Nikita . . . Mark IV

I didn't actually have Nikita on my list of shows to watch for this fall. Because I already have far too many shows that I watch, and I have about 4 or 5 that I want to check out (I'll post on those this weekend), I didn't want to add a show I feel like I've already watched... three other times. First there was the French film, La Femme Nikita, which was awesome. Then the U.S. remake starring Bridget Fonda, which was pretty good, but it was basically a retread of the first. Then the TV version, shot here in Toronto and starring Peta Wilson. I LOVED that show. Loved it. Watched it, cursed them only when they were filming in the neighbourhood of my workplace in the Beach area of Toronto (their film trucks would take up several streets and I could never find parking), and even edited a brilliant episode guide to the show written by Dawn Connolly, called La Femme Peta. I knew that show inside and out.

So why would I watch a remake of a show that's not only recent (seriously? You're remaking a show a decade after the previous version ended?) but one that I knew so well? To be honest, I was tired, it was on. That's... pretty much it.

The thing is, 2010 Nikita is not a retread of the previous one. There's a lot that's the same, many things that I liked much better the first time around, and things I liked more in the second one, but it's a very interesting take on the show. First, it's almost like we're expected to know the first one. Peta Nikita was a street kid, she was tough but vulnerable, she was in love with Michael, and she managed to get out, but then got back in. New Nikita is less vulnerable, there was something between her and Michael, but when the show begins, she's already out. All of that first season of Peta Nikita was showing us what it was like for her to learn how to be an agent with them, whereas in the new version, we see that same process through a different kid, Alex. So while wizened, older Nikita has managed to escape and is trying to take down Division from the outside, this younger kid is being recruited on the inside. You get the early days of Peta Nikita, and the later ones, all wrapped up into one show.

I loved Peta Wilson as Nikita, so it's going to take a lot to get me on board with Maggie Q. And while she's good, she lacks that vulnerability I loved about Peta's take on it. And Roy Dupuis as Michael simply isn't even touched by Shane West, that dude from ER. I LOOOOOOOVED Roy Dupuis. He was hot hot hot, he had that low, myserious way of talking, his face never changed expression, and yet you could tell he wanted to be more than the person he was in the agency. Shane West doesn't have any of those qualities yet, but we'll see how he does.

It's interesting that they kept the same names for many of them. There are two Nikitas and two Michaels, and also two Birkhoffs, the nerdy guy who did the computer stuff (think of Topher on Dollhouse). The man named Operations is now Percy, and Madeline is now Amanda. I'm a big fan of Xander Berkeley (when he left 24 was pretty much when I stopped watching) and Melinda Clarke, who played an Amazon on Xena, and then ended up on Vampire Diaries last season. But I'm also partial to Eugene Robert Glazer and Alberta Watson on Peta Nikita, so it'll be interesting to see how they measure up.

Once again the show is filmed in Toronto, but while the earlier version didn't make it clear where it was set, this one clearly states it's in Manhattan. (They screw up, though: watch the scene closely where they locate Nikita in a cemetery and then refer to the GPS map to find her -- it's a map of Toronto! You can see Eglinton Ave and Mount Pleasant and Yonge Street pretty clearly on it.)

Right up to the end, I thought it was an interesting retelling of the same story, but I wasn't sure it was enough to keep it on my PVR. And then there was a twist I didn't see coming at the very end that made it a lot more interesting to me. More interesting than the compelling relationship between Nikita and Michael in the first version? I'm not sure... I thought the chemistry between Wilson and Dupuis was remarkable, and there was nothing between West and Q in the alleyway scene. But it was definitely something that will bring me back for a second episode.

If you missed the premiere and live in Canada, it will re-air on Space on Sunday night.

Bookstore Surprise

I walked into a bookstore in downtown Toronto last weekend, and saw this!

Finding Lost Contest!

Hey all: Just a quick note that the first five people who got FLS6 orders in were Brooke Hall, Ian Malinski, Neil and Susan Andrews, Barb Weatherbee, and Lauren Seiler. I'll be contacting each of you shortly to arrange payment, and yours will be under the cheaper shipping regardless of what happens. Now, for everyone else, I'll be entering your names into a draw and while we wait to see if the books for the first 5 make it through the post office, one of you will get a book for free. :) I'm still taking preorders: just email me using the click-through, or email me at nikki_stafford@yahoo.com.

And to make this more interesting, I'll send ANOTHER free book to anyone who can send me a unique photo featuring any or all of the Finding Lost series of books. (Go here to see previous pics of my readers holding them up!) I'm looking for photos that make me laugh out loud, or unique takes on it. Perhaps you want to dress up as a character and pretend you're hanging out in the jungle, preparing to defend yourself against polar bears by using my books. Or if you don't want to be in it, try your photoshop skills to put the books in very strange locations. Whatever you want to do is up to you. Deadline for entries is September 30 (I was going to put it on the 22nd and make it the anniversary of the plane crash, but the more time we can have fun with this, the better)! I'm looking forward to posting your entries!

And for everyone out there who's been missing our Lost discussions, I've come up with an idea to keep the discussion going. Yes, folks, perhaps we can work together to get past our Lost withdrawal. Watch this space for a new segment I'll be introducing where we can chat about Lost... for all of you who (like me) refuse to let it go. ;)

Mad Men: The Suitcase

I apologize that I haven't had a chance to blog on much of this season of Mad Men. But last night's episode was extraordinary, and I simply had to say something about it.

"The Suitcase" is basically a set piece, almost like a play featuring Don Draper and Peggy Olsen, with all of the other characters just playing the chorus, moving in and out of the action while never being a focus. The way Weiner played with these two, moving them like chess pieces back and forth across the board throughout the episode, was incredible.

At the beginning, Peggy and the three dunderheads she now has to tolerate in the copy writing room put on a ridiculous (but hilarious) performance of the Samsonite commercial they want to do. Peggy never really seems to have her heart in it, and Don can tell. Half-drunk and generally falling apart, he bites her head off and tells her to go back to the drawing board. Most of his actions in the ep are driven by the fact that he's received a phone call from Stephanie, Anne Draper's niece, and he knows what the call is about -- Anne has cancer, and she's probably just died. He can't bring himself to make the call, because he can't handle actually hearing the words that this woman -- the only woman who truly knows him, as he'll later say -- could be gone. He's been hanging by a thread for most of the season, and the only time he seemed like himself was when he was with her and being, well, himself: Dick Whitman.

And so he takes out his frustrations on Peggy. It's Peggy's birthday, and she has a date with her wiener of a boyfriend (who played Karl on Lost, he of the Room 23 brainwashing scene), who, unbeknownst to her, has arranged the dinner with all of her loathsome family. Don keeps her after work, and in between dealing with Don's drunken rages, Peggy continually calls her boyfriend at the restaurant to keep telling him she'll be a bit later. To every viewer's relief, he eventually blows up at her and breaks up with her over the phone (he's the Joe Jonas of his time!!) and Peggy wanders back to Don's office, where he finally shuts up for once when he sees her misery. Though... that doesn't stop him from telling her off for being a big suck on her birthday. Don hits a new low in this episode -- the difference is, this time he KNOWS it.

There are many parallels drawn between the Peggy and Don relationship: Don giggles hysterically as he listens to Roger's tapes of his autobiography, where Roger talks about playing second fiddle to Bert Cooper and worrying that Bert won't think he's good enough. Just as Roger had to pander to Bert, Don had to suck up to Roger, and now Peggy finds herself in the same position, trying to win Don's praise. But unlike all of the men, Peggy won't compromise who she is, and never changes: She stands before Don in this episode and finally tells him what she thinks of him taking the glory for the Glo-Coat commercial that she'd come up with. She reminds him of the many good ideas she's had along the way. She knows that she owes Don -- he took a chance on her, and on a personal level, he was the guy who came to her in the hospital right after she'd had a baby and suffered a mental breakdown -- but she's done owing him. When he finally shapes up and takes her to a Greek restaurant, where they sit under a painting and talk about travel, they sit across the table as equals, not one person battling the other. There's no hierarchy or rivalry in this scene.

