Saturday, November 28, 2009

DVD Contest Winners!

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest this week! To win one of two copies of the Lost Season 5 Limited Edition Orientation Kit DVD (or, if you live outside of North America, a copy of my book, "Finding Lost: Season 5"), you had to answer up to five trivia questions, and the answers to them were:

1. Tunisia
2. Besixdouze (some people answered "Ajira," but I specified it had to be from Rousseau's boat. Also, others mentioned they couldn't get the accent to work, but I don't think the accent actually appeared on the canister, despite being correct. I accepted answers with or without the accent. However, I didn't accept "B612")
3. Agostini & Norton
4. "Shotgun Willie"
5. "Ille qui nos omnes servabit" (Unfortunately, I couldn't accept the entries that simply wrote the English translation, "He who will save us all," because I specifically said I needed the Latin that Richard spoke)

So those are the answers! And now... the winners. I've decided to draw them live (in a prerecorded segment... how's THAT for time travel) and here is my first and last attempt at a video podcast. If you're looking for a mystery that will be drawn out longer than the answers on Lost, check out me and my "assistant" drawing the names... and re-enacting a famous scene from Lost. Terribly. Prepare for rambling me. (If it's any consolation, I promise to never do this again. I mean, check out the still that was randomly chosen for it! Ugh.) I apologize for the TERRIBLE microphone on my computer and the weird random buzzing. It was built by the Dharma Initiative in 1980. Be sure to crank up your volume.



Congratulations to my three winners!

51 comments:

Marebabe said...

Oh, Nikki-Nik-Nik! We all knew you were a total goofball, but this confirms it!

I wonder how many of us (besides me) spent the first minute or so of your podcast studying the bookshelves behind you to see if we could make out any of the titles. Because it would be so very ILLUMINATING to see what sort of books Nikki reads! Actually, regulars to Nik at Nite already know what sort of books you read, because you never hesitate to SHARE. (And don't ever stop!)

The contest was fun. Thanks for a week-long hobby. (And thanks for the honorable mention near the beginning of your podcast.)

Unknown said...

Nikki,

Your video was absolutely hilarious! I loved that you got John Locke involved in the contest (very creatively, I might add--I was afraid his knife might have been the method of selection).

Please do more of these--it was great to finally get a glimpse at the real, live you, and whether you know it or not, you're funny in front of a camera!

Marebabe said...

One more thing: Didja notice at the end, when you were saying thank you, the video was glitchy in the great Max Headroom tradition! That was kinda fun. "Tha-thank you!" You claimed that this podcast was made by Dharma in the 80's. Well, that's when Max Headroom was oh-so-popular. Makes sense.

Joan Crawford said...

How cute are you?! I loved this video! Haha - John Locke!

Robert said...

You're very charismatic on screen, actually. I like it :)

Jonathan said...

Excellent video.

Gillian Whitfield said...

I liked it! And really, who wouldn't want a copy of Finding Lost season 5? I've got my copy, and it is fabulous.

The Question Mark said...

Yay, Nikki! Despite what you say, your video podcast was entertaining and a smashing success! John Locke did okay, too! LOL
I was waiting for you to say "Namaste" at the end :)
Congrats to the 3 winners!

Marebabe said...

Nikki, I kept having the feeling that you reminded me of someone, but I couldn't figure it out until a little while ago. You remind me of Annie Hall, especially in the scene right after the tennis game, when she's talking, and we can see subtitles of what she's thinking. Things like, "I'm such a jerk!" You were actually saying stuff like that out loud in your podcast. And I don't mean that in any way as a criticism, because I think Annie Hall is adorable!

Anonymous said...

Nikki - cool podcast - you should do more - you're kind of hot.

I think from now on I'll "hear" a Canadian accent in my head when I read your stuff.

-Tim

Rebecca T. said...

That was the best thing EVER.

"Was there a more scientific way to do this? No!"

Of course not! Loved it :D

(Even if I didn't win :P)

Hunter said...

