Archive for October, 2008
Getting down to the wire on our country’s future
October 29, 2008 | Election 08, Politics
Only a few more days until the election.
It’s no secret where I fall on the political spectrum, but no matter who you intend to vote for this Tuesday, you have to appreciate this anecdote from mom blogger Goon Squad Sarah recounting how her daughter tells the difference between the two presidential candidates:
She pointed at the man on the left “This is Narack Ofama” (meh, close enough for a four year old) “and this is John McCain. You know how I can tell?”
I asked her how.
“They have different color hair.”
And don’t miss this week’s posts on BlogHer by Jill Biden and Michelle Obama.
Technorati Tags: presidential election
SciFi Snapshot: Stargate Atlantis, My Name is Bruce
October 28, 2008 | Science Fiction, TV/Film
Some random things.
First, Stargate Atlantis. Its last and not best season. I am amused that we’ve now seen three episodes in which Torri Higginson is featured, to varying degrees, in flashback sequences. First of course there was Ghost in the Machine, the episode in which they (sort of) wrapped up her storyline and for which she refused to return. Leaving the part of Elizabeth to be played by a robotic voice and Michelle Morgan, the actress who did such a nice job as FRAN last season.
Then Weir was used to establish backstory for the Daniel Jackson arc and again last Friday fairly extensively in Inquisition, an episode consisting mostly of flashbacks recounting the Atlantis team’s various crimes against the Pegasus galaxy.
How to have the actress on your show without actually having her on your show 
Now SGA is not the best science fiction television ever. IMO opinion that honor is shared by Firefly, Farscape and Battlestar Galactica. But its first three seasons were pretty good. In large part because of the dynamics of the characters.
But the ratings weren’t there.
So, the producers decided to shake things up and kill off a couple fan favorites. replacing them with other characters who haven’t really gelled with the audience.
Simply put, they f***ed up their show. It’s had a few good moments since, but it’s not as consistently good as it was in the early years. Even if you don’t like the Stargate franchise, watch the Atlantis pilot Rising. It hooks you, and good.
The ratings got worse, not better, after the late season 3/early season 4 changes.
It just wasn’t as compelling without the dynamic between characters John Sheppard (played by Joe Flanigan) and Elizabeth Weir (Higginson). I like Amanda Tapping and Robert Picardo, the actors who successively have played the leader role, but the chemistry just isn’t the same. And not only due to the “shippy” elements of the John/Elizabeth relationship.
Even if you didn’t “ship” John and Elizabeth (and I do), the characters had a real partnership that anchored the show and couldn’t/didn’t transfer to the subsequent leader characters Carter and Woolsey.
What made the show special was gone. Not surprisingly, the show won’t be back for a 6th season.
And they keep bringing Weir/Higginson back in flashbacks.
Hhmm? Just a suggestion, but maybe the producers should try a little harder to get Higginson on board for the planned Stargate Atlantis telefilm next year. You know, give her a real story that either truly wraps up her character or brings the character back to life. Preferably the second in case there are future films.
Instead of just teasing the audience with a few flashbacks.
Topic two. The long awaited My Name Is Bruce premieres this weekend in Austin. Actor Bruce Campbell will be doing personal appearances across the country at showings of the film. November 7th is the Boston date. I was thinking about going but we will be in Vermont that weekend so I’ll have to wait for the DVD.
Finally. Farscape. It doesn’t get much better than this.
As I have Joss Whedon’s Firefly, I’ve watched this series at least a couple times through, and some episodes even more. If you’ve never watched, do yourself a favor. Skip the dreck that’s on most channels today, and rent or buy the DVDs.
Technorati Tags: Stargate Atlantis, My Name Is Bruce, Farscape
One of those silly quizzes
October 26, 2008 | Memes
| Which American accent do you have?
Neutral You’re not Northern, Southern, or Western, you`re just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don`t really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.
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| Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. |
Election video round-up: Andy, Opie, the Fonz & Whazzup?
October 24, 2008 | Politics, TV/Film
Today two political videos for Barack Obama started making the rounds that deserve to be noticed. Not because they are necessarily the best or most compelling political videos to surface this year. There have been many worth watching, worth sharing, including pretty much every episode of The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, not to mention Tina Fey’s dead-on “Sarah Palin.” The best IMO is still Jon Stewart’s take on the GOP spin once Palin was selected.
Today’s videos are markable because they will spread far and fast at this critical juncture two weeks before the election. They will call on nostalgia. And they will remind voters of the economic and political uncertainties facing this nation.
Will that lead voters to mark the box or pull the lever (but please not to hang the chad) for Barack Obama? I hope so.
But no matter who you plan to vote for, please vote on November 4th.
And now for the videos. The first is from Funny or Die and features actor Ron Howard gleefully embarassing himself while embracing his past.
See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die
The second is an updated version of an old Budweiser commercial. It is not affiliated with Anheuser-Busch, but it does remind us of the essential issues in this campaign. Hat tip Todd Defren.
The original:
Technorati Tags: presidential election, videos
Cylons
October 21, 2008 | Election 08, Politics, Science Fiction, TV/Film
No, I don’t know who the final Cylon is.
Or do I?
Hat tip Galactica Sitrep — where you can find all the latest news on Battlestar Galactica and hoped-for spin-off Caprica.
Technorati Tags: Battlestar Galactica, science fiction, politics
Attn Mass Dog Owners: Mass Bill 5092 Public Hearing 10/23
October 13, 2008 | Animals, Politics, Vermont
UPDATE 10/26/08: The proposed bill discussed in the post below was sent to study following an extremely well-attended hearing on October 23rd. This means that the bill is effectively dead for this session.
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Below is the text of an update I received today from the American Kennel Club’s Government Relations Department about a public hearing on Mass Bill 5092.
