MY URBAN KVETCH

I Shoulda Been a Vengeance Demon

"Every little day, the same arrangement, I go out and fight the fight. Still I always feel this strange estrangement, nothing here is clear, nothing here is right..."

If you sang the above quote while pretending you were a petite, blonde vampire slayer who had been brought back from the grave by well-meaning friends, you might just belong at the Buffy Singalong, which has officially been noticed in this article in the NY Times. The article tells me that the show is monthly, and that the February showing was sold out. What's missing from the article is when the show is in March. So I go to the website for the IFC Film Center, and it tells me that it's "midnights at IFC," but doesn't say which midnights, how much it is, or how to buy tickets. And since I'm leaving for LA again (Jewlicious at the Beach, register NOW) next week, I'm going to have to wait until I come back to think about going.

What happened to the Internet being the Information Superhighway? Infuriating. Seriously, it's enough to make a girl sing and dance until she spontaneously combusts.

Coming Soon: Buffy Season Eight

Sunnydale was destroyed. Buffy and everyone except Anya and Spike survived the battle against The First with the help of all of the Potentials, who had been activated--along with countless girls around the world--as actual Slayers. One of the Potentials turned up in Season Five of Angel, her superstrength having been activated into a dangerous, homicidal rage after a childhood of abuse. A sad story, an unforeseen aftereffect of Buffy's decision to activate all the potential slayers everywhere even if they weren't ready. But that episode gave us Andrew (Tom Lenk) back, which was great, and he gave us some updates on our favorite characters. Giles was worrying about the world being doomed.

Anyway, now we get season eight. And it focuses on the consequences of Buffy having activated all the slayers around the world. Which is good, because we have to learn that there are consequences for our actions, even if we have saved the world in the process.

Why am I not capitalizing this news? Because it's in comic book form. Man, as if I'm not nerdy enough, now I have to walk into a comic book store, push my glasses up on the bridge of my nose and say, "Excuse me, do you have Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 in comic book form? Joss told me it would be here..."

''We're calling it season 8,'' says Whedon, ''and we're picking up almost right after season seven left off. I don't know exactly why it or how it happened. I just thought, 'Oh, I could do that! It would be fun!' It happens to me every now and then, and causes me to commit to things I really don't have time for.'' [EW]

Man, can I relate.

A Different Willow in the Unaired Pilot of "Buffy"

Perhaps we would have learned to love "Original Willow," but in viewing this unaired pilot, I do miss Aly Hannigan. Nick Brendon's still great, and all the quipping can irk something awful--plus, no Eric Balfour or iconic "the world is doomed..". But it's great to see Giles's stammery goodness again, and let's face it, this show got much better after the first episode anyway. Enjoy!

"Jane Espenson from Accounting"

Some of you may remember the name Jane Espenson...she's written and produced for some of my favorite television shows, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Gilmore Girls, and of course, she's a Whedonite born and bred, having achieved the Triple Crown (Buffy, Angel and Firefly). When I see her name on the screen, I get a little charge; both as a writer and as a fan. When Jane's involved, I know I'll be hearing snappy, clever dialogue, replete with pop culture references that seem as appropriate as they do random.

Which is why it was appropriate that her name popped up on '24' during season 2, and the shoutout was noted by Whedon megafan TVGal on Zap2It, under the header ""Where Have I Heard That Name Before?"

You all make me so darn proud. So many of you noticed that when Audrey gave a fake name on "24," she said she was "Jane Espenson from Accounting." Espenson was, of course, a writer on both "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" with David Fury, who is now a producer and writer on "24." Coincidence? We all think not.

Now it's easy for all aspiring Janeiacs (I'm coining that sucker now) to look at their lives and say, "What would Jane Espenson, from Accounting, do?" We can just visit her blog, Jane Espenson.com, which gives aspiring spec script writers tips and updates us on what Jane had for lunch. Cause she's a woman of the people, and eats her hummus like the rest of us, one leg at a time.

Pop Culture Roundup

Survivor: Jail Edition

First "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch was sentenced to four years in jail for tax evasion. While incarcerated, Hatch will be able to frolic naked to his own content, or at his own peril.

Still in Love with Your Rumored Gay Ex? Marry Someone a Little More Country

Nicole "Aussie Stilts" Kidman recently shared with a women's magazine that she still loves her ex, Tom "Teeth" Cruise, who co-parents their two adoptive children, Connor and Isabella. And yes, I hate that I knew the names of their children without even having to look it up. Just means the Hollywood publicists are doing a good job. Anyway, Nic's engaged to country star Keith Urban. Here's hoping he isn't a Scientologist. Or at least can refrain from jumping on couches or performing strange dances on 106th and Park. (Ving is standing right there and doesn't even stop him...damn...)

Speaking of Names...

