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40 Years of Sunny Days Sweeping the Clouds Away

It's hard to believe, but today Sesame Street officially celebrates its 40th anniversary. That's right... 40 years of shows brought to you by the letter A and the number 8. My brother and I watched Sesame Street all the time as kids, had the little stuffed Bert and Ernie that came with the soft car where the wheels didn't really turn... the little Sesame Street playhouse that opened up into the apartment building with Hooper's shop in the bottom and the little plastic nest where Big Bird sat (and the chalkboard in the middle). We could sing all the songs, we probably learned how to read by watching it, and I think back on it with immense fondness. It was a show that used muppets and real people to tell its stories and teach concepts to children, and it was set on an inner-city street, not some swish middle-class neighbourhood. There were all sorts of languages and ethnicities and worlds that Sesame Street opened up to little kids, and is one of those shows that probably creates universal recognition among anyone in their 30s or younger. I mean, what kid who grew up in the 70s and 80s doesn't occasionally find THIS song in their heads:



Ah, 70s grooves and the Pointer Sisters. You can't beat it.

Today Sesame Street is still on the cutting edge of issues, music, and parodies, every celebrity seems to be clamouring to get on it, and it can still be enjoyed by the parents as much as the children. For example, as much as I like Feist, when I find myself singing her music to myself I usually sing the Sesame Street version, "Whoa-ah-oh, we're counting to four!"



Their parodies are timely and charming, and seem to get it in a way that most sketch comedy shows don't. Check out the recent Mad Men sketch:



Happy birthday, Sesame Street. Here's to 40 more wonderful years. Please don't ever change.

Flashforward 1.07: The Gift

I apologize that I didn't get a chance to blog on last week's Flashforward. By the time I'd actually watched it, I figured most of the chatter was probably over. And it was more of the same for me -- it had crazy cheesy moments (when Mark was racing after the guy he'd seen in the mask and they were blaring a BAD version of Bowie's "Scary Monsters," it just seemed odd... it's like the music supervisor knows how to pick good music, but the editor just doesn't know how to use it subtly. The music is always turned WAY up and then it cuts off immediately, rather than having it slowly play throughout the scene); it had some good moments, like the looks on the faces of everyone when Simcoe and his kid both showed up at the Benford house; it had rare moments of humour, like when Simcoe ran to the nurse's station and had to describe his son as dressed like "a... uh... um, well... pimp." It had another good moment when Mark and Olivia fought in the kitchen and he blamed her for an affair she hadn't yet had, and then when she tried to blame him for a drinking problem he hadn't started up again, he told her she couldn't imcriminate him for a crime he hadn't yet committed. RICH. To which she basically said, "Oh, RICH." That made me happy. And it had one moment in it that I adored: Simon talking about Shrodinger's Cat. It still presented numerous questions for me: if Charlie is actually talking to Dylan during his flashforward, then why was her response to her own flashforward that nothing would ever be good again and that "D. Gibbons is a bad man"? Where did that name even feature in the flash we just saw? So the episode still fell a little flat. Better than the previous week, but nothing stellar.

A few of you sent me an article that stated that David S. Goyer, the creator of the show (who is known for writing Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and Blade) was paired up with another guy who was trying to show him how to draw out the story, and that guy was recently booted off, leaving Goyer to his own devices. This week's episode, "The Gift," was the first one that would be a Goyer episode only.

To which I say, "HALLELUJAH!!!" This episode was GREAT. (Oh thank you thank you thank you... our patience has paid off!) It wasn't an hour of semi-boredom with a shocker of a cliffhanger. It was DARK, really dark, with sudden movement in tone, many backstories getting filled in, NO REPEAT OF OLIVIA'S FLASHFORWARD (bless 'im), the fabulous Alex Kingston joining the group (which is interesting to me... she used to be married to Ralph Fiennes, Joseph Fiennes' brother, and I remember at the time it wasn't an amicable split, so... awkward? Probably not, since it was over a decade ago...)

The whole story of the Blue Hand club was amazing and creepy and made me think, What DO you do if you didn't see anything in your flashforward? If you knew you were going to be dead in 6 months, would you just drink and do drugs and commit crimes and have a lot of sex and just go crazy? Is there a segment of the population that could soon create utter chaos? (But then I also think, what if you were JUST SLEEPING in six months? Or drunk and passed out? Or having surgery and were unconscious? I mean, you can't tell me that on April 29, 2010, at 10:02pm PST, NO ONE is asleep on the planet. Come on.)

But finally... FINALLY... we had our first step forward in the puzzle when Al stepped off that building, effectively cancelling out his flashforward and changing Celia's, Fiona's (who won't be reading a report with him now), and anyone who knows Celia. Her boys might have had sad flashforwards, but now they'll be happy ones. Is that the end of it? Maybe not necessarily... maybe "Celia" will still come forward and be killed in another way, but who knows. What I love is that there's now hope that you can change your destiny. Olivia doesn't have to have that affair; Mark doesn't have to be a lonely alcoholic; and maybe Demetri doesn't have to die.

Callum Keith Rennie is here! SO excited to see his name in the opening credits. Leoben from Battlestar, Billy Tallent from Hard Core Logo (PLEASE see that movie if you haven't... and yes, the band took their name from his character)... the guy is freakin' amazing. And he's a Canuck (therefore = evil).

The writing was better, the storytelling devices were used effectively, and even though we saw that bird hit the window a few times, it never felt like we were being bashed over the heads. It actually worked structurally, as if we see that bird flying into the window over and over, the same way Fiona and Al have it flashing through their heads over and over. We moved into new characters, with Bryce telling Nicole about his Japanese dream (and please assure me that I wasn't the only person on the planet who did NOT know that Nicole is played by the same woman who plays Jane, Roger Sterling's young wife, on Mad Men?! Someone told me that this week and I just stared at them... then watched this episode with an "Oh. My. GOD." reaction... talk about a versatile actress; I didn't even RECOGNIZE her!!)

And then there's Aaron. We finally see more of his story, the scene of Tracy by the road, and then.... AAAAAHHH!! Now THAT was an ending. How it aligns with her lying in the desert in Iraq isn't clear and won't be for several more months, but I'm more than intrigued.

And who is Annabelle? Simon was fingering a bracelet with her name on it.

Last night's episode saved Flashforward, in my mind. It had all the elements I've been looking for, and intrigued me enough to actually make me look forward to the next ep, rather than feel like I'll be begrudgingly tuning in waiting for it to get better. Everything about this ep raised it up. No, I still don't know anyone's names (I've been relying 100% on IMDB to get the names right for this write-up) but that will come in time.

So... was anyone else similarly cheered by last night's ep?