From there they go to a bar, where Peggy -- unlike all of the guys at Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce -- does NOT get drunk, and they listen to the Liston-Clay fight that ended less than 2 minutes after it began. Cassius Clay would become Muhammad Ali, and he trounced Sonny Liston. He was the one no one saw coming (even Don bet $100 on Liston). Similarly, throughout this season we've watched the great, unstoppable Don Draper fall time after time, and he's becoming as useless as Roger on the job. How can this be the same guy who did the monologue about the Kodak carousel at the end of season 1?

Broken by his failed marriage, his wife and kids, his stressful job, and younger people who are doing their jobs better than he can, Don has found solace at the bottom of a bottle (well, and between the legs of just about every woman he sees). He's destroying himself, and just as Peggy was picked up at her lowest point by Don, here she sits and talks to him, and finally tells him what he's doing to himself. He tells her about the dreaded phone call, and falls apart. She holds his hat while he vomits into the toilet, and she strokes his hair as he falls crying into her lap. Don couldn't be alone on this difficult evening, and it's important that Peggy is the one he's with.

When Duck Phillips stumbles into the offices to leave a "gift" for Don, Peggy's fling with him is now apparent to Don, but considering many of his past transgressions, he can't judge Peggy for what she did, and he doesn't. He waves it off, she gets rid of Duck, and we know that Peggy won't go with Duck to the new firm -- she's smarter than that.

The next morning, Don gets up and finally finds the nerve to make that fateful phone call, only to find out it's worse than we thought -- Stephanie wasn't calling to say Anne was dead, but that she was at death's door, and wanted to talk to Don. He missed his opportunity, and now she's gone. His fear and self-destruction kept him from his last conversation with Anne (which probably wouldn't have been a good one, but it would have been something). The moment she died, however, he had awakened in his office with a vision of her, holding that Samsonite suitcase and waving goodbye as she left on her exciting new journey. Peggy had pitched an idea of Samsonite being the ultimate case you take with you wherever you go, but Don didn't like it.

The next day, disheveled and tired, Don and Peggy awake in the office. He shows her the ad that he'd come up with that mirrors the Liston/Clay fight, and Peggy begins to question his work the same way he does hers. He takes offense in much the same way, and she waves it off, saying she's just tired and tells him it's very, very good. Just before she leaves to go home and get cleaned up, Don takes her hand and holds it. They gaze at each other for a long time, and Peggy leaves. She'll return a couple of hours later, and it'll be business as usual at the firm as far as everyone else is concerned. But what happened that night was monumental. Don was K.O.'d, but Peggy helped him back up. The relationship between the two has changed, and perhaps they can move forward more as equals, rather than the traditional ageing boozehound and the young upstart who's out to push him to the side.

"The Suitcase" was a phenomenal episode, and one of my favourite hours of television of the year.

Finding Lost S6: Now Taking Pre-Orders for Autographed Copies!

Hey y'all: So, my book officially went to the printer on September 1, and I took one last look at it and had to "let it go." Sigh. No more semicolons to fix. No more chasing dangling participles through the jungles of my grammar. And I think somewhere along the way I cut the book's dural sac and had to piece that together, too. But don't worry: I only let the fear in for 5 seconds.

I finally saw the full cover the other day, and here it is in all its glory!



(Click to see enlarged version.) See that? The jungle that was originally behind the chessboard has been moved to the back and made all dark and creepy. Love it. ;)

So, as I've been saying over on my Facebook page, the book ended up being a bit longer than my other book, I think by 40 pages or something. Which means that where the previous book teetered precariously at 504g at the post office, the new one will set those scales ablaze, and they'll push it into the higher-priced shipping territory. Unfortunately this could take a $7 shipping price and put it into double digits (and I can't even imagine what would happen in the UK).

So here's what I propose. At this stage, what I'll do is collect addresses from anyone interested in buying a copy (signed!!) from me. The price is $14.95 US, and $16.95 CDN (if you live outside of North America, it's up to you which amount you want to pay; I think it's pretty much the same?). Now, I'm not asking for any money at this time, just who is interested so I can make up a list. Then, the first 5 people on that list, I'll send the book out to them at cheaper rates and we'll see if we can manage to sneak them through the post office. And if we do, then it's a free-for-all (well, less-cost-for-all) and at that time, I'll email you back individually, let you know the final full price of the book, and we'll arrange for payment and shipping. If not, I'll pay the extra shipping on those first 5 books for those people, and email everyone else to tell you what the new price will be. And if you're still open to picking up a copy from me (I won't be offended if you're not!), then we'll arrange for payment and I'll send it off.

Now, this information is for the future, where we shall time travel and discover that (yay!) it managed to get past the post office peeps. Paypal is the easiest way to pay, and I can give you the details when I email you, but if it is the lower rate, then in Canada it'll probably cost about $3.50 to ship out, $7 to ship to the U.S., and $14 to ship it overseas (I know... gak). If it doesn't make it past the officials, those prices could double (and if you're living overseas, I doubt you'll want to do it that way!)

If you order now, I'll also throw in my new nifty, shiny bookmark that I'll also sign, with all of the covers of my books on it, which retails for, um... *cough* but can be yours for FREE! Act now, quantities are limited!

OK, they're not limited, I can always order more. But act now!

So if you're interested (again, at this point don't send any money), just email me here and let me know if you want a copy, and send me your full address with postal code or zip (I'll need that to calculate the costs should it become higher). And again, the first 5 people who send me their name and address will automatically get the cheaper shipping rate and their books will be sent out the day I receive them from the printer. :) If that link above doesn't work, just look at the top lefthand side of the blog, under my picture, and click on the option to email me.

I hope you guys like it! When I did my final flip through the book, I was really really happy with it. Sigh... NOW Lost is over for me. Sadness.

Doctor Who: My First Foray

So, as I outlined in a recent post, I've decided I'm going to watch the Doctor Who reboot from the first season onward (i.e. from the beginning of the Ninth Doctor) and last night I began. I was told that it would take some getting used to, that I would probably have to stick with it for a few episodes, but eventually I'd like it.

Well... half of that was true. I loved it from the beginning!

"Rose" gives enough backstory to help even the newest of the n00bs. And I'm new. Now, I'll admit I cheated; my husband was sitting on the couch next to me and I was able to fire questions at him throughout. "What's that blue thing he's holding? What does it do? Why is the inside of the TARDIS bigger than the outside? What's the Doctor's name? Does he have a name? OH WAIT A MINUTE! Is that why he's called Doctor Who, because he says he's the Doctor and people say 'Doctor Who'?"

This episode begins in Rose's world. She's just a normal English girl, going to work in a department store until one day she has to drop something off in the basement and suddenly all of the mannequins in storage come to life and start walking toward her. Now, many people said my 6-year-old could watch this with me, but I watched that scene and just pictured her having nightmares for weeks, so I'm glad she wasn't watching with me. It was campy and over-the-top, but hey, Warren built a female robot on Buffy so he could have sex with it -- this wasn't exactly something I hadn't experienced before on TV.

The introduction to the Doctor was awesome; Eccleston is instantly charming and funny, "Nice to meet you, Rose... now run for your life!!!"

