We’ve been saying Ryan Gosling deserves his own book for what feels like centuries now! And a kingdom… and a planet… HA!

Fortunately, someone else feels the same. And now that glorious Feminist Ryan Gosling meme has become a book! You know what we’re talking about… handsome photographs of RyGos with a “Hey Girl” printed in the corner and an encouraging feminist theory following said greeting??

Yeah. That one. Our favorite one.

Welll… now you can find those a-mazing memes in Feminist Ryan Gosling! With 120 full-color photos and captions, readers will find 70-80 percent new material.

Perfect gift for the coffee table in your RyGos-loving life?? We think so!!

[Image via Lu Chau/WENN.]

Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 2, Episode 23 of The CW’s “Nikita,” entitled “Homecoming.”

It’s been a revelatory season for The CW’s “Nikita.” This year, the show shed the last vestiges of its procedural beginnings and wholeheartedly embraced its compelling mythology, drawing fans deeper into Percival Rose’s treacherous web of politics and bloodshed, keeping our heroes on the run, outgunned, but never quite outmatched. We’ve seen allies become enemies, Oversight dismantled, Zetrov returned to safe hands, Amanda deposed and finally, Percy fallen once and for all.

It’s easy to forget, in the halcyon glow of the show’s renewal, that this episode could easily have been “Nikita’s” series finale — would you have been satisfied if it had been? From a storytelling standpoint, the narrative truly has come full-circle; this season has been focused on the concept of “home,” and as both Nikita and Percy pointed out in this episode, Division is the only home Nikita has ever known.

“I grew up here, I learned right from wrong here, and I fell in love here,” our heroine pointed out, effectively scuttling Michael’s plans for retirement on a desert island, but also embracing the idea that Division had a hand in shaping her into the honorable, powerful woman she is today.

Yes, Division took away her life, but it also inadvertently provided her with a new one, with a destiny that’s far more important than the one she left behind. Nikita was on Death Row, she was an addict with no friends and no future, and so — in ways she’s probably reluctant to acknowledge — Percy’s twisted agenda changed her life for the better, albeit by making her suffer through the worst. That doesn’t excuse what he forced her and the other recruits to do over the course of their careers, of course, but it’s a silver lining to one man’s depraved cloud.

Just as last year’s finale brought all of the seemingly disparate elements from Season 1 together to reveal the extent of Percy’s Machiavellian scheming, this season’s closer beautifully wove the threads of Nikita’s Season 2 journey into a cohesive tapestry, illustrating that, in the end, running Division was not only the obvious choice, it was the only real choice for Team Nikita to make.

From Nikita’s mentor, Carla, and the faith she had in the idea of Division as a place for rehabilitation and second chances, to Owen and his belief that Nikita’s unique skill-set should be used for protection as much as aggression, Nikita’s path this year has been inexorably leading her towards this outcome.

In our recent interview, Shane West pointed out that “Team Nikita has been put together for a reason,” and clearly, that reason was to force Nikita into a leadership role that she never would’ve chosen on her own; to help her realize that she is capable of taking command without abusing that position of power, and to prove that, in learning to trust others and let her loved ones in, she’s no longer making decisions for everyone else — she’s allowing them to demonstrate their faith in her by risking their own lives for her cause.

Alex, Sean, Ryan, Birkhoff, even Michael, all could’ve walked away from her at many points this season, but they stayed because they believed in Nikita and her ability to know right from wrong and to make hard choices without ever sacrificing innocent lives. Division truly has a chance to fulfill Carla’s original aspirations for it with Nikita, Michael and Ryan at the helm, and I’m glad that the writers chose restoration over destruction when it came to solving the problem of Division and all of the equally helpless recruits that Percy and Amanda manipulated over the years.

The outcome of “Homecoming” was just another illustration of the grace that Nikita never could’ve discovered without going through everything she had to endure this season: almost losing Michael, Birkhoff and Ryan; actually losing Carla; being betrayed and manipulated by Percy and the man she had hoped was her father; facing Amanda and her own darkness after being captured by Brandt — all instances of our heroine being thrust into the fire again and again, forging her into the person that Division truly needed to lead it.