Modern Family

A bunch of people have been emailing me or posting in the comments asking if I've been watching ABC's "Modern Family." And I'm happy to say yes, yes, I am. And I LOVE it. I think it's one of the funniest things on TV and it's only because I haven't had time yet that I haven't posted on it.

It's the story of wealthy Jay (Al Bundy) and the much-younger Gloria, his new gorgeous Colombian wife who he married after 35 years married to Shelley Long (remember Diane from Cheers?) He's rich and sarcastic but loves his family very much, she's fiery and sassy and has a precocious and wide-eyed optimist for a son (who provides some of the show's biggest laughs). Jay's two kids -- Claire and Mitchell -- are fully grown. Claire, who we know best as Jack Shephard's ex-wife Sarah, is married to Phil, a dopey real estate agent who thinks he's a barrel of laughs but is just plain annoying. They have three kids -- a very smart little girl, a slightly stupid boy in the middle, and a teenager whose hormones are running wild and who brings home guys they just don't approve of. Mitchell, Claire's brother, is gay and married to Cameron. Mitchell is the more timid and sensitive of the two, always assuming that people are mocking him for his sexuality, while Cameron rolls his eyes, makes a quick excuse for Mitchell, and gets them both out of the situation. They have just adopted a new baby daughter from China and are learning all about parenting, whether it involves sleepless nights or dressing her up in ghetto fabulous costumes and taking her portraits.

Together they form a family that is at once at war while also loving each other very much. The result is absolute hilarity. The show is told through the documentary style that Parks & Recreation and The Office both use (in this case it's not clear why they're talking to the camera and on a purely structural level comes off as a cop-out, but on the other hand it TOTALLY works and that's where most of the humour comes from). I only tuned in the week Shelley Long made her appearance as dear old crazy mom, and we got a flashback of Jay's wedding to Gloria, which was HILARIOUS, and I was instantly hooked. I'm looking forward to catching up on the earlier episodes I missed, but I'm so happy to have found it.

If you haven't watched it yet, check it out. And if you're a fan of Arrested Development, you'll find this show is very similar in tone and humour. Here's a quick preview clip ABC sent out before its premiere:

What Makes a Good Pilot?

I wrote a version of this in the comments postings on my latest blog post on the V pilot, but I can't stop thinking about it, so I thought I'd expand it into a full column: What makes a good pilot? Many people are chattering about the pilot for V, saying based on it they'll watch it to the very end (if they loved it) or will never watch another episode (if they hated it) or will give it another shot (if they thought it was somewhere in the middle). But can we really tell from a pilot if a show is going to be any good?

The only way to really know if a pilot was any good is by looking at it in hindsight. But after much, MUCH experience with pilots, I'm not sure if they can be reliable indicators of how good a show is going to be. I've seen great pilots that basically used up all the writers' best ideas in one go, only to leave us with a limping series to follow. I've seen meh pilots that turned into amazing shows. I've seen good pilots for good shows, and good pilots for great shows, and good pilots for awful shows.

So let's look at some pilots that have (in hindsight) left a big impression on me. And for the most part, luckily, I can remember how I felt after watching them:

Lost: Possibly the best pilot episode I've ever seen. It introduced us to many characters, but didn't expect us to remember all of them, and instead focused on Jack and his relationship with the other characters. The special effects were extraordinary, and by creating utter confusion and fear in us by introducing a mysterious monster from the get-go, the show managed to make us as baffled and scared as the people on the island. What better way to align us with these characters. It was an extraordinary pilot that turned into an extraordinary show.

Buffy: It felt like a one-off episode, because it was the one that was meant to pull us in. It had great moments, like Giles plopping the Vampyr book on the library counter and Buffy backing away slowly, or like Xander overhearing the conversation, or Cordy almost being staked. It established the characters and we actually remembered their names by the end of it. But was it mindblowing when you put it in the context of what was to come? No. I don't remember being blown away by this episode, but it gave me just enough to want to keep watching, and by the middle of season 2, I was so in love with this show it hurt.

Angel: We'd just seen the end of season 3 of Buffy, and many fans were still hurting over the painful breakup between Buffy and Angel, so to see him in L.A., and to realize this was going to be less teenage angst and more adult loneliness was jarring. Cordy wasn't quite meshing, Angel was a little too broody, and the side plot of the evil vampire lawyers was boring. Most of season 1 turned into a monster-of-the-week show, but by the end of the season, the series had been lifted into a new stratosphere. By season 3, it was rivalling Buffy for my affections. I LOVE this show.

Heroes: WICKED pilot. Cheerleaders jumping off 10-storey buildings and healing. Bad guys. Good guys. Dreaming guys. Flying guys. The names were printed right on the screen so I knew who was who. The relationships were foggy, but I knew they'd be important. There were so many questions raised I couldn't wait for week 2. This show went on to prove itself again and again... until the finale. And after that it never, ever mustered the strength of its opening episodes, and instead fizzled into nothingness. What a waste.

The Sopranos: Mafia presence established. Check. Tony goes to the psychiatrist. Check. Tony has anger-management issues in front of an HMO building. Check. He's a family man, and a "family" man. But did it grab me? No. I moved onto the second episode hoping it would be better, and it was. Thus began my love-hate relationship with HBO pilots -- for the most part they're slow, and refuse to throw everything they've got into it. And for that, I now love them because I realize they're saving their best stuff for after the pilot.

Six Feet Under: One of my all-time favourite series. But the pilot? Great opening scene of a bus running into the funeral hearse. But then it dragged. Family established, quirkiness is there, but beyond that... kinda boring. I put it away and didn't watch the second episode for months. And WOW was I happy I did. Again, HBO used the opening to just introduce things. It was in the second and third episode that they pulled us in entirely.

The Wire: Another HBO outing, another opening with a LOT of information, characters who just didn't have my sympathy, humour that wasn't funny yet (because the inside jokeyness was yet to be established), and SO complicated it hurt my head... yet there was something there that really intrigued me and made me go straight to the second episode. There was no waiting this time. And it turned out to be the smartest show on television EVER, and one of the most compelling, heartbreaking, beautiful pieces of television of all time. (Anyone who's watched it knows I'm not exaggerating here.)

Glee: Fun, funny, and joyous, this show just seemed to completely nail it on the pilot and hasn't stopped. Unlike every other show on television -- possibly ever -- they rolled out the pilot on its own like a one-off movie and then sat back to see how everyone would handle it. And it proved to be the way to go. The characters have remained largely consistent, funny, and heartbreaking, and this show hasn't made a misstep yet, in my mind.