This is a sham! That was not the real John Locke assisting you! It was the man in black! Didn't you see that evil grin on his face? I demand a redraw!

Blam said...

@Marebabe: Yeah, I saw the bookshelf and thought, "Ah, crap. How many of those will I have to read for Finding Nikki?" [ECW has told you about that, right, Nikki? Nikki?)
...
@Tim: Grab a cold shower, buddy; she's married.
...
Congrats to all the winners!

Lisa-Maladylis said...

I loved the video ! Congrats to everyone that won the neat things you offered. Nikki, you did a great job (and so did John lol)

Unknown said...

It is lovely that you did a video podcast. They are very intimidating. I know this because I just chickened out of doing one for a class today :).
Nicely done!
PS I very much enjoyed your bit with the Sawyer picture. It totally reminded me of SCTV and the horror movie shows in 3D.

Fred said...

Alas, I did not win. (I know I would have if you had used Ben Linus). But I have your book for Season 5, and my hero is on page 174. Yes, it rocks!

Oh, your podcast. I noticed there are some gaps. Are they in a Bible in the Arrow station. Shall we send Mr. Eko for them?

Nikki Stafford said...

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I was actually considering disabling the comments on this, worried there would just be a bunch of, "God, you really DO go on forever without saying anything" reactions.

Marebabe: I never even thought of the bookshelf behind me!! This is the one in my office near my desk, and there are 11 others like it throughout my house. This one has more of my pop culture-oriented books (hence it being in my office) and graphic novels, etc.

To the immediate right of my head (my right, your left) you'll see a row of colourful spines: that's the Sandman series. To the right of it, with the white spines, is Y: The Last Man. The top row is mostly scholarly books about TV shows (mostly Buffy), and on the same shelf as Y are my Buffy comics (to the left of my head).

Interestingly, had I pointed the camera down more, the fourth shelf down (the one you can't see) has all of my Lost novels: Catch-22, Brothers Karamazov, Ulysses, you name it... they're all on that shelf. Everything I've had to read for the Finding Lost series is there.

Blam: I hope this is helpful for your Finding Nikki book. LOL!

Question for the Americans: Do you really hear a Canadian accent when I talk? I was joking about the word "about" (though that IS how I say it) but do you hear an accent otherwise? If I ever do another podcast I'll pepper every sentence with "eh?" and call my readers "hosers." While eating pancakes with maple syrup.

Gillian: HAHA! SCTV was actually my inspiration for the 3-D House of John Locke! ;)

Fred: The splices were more ramblings, mostly... me giving the answers to the questions, mostly. I showed the original to my husband and while I was listing the answers he went, "UGH, this is longer than the Oscar presentations!" HAHAHAHA!!

So, I spliced. ;)

Thanks for your comments. You're all lovely.

Hunter: I TOTALLY think it's the Man in Black. That was actually in one of my splices, ha! (I pulled him up to the webcam and said, "Is this REALLY John Locke or is it the Man in Black?! He's looking a little shady to me...")

Blam said...

Do you really hear a Canadian accent when I talk?
I really only hear it in words like "out" and "about", not overall -- same as with Evangeline Lilly on her commentary tracks, or the late Peter Jennings on ABC News, etc. And I've often wondered why the pronunciation as "aboot" is perpetuated, because I almost always hear it as "a boat", rhyming with "a coat", whereas the American pronunciation rhymes with "a doubt" or "devout" (unless you say those funny too).

Fred said...

@Nikki: you're going to have to add one more thing to your list of LOST material. The DVD of "The Prestige." Believe me when I say it will make some things in LOST suddenly stand out. Or maybe you've already seen it.

@Blam:I have my own experience with Americanisms. I had to go from Philadelphia to Ann Arbor, Mich. (and no, I did not run into Daniel Faraday) for a time to work in a lab there. My roommates only knew me as coming from Philadelphia. Soon they asked me if everyuone in Philly sounded like me. I didn't have the heart to say I came from Canada, so I told them, "Yes, this is how we speak in Philadelphia." I managed to keep that going for awhile.

crazyinlost said...