The 70th most popular baby name last year for baby girls--ahead of Vanessa, Amanda and Sara--was Neaveh.  That's "heaven" spelled backwards, leading the NY Times to headline-quip that maybe if it was a boy, the baby would have been named "Lleh." 4,750 baby girls were born in the US last year with the name Neaveh. Most popular baby names are listed here, with the option to search for your own name to find out how popular you are. I mean, how popular your name is. For instance, "Esther" was at a ten-year low in 2000, but has since been rising slowly to its ten-year high this past year.

The Spirituality of Lost

Many a blogger wrote about last week's Eko/Locke faith episode (notably Beliefnet's Idol Chatter, which writes a lot about spiritual themes on TV), one of them even providing a link to this quiz. If you can answer all the questions, you likely sit home watching the DVDs all day and should probably check in with your office to make sure you still have a job, or at least check to make sure your spouse hasn't left you. (Thanks to reader David B., for submitting these.)

Lonely Jillionaire On the Wagon? Online Dating May Be For You

Poor "Charlie." His name has been in and out of the media for troubles with alcohol addiction, his marriage and involvement with high-end madams, and has somehow managed to come out with a relative smash of a TV show opposite Jon Cryer, who has apparently had more failed sitcoms to his credit than most actors have stage credits. But now that he's all sober and not hitting the party scene like he used to, he's lonely. So he goes to an online dating service to help him find love. Don't look for him on JDate, though. He's strictly a MillionaireMatch.com guy. And " to insure anonymity, he identifies himself as a Hollywood talent agent." He should just go under his real name, Ramon Estevez. Or is that his dad's name? I forget. But if I were Charlie, I'd jettison the whole online dating thing and use some sort of broker. Maybe go through a matchmaker--it's just like using the Mayflower Madam, but legal.

And that's your pop culture roundup.

"Joss Whedon Costume"

Some of you know that I love the oeuvre of Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and the upcoming Wonder Woman movie). Others of you are all like, "why?" Well, here's a video of "someone in a Joss Whedon costume" at Geek Week, which I am proud to say I did not attend.

Israel "Nerds Out"; American Geeks Jealous

Is Israel on a hellmouth? Is the truth out there, and what's the deal with the black oil? In space, can anyone hear you scream? Was matzah created by mutants? And does Frodo wearing the ring create an impromptu "harei ata mekudash" between the young hobbit and the forces of evil?

I seldom find myself thinking, "gee, I wish I were in Holon for Pesah." But this year's an exception, with this week's Meditech sci-fi conference (running between April 16 and 18), sponsored by The Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy, Starbase 972, The Israeli Tolkien Society and The Sunnydale Embassy in Israel (fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Plus, because the conference is happening in Israel during Passover, we've got special thematically and dietarily appropriate elements:

[director of the event Ilan] Aminov adds that the theme, "destiny and free will," is an appropriate one for Pessah. With the kosher-for-Passover fare that will be served and the committed fans who follow their favorite shows with fervor, the result is something of a religious experience.

And it's also worth noting that in some systems (most notably, on a small moon near the ice planet Hoth) "beam us up" is a synonym for aliyah.

For more, check out olamot.org. And if you go, send me a report or something.

[reposted from Jewlicious]

No, Lindsay! Back! Back!!!

Dear Miss Lohan,

On behalf of Joss Whedon, I'm asking you to stop telling the press about your interest in playing the eponymous heroine of Wonder Woman, which is currently being scripted by Mr. Whedon.

While the role has not yet been cast and is therefore technically available, your inability to maintain a hair color or stay out of auto accidents for more than three weeks seems to indicate a rootless, restless quality that we are not looking for in the first major superheroine films to hit the screen since Helen Slater's Supergirl.

Thank you for your interest, however, to paraphrase the Soup Nazi, "No Wonder Woman for you!"

Sincerely,

Esther Kustanowitz
Internet Rumor Management Department
My Urban Kvetch, Inc.

PS: Mr. Whedon has just authorized me to offer you the role if you can correctly define 'eponymous.' No, dictionaries are not permitted. Sorry, dear.

Samantha Jones, Rupert Giles...Rupert Giles, Samantha Jones

OK, so I know people are not their tv characters. But still...I was really pleased to see Anthony Stewart Head, the former Rupert Giles on Buffy, cast in a network sitcom based on the life of Elton John. ThHis means that he will likely be singing in the show, which we all love, of course...

And now he's being joined by the former Samantha Jones, Kim Catrall, who will play ASH's manager, Freddie. Originally, the role was written for a man, but it's being retooled for Catrall. Which is appropriate given the SNL Season 29 sketch about Sex and the City.

Nerds of NYC, Unite!

I'm a little bit of a scifi/fantasy nerd--a condition for which I blame the original Star Wars trilogy and the opus magnus of Joss Whedon. Now said condition is worsening, thanks to Lost. But I digress.) So to protect myself, I took myself to another coast to avoid dealing with the "should I stay or should I go" of New York ComicCon.

Looking over the schedule of events, I'm actually relieved to see that most of the session titles are all Geek Greek to me...but I'm a smidge frightened of the "Jedi Academy" workshop that teaches how to use your lightsaber...um, I'm resisting like eight jokes now...