Flashforward: I really enjoyed the pilot of this one, but I wasn't head-over-heels in love with it. The second episode, on the other hand, was awesome, and then by the third episode it was dreary and hasn't picked up yet (here's hoping tonight's episode, the first one helmed completely by Goyer without anyone slowing him down, will prove to be the turning point). Too much was thrown at us in the pilot, and the rest of the series has just felt like a retread of everything we saw there.

Entourage: I hated hated hated that pilot. Hated it. I watched it, couldn't BELIEVE the hype about the show, and thought it was just a stupid stupid show for little boys who want to compare penis sizes and then brag about it. But a friend of mine whose opinion I really respect begged me to give it another chance and just get to the second episode, so I finally did (very begrudgingly) and was pleasantly surprised to see those same little boys being brought down, being made fools of, and then having to laugh at themselves, which they did. The show's had its ups and downs -- this season, sadly was a huge down -- but it's been a pretty good show, overall. And you just can't beat Ari Gold.

The Office: I was a big fan of the UK version of The Office, and I'll never forget interviewing David Denham for my Angel book (he played Skip the Wonder Demon on Angel) and we were chatting casually at the end of the interview and I asked him what else he was working on, and he said he was in a pilot of an American version of The Office. You can actually HEAR me lose interest on the tape. "Oh. Isn't that nice." (My hostility of US shows trying to adapt UK shows knew no bounds at the time.) And instead, he was featured in one of my favourite series of all time. (He played Pam's lug-headed fiancé.) But when I tuned in to the pilot, it was almost shot-for-shot the UK pilot, which apparently had been the idea, and then after that first episode they went off on their own. A REALLY stupid idea, in my opinion, because of how popular the UK one was here, and how many people -- like me -- who watched it and went, "Really? They're even doing the stapler in the Jell-O mold?!" and turned the channel. I didn't turn it back until the show was in season 2. And then I realized what I was missing...

Friends: I remember years and years ago tuning into this show for the first time, the night it first aired, and found it unfunny, staged, and ridiculous. The jokes fell flat, and there was only one moment where I smiled (Phoebe started going on and on about her mother committing suicide and mental illness running in the family or something and everyone sat there silent before Ross said, "The word you're looking for is, 'Anyway...'" and I remember thinking that was hilarious) but otherwise, I thought there was no way that show would survive. Boy, was I wrong there.

So... what does all of this tell us about V? Well, there are probably indicators in a show of whether it will be good or not. In every instance where I ended up liking the show a lot, you could tell it had a great cast and there was usually some moment in there that I liked so much I tuned in the following week. But then again, the same could be said of the shows that fell flat.

Do you think you can honestly tell if a show's going to be good on its first episode? Should shows be judged by their pilots? Or should the pilots only be judged in hindsight, in relation to what the show later became? While I loved the pilot of Lost, there's NO WAY I could have seen the topsy-turvy universe that was going to unfold later. There was no DI, no Ben, none of that juicy stuff in that pilot. But it had all the makings of that, and smartly, the writers didn't decide to throw everything at us from the outset.

What pilots do you remember being good or bad indicators of what the show would later become?

V: The Pilot

Tonight was the premiere of V, the much-anticipated new ABC show starring Elizabeth Mitchell, or, as EW refers to her, the "recently departed Juliet." (Which irks me every time... we didn't see her die, and technically, if she died when hitting the bomb, then EVERYONE is dead. But I digress...) The show was off to a bit of a slow, methodical start, but I'll take it. After all, I find most HBO pilots are show and take some getting used to, and 90% of the time, they pay off. So I'm willing to let this show take its time to get going, as long as the momentum is up by the third episode or so (though someone just posted on one of my other posts that the show is going to air 4 episodes and then take a hiatus until March... true?)

Like Flashforward, V has a stellar cast, and one that I know from other shows. Aside from Juliet on Lost, it stars Inara from Firefly, Alpha from Dollhouse (or Wash from Firefly), Owen from Taken (or Tom from The 4400, whichever other alien drama you want to refer to), Carrie from 24, Kara from Smallville, Bailey from Party of Five... another eclectic cast that represent blasts from my past.

Now, unlike many viewers, I didn't actually watch the mid-80s miniseries (I was too young at the time and my parents wouldn't let me... I remember walking into the room when they were watching it -- and I was probably supposed to be in bed -- and this baby was born with lizard eyes, and then this creepy thing crawled out of the mom right after... it sorta stayed with me and traumatized me throughout my adolescence). So I didn't know much about the premise going into it. I enjoyed the tension, the mistrust, the questioning. And because, unlike with Flashforward, they've never touted the show as "the Next Lost," I'll refrain from trying to make comparisons to the show... Though it would be kinda funny to see Hurley tagging trees with "DI." (Dammit. I just can't help it.)

Highlights:
• The Christ statue falling, as if to suggest that religion no longer has a place in the world.
• The ubergeeks arguing about the alien ships being like Independence Day.
• Alan Tudyk.
• The idea that people would just get on a shuttle and fly up into the spaceship without questioning it at all. I totally buy that, actually.

Other stuff:
• So we see Anna speaking in different languages in different countries, but what if you were in NY and didn't speak English? Maybe we're to take that scene as suggesting that whatever language you speak, she was speaking to you in it?
• I guess people in Moscow were probably asleep. How many of them missed the fact there was an alien ship above their city?
• I asked my husband at one point (who had seen the miniseries when he was younger), "So... is the purpose of this that they want to breed with the humans?" And then we couldn't stop quoting Kit Ramsey from Bowfinger: "Alien love? ALIEN LOVE?! Who said anything about alien love?!"

Nitpick:
The death of Alan Tudyk's character. FRAK. The moment they suggested there was an inside source telling people what was happening, I said out loud, "Please don't let it be Dale... please don't let it be Dale." I really liked the Flirty McFlirt scenes between him and Erica, and I was SO upset when he ate it. Will he be back? Do aliens regenerate or something? Even if they do, I just kinda wanted him to be the good guy for a bit. Wah.

Verdict: I'm definitely tuning in next week. What did you think of the pilot ep?

Hannigan & Denisof: Today's Cute Overload

I just saw these pictures this morning and they made me howl with laughter... laugh out loud... chuckle heartily... smirk sardonically. (Whew... that works. I wouldn't want to come off as a complete loser for laughing at something I thought was funny!)

This is Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof taking their new baby daughter, Satyana, out for her first Halloween:



And just in case you're thinking Wesley didn't quite embrace the outfit the way Willow did, check out the shot from the back:

Finale Title: Last Chance!