@Nikki-I agree with Blam. Your accent isn't as pronounced as most I hear, but mostly comes "out" (ha) in 'out' and 'about' and 'sorry' (Sounds like "Surrey"), 'again', 'mum', are the biggest ones. (Maybe the B.C. accent is different than the Ontario one). I tend to hear an overall more pronounced accent with men, and it sounds like they're puckering their mouths to talk (hear it alot on SG1 with the extras).
Anyway, haven't had a chance to see the whole podcast, only saw up to the announcement. I was laughing thru the whole thing! (Even though I didn't win!) Had to get ready to come to work, and I can't get the uplink to work here. Will have to wait until I get home in the morning to finish it (someone said something about Sawyer?-can't wait!

I have no problem with rambling as long as it's entertaining, and yours was!

Blam said...

@Fred: The Prestige was quite a mind-blower, less so for one of the reveals than for the other. I recall being upset when the DVD came out that it had no commentary track — having seen the film in the theater, I'd have happily rented it to hear the Nolans discuss putting it all together.
...
Verification word: Gapia. A melting-pot country of Denims and Khakis not far from Banana Republic. (Look, folks, they won't all be winners.)

Fred said...

@#Blam: the Nolans did Memento, which is really a study in how to put film together, i.e. work from the back forward. But then so is LOST. I've always felt how we can study film using LOST. Take a simple event like the opener to Season 3. It seems contained, except for Ben's enigmatic line, "So I guess I'm out of the book club." But how that line, and seeing Juliet crying at the beginning changes as we get little pieces in later episodes. Suddenly what we thought we knew has to be reassessed. LOST fits in well with this technique of the new cinema: "nonlinear narrative". I've often felt LOST is just a few key moments which we return to time and again to reassess, and sometimes to discover what we've known is completely false.

But I do like the idea in "The Prestige" of using doubles (fits with LOST use of the name Thomas, which means twin) and the Tesla machine to made a double, much like the frozen donkey wheel may not only transport the island, but also create doubles (twins). If we recall the tape Locke was watching, the rabbit had its double appear, perhaps from the future. Then who might the doubles be? And is this use of creating doubles a way of answering how a plane crashing on the island can even have survivors.

Blam said...

@Fred: We have regional accents here in Philly, but they're nothing like Canada — which I get was your point. Michiganders actually sound closer to Canadians than we do, although not as much so as Minnesotans and North Dakotans. Once, in a small town in Colorado, a waiter pegged the school district I attended (he was one high school off) based, I'm assuming, on the Philadelphian way I pronounced "water" and the fact that I probably had to be from the suburbs to afford vacationing in Steamboat Springs, although in reality the trip was subsidized. [Note to the curious: For some reason, "water" here is "wooder".]
...
Verification word: torchiti. A small Italian fire-bearing device.

Blam said...

@Fred: Great analysis, again. I'm afraid I can't keep the conversation going right now, but it did prompt this thought: Once Lost does — gasp — end, it'd be great to get a movie-discussion group going under Nikki's auspices or otherwise with the insightful co-op of commenters we have here.
...
Verification word: coryo. An unsuccessful attempt at merging British and hip-hop slang.

Fred said...

@Blam: Oh, Blam you're not form the Main Line? Or are you Manayunk--I so loved that community. We spent nights there at the various BYOB resturants. And I lived near Fairmont Park, which was so great to run through in the mornings. I have such wonderful memories of the places there. Especially wandering down to the Irish pub over the bridge from University of Pennsylvania after a class. I'd always have my whisky and beer, then something for dinner. (Oh, I am not an alumn from U of P., but I graduated from Temple--that was an experience).

I had a friend who always went to Steamboat Springs to teach each summer. I'd send flowers and champagne to her hotel. Never got out there, but I did manage to vist Boulder one time. So cool, so cool, Blam!

Blam said...