While it was bittersweet to see Percy and Roan die (and aren’t you impressed by all of the cast’s misdirection in teasing the show’s deaths?), their stories have run their course. As integral as Percy has been to “Nikita’s” story for the past two years — and as phenomenal as Xander Berkeley has been in playing such a memorable and formidable villain — Nikita (both the woman and the show) need to evolve. It would have undermined Nikita’s strength to have such a major adversary remain on the board after everything he’s done to her, especially with Amanda still at large. I also assume that the enigmatic “Group” that Percy was trying to get into will feature heavily next season, so there are still plenty of battles for our heroes to fight. Having Percy end up back in his glass prison was a poetic touch, and I loved the image of him falling through the glass, shot from below — one of many fascinating visual flourishes from director Eagle Egilsson in “Homecoming.”

I loved that, in typically Percy fashion, he managed to turn the tables and force Nikita to work with him one last time in escaping Division — the pair have such a dynamic, antagonistic rapport that it served as a fitting send-off for an iconic character. I’m sure that one of his final lines — “I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it” — will keep conspiracy theorists speculating whether he truly was Nikita’s birth father, as some suspect. It was also surprisingly touching to see just how affected Roan was by his commander’s demise, and I’m glad that he got to go out with a bang (literally) following another stunning fight scene with Alex and Sean.

I was especially pleased with the way writer Carlos Coto toyed with the audience’s expectations during the episode. From the outset — with Sean’s attempts to ask Alex out on a real date — those endearing emotional beats seemed to be positioning Sean as one of the episode’s casualties, building up to the possibility of a tragic demise that would serve to motivate Alex next season. There was an undercurrent of tension in all of the pair’s scenes together as the possibility of his death loomed — further played up by Coto’s decision to have Alex and Sean split up, to go against every horror movie scenario ever committed to celluloid. Even in their joint fight with Roan, Sean seemed poised to go out in a blaze of glory, defending the woman he loved before tragically dying in her arms. The fact that Coto so knowingly subverted that classic action trope only made the episode more delicious, even if it came at the expense of Roan. And Alex continued the trend of getting her arm broken during dramatic fight scenes; was that the same arm that Nikita broke at the beginning of the season, continuity buffs?

While the episode undoubtedly placed Nikita in a leadership role, it did the same for Ryan, and now that Noah Bean is officially a regular next season, it will be interesting to see how the dynamic evolves between him and Nikita. We saw the mild-mannered analyst truly stepping up to the plate this week; he effortlessly took command of Team Nikita early in the episode, directing Birkhoff and Alex and Sean in their tasks while Nikita and Michael took care of Division. As the team’s only trustworthy link to the government left, I’m intrigued to see how Ryan will adjust to straddling the line between answering to the president and looking after Team Nikita’s interests.

I was also pleased to see Michael interacting with the Division agents he’d trained when he and Nikita stormed the castle — even as an “outsider,” it was obvious that he found it easy to fall back into old authoritative habits, and Shane West perfectly portrayed Michael’s confidence and resolve once he was back on the home field. I wonder if he’ll be back to wearing a power suit when we see him next. We had a brief, obscured moment of friction between Michael and Ryan when they were debating Division’s future, so I’m curious to see if that will continue next year. When we spoke, West also pointed out that their new living situation is ripe with possibilities for conflict between Nikita and Michael: “They’re different; Michael’s very conservative and Nikita’s very liberal … When you see how it ends and what their current destiny is going to be, they’re going to have different opinions on how to handle the situation.” Whether that means trouble for “Mikita,” we’ll have to wait and see.

Even though she was the show’s calm, steely center last season, I think Maggie Q has truly come into her own in Season 2, and it’s clear that episodes like the phenomenal “Wrath” have given her new confidence in portraying Nikita, just as the character herself seemed to reach a new level of self-possession after the events of that episode. She has such admirable poise now, clearly buoyed by the support of her team, that I can’t wait to see how the character faces next season’s challenges. But as thrilling as her rousing speech to the Division personnel was, I think my favorite moment of the episode was her quiet, sunset conversation with Michael regarding their future. It was an understated, but heartfelt moment between two characters who have suffered more than their fair share of heartbreak, and I was impressed by the understated, but potent emotion on Q’s face.

That segued into Birkhoff finally getting some action with Sonya (and a welcome cameo from showrunner Craig Silverstein, who could be spotted talking to Ryan in the background) before Nikita effectively ruined yet another romantic moment between Sean and Alex, who really do need to have a proper date over the summer.