With 242 comments so far (many of them offering up to five titles) there's been no shortage of suggestions for what the Lost season finale title will be on the Lost Rewatch blog. But if you've had a sudden flash of brilliance, you've got about 24 hours left to go and contribute! Go here to log in your vote for what the series finale title might be. And before you leave it, do a quick search on the entries that have already been suggested, just in case someone's already come up with it. I'm closing the posts tomorrow evening, and then when the finale title is actually announced, we'll see if any of us came close! Good luck.

Lost Rewatch Update

And on this eve of... All Hallow's Eve... let me take another minute to remind you to come on over for a particularly rip-roaring week of Lost Rewatching!!

3.13 The Man from Tallahassee
Locke is introduced to the concept of The Box:
Ben: What would you do if I told you there was a Box on this island that contained something you longed for more than anything?
Locke: Does it have the KFC Family combo in it? With the little brownies? Damn, what I would give for those 11 herbs and spices...
Ben: Wha...? Uh... no, John, it doesn't, it...
Locke: A new shiny bicycle? I've never had a new bicycle.
Ben: No. John... you're missing the point. By "Box" I'm being...
Locke: Oh my GOD it's the Complete DVD set of Sex and the City, isn't it? I never DID find out if Carrie ended up with Big...
Ben: JOHN! Listen to me! I'm being all metaphorical and creepy here, and when I say Box I'm referring to...
Locke: WAIT! I've got it. It's an actual box, isn't it? Did you know how many uses the common everyday box has? You can draw on it... you can make little houses out of it...
Ben: JACOB?! Are you getting all this? THIS is who you've Chosen?! Are you INSANE?!
Locke:... you can pack books in it -- not too many, or it'll be impossible to carry -- you could put your new Sex and the City DVD box set in it...
Ben: I give up. Richard? Shoot him.

3.14 Exposé
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Funniest Lost episode EVER. Watch and find out why I'm suddenly more in love with a Medusa spider than with Desmond and Sawyer combined. And read all the way through the post to watch the video at the end. It's classic.

3.15 Left Behind
Kate wastes her time trying to get her cold, fishlike mother to love her, and she meets Cassidy along the way. Together they meet Brad Pitt and eventually drive their convertible off a cliff, holding hands while... wait. I think my TV switched channels partway through... OK, back to the episode, Kate and Juliet are handcuffed together and they find a convertible on the island with Brad Pitt in the back, drive it off a... dammit!

3.16 One of Us
Jack and Co. return to the beach camp, bringing an unwelcome Juliet with them. When she rushes off into the woods to get some medical supplies to save Claire's life, Sawyer and Sayid slink after her, confronting her about her past, and she throws it back in their face, glaring at them. Sawyer is completely turned on, picks a flower and gives it to her, changes his name to LaFleur, and all is forgiven. Or maybe I'm getting ahead of myself...

Next week: Pilots fall from the sky, Sun has an Island Ultrasound, Cooper and Sawyer re-enact the Jabba the Hutt death scene (sadly, without Sawyer suiting up), and we find out Ben likes to play with little wooden dolls.

Happy Halloween!

Posting a day early to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween out there. May the vampires among you be modeled after Spike, Angel, Bill, or Eric, and NOT Edward, and here's hoping there are a few Echos, Sawyers, Starbucks, and Tim Rigginses out there this year. (I will simply be navigating an Ariel and a tiny monkey through the fray.... I couldn't talk my husband into getting the "Female Vampire Killer and Vampire" generic couples costume that I found in one Halloween store... drat.)

And for those of you looking for last-minute pumpkin carving ideas, please go check out Jorge Garcia's hilarious blog for his rundown of his annual pumpkin carving party and more.

And for the REALLY ambitious among you, I dare you to try carving the ultimate pumpkin... the Death Star:



Come on, Jorge. I know you can handle this. Instructions are here.

The Answer to Adam and Eve?

Will science figure out the identities of the Adam and Eve bodies on Lost before the show reveals it to us? Read this.

Flashforward 1.05: Gimme Some Truth

I'm almost a week late on this post, but I think Flashforward is officially leaving me flat. When a show starts off slow, you should give it 3 to 4 weeks to see if it gets any better (except in the case of 90210 last season... one episode was enough. And yes, I've heard it's better this season, but I don't care). But in the case of Flashforward, it started off with a bang, then the second week was even better, and since then it's quickly fallen apart, and I find it's not something I'm really looking forward to watching.

Now, my husband, on the other hand, still thinks it's one of the best shows we watch, so I know my comments will probably be divisive. And I don't completely dislike it, don't get me wrong. But the things I like about it seem to be growing fewer and fewer, while the things that annoy me about it grow by the week. You all know what I like about it, since I've been posting on it weekly (go to the left side and scroll down to Labels, and you'll find Flashforward, where you'll see the rest of my blog posts on it). But here are some of the things that are starting to drive me batty:

1. There are simply too many characters and not enough about each of them to make me care much. On Lost, season 1 focused on one episode per character, so we came to sympathize with each one of them and got to know them intimately. On Heroes in season 1, the names of the characters always flashed on the screens before a scene, so we got to know them. I honestly can't tell you what half the names of the people on this show are. I have no idea who Mark's boss is, even though the actor is excellent and he was particularly good this week. But his name?

2. If I see that Flashforward of Olivia walking to the top of the stairs and saying, "Hello Darling" one more time, I'm gonna scream. I'm so sick of them honestly thinking we DO NOT remember something they've flashed at us, oh, 5 or 6 times now. I GET IT. SHE'S WITH SIMCOE. Does she think she's talking to someone else? Is she working undercover for the FBI and pretending to be with him to help Mark get to him, but she's not with him at all?

3. There's still that paradox I mentioned the last time that they're all going about their business in their flashforwards, and not sitting staring at the clock waiting for the moment to arrive. (OK, now I suddenly have this image of "Blackbird" playing over the finale episode.)

4. The cheese factor. The bad guy in the third episode was a Nazi. Wow. That's original. And the shoot-out in "Gimme Some Truth" at the end, complete with "How does it feel?!" blaring over the scene... COME ON. At our house there was silence, until I finally said, "OK, cheesiest moment ever?" and my husband burst out, "NO KIDDING! I was just thinking the same thing." And they were all in the car AS the bomb was heading toward them, and you want me to believe they somehow all escaped? I don't care WHAT the explanation was for that one, I don't think I'll be buying it.

Or how about Chah-lie finally calling Simcoe at the end of the 4th episode and saying, "Now that we've perpetrated the single biggest catastrophe in the history of human existence..." or something equally preposterous that one person would ever say to another... it reminded me of Charlie referring to Locke and his "four HUNDRED knives" in such a way that he was exaggerating for effect, and emphasizing his sarcasm.