I saw the TARDIS for the first time, and heard the noise that my husband said was pretty true to the original series (that grinding noise it makes when it whirs away). We're introduced to Clive, a guy who has a website about the Doctor and seems like a zany conspiracy theorist... if we didn't know he was absolutely right. This is the way Russell T. Davies gets in all of the background on the Doctor to fill in the n00bs, and then we flash back outside to the garbage bin eating Rose's boyfriend. Or, as my husband said, "In order to get eaten by a garbage pail you've really got to do something dumb." (I loved the added effect of the pail burping afterward.)

At first I thought it was a little OTT that Rose doesn't notice her boyfriend is now plastic, but then I thought it was really funny... the guy's a tool, totally boring, and annoying. She almost dies in an explosion and he comes by to make sure she's ok before heading off to the pub to watch a football match. Winner.

Best line comes from Rose: "If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from the North?" HAHA! Doctor responds: "Lots of planets have Norths!" Brilliant.

About three-quarters of the way through the ep (we were now in the warehouse with the giant goopy plastic gobby mess talking) my husband said, "This is campier than the original series." I just stared at him and said no, I didn't think so (from the minute here, minute there that I'd ever seen, this wasn't nearly as OTT) but he insists it is. What do you guys think?

My favourite moment was at the end, when the London Eye was starting to be filled with electricity and the Doctor yelled, "It's the end of the world!!" I just thought, ah... as a faithful Buffy viewer I heard that line about three times a season, and I cannot TELL you how warm and fuzzy it makes me feel to hear it again. I welcome, um, whatever the plural of apocalypse is. It feels like home again.

Episode 2, The End of the World, is where Rose finds out just how dangerous her new traveling companion is. He says, "Where do you want to go? Into the past or into the future?" I immediately looked at my husband and asked what he would do. Without a moment's hesitation he said, "I'd go to the 70s and see the Velvet Underground play in New York... then to the 80s to see the Smiths play a small place in Manchester." Meanwhile I'd been thinking I'd go to Bono's high school in 1976 and be there the moment U2 was formed.

God, sometimes I think we're just pathetic. I could go back in time and see one of history's great events or talk to Virginia Woolf or warn Oscar Wilde not to go through with the defamation trial or see my grandparents as children... but no, we just want to go see rock stars before they were famous.

Anyway.

So Rose says let's go into the future and show me something interesting, and he takes her 5 billion years into the future where they're going to watch the Earth come to an end once and for all. Wow. They're on an alien spaceship and she sees all of these creatures enter the place -- crazy music is playing and it feels like the Star Wars cantina -- and the episode was definitely filled with funny moments. They roll in a jukebox and say that humans called this an iPod, and it played the music of the greatest composers of the day... a record drops and it's Tainted Love (the second time I heard that song that day, actually, since it was also on Being Human when I'd been watching it earlier). Then as the Earth begins to crumble, one of them says, "Let us mourn the Earth with a traditional ballad," and Britney Spears' "Toxic" begins playing... HAHA!!! SO funny.

This episode begins the intrigue of where the Doctor came from. One of the tree people discovers he's a Time Lord, and he reveals that he's the last of his race after some sort of war. This was exciting. The special effects were better in this one, and while it had its funny moments (including a bad Michael Jackson joke about too much plastic surgery that just seemed to have lost something watching it now) and it's over-the-topness (the "last human" is one that's had 780 facelifts and is now nothing but a sheet of skin with some capillaries stretched out like a canvas), it ended with some profound thoughts of life and death, of mortality and leaving your mark on the world. We all want to be remembered, but some day this will all be gone. As Rose stands on the edge of oblivion, it suddenly makes her feel very small and insignificant. It was a very powerful ending.

So whoo!! I'm so glad I'm liking this, and now, on to the next one!!

One Reason to Watch the Emmys

Jimmy Fallon.

This just made me giggle out loud at my desk:



And this, if you haven't seen it, is AWESOME.

Emmys: My Brief Thoughts

I had a bit of a crazy whirlwind weekend where, for the first time in a very long time, I wasn't online... and I somehow completely forgot the Emmys were on last night (instead last night my husband and I made a valiant attempt to get in as many episodes of Fringe as we could, since I STILL haven't caught up to the end of season 2... we ended on White Tulip, which was FANTASTIC. But anyway...)

So when I turned on my computer and saw some story on my Yahoo news page about George Clooney at the Emmys, I kinda smacked myself on the forehead and then excitedly went to the winners' page... to see that Lost had been shut out of everything. Acting, writing, directing, everything.

At first, anger. But then I realized, I think this is a good thing. Battlestar Galactica was not named Best Drama Series in any of its years. Buffy never got an acting nom, and never won a writing one. Angel was never recognized at all, and yet Alexis Denisof put in one of the performances of the decade, in my eyes. The Beatles never won Band of the Year at the Grammys, OK Computer didn't win Best Album, and Pulp Fiction didn't win Best Picture at the Oscars.

History is filled with shows, music, movies that are still remembered decades after they first appeared, and every year after their snub they are built up more and more as legendary. But awards shows are not there to recognize legends; they're there to recognize something that was good for that one year. Maybe Bryan Cranston put in a better performance than Matthew Fox (I think Fox put in the performance of a lifetime, but it didn't match Cranston's, I have to say). Perhaps many Academy members didn't like the finale of Lost or the final season or the spirituality of the ending or what have you, but as a series, that show was phenomenal. None of the other nominees will be remembered 10 years from now as being as groundbreaking as Lost was. Mad Men is brilliant, but the writing, style, and even the look of it is very much like the Sopranos. Breaking Bad is a tour de force of acting, but will people still be talking about it in 15 years? To be honest, aside from TV critics, most people aren't talking about it NOW. Aside from my very astute and well-viewed friends, not many people actually watch Breaking Bad (it doesn't air on any network in Canada). That doesn't mean it's not good (I love that show and wished everyone watched it), I'm just saying I'm not sure if people will be talking about it now.

But who knows what the future holds? All I can say is, when you look back at what we're still talking about on a regular basis now, most of those shows were entirely overlooked in their own time.

Lost got people talking and thinking, and we'll still be talking and thinking about it years from now. So I hope Lost simply accepts the lack of awardage as an honour, putting it right up there with Empire Strikes Back, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Star Trek, Supernatural, and all the other great material in pop culture that don't need awards to know they're good.

UPDATE: Just wanted to clarify that A) I love Breaking Bad (some people seem to think I'm dissing it, which I absolutely am not), and B) I don't think if you DO win an award that you're necessarily bad. That's just stupid. I didn't realize I had to come on here and reiterate my love of Mad Men (that would be like saying partway through a post, "And I LOVE Lost," like that needed saying) but let me say again that I love Mad Men. I pretty much love anything on Showtime, HBO, and AMC. Too bad about those networks, for the most part.

Lost: Destiny

Here is the first of theblackbox's new themed videos remembering Lost. Beautiful. As I said to him, I've written up a long section in my episode guide for "The End" where I draw a line through the Jack/John relationship and show how Jack's faith in destiny evolved, and this video is pretty much the visual illustration of what I wrote!

The New Man in Charge Extra

I posted this when I saw The New Man in Charge online, and then took it down when I realized the extra had been leaked illegally. Now that the DVDs are out, here are my thoughts again. A month later, I pretty much still feel the same.

When many people came down hard on the finale saying it didn't answer enough questions, I argued that the questions WERE answered, it just took legwork to actually do it. We actually knew the answers deep down, we just had to figure them out for ourselves. In my upcoming Season 6 book I have a long chapter where I tackle the biggest questions and provide my suggestions for answers. And then I watched the New Man in Charge... and the answers were almost identical to what I'd written in that chapter. Does that make me special? More intuitive than everyone else? No. It just meant I was watching the show and picking up on these hints I'd been saying the writers were dropping all along. Polar bear explanation? Check. Walt's significance? Check. Why women can't have babies? Check.

