Words Seem Out Of Place

Last Halloween, Netflix gifted the world with a short, six-episode series unlike any other, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell . Part DIY baking show, part Muppet monster show, and 100% dark comedy, the show transfixed me immediately. This is just the right combination of freaky weird macabre stuff I live for every Halloween. And while I long ago stopped caring about food porn, there's no denying this show makes it fun again. She holds that butcher knife like she knows how to use it, no? In the world of the show, Christine lives in a big, spooky Gothic house, where she bakes extravagant horror-themed desserts, engages in witty and often innuendo-laden banter with her monster and ghost roommates, and generally tries to keep her ghoulish pals from killing the neighbors. The "beauty and the beasts" premise helps make everything feel like an old-school sitcom on acid. Beyond food porn level baking bliss, the show also offers advice for dealing with na...

Random thoughts while working my way through the entirety of the CW's 2010–2013 show starring Maggie Q. A dozen episodes into Nikita and things are starting to heat up. The show's mythology is slowly building, piece by piece, and some interesting revelations about various characters have come into play. We've learned that Percy, head of Division, is a master manipulator with zero empathy skills. Michael continues to serve as Percy's lapdog for the most part, but he's starting to bristle and push back against his boss. Alex's natural skepticism seems to indicate she might be doing some pushing back against Division soon, too. As it is, she's already working as Nikita's mole on the inside, corresponding via direct message (and in code) with her, leading to way too many scenes watching Maggie Q and Lindsy Fonseca staring intently at their computer screens. By the first mid-season finale, several plot lines begin to come together. Alex go...

I wrote about Stranger Things this week for Sequart . Go there to read my more thoughtful and nuanced ideas on the series, but stay here first to read me geeking out about it. And let's address the elephant in the room: Stranger Things is so last month , man. I know! But I just watched it (having young children gets in the way of binge watching shows as often as you'd imagine it would) and I need to talk about it , man. First of all, there were times it was like watching myself on screen. I've been in those basements, playing those games, reading those comic books, riding those bikes round and round the neighborhood, seemingly forever. The younger kids in Stranger Things were clearly meant to connect with people my age, and even the teens—especially Nancy and Jonathan—remind us of our teenage selves. I'm duly impressed with not only how much Stranger Things got right about the time and place—1983 in small town America—but also with the ways in which it nails bein...