19th (8pm, CW)

Kitchen Nightmares: September 19th (9pm, FOX)
**Reality shows, on the other hand, don't get cancelled on Fox

The Simpsons: September 23rd (8pm, FOX)

Chuck: September 24 (8pm, NBC)

Heroes: September 24th (9pm, NBC)

Cane: September 25th (10pm, CBS)

Bionic Woman: September 26th (9pm, NBC)

Dirty Sexy Money: September 26th (10pm, ABC)

Ugly Betty: September 27th (8pm, ABC)

The Office: September 27th (9pm, NBC)

Angel Moonlight: September 28th (9pm, CBS)

Dexter: September 30th (TMN)

Everybody Hates Chris: October 1st (8pm, CW)

30 Rock: October 4th (8:30 pm, NBC)

Friday Night Lights: October 5th (9pm, NBC)

Battlestar Galactica: November 24 (interim episode); season 4 begins January 2008

The Wire: January 2008 (yay!)

The Shield: "early" 2008

Lost: February 2008

Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Campaign Promises
You're probably wondering why I would post this. You'll know when you get to #2. :)

Heroes in Toronto
Well, I didn't get downtown to see the big show on Friday after all, but after seeing the picture in the Star of over 5,000 fans being on hand to see the actors, I figure I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the stage to see anyone anyway. Ando, Sylar, Micah, and incoming actor Dania Ramirez were on hand, as well as Jeph Loeb, who would have been way cool to see. They refused to give up spoilers for the show, and stuck around to complete every single autograph asked of them. Rob Salem in the Star recounted how the day went.

Even more exciting, however, was the news yesterday that a "major Canadian city" will play a role in the upcoming season of Heroes! Will it be Toronto? Vancouver? St. John's? I can't wait.

Posh Spice is going to appear in an episode of Ugly Betty playing a bridesmaid.

I bought season 1 of Friday Night Lights yesterday, so I'm definitely looking forward to watching it. The packaging was pretty lousy; I had to search through all of them to find one that wasn't completely mangled, and even that one had a ripped corner. But, NBC is definitely making a push to get people to watch this show -- where box sets like Heroes were retailing for $59.99, and anything on HBO was $89.99, Friday Night Lights was $29.99, for 22 episodes. What an awesome price!

If you're looking to start setting those PVRs and get ready for the fall season, Zap2it has a great rundown of all the new shows, start dates, and schedules. Since I'm ready to give birth at any minute, I'm thinking I should start setting the PVR now so I don't miss anything. I look forward to the EW rundown, which is more complete and puts everything on one schedule rather than going network by network, but for some reason every year that issue comes out later and later...

Finally, I got out to see Superbad yesterday, and it's interesting: I find one thing that's constant throughout all Judd Apatow films is they are consistently funny, I come away having enjoyed myself, but there weren't a lot of moments where I was doubled over, unable to breathe... if any. Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin were both hilarious, but weren't the funniest things I'd ever seen, and felt like they went on a little too long. Superbad is similar, except it never feels too long. The three main characters are brilliant (I love Michael Cera with all my being) and it's probably my favourite of the trio of films. There's a scene where Seth is standing on a soccer field explaining something to Evan that had me in stitches. There's also a feeling about Apatow films that while they're crude and contain a lot of toilet humour, they're a lot smarter than your typical film in that vein. This one's no exception. I really enjoyed it.

Speaking of which, I first read about Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story in a recent issue of EW on the fall films, and just the description made me laugh. We saw the trailer yesterday and it was pretty hilarious (apparently they're releasing a CD box set of his hits called Box of Cox). It looks like the movie is going to exploit every cliche from Ray and the Johnny Cash film. I love it (the best moment is him singing with Jenna Fischer). Check it out.

The Office Return Promo
One of my readers just sent me this (thanks, Nancy!) and it is seriously hilarious. It's about three and a half minutes of the characters in The Office talking about what they did on their summer vacation. I cannot WAIT for the season premiere of this show (September 27, 9pm, a full hour episode). It's hard to pick a favourite moment in this clip, but I'd probably say Stanley. I heart Stanley.