The general answers matched mine, but in each there were some specifics that differed from mine, specifics that couldn't be gleaned from the show and, to be frank, were rather disappointing. So women on the island couldn't have babies in case they got really super close to the Orchid station? Does that mean Amy was shipped off-shore? I'd always assumed it was the electromagnetic energy from the Swan, which is why women had babies before The Incident. No one had babies after the Incident. I got the part about the electromagnetism causing defects in the genetic code in the first trimester, which is why Rousseau and Claire had their babies, but to pin it on the Orchid seems confusing.

The last 4 minutes are great, where Walt is brought back into the fold, told he's special once again, and then brought back to the island with Hurley and a kinder, gentler Ben, are worth the entire episode. I love the idea of him helping his father escape Purgatory, but it once again confuses the issue of why Michael wasn't in the church. The church itself is dislocated from time, meaning it doesn't matter if people died two thousand years apart, they'd all converge on this place at the same time. Which means if Michael ultimately was freed from purgatory, he would have been in the church. Does that cast a pall on Walt going back to the island, meaning he never succeeded?

Perhaps we can assume Hurley and Ben took him to the island and made HIM the new man in charge (meaning the title wasn't meant to refer to Hurley at all), and he and Michael worked together, with one in the afterlife and one on the island, which would be the perfect leadership, I think. Michael could see things that Walt maybe couldn't, and it would free Ben and Hurley to have done their part and then move on. Or, perhaps Walt's job was to help Michael, and Hurley and Ben continued on the island and they all worked together as a group. I like the idea of Walt being the island's guardian along with his father, helping his father to redeem himself even if the island keeps him there, and they make a new world of the island. And it shows that Hurley has forgiven Michael for what happened to Libby and wants to help him. So that part, I liked.

I enjoyed watching "The New Man in Charge" (hell, I'll just watch discarded dailies if it means I can see more Lost), but I think I was happier leaving things with "The End." It just seemed like the show finished, the writers went, "Oh yeah... maybe we should jam in some of these answers because people probably won't like subtlety" and stuck them in there, rather than leaving the show the enigmatic gem I thought it was at the end of the season.

For Anyone Who's Ever Wanted Their Very Own Frozen Donkey Wheel!

So I know many of you were watching the results of the Lost auction all weekend, and many of you were actually registered bidders (if any of you were actually there, please leave a comment and tell us what it was like!) I was away all weekend, and following the auction sporadically on Twitter, my mind boggling as these extraordinary bids were coming through for items. Some of my faves:

The piece of Oceanic wreckage used to cover Sawyer's stash:
$7,000

Kate's toy airplane:
$6,500

Hurley's winning ticket:
$5,500

Sawyer's letter to the con man Sawyer:
$6,500

Locke's backgammon set:
$7,000

Sayid's boarding pass and passport:
$4,250

Charlie's DS ring (the item I coveted the most, sniff):
$9,000

Rousseau's maps:
$9,000

The hatch door:
$16,000

Desmond's Dharma jumpsuit:
$4,750

Desmond's failsafe key:
$11,000

Swan station computer:
$16,000

Dharma fish biscuit dispenser and 30 fish biscuits (seriously):
$7,000 (SERIOUSLY)

Hurley's Camaro:
$20,000

The Frozen Donkey Wheel:
$25,000

Locke's compass (another item I wanted):
$8,000

Locke's suicide note (and another one):
$8,500

Faraday's journal WITH his notes (OK, this one would be AWESOME):
$27,500

1977 framed photo of Dharma recruits:
$7,000

Jacob's tapestry:
$8,500

Dharma jeep:
$20,000

Man in Black's dagger:
$6,000

Senet game that Jacob and boy in black play:
$7,000

Man in Black's scale:
$8,500

Dial from the lighthouse:
$27,500

Pilot script signed by JJ and Damon:
$15,000

Finale script signed by Damon and Carlton:
$7,500

And the biggest money-maker:
Dharma van:
$47,500

Whew. You know, I think it's really cool, and hey, if people have the money they should be able to spend it the way they want (though I have to say, being the crazy huge Lost fan I am, I can't think of a single place in my house where I'd be able to hang the hatch door and say to people, "So... that's the hatch door. From season 1 of Lost? Remember? The thing they blew open? Um... anyway, let me show you the backyard..." What do you DO with some of this stuff? But hey, to each his own.

What I DO want to know, however, is where the money is going. There's been some minor mention of possibly giving some of the money to a Hawaiian charity, but nothing solid has been said. If the money is all lining some producer's pockets, I think that would be a real shame. The auction pulled in almost $2 million, and it should be going to a worthy charity. A Hawaiian charity is a great idea, giving back to the island for the beautiful scenery and welcoming arms the island gave the show for all these years. I really hope they follow through with that.

I still remember years ago when a woman paid $25,000 for Xena's chakram in an auction, and the following year paid $40,000 for her sword. It was a LOT of money, but it was going to the Make-a-Wish foundation, so the fans were thrilled and proud of this woman who gave so much of her money to a worthy cause. Let's hope they do the same in this case.

You can see the full list of items and what they went for here and here.

New Lost Videos Coming Soon!

It's season 6 DVD day!! During the long wait between seasons 5 and 6, theblackbox was one of the people who kept us entertained by producing some truly brilliant Lost videos that prepared us for the season that was to come. Now there's a new series coming, looking back on the Lost themes and no doubt giving us goosebumps as we look back on the show that was. Here's the teaser. I know I'll be there in a front-row seat!



Thanks to theblackbox for the link!

More Blurbage!

I think everyone should try to work the word "blurbage" into their everyday speech more often...

One of my favorite writers (and people), David Lavery, has given me a blurb for the back cover of my final Lost book. Yay! Thank you, David!


If John Locke (pre-Man in Black) was the most sought-after companion for anyone venturing into Lost’s mysterious island, it is impossible to imagine a better guide than Nikki Stafford for the viewer exploring the incomparable complexities of the now completed series. Whether tracing narrative threads, explaining the meaning of Lost’s many intertexts, probing the motivations of a character, identifying nitpicks and nailing goofs, elucidating mysteries, or defending the controversial finale, Stafford never fails to be funny, candid, informative, and brilliant. We will be reading and consulting her Finding Lost series, now complete, as long as Lost itself is remembered. I suspect it will be required reading even in the Sideways World for anyone seeking to move into the light.
—David Lavery, co-author of Lost’s Buried Treasures and editor of The Essential Cult TV Reader

SQUEEEEEEE!!!

So tonight I had my daughter's sixth birthday party. (SIX?! Where did the time go?? I swear she was just born yesterday... sigh.) I had eleven squealing children running around my backyard, pushing at my elbows begging to see the cupcakes I'd made and wanting them before the pizza, laughing along with the very entertaining magician we hired, and racing out the door with their prized loot bags in tow. But then I opened my email, saw this, and I was suddenly the one who was squealing:

“Lost is over, but I know I’ll be thinking about it for years to come. And in those mental trips to The Island, I’ll be taking three things: my Bible, my comic book collection, and all of Nikki’s insightful and comprehensive Finding Lost books.”
— Jeff “Doc” Jensen, Entertainment Weekly

YAY!!!!! Thank you, thank you, Jeff!

Finding Lost S6: The New Cover!

As I mentioned on my Facebook page a few days ago, the cover of my S6 book has been undergoing a revamp. The long-suffering Barry Johnson, who came up with the cover concept of my S5 book and then was the designer for S6, has been dealing with much back and forth with me over the past month or so as I began to rethink the chess cover that I had. And no, despite my jokes, it had nothing to do with the few people who said it looked too Breaking Dawn.