5. It's always felt like there's been something missing from the show, and last week a friend of mine conveyed his thoughts after watching the first episode, "Where's the humour?" And I realized THAT is it. This show takes itself far, far too seriously. There's nothing funny about it. There are the occasional gags, but the show is trying so hard on every level that you can actually feel them straining to do so.

Will I continue to watch this show? Sure... I'm intrigued enough to find out where it's going. But there's SO much good TV on these days that all shows need to step up. Don't draw me into this as a Lost fan if the writing isn't going to hold up to Lost. Don't suggest that the two are anything alike when they're not, apart from the forced references to Lost that you insert in there.

And don't dangle Charlie in front of me like that and then take him away in the next episode!!! Ahem. OK, seriously, that wasn't a critique of this episode. Yes it was. No it wasn't.

Yes.

It was.

ARGH... I Just Know Ben's Behind This...

Bad news, everyone. Turns out Season 6 will NOT be running non-stop. Apparently after much discussion, Team Darlton has decided that the Winter Olympics will eat into the schedule too much, and even though the games don't air on ABC, it'll be a fierce competitor, and they don't want competition like that. So the show will begin in mid-January, apparently, and then take the weeks of the Olympics off, and then it'll resume in March. FRAK. I guess it's not like the break of season 3, but it's annoying nonetheless. I have no idea if this will push it into June (I hope not, since I have another commitment at the beginning of June and I'd hate to be torn between the finale of Lost and it) but I'll keep you posted. Thanks so much to Hunter for pointing me to the news. You can read more here.

Lost Rewatch!

I haven't posted one of these recently, but it's time to remind you to come on over and check out the Lost rewatch. We're in season 3, which means only one thing: Nikki and Paulo hatred.

This week's eps:

3.09 Stranger in a Strange Land
Jack loses major points when he cavorts with Bai Ling (leading even Jaters to say, "You know what? Kate WOULD be better off with Sawyer, even if he's had VD"), Juliet gets a marijuana plant carved into her lower back, and Cindy "watches." Viewers at home sit staring at their TVs in stunned silence, finally blurting out, "What the HELL was that?!"

3.10 Tricia Tanaka Is Dead
Hurley has a nervous breakdown when his mother tells him about her "needs," Sawyer helps Jin get hooked on phonics, and the whole gang Shambalas. In a deleted scene, I beat Nikki and Paulo to death with a tire iron.

3.11 Enter 77
As Sayid remembers a time when the torturer became the tortured, Locke loses his freakin' mind. We're introduced to Mikhail, a lover of Russian gymnastics.

3.12 Par Avion
Desmond tries to stop Claire from catching a bird so Charlie will be forced... to... live out the flash where he'll die? Wait, what? Then Claire catches a bird and attaches a scene from Shakespeare to its foot. Fans decide to let this oddness go and just spend their time debating the following topic: Who's hotter: Goth Claire or Blonde Claire?

Next week: The episode we've all (read: I've) been waiting for: the most razzle dazzlin' death scene EVER!!

Interview with a Vampire...Sympathizer

So, fans of True Blood (I know you're out there!) I'm happy to announce that I signed up a book on the show (as editor, not as the writer) for release in time for season 3. The book -- entitled "Truly, Madly, Deadly" -- will be written by Becca Wilcott, who is currently working on a big fandom section of the book and is looking for YOUR input! So if you'd like to lend her a hand and answer a few questions about why you love the vamps (be sure to name drop Buffy OFTEN) please go here and help her out. Tell her Nikki sent you. :)

There Is a God...

And he LOVES me. This my bible tells me so. No, not THAT Bible. Entertainment Weekly. Just announced on Ausiello: Joss Whedon is going to direct an episode of Glee! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Gavin Friday: A Night at Carnegie Hall

So, only two weeks later...

It all began with a dream. As teenagers, Bono and Gavin Friday would play music together or with friends, and at one time they joked that they'd probably get so good they could all play Carnegie Hall together. It only took 35 years, but on October 4, 2009, Gavin and Bono got their wish.

As I may have mentioned in my previous post, I adore Gavin Friday, and haven’t seen him perform live since 1996, the last time he came to Toronto. So when I heard he was going to be playing Carnegie Hall, I bought the tickets. It was only after I bought them that I discovered the gig was, in fact, for his 50th birthday party (he turns 50 tomorrow, on October 9), and that Carnegie Hall had been rented out as a birthday gift to him from Bono. According to the poster, the gig was going to include the likes of some of the most eclectic and unique talents in the music world today. While part of me secretly wished they’d all come down with some mass flu, leaving Gavin the only person left to perform, I thought it would be cool to see him perform with everyone else. The concert was part of the Red (Nights) series, run by Bono, where the proceeds go to fighting AIDS in Africa.

But what would the format of the evening be? Would they perform Gavin Friday songs on his behalf? Would he perform with them? Would they perform their own songs? It turned out to be a little bit from each column.

We left our hotel in SoHo and arrived via the subway. As soon as I emerged from the underbelly of NY, there was Carnegie Hall in front of me. It’s always been one of those places of wonderment, the place where every musician one day hopes to perform (as a pianist many years ago, I knew I didn’t have a hope, though I know at least one person who accomplished it), the place where every music fan hopes to go and listen to music sound like it’s never sounded before. It was beautiful.

Inside, it was much smaller than I thought. Perhaps as a way of boosting or altering the acoustics, the balconies are very narrow, and only jut out three walls from the sides of the place (it’s like box seats all around) and only at the very top are there balconies that look like they might have 5 or 6 rows of people. I have no idea what the capacity of the place is, but I would guess somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 people.

There was a lot of buzz, and many people rushing up the aisles to hug other people sitting closer. There was a feeling of family and friends all gathering for a celebration; not a bunch of fans showing up to a gig. I was surrounded by several people who were there for U2 (you could tell the way they would shriek and throw themselves out of their seats every time they caught a glimpse of Bono; he stood off the side of the stage for most of it, watching from the doorway, and one woman in front of me kept flapping her arm in the air waving at him, as if he was going to wave back at her). And then suddenly, with the lights still up, Gavin just wandered onto the stage, head partly down, one hand in pocket, other on his chin, like he was contemplating something deep. Many in the audience probably didn’t know who he was. I did, but thought, am I not supposed to clap? Is Carnegie Hall like a church or something? Why isn’t anyone clapping? Finally, someone at the front began clapping wildly and the rest of the place followed suit.