Heroes is Coming to Toronto!
OK, I've just crawled out from under the rock I've apparently been living under to find out that the cast of Heroes will be appearing in Toronto, at Yonge-Dundas Square, this Friday, August 31st, to promote the release of the season 1 DVD. From what I've heard, the first 100 people to buy the season 1 DVD from The Bay will be guaranteed an autograph from the gang. Here's the story that appeared a month ago (argh) at Canada.com. According to The TV Addict, Zachary Quinto is going to be on hand, but so far no one is saying for sure who will really be there.

So... dilemma for me. It's my last day at work before maternity leave. Do I go downtown? Do I stay late at work the next 2 nights to finish up work so I can go early? Do I go down and then come back to finish up? Do I skip it?

Who's planning on going?? Look out for a very pregnant woman...

More Lost Actors Added!

Jeff Fahey has been added to the Lost cast, according to EW. This photo on the left is the picture EW provided. Damon Lindelof claims that he was the only guy they had in mind for the role. So... anyone else thinking we're staring at Jacob right now?

Jeremy Davies has also been added. I first saw him in a strange little indie film called Spanking the Monkey, about a guy whose mother is suddenly paralyzed and bedridden, and he takes care of her and over time the roles become confused and he begins a sexual relationship with her. It's a disturbing film to say the least, but he was great in it. He's best known, however, for playing an interpreter in Saving Private Ryan. I can't wait to see how he fits into the cast.

Variety is reporting that Eliza Dushku has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to star in some show, meaning they've signed the actress before developing the actual project. A pretty big deal indeed. There aren't any details beyond that. Let's hope 20th Century doesn't actually put the show on FOX, or we'll only be able to enjoy two episodes before they cancel it.

For the Heroes fans hotly anticipating tomorrow's DVD release and September 24th's season 2 premiere, check out this new site that's just gone up, the Yamagoto Fellowship. You can see a message from Kaito Nakamura (Hiro's dad), and information about the kensei swords. I first saw this on TVGuide.com where they said you could click on videos and watch the stories that Kaito read to Hiro, but the link doesn't seem to be working quite yet.

SyFyPortal is reporting that Ripper, that show that Joss Whedon has long been saying he's been developing to spin off the character of Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is a go. Well... their headline is confirming it's a go, but if you read the article it's the same old, "BBC is on board, FOX is still in the air" we've been hearing for years. That said, FOX is making more of a commitment than we've ever seen before, at least greenlighting that Joss can go forward, so let's see what he does with the script. Yay, Joss, give us Giles back!!!

Stuff for a Friday
Um... blogger suddenly has a feature where I can add video? Where did that come from? (See, I open a new page to start a post, see something that catches my eye, and forget what I was just doing...) Mmm... new toys.

But I shall come back to that later. First of all, my husband and I have FINALLY begun watching Big Love and I think it's amazing. The core cast is great, and every episode you can't help but put yourself into the shoes of the characters. How could a woman sleep at night knowing her husband is in another woman's bed? How do you share someone who is supposed to be loyal to you? How do you have an argument about something when you know he could just turn to the more complacent wives and favour them instead? While at the same time, look at how these women share childcare, problems, help out with groceries, laundry, etc. It's such a brilliant series, and forces me to think of polygamy, something I've barely ever thought about. I was hooked by the first episode.

Kristen Bell loves nerds. I think she and I could hang out and become best friends forever. Well, probably not. I mean, if her audience are all TV geeks, then obviously she can't say that she doesn't get these people. Read the article to see her thoughts on being asked to be on Lost and what she thinks of being on Heroes (there's a minor spoiler about the connection her character will have with others, but it didn't rattle me, and I HATE spoilers). No comment on the end of Veronica, which is pretty disappointing.

Reason #4,852 to hate Andy Rooney. Why is this crotchety old man still allowed to speak? I grew up in a house where my dad watched 60 Minutes every Sunday, religiously (that ticking noise still unnerves me, because when my bedtime was 8pm I knew you'd hear the ticking at the end and had to go to bed), and loves Andy Rooney. But I'll never forget watching the show one week in 1994 and he went off on Kurt Cobain, post-death, devoting an entire segment to asking why the hell anyone cared about this talentless loser, when this kid that he'd found in a newspaper in Podunk, Nowhere, had also died that week and no one was holding candlelight vigils to mourn him. Sigh. Don't worry... we won't be holding candlelight vigils for you, Andy. Check out Best Week Ever for a pretty funny rundown of the article. (My favourite part is where he says he can't watch baseball because unlike the good ol' days, everyone now is named Rodriguez. Um... OK, and how much is the Stamford Times paying you to put your racism on your sleeve?)