No, my thinking was that despite all of the chess references in the series, and the prominence of the black and white theme in season 6, and the fact that I've always argued the island was a giant chessboard upon which the game of the survivors' lives have been played, I think the concept is simply too subtle -- chess was alluded to constantly in every episode of season 6 (Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass is the mirror theme that runs through the entire season, and the book is based on one big game of chess) -- but you never see characters playing the game, and so it's just not overt enough. And when it comes to a successful cover, you need a concept that's not so subtle.

And so Barry has probably gone through about 15 different versions of new covers (Hurley number!), featuring jungle backgrounds, beach backgrounds, island backgrounds, and finally after much discussion about what should be front and centre, I told him I'd give him complete freedom to figure it out. And the moment the restrictions were taken away, he nailed it on the first go. I won't tell you what my thinking was behind this one, I'll just let you look at it, the same way you would in a store. And I really hope you guys like it as much as I do. Thank you, Barry, once again, for being so immensely patient and for coming up with a cover that made me gasp the moment I opened the attachment (click on the picture to see it bigger).

Best Book Cover Ever

As someone who love academic takes on popular culture, I nearly spit my water across my desk when I saw this spoof cover. This is BRILLIANT.



If only it were real. I'd totally read it. You can see the original post here.

Hawaii Lost Conference to Change Location

I'm sad to report that the Lost academic conference that was to be held in Hawaii this coming January will no longer be held in Hawaii (wah... all those crushed Nik at Nite dreams of meeting on the Lostie beach...) There was a very low response to the call for papers, and it's probably because most people simply cannot afford to go to Hawaii (David and I had a long phone chat about the possibility of relocation back in June, so it doesn't surprise me, but we were both still holding out hope that things would change). I still plan to get to Hawaii one of these days and take the Kos Tour that everyone has told me so much about, but I will absolutely also be at the Lost Conference, wherever it may be! (Something tells me Sydney, Australia, will probably also be out of the question!) As soon as a new location is chosen, I will post it here! Here is the announcement by organizer David Lavery.

We are sorry to inform you that the conference as planned will not take place. We received a very disappointing response to the CFP. We suspect the economy may have been a major factor, and the time of year, January, was a problem for many.

But we have not given up. We are seeking to reboot the conference and hope to be able to announce a new location and date by October. Our goal is to piggy-back with another conference (we have one in mind) possibly in October 2011 and on a beach (Atlantic, not Pacific) in the mainland US. The cost of attendance should be significantly lower.

We will inform everyone once the reboot is finalized. If you have proposed a paper already, we will keep your proposal on file. If you wish to withdraw your proposal, please let us know or have any questions (or suggestions), write us.

Bryan Fuller's New Pilot!

For all those Pushing Daisies fans out there like me (oh, how I miss that show), it's just been announced that Bryan Fuller, the creator of the show (along with shows Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me) is doing a pilot based on the John Christopher novel, The Lotus Caves (which seems to be completely unavailable on Amazon when I went to check... to the used bookstore I go!!). The book is about a group of people living on the moon inside a bubble in the year 2068, and two teenagers venture out of the bubble and find something surprising.

Or, in Bryan Fuller's hands, they find something completely, totally, awesome. You can read about it here. Thanks to Josh for the link!

My Next Favourite Show?

The Washington Post has confirmed that Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson are pursuing a television project together. I think I'm going to go off and hyperventilate with glee!!!

So, what sort of show do you envision? Modern-day Odd Couple? I think Emerson would be Felix, O'Quinn would be Oscar. Actually, the other way around might be even funnier. But there's something about Ben Linus bitching about changing the coffee filter that makes him a Felix in my head.

Sitcom? YES. Oh yes, please. Cop procedural? Hope not, but who cares, I'll be tuning in. HBO series? Oh... oh... my heart can't handle that much joy. ;)

You can read the article here.

Vampire Fans Support Gulf Aid

I just had to pass this link along to you. A fan of The Vampire Diaries (and all things vampire-related, really), has begun an auction of signed vampire-related items that you could bid on to raise money for Gulf Aid's efforts to clean up the effects of the BP oil spill. My Bite Me book is one of the items (signed) and there are many others to choose from. I think her efforts are amazing (as of this writing, over $750 has been raised), so please head on over there to check out what she's got available!

Mad Men: The Good News

What a great episode of Mad Men we had this week! Last week's episode was depressing as hell. In one moment at the Christmas party, Don's secretary tells the others that Don has forgotten his keys at the office. The new copywriter says, "He's such a disaster" and despite knowing so much about him for three full seasons, the viewer can't help but agree. Don is an alcoholic who sleeps with anything that moves, his wife has left him for another man, he sees his kids only occasionally, and he's a mess. In another scene, Roger comes into the office half-baked and Peggy rolls her eyes, saying, "I can't believe that's his job," referring to his booze-filled schmooze lunches. With Freddy Rumsen back in the office, it's clear the writers are pointing to Don's possible future -- he wants to believe he's above these other guys, but he's turning into the same mess they both were, and still are. When Don groped his secretary as she tried to help him into his apartment, I literally held my hands over my eyes, unable to watch the disaster unfolding on screen, and said out loud, "No, no, Don... don't do it..." but, he did it. And then acted like nothing happened, giving her her Christmas bonus in cash, like she was a paid hooker.

In this week's episode things are far more complex and interesting, with our sympathies moving back to Don again. I love Ann, and he's such a better person when he's around her (making moves on teenagers in cars notwithstanding... like, seriously Don, do you ever just keep those pants zipped?! In moments like this it really DOES seem more natural to call him DICK). Watching the torment on his face as he painted her walls this week, putting a temporary cover over a bigger problem on her wall in much the same way that he was sugar-coating his visit with her knowing it would probably be the last, was heartbreaking.

This episode also moved a focus over to Joanie, much to my delight. I loved her walking into Pryce's office and asking about his fried chicken preferences -- "Breast? Thigh?" -- while she swished her hips about. But back home, things aren't as easy. Her husband refuses to take her seriously, slamming his way out of the house, and then again I winced as, despite everything, she takes the high road and goes out of her way to make a dinner for him, one that begins with her almost slicing off her own finger.

It's in this scene, however, that contains a moment that's riddled with mixed feelings. He shows his sweet side, making jokes with her as he stitches her hand closed. At first he uses a trick on her that he admits he usually reserves only for his child patients, but then tells a dirty joke that makes her laugh and then cry. On the surface it seems sweet. But on the other hand, I simply cannot get that scene from the show's first season out of my head (or was it the second?) where he rapes Joan on the floor of Don's office. At the time, it certainly wouldn't have been seen as rape -- even though they weren't married, she was practically his wife, and therefore his "property" for him to do with what he wishes. I remember once when I was a teenager listening to this very odd conversation between two men about rape where one was arguing that one cannot possibly rape his own wife; that's simply ludicrous. The other was arguing that rape was about consent, and who's to say a wife is always consenting? But despite Joan looking uncomfortable in this scene, it's not clear if she identifies what he does to her as rape or just something that doesn't quite feel right.

Regardless, in this scene one could see his chat as being quite sweet, and that's what brings on the tears. But on the other hand, he treats her like a child and even an imbecile, only showing a modicum of caring to her when he's in charge, and she's completely helpless, and perhaps it's that treatment that Joan simply can't take. It's a very difficult scene to watch because it's hard to come up with just one emotion while doing so. It's this sort of complexity that makes me love the show so much.

Watching Don and Pryce on their wild afternoon was a lot of fun; the Godzilla movie in particular was hilarious, between Don whisper-screaming to Pryce, "You know what's going on here, don't you? HAND JOBS" to Pryce shouting fake Japanese at the woman sitting in front of them, the scene was a classic.

I also enjoyed the contrast between Ann and Betty that we can't help but make in our mind; Ann isn't drop-dead gorgeous, but she's smart, interesting, funny, and doesn't put any pressure on Don. Betty is stunning, but is boring, flat, has no personality, and expects too much from him. While Betty didn't feature in this week's episode at all, she's still one of the most difficult characters to gauge on this show -- one minute you feel sorry for her, the next you can't stand her (and last week I was SO freaking out when creepy Glenn was back!!!)