Fred: I am kinda-sorta from the Main Line, yes. That's where I went to high school, which is the part that pertinent to the Colorado story, but I always feel a reflexive urge to point out that my childhood was spent in small-town South Jersey (the south of New Jersey, that is, not of the British Bailiwick of Jersey) and that I spent summers there even after we moved because, well, for all of its good qualities the Main Line can be kind-of insufferable. Manayunk and Fairmount Park are great parts of the city (one of my best friends was amazed on her first visit that Philadelphia was in fact an actual, sprawling city). And most of my family went to Temple, although not I. Now I really hafta go.
...
Verification word: Cablegra. The World's Best Incomplete Cablegram Service.

Ashlie Hawkins said...

Great podcast, Nikki! And I loved the Canadian accent clarification - you sound just normal to me! Of course, I'm a fellow SWO habitant!

Rebecca T. said...

@Blam: it'd be great to get a movie-discussion group going under Nikki's auspices or otherwise

Oooh! That would be so much fun. I would totally go for it :D

and the verification words are just too much.

Mine?

Pradf: An expensive slavic clothing line.

humanebean said...

Mucho congrats to the lucky winners of the Season 5 DVD sets, Brian and Sheila! Even more fabulous kudos to Rebecca, the lucky, lucky gal who won Nikki's Finding Lost: Season Five book. Oh, the joy that awaits you!

Thanks for the podcast, Nik! I'm sure everyone appreciated the time and effort you put into making this contest happen and your maiden video podcast was the icing on the cake. Now, see, if you'd recorded that on your MAC, that pesky little microphone issue wouldn't have popped up ....

... you HAD to see that coming, didn't you?

; ]

humanebean said...

Oh - and Marebabe: looks like our evil plan to fix the contest didn't work. Why, oh WHY did we trust Not-Locke to pick our names out of the bowl?? He is SUCH a double-crossing son of a.....

Nikki Stafford said...

Actually, humanebean, that WAS done on a Mac.* Sigh... I should have just stuck to a PC.

(*Nik at Nite cannot verify the truthfulness of the statements made by its administrator.)

Nikki Stafford said...

Fred: Sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I LOVED The Prestige. I saw it in the theatre and talked it up to absolutely everyone. Mystery, intrigue, shock ending AND David Bowie? Perfection.

JS said...

I was on holiday in Peru and I missed it! I did like the pod cast – I lol’d.

@Fred, @BLAM - I look forward to discussing the changes in perspective and story with new information during S6. I was trying to explain this very thing to my husband last week, using the Jacob centric scenes in S5 finale. It got quite complicated when I started on the implications of the childhood vs. adult vs. post-island-return touches and how that changed what we thought and how we’d even have to re-examine S1 and…... Anyway, I think he started reading a magazine. The new perspective is one of the things I love about watching and re-watching Lost.

Bronso - Style of fighting Hanso learned from Charles Bronson, and .... never mind

humanebean said...

Hmmmmm ..... methinks that tugging sensation I'm feeling is my leg being pulled ....

If that was a Mac mike, I'm callin' Steve Jobs PERSONALLY!

; ]

tiasabita said...

Just like in your blog you exude personality and charm and cleverness in person as well! You are just cute as a bug and yes, this American can pick up the Canadian accent. However, I have Sawyer's southern drawl so anyone who speaks at a normal pace and doesn't sound like a hick has an accent as far as my ears go!! Congrats to the winners! And I'm coveting the John Locke action figure!

Austin Gorton said...

That was about a dozen different kinds of awesome Nikki!

And I totally scanned the bookshelves behind you reflexively, too. I do it anytime I see bookshelves. That's what Lost has done to me! :)

FWIW, I didn't hear much of an accent myself, but then, I'm from and live in Minnesota, so our accent isn't too far removed from the Canadian accent.

Oh, and while I loved the Prestige (Wolverine vs. Batman directed by Nolan w/David Bowie? What's not to love?!?) I actually preferred the Illusionist, the other magician-with-a-twist-ending movie that came out around the time of the Prestige, with Edward Norton and the always delightful (and clone of Radzinsky) Paul Giamotti.