Tis the release season of TV shows on DVD, and I'm super-excited. Dexter came out this past Tuesday, so if you haven't seen it, get it. It's a darkly funny and fascinating study of a serial killer by night, forensics guy by day, who discovers another serial killer that he must investigate, and he becomes increasingly jealous by this other guy's handiwork, until clues begin surfacing that convince Dexter the guy is actually speaking to him in some way. Next Tuesday (August 28th) is the release of Heroes on DVD. This is one I plan to buy and rewatch before it starts up again on September 24th. Apparently the pilot episode has been extended to 75 minutes from 42, and includes a new introduction to Sylar. Also on that day is the release of Friday Night Lights, which ranks up there with Big Love as "that show I should totally be watching but am not." Dark Shadows, episodes 1-35, will also be released on that day. This is one of those shows I always wish I'd seen more of -- a friend lent me a few episodes on VHS a couple of years ago (you know, I should really return those to him) and I watched it and was intrigued, so I'd like to see more. Anything involving vampires has me interested.


September 4 is the release date of season 3 of The Office (yay!) and if you've seen the season, as I have, it's still worth getting it just to watch the deleted scenes. That same day is the release of 30 Rock and Robot Chicken. Oh, and Prison Break (blech).


EW.com has an interesting interview with James Marsters (and a not-so-flattering accompanying photo) in which he says that he doesn't think Joss Whedon ever "got into" Spike, and that's why there would be no Spike spinoff. I think he's wrong (uh, was Marsters not watching the Buffy finale?) but it's an interesting interview nonetheless.

A third new actor has been cast on Lost. I'm assuming these people are all Others, but time will tell.

And finally, someone posted this item in my comments yesterday (thanks, Sarah!)

Wanted: More than 30 "Lost" babies
At least 30 babies were needed to play Claire's baby Aaron last season, making casting a never-ending process. So many are needed because, well, babies age quickly, outgrowing the part in just a week or so. To play Aaron, a baby must have blond hair, blue eyes, a slightly round face, weighing between 8 and 15 pounds.

So if my son is born in mid-September, could he qualify for the next round of Aarons? My daughter had a round face, blonde hair, and blue eyes, so there's a good chance he'll look the same! And if they need 30 of these babies, does that ensure that Claire and Aaron will be on for a while?

MORE Casting News -- Lost
I talk about the fabulousness of The Wire on here all the time, and now two of my favourite worlds are about to collide. Lieutenant Daniels (I know he's eventually a Col., but he'll always be The Lieutenant to me) has been cast in an unknown role on Lost. Zap2it reported the story by saying he joins Harold Perrineau as also having been on Oz, and they seem to have forgotten that Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje (Eko) was also on Oz, as was Zeljko Ivanek, who played the governor on Oz and Juliet's evil husband Edward on Lost. There's definitely something going on about those two shows.

I tried posting this this morning, but Blogger was down for some reason. I was reading Ken Tucker's column on EW about all of the awesome DVDs coming out this week, and he was talking about his latest obsession, which has been around forever, but he's just mentioning it now. Well, I'm further behind than he is, because I hadn't heard about it until reading his column. Full disclosure: In 1984, when I was 11 years old, I was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan. HUGE. I went and saw him on the Victory tour (and was nearly trampled to death), I owned every biography of him, I had the little action figure (complete with tiny sparkly glove), could do the Moonwalk, and had even subjected myself to The Wiz. Two years later, I couldn't have cared less about him. But for one brief shining year, he was everything to me. So when Tucker pointed to a penitentiary in the Philippines where the hundreds of inmates have recreated the choreography of Jackson's "Thriller" video, I HAD to click. I've probably seen this video 437 times now, and watching this video just put a huge stupid grin on my face. I especially love the guy playing the woman, who has every over-the-top pose down pat. This is seriously awesome. Enjoy.