I know we're only three episodes in this season, but this was definitely my fave of the bunch. Only downside? No Roger! ;)

Weezer ALSO in Lost Withdrawal

I put up a mention of this on my Facebook page yesterday, but everyone who's not on FB is sending it to me again so I'll post it here! In case you haven't heard, Spinner announced yesterday that the new Weezer album would be called Hurley, and it looks like this:



When I first heard about it, I thought it must be a joke... a band I love, putting a character from my favourite TV show on their CD and naming it after him? Could this even be true? But when Jeff Jensen reported on it today (and then Jorge put it up on his blog), I figured it must be (though I can't say I'd be shocked to find out we've all been duped...).

On a scale of awesomeness of one to ten, this one's definitely an eleven.

Lost in 3 Minutes

I just watched this and when I got to the end of it, I applauded. For real. My husband, across the hall in his office, said, "Why are you clapping?" ;) This guy sums up all of Lost by pretty much only focusing on the final 10 episodes, only touching on anything from before that. It's pretty brill, and worth watching for what he says at the very end.

PLEASE do NOT watch this if you've never watched Lost. Go watch Lost instead.



Thanks to SenexMacDonald for the link!

The New Man in Charge

Earlier today I posted something talking about The New Man in Charge extra that will be on the upcoming Lost season 6 DVD because it was leaked onto YouTube. DocArzt also saw it and had posted something, and Carlton Cuse retweeted his post. So I assumed that the video had been leaked on purpose to get people talking, and that it was OK to talk about it. But the video has been taken down, and I don't want to flaunt that some of us have seen it and others haven't, so what I've done is taken down my post on it until the DVD comes out and then I'll repost it. I apologize to those of you who wanted to talk about it further (and if it erases the comments, then I deeply apologize to anyone who posted a comment and it disappeared! I really hope that doesn't happen). But I don't like any sort of exclusionary feelings on here, and I don't want to be talking about something a few of us saw and others didn't. So when the DVDs come out, I'll put it back up on my site and we can all discuss it anew. My feelings since watching it have been changing throughout the day, so I'm looking forward to chatting about it soon! :)

Lost DVD Extra Released!!

Thanks to humanebean for pointing me in the direction of this. They've released a one-minute clip from the "New Man in Charge" extra on the season 6 Lost DVD... and seriously, you'll A) miss Lost so much you'll be back in that ball of goo in the corner that you inhabited the week after the finale (no, no, don't even think of telling me I was the only person doing that) and B) you'll want MORE. NOW!!!

But you'll have to wait a couple more weeks. Until then, check out the advance clip.

Lost Auction and Other Things I Keep Meaning to Post...

So there are a few things that everyone keeps sending me, and first of all, I LOVE that people see Lost stuff and immediately send it to me. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ;) But it also reminds me that despite saying I'd be back here blogging regularly, I haven't been. I neglected a million other things while writing the book and am trying to get caught up on those things, too, and trying to squish blog time in is tough until the fall. But I DO promise stuff. Soon.

Until then, if you haven't heard about the Lost Auction, where they will be auctioning off props such as an actual Dharma van (no, seriously), Hurley's Camaro, John Locke's wheelchair, Ben's fake passport, and other things, then go here to see some of the items up on the auction block. And while I looked through and went, "Want it... want it... want it..." (like John's suicide letter!) there's only one thing I really truly REALLY want, and it's this:

And I figure no one else will really bid on it, right? RIGHT?

Sigh. I'm not gonna get that ring, am I? Me all is nobody.

And the other thing everyone keeps sending me is this, part of this hysterically funny website by a graphic designer who writes these great stories of email conversations he has with people who ask him to design posters for him. Check out the correspondence between him and a woman who wants a MISSING poster for her cat, and you'll see why everyone keeps sending the link to me. ;)

Doctor... Who?

OK. So. One of those things that I'm constantly told is seriously destroying any geek credibility I ever thought I had is the fact that I've never watched Doctor Who. And I mean never. Like, as a kid it would air on PBS and my brother and I would be flipping channels (and by flipping I mean turning the knob) and we'd come across Doctor Who on Channel 2, and we'd always go, "Ew," and continue turning the channels. There was always some alien with neon flashing lights and things that looked like air ducts for arms... pretty much only a sidestep away from the technology of Yo Gabba Gabba. It didn't attract me as a kid, and it doesn't attract me now.

But then, several years ago Russell T. Davies reimagined the series and it was relaunched. I lasted about 5 minutes into the first episode with Christopher Eccleston before asking my husband why the trashcans were talking. I got one of THOSE LOOKS and I got up to go do something else.

And so, time has passed, Eccleston has given way to Tennant who passed the torch to Smith. Yeah, I know WHO the doctors are, I just don't know what they're doing.

At the Polaris event I attended a couple of weeks ago, there were several people dressed in Doctor Who outfits, and they looked fabulous. The best was one woman dressed as someone I was told was a Weeping Angel from an episode called Blink, an ep that I was told would blow my mind if I saw it. I've been intrigued to see the show long before Polaris -- I already had the first two series on DVD, still in the plastic wrap and waiting for me to finish the book -- but seeing these costumes and watching the passion with which people talked about the show intrigued me even more.

I know that Davies was hugely influenced by Joss Whedon. A friend of mine from Space told me that I had to watch the show because it was very Buffy-like, with season-long arcs featuring smaller stories in between. I recently read an article where Davies basically said screw Twilight, it was the genius of Joss Whedon that started the vampire craze and people need to thank him for it (he kinda became a hero of mine when I read that).

At Polaris I talked to my friend Cindy, who explained that the Doctor actually regenerates from one body to the next. I was surprised -- I just thought it was a James Bond type of thing. No one notices that Bond looks like Roger Moore one minute, Sean Connery the next. They change actors on soap operas all the time playing the same character. So why would the Doctor be any different? I was fascinated to learn it was completely different. It sounded like a Cylon resurrection thing to me.

And so... I've decided I'm going to give it another go. And I'm going to track my progress on here. I'm someone who doesn't have a "Doctor," another bit of lingo I've heard recently where your Doctor is the one you grew up with (my husband's is Tom Baker... he was a huge fan of the original series). I know that tiny phone box is important somehow, I just don't know why. I think the theme music is wicked. And hey, I loved Xena, so I'm up for camp.

So I'm going to post my experience as someone who knows nothing, because I really don't know a thing. You can sit back and laugh and point at me, and hope that I'll eventually catch on, and maybe I'll get to a point where I'm actually learning and we can really discuss the show. I was talking to a friend of mine recently who is British and I told him that it seems every British person watches Doctor Who the way we watched Sesame Street or the nightly news... it's just something you do, no question. Here Doctor Who isn't as widely watched, and is considered sci-fi. He said he has friends who despise sci-fi but they've watched Doctor Who all their lives, and consider it to be something else. It's a deeply British thing.

So, I'm about to jump on the bandwagon. Or... Dalek. Or Tardis. I don't know which is which. Is the Tardis his spaceship? Oh wait, it's TARDIS, isn't it? My husband can rattle off the acronym (I remember "Time" so I've got one word down). Sigh. It's gonna be a long journey, isn't it? Here's hoping I enjoy it!! ;) Wish me luck.

Mad Men: Public Relations

First, I have to announce (which I already kinda did over on my Facebook page) that I finally handed in the manuscript to my Finding Lost Season 6 book yesterday, so now I'm hoping to be back and blogging on a more regular basis. I think people thought this really was just a Lost blog, since I completely disappeared the moment the show was done! But it was just to write the book, and now I'm back. And I'm not the only one who's back...

