Nylon Blogs

Way back in the ’90s, there was a TV show called Sliders.

It was about a science kid (Jerry O’Connell) who created a way to jump (or “slide”) through alternate universes.

The problem (much like in Quantum Leap before and Fringe after) was that Jerry and his friends got stuck – and often got in major trouble – in various other places.  They “slid” into dinosaur swamps, into supernatural rock concerts, and – occasionally – into love interests who made leaving their world very hard.

One classic episode, which aired in 1995, was called “Luck of the Draw.”  It featured a seemingly perfect world obsessed with population control and famine elimination.  In the world, there were ATMs everywhere, which dispensed “free” money for citizens to get food, clothing, houses, whatever.  But every time you withdrew from the ATMs, your name was submitted into a secret lottery.  If the totalitarian government chose your name in their drawing, you would get dressed up, paraded on television, honored as a national hero… and then slaughtered on live TV.

At the time, the episode felt like a futuristic retelling of Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery (which was written as an allegory for the Vietnam War draft).

Now?  It kind of sounds like it’s taking on the same themes and warnings as The Hunger Games.

Watch the episode on Hulu to check it out!

PS: Hulu thinks this Sliders episode is even more of a Hunger Games flashback.

Though Mad Men has inspired its own Banana Republic line, collectors’ edition Barbies, and a wave of ’60s trends over the years, it’s lacked the tell-tale sign of a true fad: a video game.

Until now.

Though it’s no picture-perfect Xbox game, we like this 8-bit interactive YouTube game better.

The blippy music and pixelated characters are a throwback to original GameBoy games like Super Mario or Pokemon- same with the choose-your-own-adventure storyline.

The premise is to save the company from ruin by “replenishing” Don’s three powers: confidence, new ideas, and inner peace.

Dialogue and portrayals of the staff are satirically spot on–”I need some new ideas, and drinking isn’t working” and “It’s because I’m Don Draper. Hurting people I care about is my thing.”–and because there’s several different paths to take, you can play the game multiple times with opposite results.

Coinciding perfectly with the long-awaited premiere of Mad Men‘s 5th season this Sunday, let’s just say this is way more fun than catching up on past seasons than watching reruns on Netflix.

Hint: Watch out for Bert Cooper!

Start playing here.

–MICKIE MEINHARDT

The poster for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby just leaked online.

So….what do you think?!

(Leo- we want to see your face, too!)

UPDATE: Apparently the poster is fake. Stay tuned for the real thing….

Tribeca Film Festival hits New York next month featuring movies with actors like Emily Blunt, Olivia Wilde, and Jesse Eisenberg.

But the one that caught our attention stars one very cinematic cat.

The 16-minute documentary CatCam is the brainchild of German filmmaker Jürgen Perthold, who set up a camera after wondering what his pet cat did all day.

We’re guessing the answer includes lots of eating, sleeping, and wandering the house- in other words, not very exciting stuff.

But still, we’re kind of intrigued….

The New York Times has an amazing (and extremely funny) article today.

It’s called “I Was a Cookbook Ghost Writer” and it tells the story of young chefs and writers who create recipes, instructions, and even entire dishes for celebrity “authors.”

(Although, let’s be real – since Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect in all things, even though her book is mentioned in this story, there’s no way she didn’t write it herself – and also do her own hair and makeup, rewrite several books of the Talmud, and perfect a yoga pose at the same time…:) )

It begins:

“I realized then that what had seemed like a dream job — helping restaurant chefs translate their culinary genius to the printed page — would hold more humiliations than I’d imagined.”

And now we wonder:

How long until the article’s author, Julia Moskin, turns this story into a book deal of her own?

Or better yet – a CW Drama about a “ghostwriter” who adores cooking so much, and has such an unacknowledged talent for it, that she soon becomes a Cyrano De Bergerac for a blonde lifestyle mogul?!

(We’d totally cast Kristen Bell in such a show, if it existed… which it probably will by next pilot season…)

This ABC News segment is called “Cat Women: Why Do They Do It?” and that’s pretty much all we needed to click “play.” OMG, major.

The NY Times is psyched about The Hunger Games.  No, really, they are.

Check out this article by Pamela Paul on how the story went from unknown novel to best-selling novel to imminent movie franchise.

Paul speaks with writer Suzanne Collins, producer Nina Jacobsen, and director Gary Ross, along with Jennifer Lawrence, who says, “If someone comes up to me and says, ‘Are you Katniss?’ I’m O.K. with that. Because I love this character and this book so much.”

And Scholastic vice president David Levithan says something kind of fascinating:

‘The Hunger Games’ starts where the Harry Potter books end.  Whereas Harry Potter is about childhood and coming of age and your eyes being opened to the world, in ‘The Hunger Games’ you’re already in this world, and dealing with its inhumanity.”

Last week, Nanette Lepore guest-starred on Project Runway All Stars to show contestants – and America – how much business savvy goes into her garments.  After the PR designers met with her “coster” to find out how much they could spend on fabric, they were given a challenge: Make a great dress, and Nanette would sell it in her boutiques, with all proceeds going to benefit Save The Garment Center.

Mondo Guerra was the winner, and his dress is worn by some very cute style bloggers (above).  The dress retailed for $298 and already sold out on Nanette’s website, which begs the question:

Can Mondo now swap this dress for the Jackie O outfit he made during his first Project Runway run? Because if those pieces went on sale, we predict the Garment Center would make millions…

(Watch the entire episode by clicking here.)

Fun fact for theater nerds: Renowned contemporary playwright Jose Rivera – who was nominated for an Oscar for The Motorcycle Diaries – wrote the screenplay.

Fun fact for ’90s TV nerds: Rivera also created, wrote, and produced the creep-tastic show Eerie Indiana!

Fun fact for current TV nerds: Elizabeth Moss of Mad Men fame makes an appearance at the end of this trailer.

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie first debuted 1984 as the Frankenstein-inspired story about a boy who decides to change a few things about his dog (spoiler alert: things go bad, really fast).

The movie starred a very young Sophia Coppola, Shelley Duvall, and Daniel Stern and made a major splash when it hit theaters.

But if you didn’t catch the original version more than 20 years ago (or even if you did), you’ve got a second chance, because they’re remaking the original this fall.

Starring Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Martin Short this time around, the new adaptation is the first ever black and white stop-motion picture to be made in 3-D.

We’re curious how it will live up to the original, but here’s another question: do you think it can be Titanic 3-D?!