More Casting News — Lost
That's right: Uncle June from The Sopranos will be cast as Jacob! Ok . . . not. Michael Ausiello at TVGuide.com is reporting that Ken Leung, who appeared in the final season of The Sopranos as the guy who seemed to idolize Uncle Junior when they were in the institution together, has been cast as a mathematician on Lost in season 4. He had severe anger issues and hated his parents on The Sopranos . . . which means he'll fit in PERFECTLY with the island folk! :)

Exciting Casting News!!
I've got good news and bad news. Last week it was announced Kristen Bell had turned down the offer to appear on Lost in season 4 (boo). But... Bell has officially joined the cast of Heroes (yay!) It's probably what she was holding out for, and figured it was the better bet career-wise. Her character's name will be Elle, and she'll be connected to three other existing characters (I won't say who, in case people deem that a spoiler). More info can be found here.

Entourage and Flight of the Conchords have both been renewed for new seasons. I have to catch up on FotC, but Entourage has been great in the second half of this season. Last night's ep was great (maybe it was because there was less Turtle and Drama predictable bumbling, and more Ari), though it left you a little uneasy from Eric's point of view. And is it wrong of me to have been upset that Walsh's girlfriend had taken the bullets out of the gun? Dammit... I can't wait until we finally see Medellin. Who thinks it's going to be terrible?

I swear this guy is Dorian Gray.

In other news, Finding Lost Season 3 has gone to the printer, and I'm excited about that, and I've been asked to be a part of another book project called The Essential Cult Television Reader. Yay! And I'm also going to appear in a book on Heroes this fall. I'll do a blog soon just on that book.

My daughter's birthday party was a success. Eighteen adults and six children, and not a single child was hurt or crying or upset, so that was a good thing. And my daughter suddenly dropped off to sleep at 7:20, which was worth the entire day itself. Ah... a three-year-old. How time flies...

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.

We Should All Hope for Kids Like This
A couple of weeks ago I posted an entry about people who complained about children, parents of children, breastfeeding parents of children... basically people who think that children are the bane of our existence, the "ass monkeys" we have to endure as a difficult part of life. Extremist environmentalists are now taking a "child-free" stance, saying that by having children you are necessarily damaging the environment and putting a strain on the Earth.

Well... it's time for those whiny complainers to meet James Brooks. This precocious 10-year-old has developed a keen interest in apes, and particularly bonobos, to the point where he's given up birthday gifts, raised money for the endangered animal, and is doing everything he can to raise awareness of them. The Great Ape Trust of Iowa has recently featured James on their site to talk about the extraordinary things he's done. Here's a small taste:

...it would be difficult to find a donor whose contributions were more heartfelt. James became a vegetarian the day the bonobo P-Suke died. He remains in contact with zookeepers at the Columbus Zoo, home of a dozen bonobos, after a 15-year-old male bonobo, Mambo, developed a viral respiratory infection and died on Christmas Eve. He adopted a bonobo at Lola ya Bonobo, a sanctuary supported by Great Ape Trust that cares for bonobos orphaned by deforestation, the bushmeat and pet trades, and the civil war that continues in Democratic Republic of Congo. James is convinced that he enjoys a special relationship with the bonobo Nyota, a resident of Great Ape Trust and, at age 9, an individual James calls his peer.

James' father, Neil, is a former literature professor of mine who is now a good friend, and who is part of the reason why I take pop culture as seriously as I do (this guy taught Poe's "The Raven" by first showing us The Simpsons version of it -- there... I was able to link this story to television somehow). I am truly amazed by this incredible boy. We should all hope our children would be as giving and loving as he is. I hope those people who see a child come walking into a resturant and turn up their snooty noses and say, "Oh good god, there's dinner ruined!" will read about him and maybe, just maybe, realize that some kids aren't the selfish little attention-seekers they think they are.

Once: Movie Review
Every once in a while a movie comes along that defies expectations, shows you a new way of seeing the world, and leaves an impression on you that won't go away. Last week I saw Once, and it was just such a movie.

This is the little film with the big hype. The Chicago Tribune called it the "best music film of our generation." It was a hit at Sundance. It has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. You probably won't find a better-reviewed movie this year.