Oooooh, Mad Men. It's back, it's slick, and it's as hip as it's ever been. This past Sunday saw the season 4 premiere of Mad Men, opening with a reporter asking Don, "Who is Don Draper?" and making notes in indecipherable shorthand. Don's responses are about as cryptic as the notes the reporter is making in front of him, and when he decides the best way to conduct the interview is simply to be evasive and silent, blowing smoke rings above the guy's head instead, he makes a huge mistake. This guy knows how to sell just about anything except himself.

Don's snafu ends up putting his new partners into a tizzy when the article paints a less-than-flattering portrait of the new company, and Don realizes he can't just think of himself anymore, he's got to think of everyone. As Peggy tells him at one point, "We're all here because of you. Because we want to impress you."

The new offices are all brighter with 60s glass walls rather than the 40s wood panelling in the old office. They all keep telling clients that there's a second floor that's under construction, when no such floor exists. There's no conference table; they all sit in chairs in a circle to promote discussion (this would be an early version of those silly "team-building" exercises that now include beating on drums and "sharing").

Peggy seems a lot more comfortable (and FINALLY has a great haircut) as she chums around with the new cute copywriter and drinks whisky and smokes just like the boys. The first time we see them she's longingly sighing, "John" and he responds, "Marsha" and they keep doing it back and forth. I had no idea what this was referring to, but assumed it was from a movie or an ad at the time. A quick check online showed it was satirist Stan Freberg's "John and Marsha" routine. I went to YouTube to listen to it (you can do so here) and it's an absolutely brilliant one where you hear a complete conversation between two people who say nothing but each other's names in various degrees of desire, anguish, sorrow, anger, and giggling happiness. It's genius. Peggy, and the way she's evolved from last season (including an amazing scene where she sort of tells off Don in his office) was the best part of the episode.

On the home front, Don's lawyer tells him that Betty is supposed to be out of the house that he's still paying for, and it's time he throw her out or ask her for rent. Don's living in an apartment, a single dad taking the kids on occasional weekends (something that would have been seen as very strange at the time). Meanwhile, Betty is being seen as her new beau's sloppy seconds, and his mother rightfully notices that the children are terrified of her. Sally has noticeably lost weight (are they going to introduce an eating disorder in a future seasons or can we just assume this is losing some of the adorable baby fat she had last year?) and is clearly disturbed by her new unsettled family situation. Betty continues to be a difficult character -- she's far from a loving mother, and yet she seems to have fallen into the arms of yet another man who just takes her for granted.

There was a lot to love about this episode, and I did. Roger, in particular was REALLY on. Some of his zingers:

• Roger on the newspaper who sent a reporter with a wooden leg: “They’re so cheap they couldn’t send a whole reporter.” AAHH!!
• Roger on the two prudish guys who have the swimsuits that are NOT bikinis: “I love how they sit there like a coupla choir boys. You just know one of them is leaving New York with VD.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
• Roger trying to get Don to meet his young wife’s 25-year-old friend: “You hit it off, come Turkey Day maybe you can stuff her.”
• Roger on why Don needs to go to Roger’s fave restaurant on his blind date: “They have Chicken Kiev. Butter squirts everywhere.”
• Roger tells Don that the blind date liked him after explaining that the reporter screwed him in the story, and says, “If she liked you maybe you should have fondled Peg-leg Pete.” HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

While the girl on Don's date seemed to be a bit vapid, I think it’s just Don’s nature to chase her because she wouldn’t let him follow her up to her apartment. The moment he conquers her, he’ll probably just toss her aside again, Don style.

Did anyone else notice that Don’s date was Sarah Newlin (the minister’s wife) from season 2 of True Blood? She looked SO familiar to me, and then a friend of mine the next day said, “Yeah… she looked exactly like Betty!” and then when we IMDb’d her we realized who she was. How much do I love Mad Men for completely camouflaging people I’m watching on other shows??

And I cannot end this without mentioning the Divine Miss Joan. Oh, Joanie; my girl crush on you has not abated ONE BIT.

Other highlights:
• Harry returning from his trip all sunburned and peeling and saying he was indoors the whole time.
• Joanie reassuring him that she won’t even tell anyone about his big television news after it’s aired. Ha!
• Don ordering the prudes from the swimwear company out of his office. Brilliant. (Even better when he snaps his fingers at them like they’re animals.)
• The end credit song, “Tobacco Road” by The Nashville Teens. I remember my dad playing this song when I was a kid, and I loved it. Great to hear it again!!

What I didn’t love:
• No Sal. Sadness. I miss him so much.
• While I loved seeing Joan, she didn’t have much to do in the ep, and probably only had a couple of lines. That said, they could only focus on certain characters and I’m sure we’ll see more of her in the coming weeks.

So what did you think of the return of Don Draper and the gang?

Comic-Con: The Joss Whedon Experience!!!

Another fantastic upload, here is the Joss Whedon-only panel at Comic-Con. Dying here. DYING. (You can see the panel he did with J.J. Abrams in full here.)

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:

Lost Animated Tribute

This is pretty incredible.

J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon at Comic-Con!! UPDATED

To help lessen the angst I'm feeling over NOT being at Comic-Con, here is the panel with J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon (honestly, I think I would have passed out with sheer glee so maybe it's best I'm NOT there), being interviewed by the one and only Jeff Jensen. Thanks to Femme Bot for uploading these!!!!
UPDATE: This now includes all 6 parts.


Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:


Part 6:

Mad Men Book Contest!!

Well, while I'm giving away a copy of the True Blood book, I figured I might as well give one away of Kings of Madison Avenue: The Unofficial Guide to Mad Men, the amazing book on Mad Men, also from ECW Press. Mad Men's fourth season begins this Sunday (yeeeeaaaahhh!!) so, if you'd like to win a copy of this book, here's what you have to do:

Write a haiku as written by Don Draper. You can make it an ad campaign, you can just make it his clipped way of talking to his wife. Make it whatever you'd like. Again, email it to me here and I'll give a copy away next Friday.

True Blood Book Contest!!

Hello everyone... I'm just a few days away from finally handing in EVERYTHING on my book, and therefore, as promised, this blog will finally light up again. Until then, however, I wanted to offer up a contest for y'all. I've been talking about Becca Wilcott's amazing new companion guide to True Blood (I love this book so much I don't have words) called Truly, Madly, Deadly: The Unofficial True Blood Companion. Her publisher (and mine!), ECW Press, is offering a copy of the book to the winner of a contest of my choosing.

And here is my choice for contest: to enter I would like you to email me why you love the show True Blood, but write it in the manner of one of the characters speaking. For example, Sookie: "Well GOSH I just love this show because, well, it's got mah BILL in it. And Eric. Not that I have eyes for him. No. Uh-uh. It's all Bill. No, really. Why are y'all LOOKIN' at me like that?!"

Only, you know, your entries would be good. ;) You could write like Bill, Eric, Godric, Andy Bellefleur, Terry, Arlene, Sam, Tara (and if you choose her, it can be as expletive-ridden as you'd like), Jason, Sookie, or anyone else you'd like to choose.

So show me what you've got, and the best entries will be posted here, and I'll announce the winner next Friday, July 30. Email your entries here, and the winner gets a bright and shiny new copy of this fantastic book!

The Nik at Nite Toronto Meet-Up!

This past weekend was the Polaris convention (and just like I actually intend to wrap up my writeup on the Slayage conference, which was like 6 weeks ago or something, I DO intend to write up my experiences at Polaris) and the highlight for me was a get-together with a bunch of my readers on the blog. Several people weren't actually attending Polaris, and instead just drove in for the dinner, which was awesome. Without further ado, here's the pic of the lovely folks in attendance!!!