J. Maggio said...

You are adorable

Keith said...

That was the funniest thing I have seen today. I enjoy reading your blogs and this was extra special fun.

Jazzygirl said...

OMFG!! I'm rollin' here! That's it, I'm SOLD...you have to podcast your S6 episode recaps from now on!! I have to see your reactions live! And pretty PLEASE make one on how you feel about Nikki and Paulo?? Why didn't we think of this before? LOL!!

Justin Mohareb said...

Oh, you like Y, eh? That is such an awesome book. Heck of an ender, too. Shame Vaughn left Lost, though.

Blam said...

Justin: That is such an awesome book. Heck of an ender, too.
No spoilers on Y: The Last Man, please! I haven't finished it yet (and others may be convinced to read it due it's frequent praise in the blog's comments).

Blam said...

@Teebore: I think I saw The Prestige and The Illusionist the same weekend. You're probably aware of this, but Ed Norton said he based his character's facial hair and demeanor on Doctor Strange — who could take both Batman and Wolverine if they didn't have the element of surprise. I liked aspects of each movie better than the other, but when The Illusionist's big trick was revealed, Sixth Sense / Usual Suspects style, I remember it not holding together.

humanebean said...

Hey, Blam! No spoilers on The Illusionist, please!

; ]

Daniel said...

Hi Nikki! Great blog!

Anyway, I recentley received the first two Lost seasons from a friend, and wanted to watch the first five seasons so I can watch the sixth in January.

I loved your Buffy, Angel, and Alias books and was wondering if the Lost books were similar to them in terms of not giving away too many spoilers? I always like to have a guide book while watching a show for the first time, but I absolutely despise spoilers.

Help? :P

humanebean said...

@Daniel - you should have the same level of comfort with Nikki's Finding Lost series. She is very careful to provide only that information that a viewer should have learned up until the point of each episode when you read the appropriate recap. Including raising pertinent questions that may be answered a few episodes later rather than assume that you are 'rewatching' the series and already know what will happen.

Get 'em now - you'll thank me (well, Nikki, actually) later!

Rebecca T. said...

@Daniel: Definitely, definitely, definitely buy Nikki's books. They are so fantastic and she's careful to warn you if there are any spoilers (even mild ones) in the sidebars or boxes. She's a spoilerphobe as are many of us on this blog, so she's careful not to assume or reveal too much :)

Batcabbage said...

Nik, why the aversion to more podcasts? It was brilliant! More podcasts, please! And very nice comic credentials behind you. Sandman, Y, Buffy... it's no wonder you are awesome. :)

@Blam: Y: The Last Man... I haven't finished it yet

Fantastic! Are you enjoying it? I hope you are, and it makes you seek out BKVs other works (although being the comic affcionado that you are, I assume you may have already).

Verification word: Simbi - A Combi van for Sims (outside Oz translation: Combi vans are what we aussies call the VW (or Dharma, to bring it around to Lost) van. Does anyone else apart from us Aussies call them combi vans?)

Blam said...

@Batcabbage: I'm way behind on the collections of Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina. I think I first came across BKV's work on DC Universe titles, including that Batman story that to me totally destroyed the concept of Matches Malone, but I haven't held it against him. I've been meaning to read the Escapists collection, because I loved the first issue but couldn't keep up with it at the time.
...
Verification word: injug whereHulkfindmoonshine

Blam said...

@Batcabbage:Thanks for the definition of Combi... Only 25 years after I first started singing along to Men at Work's "Down Under" not knowing what it meant!

Batcabbage said...

@Blam: LOL! No worries, mate. Let me know if I can handle any more trans-Pacific translations for you in the future.

And I've not heard of the Escapists, but I'd definitely recommend you read Runaways. One of the most promising Marvel series in the last decade, I thought (the first two volumes more so than the current third one).

Austin Gorton said...

I'd definitely recommend you read Runaways. One of the most promising Marvel series in the last decade

I couldn't agree with you more, Batcabbage. I highly recommend Runaways.