The movie stars Glen Hansard, lead singer of Irish band The Frames (they are HUGE in Ireland, virtually unknown outside of it... kind of like The Tragically Hip in Canada or You Am I in Australia). You might recognize him from The Commitments -- he was the red-headed guitarist with the long hair. His co-star in the film is Marketa Irglova, a Czech singer who released a 2006 album with Hansard (she's now purportedly dating him).

The characters are never named -- they are simply a guy busking on a street who happens to work for his dad's vacuum cleaner repair shop, and a girl who does odd jobs and walks by him and chats with him one day. He plays music, writing mostly sad songs about a woman who left him, and she also plays music, also about someone who's no longer with her. Together they click, and together come to an understanding of how they can use music as a way of expressing their deepest emotions.

The music in this film is incredible. There are two songs that you'll hear throughout -- mostly the one they sing together in a music shop -- and by the end of the movie you're not tired of them, you just want to hear them again and again. There's a scene where the guy is in a studio with an engineer who'd rather be sleeping, and the band he's cobbled together doesn't appear to know what they're doing, but once he counts them in and they're about halfway through the song, the engineer suddenly realizes this isn't some loser with money who wants to buy some studio time for his cheesy pop crap. This guy is an artist. (The song is in 5/4 time, for god's sakes... anyone who's ever played music -- and I played classical piano seriously for 15 years -- knows how freakin' difficult that time signature is.) In the hands of a more heavy-handed scriptwriter, or using a song that's actually not that impressive, this scene would make even the most willing viewer roll their eyes, but we're right there with the engineer, wondering why this guy isn't huge yet.

The end of the film is just... breathtaking. Literally.

Once is a gem of a film that's not necessarily as much about romance as it is about connection, and finding that right person in your life at just the right moment. I cannot recommend this film enough. If you love music (not in the sense of "Oh yeah, I like music, I listen to pretty much anything"; more like you've spent a good part of your life breathing music), then you must see this film. It's fantastic.

Finding Lost — Season Three
I've been promising this for a while, but I keep getting sidetracked by shiny things on the ground that attract my attention. :) I wanted to post the full table of contents of the new book, and I hope it appeals to everyone. As with my last book, the main part of the book is the episode guide, so each section is formatted with the guide coming first, and then chapters relevant to that particular episode will follow it, or in some cases, sidebars will be within it. There are more photos, and even though I don't have a specific section of location shots in Oahu, there are about 15 of those pics throughout the episode guide, with the relevant addresses and locations attached to them. This is just titles, so I'm happy to explain what the sections are if anyone is eager to find out and the title doesn't give enough info. I hope you like it. :)

Acknowledgments
How Not to Get Lost
The Others Are Coming!: Season 3

SEASON 3
October 2006–May 2007

A Tale of Two Cities (Jack)
A Tale of Two Cities

The Glass Ballerina (Sun & Jin)
The Lost Experience

Further Instructions (Locke)

Every Man for Himself (Sawyer)
Of Mice and Men

The Cost of Living (Eko)
Sidebar: To Kill a Mockingbird
Eko’s Jesus Stick

I Do (Kate)
Obsessed with the Numbers: The Season 3 Hiatus

Not In Portland (Juliet)

Flashes Before Your Eyes (Desmond)
Sidebar: Time Travel
A Brief History of Time
David Hume (1711–1776)

Stranger in a Strange Land (Jack)
The Prisoner

Tricia Tanaka Is Dead (Hurley)

Enter 77 (Sayid)
Sidebar: Sawyer’s Nicknames

Par Avion (Claire)

The Man from Tallahassee (Locke)
Sidebar: O Canada

Exposé (Nikki and Paulo)
Sidebar: “Exposé” Timeline
Sidebar: The Fountainhead
Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo)
Kiele Sanchez (Nikki Fernandez)

Left Behind (Kate)
Sidebar: Pre-Island Relationships
Sidebar: Kate’s Aliases

One of Us (Juliet)
Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet Burke)
Carrie

Catch-22 (Desmond)
Catch-22

D.O.C. (Sun)
Sidebar: Others vs. Losties

The Brig (Locke)
Sidebar: Parent Issues
Biblical Names

The Man Behind the Curtain (Ben)
Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Greatest Hits (Charlie)
Sidebar: Make Your Own Kind of Music

Through the Looking Glass (Jack)
Sidebar: Fate vs. Free Will
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There
The Others

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.