Starting in the foreground on the left and going down the table, that's Benny in the blue shirt (yes, our beloved Benny of the Dharmaville pdf discussion!), asiancolossus (one of my earliest blog readers), Christine, Sue (my best friend who was at Slayage with me), Me, Sonshine Music and her sister AchingHope (who were also at the New York meetup! I really need to get the gals some frequent attendance cards or something... five meetups and the meal is on me!), Heather at the foot of the table (she's the head of the Canadian Browncoats), Aisling (a Lost virgin but soon-to-be convert), her auntie redeem147 (who will no doubt be telling Aisling to focus on her beloved Sayid!), Mark Askwith leaning back (he's the producer at Space, where I appeared on TV a few times this season talking about Lost, and a longtime friend of mine), SenexMacDonald (who sold my books for me at the conference, which was so awesome of her, and is the one who sent me this photo!), Gillian Whitfield (as crazy adorable in person as she is in the picture!) and her dad Mike (Christine is her mom). By the way, Gillian has two of the coolest parents ever.

Of course, someone is missing!! So now I'll post a blurry photo but he's crystal clear in the foreground:



On the right in the white shirt is none other than QuestionMark!! And both times I've met him he's said, "Hey Nikki! I'm Question Mark!" How much do I LOVE that he introduces himself that way! Then again, once he got there I was like, "And this is asiancolossus, and here's redeem, and that's SonshineMusic and AchingHope." I was so grateful to Gillian for using her real name on the blog, ha!!

Here are a few other pics. This is me with Gillian:



And here's asiancolossus with Benny:



Here are Sonshine and AchingHope with Heather (the sisters were wearing matching shirts that said, "If you mean time traveling bunnies, then yes." Ha!!)



And me with Suzie:



It was a great time, we chatted about Lost and the blog and I talked about where I'm at on the book (and probably bored some people yakking about Kierkegaard) and we had a blast. We met up at 5:30 and I was still there at 9.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out, and I hope to do more of these in the future. Who's up for one in England??!!

True Blood vs. Twilight!

This is genius.

The Very Belated. . . "The End" Haiku!

So, I had this idea that I'd take some of the haikus from throughout the season and put them in my book, so tonight I was reading through all of them (and laughing my head off all over again) and then realized with some horror that I never posted a haiku post for the finale!!

So, now I invite everyone to come and give me your best haiku for "The End."

Jack stumbles and falls
Lies in the bamboo forest.
Closes eyes. Lets go.

Me: "SOB!! Sniffle! WAH!
Oh my god I can't believe
it's over... WAAAAH!! SOB."

Wow. I hope that in
my Finding Lost book I am
more articulate.

Happy Birthday to Us!!

So last night, just as I was dozing off (late, since I'm up late every night trying to finish this book!) my iPhone, which was charging on my nightstand, suddenly lit up and started buzzing because it was giving me an alert I had in there for today. And when I groggily picked it up and looked, I was pleasantly surprised to see that... today is the birthday of my blog!!

So yay for Nik at Nite! Happy 4th birthday (Hurley number!!) Happy birthday to the blog, and to all of you who have been coming on here (even when I'm not actually posting anything, and for that I'm eternally grateful). Our little community is getting older (sniff... they grow up so fast, don't they?)

And on that note I want to say I WILL be back soon. I finished writing the guide to The End on the weekend, and I hand in the majority of the book this Friday morning, with the remaining couple of chapters zipping over to my editor the following week. And then... I'll be back! I have SO much to catch up on here, starting with:

-finishing my writeups on Slayage!! I still haven't gotten to Day 3, or shared the funny pictures that I took after the panels ended each day
-my visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and the story of being among the first people in the world to see the special preview of the park before its official opening!
-True Blood reviews... it is ROCKING this year!
-and I'll be just in time for Mad Men. Woohoo!!

On my to-watch list for when I'm finished the book: Doctor Who and Supernatural. So watch for the first impressions of a newbie to both of those shows. Plus I have TV books coming out this fall I need to talk about, previews of the fall season, and we all need to find our new obsession. Will it be on in the fall 2010 season?!

Thanks for sticking around, everyone, and I promise to be back here lots in a couple of weeks. Hope to see some of you at Polaris this weekend!! xox

I Had a Dream I Could Buy My Way to Heaven...

Kanye x Zach Galifianakis + Farming Equipment = WIN

Lost Love at the Emmys!!

Lost has been nominated for 13 Emmys (!!) in its final season, which is almost unheard-of for a show this late in its run. Happily, the big noms went to Fox for Best Actor, the show for Best Drama, Best Supporting Actor nods to Emerson and O'Quinn, and even a guest actor nom for Elizabeth Mitchell for the finale, and, perhaps most importantly, a writing nomination for Carlton and Damon for the finale. Well done!!! Ab Aeterno even got some love in the art direction department, although Nestor Carbonell was sadly overlooked in the guest actor category for that episode (I thought he gave the performance of the season in that one).

In other nomination awesomeness, there was a lot of love for True Blood, Glee (with 19 nominations), Friday Night Lights (with Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton both getting nods, as well as writing and casting), Dexter, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men.

Despite my sadness for Nestor, I would say the biggest overlooked person was Zach Gilford in Friday Night Lights. I won't say what happens to him this season so as not to spoil anyone who hasn't begun watching this phenomenal show, but he turned in a performance that was ASTOUNDING. I thought he had Emmy written all over it.

Here is the complete list of Lost nominations:

Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series
Lost • Ab Aeterno • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Zack Grobler, Production Designer
Matthew Jacobs, Art Director
Carol Bayne Kelley, Set Decorator

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Jack Bender, Director

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Stephen Semel, Editor
Mark J. Goldman, Editor
Christopher Nelson, Editor
Henk Van Eeghan, Editor

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Michael Giacchino, Composer

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Terry O'Quinn as John Locke

Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Michael Emerson as Ben Linus

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke

Outstanding Drama Series
Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Outstanding Special Class Programs
ABC's LOST Presents: Mysteries Of The Universe - The Dharma Initiative •
abc.com/lost • ABC Digital Media
Christopher J. Powers, Producer
Ted Bramble, Producer
Agnes Chu, Producer
Gregg Nations, Producer

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Thomas E. deGorter, Sound Supervisor
Joe Schultz, MPSE, Sound Editor
Paula Fairfield, MPSE, Sound Editor
Carla Murray, MPSE, Sound Editor
Maciek Malish, MPSE, Sound Editor
Lloyd Jay Keiser, Sound Editor
Geordy Sincavage, Sound Editor
Allen Mark, Sound Editor
Robert Kellough, Sound Editor
Chris Reeves, Sound Editor
Gabrielle Reeves, Sound Editor
Alex Levy, Music Editor
Adam De Coster, Foley Artist
James Bailey, Foley Artist

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One
Hour)
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Bobby Anderson, Production Sound Mixer
Ken King, Production Sound Mixer
Frank Morrone, Re-Recording Mixer
Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixer

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Damon Lindelof, Writer
Carlton Cuse, Writer

Help!

Hey all: The book is coming together and will be done very soon, and then I'll be back. Until then, I'm wondering if someone can help me out. In "Lighthouse," Jack is going to get David from school at the very beginning of the episode. He's driving the Jackmobile and there's a blues song playing on the radio. I can't make out any lyrics (I think he might say "moment of fun" and "sun" but I could be way off) and there's a harmonica... which, in a blues song, doesn't narrow it at all. Does anyone still have the episode on a DVR that they could check and might know what the song is? Thanks!

UPDATE: Wow, huge thanks to Yeyeman for such a quick answer! I just looked it up, listened to it, and you are totally right... that is the song!! Thank you SO much. Man, you guys are just so awesome.

So! Who wants to translate some Latin! ;)