Having the finale end where the show began, with Nikita and Alex steeling themselves to change the course of Division’s destiny all over again, proved a fitting punctuation mark, while still leaving the door open for more thrilling adventures next season. I, for one, can’t wait to see where “Nikita” takes us next.

What did you think of “Homecoming”? Were you glad to see Percy and Roan exit while Team Nikita got to fight on for another day? Share your reactions and predictions for Season 3 below!

“Nikita” returns in the fall with Season 3 on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.

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President Barack Obama’s ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his controversial former pastor, may be the subject of a new ad campaign by a conservative political action committee intent on ousting him in this November’s election.

A conservative super PAC is considering an advertising plan to “do what John McCain would not let us do” during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama’s ties to Jeremiah Wright and his inflammatory rhetoric nearly derailed his bid for the presidency during the Democratic primary, but Obama cut ties with his one-time spiritual adviser, hung on against Hillary Clinton, then defeated McCain.

McCain, honorably, demanded the Wright-Obama angle not be used in any campaign ads during the election. This time around? All bets are off.

With campaign finance reform all but eliminated by the Supreme Court, super PACs can spend whatever they want to run whatever they want.

To that end, Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts commissioned a $ 10 million plan, known as “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good,” to help ensure the President’s defeat.

According to a copy of the plan obtained by the New York Times, the group is looking to expose ties between President Obama – who is referred to as a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln” – and Rev. Wright’s “black liberation theology.”

The 54-page proposal says, according to the Times:

“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way.”

The proposed assault includes television commercials and full-page newspaper ads featuring Wright, along with “aerial banners” in the sky.

Ricketts’ plan also includes “preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting,” according to the paper and goes as far as to suggest the hiring of an “extremely literate conservative African-American” spokesman.

Jeremiah Wright Clips

It also refers to an apparent ad featuring Jeremiah Wright that was produced for McCain’s 2008 campaign but never aired. “If the nation had seen that ad,” Ricketts writes, “they’d never have elected Barack Obama.”

On Thursday, presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s campaign urged the super PAC to avoid pursuing a racially charged campaign.

While criticizing the Obama camp’s reported rhetoric, of course.

“Unlike the Obama campaign, Gov. Romney is running a campaign based on jobs and the economy, and we encourage everyone else to do the same,” Matt Rhoades, Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, said in a statement to Yahoo News.

“President Obama’s team said they would ‘kill Romney,’ and, just last week, David Axelrod referred to individuals opposing the president as ‘contract killers.’”

“It’s clear President Obama’s team is running a campaign of character assassination. We repudiate those efforts and any on our side to do so.”

I started reading Billboard well before my Bar Mitzvah, so I always enjoy being a writer for the Billboard Music Awards — a show that’s being hosted this year by the hilarious Modern Family parental units Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen — airs this Sunday night on ABC. The show reminds me that sometimes the public actually is right. Here then is my list of some of my favorite songs that all hit #1 on Billboard’s‘s Hot 100 since that chart started in the late Fifties. Please add your own favorite chart topping songs below — and don’t forget to watch the show Sunday.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND – Ray Charles

YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVING FEELING – The Righteous Brothers

MY GIRL – The Temptations

TICKET TO RIDE – The Beatles

(I CAN’T GET NO) SATISFACTION – The Rolling Stones

GOOD VIBRATIONS – The Beach Boys

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE – Marvin Gaye

SUSPICIOUS MINDS – Elvis Presley

I WANT YOU BACK – The Jackson 5

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS – Simon & Garfunkel

FAMILY AFFAIR – Sly & The Family Stone

LET’S STAY TOGETHER – Al Green

LEAN ON ME – Bill Withers

FAME – David Bowie

HOTEL CALIFORNIA – The Eagles

HOT STUFF – Donna Summer

BILLIE JEAN – Michael Jackson

JUMP – Van Halen

KISS – Prince

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU – U2

SWEET CHILD O’ MINE – Guns N’ Roses

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU – Whitney Houston

MMMBOP – Hanson

FALLIN’ – Alicia Keys

LOSE YOURSELF – Eminem

CRAZY IN LOVE – Beyonce featuring Jay-Z

HEY YA! – OutKast

WHAT GOES AROUND . . . COMES AROUND – Justin Timberlake

STRONGER – Kanye West

SOMEONE LIKE YOU – Adele

This Blogger’s Books from

Diary of a Player: How My Musical Heroes Made a Guitar Man Out of Me
by Brad Paisley, David Wild

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