Maurice Seezer was at the piano (where he stayed for most of the night with the exception of hitting the drums a few times). Gavin took the mic and sang “Apologia,” one of the tracks from his first album, and one of my all-time favourite songs. It’s almost entirely played on piano, and I remember learning it on mine to play along. The problem was, my piano was out of tune by a semitone, so I played it all on the black keys, wondering why Maurice Seezer would have written the song in such a strange key, not realizing that he hadn’t, and had written it in quite a straight-ahead key, but my silly piano should have been tuned differently. D’oh. Anyway, it was so lovely to see him sing, just him, a backing band, and Seezer off to the side. He finished the song, and was joined on stage by Bono, Larry, and Edge (much screaming from the audience) and they all did T.Rex’s “Children of the Revolution,” which Bono and Gavin had recorded for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. They were accompanied by Flo & Eddie singing backup, who were once known better as “The Turtles” (think “Happy Together”... I remember being 12 and going to see them at some nostalgia concert with my dad where they played with Donnie and Marie Osmond and Herman’s Hermits. I touched Donnie). Then Adam Clayton came out and joined them by practically sitting behind everyone else and they played Gavin’s song, “I Want to Live,” and it was pretty awesome. (Photo by GavinFriday.com)

Next, Antony of Antony and the Johnsons joined Gavin at the mic. I’d never seen this guy live, nor had I watched him on YouTube or anything. My brother adores his stuff, and my husband is hot and cold about it. I was expecting a bald guy, since a recent album had him with extremely short hair. Instead a very, very tall person with long black hair stood next to Gavin, towering over him. Gavin introduced him to the audience, and Antony looked jittery and nervous, bouncing around, and he had a big baggy shirt that he managed to pull down over his right hand, while his left one flung about in the air while he sang. I’d heard Antony & the Johnsons before when my husband played me one of his CDs, and I hadn’t been a big fan of what I’d heard (his voice is an acquired taste). But when he harmonized with Gavin during “Got What He Wanted,” I thought he was perfect. Well... I need to be careful in using gender pronouns. Gavin introduced him as “this beautiful man” to which Antony promptly replied, “I’m not a man,” and Gavin sputtered for a moment, laughed, and came back beautifully with, “I’m sorry... this beautiful PERSON.” There’s been rumours that Antony is a transgender, or that he’s part female/part male, but none of that really matters – what mattered to me was how stunning and powerful his voice was, and how it fit the song perfectly.

After Antony left the stage (by practically running off it before the song was done) the first “surprise guest” was longtime U2 manager Paul McGuiness. He recounted the story of how the Virgin Prunes had been the mandatory opening act for U2 in the early, even when he didn’t want them to be, because Bono had insisted on it. He said once Bono showed up almost late for a gig, right before U2 was to take the stage, and he did a couple of songs and then ran off, asking Paul why the audience was in such a bad mood. Paul replied, “Oh, that’s probably because right before you got here, the Prunes had been throwing pig entrails at them.” Ha!!

Then Courtney Love took the stage, and while I’ve got the early Hole albums and I’m a fan of early Courtney, I can’t say I’ve been a huge fan of her stuff lately. But her introductory speech for what came next (something that was a complete, utter, joyous surprise for me) was genuine, heartfelt, and fannish. She held her speech in front of her, written out on pieces of paper, and her hands were shaking as she held them aloft and read the introduction. She said she came to Trinity College in Dublin in the late 70s to take a degree in theology (?!) and her main goal had been to go and see the band that had recorded “I Will Follow.” She finally saw U2 in a small place one night, and said they filled her with joy, inspiration, hope, and light. Then she went to see another band, three days later, called The Virgin Prunes, “And they took all that away,” she laughed. She said if Bono was the Angel Gabriel, Gavin was Lucifer. They were dark, disgusting, fierce, angry, and awesome.

Let me pause first to say that the one band I’ve always wished I could have seen in their early days was the Prunes. I’ve often wished I’d been born 15 years earlier, and could have been in Dublin in the 1970s and seen them perform live. I’ve read about them, I’ve watched grainy videos on YouTube, I’ve bought bootleg VHS tapes of early concerts that were as scratchy and unwatchable as if they were the 1000th copy of the 1000th copy of it.

And then... Courtney said that after breaking up in 1985, they’ve never played together since. And here, for the first time in over 20 years, were the Virgin Prunes, reunited.

I almost fell off my chair. I couldn’t breathe for a moment. Gavin and Dik Evans walked out onto the stage. Dik looked far younger than I’ve seen him look in pictures and had these crazy silver glasses on. Singer JG Thirlwell joined them, and then Guggi wandered out last. Guggi. The Id to Gavin’s Ego. Or... the Ego to Gavin’s Id. Hm. How about the Yin to Gavin’s Yang?

Whatever. I was FREAKING OUT while everyone around me was clapping politely. Remember that religious experience I mentioned in my post a few days ago? Well, count this as Religious Experience #2. They first played “Sweethome Under White Clouds” (and it sounded even better, rawer, fiercer, than it does on album) and then the classic “Caucasian Walk.” Oh. My. God. I was in Heaven. It was GLORIOUS.

Next up, the divine Ms. Martha Wainwright, who sings like an angel, and on this night looked like one, too. I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing her live before, but WOW, now I must. I adore her album, and she was incredible. She did “Thief of Your Heart,” the song that Sinead performs on the In the Name of the Father soundtrack, and (forgive me Sinead) it was even better than the original.

The next one was Maria McKee. Now, I remember a looong time ago Bono was touting a very young Maria McKee as the next big thing, and I went out and bought a Lone Justice album and it didn’t do much for me. I’ve never been into that whole country thing. She always irked me a bit in interviews and seemed to be a bit of an attention hog on stage, and while she seemed to do that at this show, it actually worked. She and Gavin did “Ballad of Immoral Earnings” from Threepenny Opera, and it was awesome. She was falling on him, he was leaning on her, they acted boozy and it was amazing – the song is about two people reminiscing about their immoral life together, and it can only be done successfully by people who can convince you they’ve been together that long. Considering she’s been performing with Gavin since the late 80s, it worked. I had a whole new respect for her.

Courtney then came back out and sang “The Light Pours out of Me” by Magazine with Gavin, and it was great, although she was wearing a different outfit than she’d been earlier, and then tossed her hat, then the skirt, and then the top part of the dress, and wasn’t wearing much when it was over, but it was just kind of... Courtney. And it fit. She was great, and you could tell she adored Gavin and his music.

Next up: Rufus Wainwright (how could there be THAT much talent in one family?!) and Scarlett Johansson. Now, first, I have to say that when it comes to her acting, I’m a big fan of Ms. Scarlett’s. But as a singer? Not so much. I have no idea why she was there other than Bono might have thought it lent some star power to the evening or something. But... whatever. Kudos to her for not only knowing who Gavin was, but for performing “Mr. Pussy” from the third album. She sang one verse, Gavin sang the next, and Rufus stood in the background going, “Pussaaaaay,” underneath it. It was pretty hilarious. At the end of the song, Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live came walking on stage slowly dressed all in purple, like Prince (the character he often plays on SNL) and began chattering at the audience saying he was Prince (I think some people actually fell for it, which is a little crazy) and then asked Scarlett if she would leave with him, and they left arm in arm. (She’d been on SNL the night before.) They left, and Rufus and Gavin performed a song called “Benares” which I’ll admit I didn’t know, but they were fantastic together. (Photo from GavinFriday.com)

And then Shane MacGowan stumbled onto the stage with a giant bottle of scotch in one hand. He’d clearly been at it all day... actually, he’s probably been in a pretty much permanent drunken state since about 1972... and he could barely find his way to the mic. He grabbed it and performed “A Rainy Night in Soho,” screaming and swaying and barely staying upright. At one point he began swinging the microphone wire, forgetting that unlike in a pub, the mikes aren’t duct-taped to the wire, and sure enough the mic detached and sailed backwards into the drum kit. He walked back, fell over trying to grab it, snapped it back on, and slurred the next verse. Chorus... and then he grabbed the cord and swung it again, with the same result. I know people love MacGowan and the Pogues (and trust me, I think a lot of their stuff was amazing) but seeing him was just kind of sad. He’d like a walking casualty. Or... barely walking casualty. A couple of people helped him off the stage after the song, and then Gavin came back on, rejoined by Maria McKee, and they did “Falling off the Edge of the World,” and it was a great version, even if her voice was a little shrill and harsh at points (I’d have rather seen him do that solo, or even with Courtney).

By the way, for the entire show, Bono stood at the doorway to the stage, watching while trying not to be seen, and you could see his genuine reactions to most. Larry often joined him, similarly bending over to crane his neck to see the action while trying not to be seen, and Edge was there, too, during the Virgin Prunes set. The woman in front of me kept standing up and waving wildly whisper-screaming, “Bono!” as if he was going to wave back at her. Sigh.

There was an intermission then, where I spotted Ali Hewson (Bono’s wife) and their eldest girls Eve and Jordan sitting near the front. Ali’s always been a major, major idol of mine. And for the record, she’s even more gorgeous in person than in pictures. Imagine marrying a guy right out of high school and he becomes one of the most famous people on the planet... that can’t have been an easy thing to have done all these years.

Post-intermission, Joel Grey marched onto the stage carrying a cane, and performed the “Wilkommen” song from Cabaret, which was AWESOME and got a standing ovation from part of the crowd (my husband: “Who’s that?” Me: “Joel Grey!! The original host from Cabaret??” Hubby: [Blank look.] Me: “The guy who cut Dawn right before Buffy saved her by jumping to her death?” Him: “Ah!”) He left and Gavin was joined by Joseph Arthur, who performed “Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves” (wicked) and then Gavin performed “You Take Away the Sun,” dedicating it to Caroline van Oosten de Boer, which was amazing.

Irish author Patrick McCabe was the next to appear, reading from Breakfast on Pluto (that movie with Cillian Murphy as a cross-dresser; if you’ve seen it, then you’ve seen Gavin: he’s the gypsy guy who falls for him). Then U2 came back out and performed King of Trash, much to the audience’s delight. Lydia Lunch was next, walking out and spitting “Knives in the Drain” at the audience, flipping us all off at the end and storming off in typical punk-bitch style.

But then came the second highlight of the night for me. Gavin walked out with a towering man named Eric Mingus (who I later discovered is the son of the legendary Charlie) and I had no idea who this guy was. They performed Caruso, and Eric’s voice was a little wavery early on, but when it came to the loud parts, he was awesome. Was he punk? Rock? Who was he? Then at the end, Gavin was singing the chorus while Eric was setting up a standing mic (they’d been sitting) and I thought oh my god, he’s going to actually sing the Caruso part (in the CD track, Gavin talks and they synch it into an original recording of the opera singer Caruso singing) and sure enough, he did. And it was beautiful. Was he an opera singer? No, because then he began growling and making snarling noises. I looked him up when I got home and he’s an avant-garde jazz/pop/rock/ you name it singer. I would love to see that guy again. (Photo from GavinFriday.com)

And then... came the big surprise for the evening. Bono came out to say the next person was a woman who had transcended music, had changed it, she was the best, she was the rawest, she was the east, she was the west, she was the right, she was the left (when it comes to Bono’s speeches, they’re never subtle) and I thought who the hell is it? Madonna?? And... it was Lady Gaga. The place went NUTS. I groaned and put my face in my hands. Why was she there?! Why did Bono like her? I’m not a fan. NOT a fan. The woman is talented, yes. But when I was in the UK in April, I saw her on some daytime talk show and she could barely sing (I thought it was an impersonator and didn’t realize it was actually her) and she was pulling all these stunts, walking around London with a teacup and saucer and throwing diva fits when she left it behind once. I hate most of her music, and everyone talks about what a talented pianist she is like NO ONE else in music plays piano like that. A lot of them do. I’ll take Tori Amos over her any day.

Anyway, she came out and was wearing a lingerie/bathing suit completely sheer see-through thing that made Courtney look overdressed (the guy behind me whistled and went, “Well THAT was worth the 250 bucks right there!”) and she said she’d cheated and had written a birthday song for Gavin last night, but had written part of it before... and she basically sang Poker Face with some new (terrible) lyrics. Meanwhile Bono stood just off the stage grinning and clapping and smiling and looking at the audience for their reaction the whole time. I was a little disappointed that he was so bowled over by her superstardom. I believe she’ll be forgotten in about 2 years.

Anyway... aside from the end of the show, she got the only standing ovation of the entire place of the entire night. Sad. (I shouldn’t say entire place. My husband and I stayed rooted to our seats.)

Antony came back out with Gavin and performed “Angel” (you would have heard it in the movie Romeo + Juliet) with Flo and Eddie. Another win for Antony. Next up was Chloe Webb (remember her as Nancy in “Sid and Nancy”?) who performed/talked through “Love Is Just a Word” (there’s not a lot of singing in that one) and she was actually very interesting. Gavin came out and planted a kiss on her lips and she looked a little surprised and flustered. Sigh. To have traded places with her for a minute...

Gavin came and sang “Another Blow on the Bruise” and it was spectacular (he had Edge backing him up) and then Andrea Corr of The Corrs came out to sing “Time Enough for Tears.” And then, another highlight, Bono came out with Maurice to sing “The Last Song I’ll Ever Sing,” one of my all-time fave songs of Gavin’s from his third album, and it was GORGEOUS.

And then, for us, the FAR more interesting surprise guest of the night. Laurie Anderson had been on the bill, and I was interested in seeing her avant-garde performance art, simply because I’d seen a movie she’d done in the mid-80s that was insane, and I knew she was a big influence on Gavin. I’d had a sense that she might not come out alone, and I was right – she showed up with her partner, Lou Reed. My husband freaked out, the audience began going, “Loooooouuuuuu” (“Are they saying, Boo-urns?”) and they were accompanied by John Zorn, the cutting edge sax player. Laurie had her weird electric violin, Lou had his ugly guitar, and Zorn began screeching out some of the loudest noise you’d ever heard. Between the three of them they created a complete horrible cacophony, which suddenly turned into something quite stunning when it all began blending. I’ve never heard music transform itself like that partway through. What started as sounding like something from Metal Machine Music had become a symphony of beauty. Gavin then came out and joined them and performed “Sonnet 40” (he’s been working with the genius Gavin Bryars and this is one of their projects), and then he began singing “Sweet Jane,” joined by Boozy MacGowan, Larry and Edge, Flo & Eddie. Throughout the song many of the others joined them, with Bono ad-libbing a verse, “Gavin had a birthday/ Neither big or small...” At the end, Gavin thanked everyone for coming, and there was a standing ovation and everyone launched into “Jean Genie” (and despite my hardest hoping, Bowie didn’t suddenly surface, dammit).

And then... it was over. It was one of the most amazing musical nights I’ve experienced, and I’m so happy I’d done this one crazy spontaneous thing and had just bought the tickets and gone with it. I’ll never forget it.

Happy birthday, Gavin Friday.

Flashforward 1.04: Black Swan

CHAH-LIE!!! FINALLY!! Was anyone else whooping it up on their couch in the final minute of Flashforward? Because the moment I saw the name "Simon" on Simcoe's phone, I certainly was!!

In this week's episode, Mark found out Demetri's secret; Olivia operated on a patient who had a completely crazytown flashforward vision, but whose vision gave the other doctor clues as to how to operate; the babysitter had a vision where she was being drowned while feeling like she deserved it; she turns out to be Aaron's daughter (that's probably been mentioned already but for some reason I'd forgotten it); the other agent is looking for someone named "Celia"; Simcoe never actually saw Olivia in his dream (which we'd pretty much all figured out already); and Simcoe, as we suspected, is somehow connected to Simon and the evil, but he's in there reluctantly, it would seem.

Random Thoughts:
• I was freaking out a little as that bus was hurtling toward the people lying there in the opening scene, thinking, "Wow, imagine falling over in a park for 2 minutes, and during your blackout you're run over by a bus somehow." Yeowch.
• What are the chances that Ned Ned was sleeping and having a weird hallucinatory dream on April 29? Maybe he will never end up as a cool black dude rocking those leather pants, and was only dreaming of it, or hallucinating it through some medication.
• So... terrorist chick: How would SHE know that Demetri posted his flashforward on the Internet if she's in the LA County lock-up? How would that have become public knowledge for the prisoners?
• The other doctor keeps asking people what their flashforward was, and Simcoe comments that it's replaced "How's the weather" as the standard question. I don't think so: I think your vision would be pretty private, actually. Not everyone would be throwing it out there, and I find it a little forward of the guy to be asking everyone.

Highlights:
• "Jesus is my Episco-pal." I MUST have one of those shirts.
• I LOVED the choice of music at the beginning (oh, my love for Bjork is deep) and was singing along... I always love the juxtaposition of music that shouldn't fit the scene, like this lovely old standard against the backdrop of a world in flames.
• Breakfast for dinner made my husband and I crack right up. He LOVES it when I make that; I, on the other hand, am not a fan. Breakfast is my least favourite meal of the day, so why would I tarnish dinner by having it then?! Ugh. (I know I'm in the minority on this one...)
• Chah-lie as the evil little man! Presumably he's the guy who's 5'8" and 130 pounds or whatever who was walking around the stadium. Excellent! Will he be the hacker they call in, not realizing he's also Dr. Evil?

Lost moment:
• When Penny tried to get the chips out of the vending machine and it got stuck, she whacked the machine and nothing happened. I half expected Jacob to appear, get the chips and hand them to her and say, "Sometimes it just needs a little push."

Finding Lost: Season 5

Oh look, Nikki's making another plug for her new book. Must be a weekday...

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has already ordered a copy of the book. Many of you have received them already (I can say that humanebean was officially the first Lost fan to have his hands on one, since he had me FedEx it to him! Win!) And now that I've sorted out the postage on this, I can extend the offer to everyone. If you're interested in a copy of the season 5 book, autographed by me, the cost is $21.80 if you're in the U.S. ($15 book plus $6.80 shipping), and $19.75 if you live in Canada ($17 book plus $2.75 shipping). If you live outside of North America, email me and we'll figure something out.

The easiest way to pay is through Paypal; my Paypal account is the same as my email address, and when I get the confirmation, I'll send out your book (you'll get a confirmation by a name that's not mine; don't worry, that's just my husband's name).

I've also been shipping various combinations of other seasons to people, so if anyone is interested in that, please email me privately about it. That price above is the same for Season 5, Season 4, and Season 3. The Season 1/2 book is combined, so it's a heavier book and slightly more to ship, which sucks. (The book is $18 in the U.S., $20 in Canada, and postage is $11.15 to anywhere in the U.S., and $11.50 (don't ask) to anywhere in Canada, or $8.50 within Ontario.) However, if you gang it with one of the other books, shipping would probably be the same, so we'd save on that. If you're interested in S1, please email me and we'll work that out, too.

And now... my next plea. The way these books sell well is through word of mouth, especially when writing for this type of genre. As we all know, there are many fantastic Lost books out there, and when it comes to a non-Lost fan looking for a book to buy a Lost fan, they'll probably look through reviews. On Amazon they'll buy the one with the most reviews and the best star-rating. Because I was offering the chance to buy the S4 book from me when it came out earlier this year, there weren't very many Amazon reviews of it (you can only leave a review on Amazon if you buy a product there). But if anyone has any of my books and likes them, AND has recently bought something from Amazon, please go and leave a review on any of them, especially the more recent ones. That would help me out immensely.

OR... you can tell my publisher directly that you like the books, which would be fab. My publisher, ECW Press, has a great website that now takes comments. You can access all of my books here (and see an old picture of me) and click on the book to take you to the page where you can leave MUCH MUCH PRAISE!! (She said modestly.)

You could leave one at the Chapters site in Canada, or the Barnes and Noble site in the U.S. (I don't think either of those requires registration or purchase).

And thank you in advance for doing this. It would be a huge help!