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[Monday, October 13, 2008]
Massachusetts House Bill 5092 has been referred to the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, and is /tentatively/ scheduled for public hearing on Thursday, October 23rd, at 10 AM in Room A2 of the State House in Boston. The bill includes many extreme provisions that, if enacted, will prove devastating to responsible dog breeders and owners, including state-wide mandatory spay/neuter, permitting localities to enact breed-specific ordinances, and onerous nuisance laws.
“The American Kennel Club and the Massachusetts Federation of Dog Clubs and Responsible Dog Owners both strongly oppose HB 5092, and are encouraging all concerned dog owners from Massachusetts to do the same.”
For more information on the details of HB 5092, click here.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The American Kennel Club strongly urges all concerned Massachusetts responsible dog breeders and owners to attend the committee hearing on October 23rd, and express your fervent opposition to HB 5092. Additionally, all Massachusetts dog owners are encouraged to write the members of the committee and express your vehement opposition to the bill. For a sample letter, click here.
*SENATOR ANTHONY W. PETRUCCELLI*
Room 413-B, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-1634
E-Mail: Anthony.Petruccelli@state.ma.us
*SENATOR PATRICIA D. JEHLEN*
Room 513, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-1578
Fax: 617-722-1117
E-Mail: Patricia.Jehlen@state.ma.us
*SENATOR STEVEN A. BADDOUR*
Room 208, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1604
E-Mail: Steven.Baddour@state.ma.us
*SENATOR SUSAN C. FARGO*
Room 504, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1572
E-Mail: Susan.Fargo@state.ma.us
*SENATOR RICHARD R. TISEI*
Room 308, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1206
Fax: (617) 722-1063
E-Mail: Richard.Tisei@state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE VINCENT A. PEDONE*
Room 540, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2090
Facsimile: 617-626-0551
E-Mail: Rep.VincentPedone@hou.state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE MARTIN J. WALSH*
Room 540, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2090
E-Mail: Rep.MartinWalsh@hou.state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE MATTHEW C. PATRICK*
Room 540, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2090
Facsimile: 617-722-2848
E-Mail: Rep.MatthewPatrick@hou.state.ma.us
E-Mail: repmattp@cape.com
*REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN R. CANESSA*
Room 443, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2460
Facsimile: 617-626-0839
E-Mail: Rep.StephenCanessa@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE DENIS E. GUYER*
State House, Room 443
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2460
E-Mail: Rep.DenisGuyer@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE SARAH K. PEAKE*
Room 473F, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2210
Facsimile: 617-626-0551
E-Mail: Rep.SarahPeake@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE JAMES J. O’DAY*
Room 39, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2014
Facsimile: 617-626-0884
E-Mail: Rep.JamesO’Day@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE PAUL MCMURTRY*
Room 443, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2460
Facsimile: 617-722-2353
E-Mail: Rep.PaulMcMurtry@hou.state.ma.us
*REPRESENTATIVE SEAN GARBALLEY*
Room 134, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2400
Facsimile: 617-722-2850
E-Mail: Rep.SeanGarballey@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE F. JAY BARROWS*
Room 542, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2488
Facsimile: 617-722-2390
E-Mail: Rep.FJayBarrows@Hou.State.MA.US
*REPRESENTATIVE TODD M. SMOLA*
Room 156, State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2240
E-Mail: Rep.ToddSmola@Hou.State.MA.US
For more information, contact AKC’s Government Relations Department at (919) 816-3503, or e-mail doglaw@akc.org. Please also contact the Massachusetts Federation of Dog Clubs and Responsible Dog Owners at http://www.massfeddogs.org/
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My Opinion
This law is bad news all around. Here are just some of the most problematic provisions:
- Mandatory spay/neuter of all dogs over 12 months of age or annually purchase an intact animal permit at a cost of up to $500 per dog. This is effectively double-taxation, as breeders already pay a higher fee to register an intact animal. Massachusetts does not have a dog over-population problem, but limiting the activities of reputable home breeders will end up limiting the availability of purebred dogs in the state.
- Requiring the reporting of all sales of puppies to local jurisdictions. For what real purpose? This just adds an additional and irrelevant record-keeping burden on the local communities.
- Eliminating the practice of humane tethering, without allowances for hunting or sled dogs.
- Allowing towns and cities to impose breed-specific ordinances and establishing unreasonable nuisance laws that can result in the forced sterilization, banishment, or euthanization of dogs. This is an open invitation for abuse, politics and pandering.
- Instituting state-mandated vaccination schedules, instead of allowing vaccination schedules to be provided by, and in consultation with, a veterinarian.
I will be going to the State House on the 23rd. If you live in Massachusetts and own a dog, try to take the day off to attend.
Montgomery County 2008
October 7, 2008 | Animals
Last weekend, I was at the dog shows at Montgomery County Pennsylvania. I missed the first two days, Thursday and Friday, due to work commitments, but got there by Friday evening.
Saturday is the Devon Dog Show, which almost always is a mixed bag of weather. The jewel in the crown though is the all-terrier show of the Montgomery County Kennel Club on Sunday. For terrier people, Montgomery is more important than Westminster.
We decided to show Carly, Ch. Blueberry’s Attitude Dancing, who was the #1 Scottie in 2004 and 2005, as a veteran this year. She won the breed in 2004 and we hoped she might do it again. If she did, we’d retire a club trophy that required three wins for the same owners, as her 1/2-brother had won the breed at Montgomery in 2005.
Her handler Bergit Coady-Kabel had her in top condition and showed her heart out. Carly, who loves the show ring, did her thing.
It was wonderful. We cried.
And yes, we won.
More pictures from the day on Flickr. The other dogs I photographed were Carly’s son, Gaidoune Offer U Can’t Refuse (Brando), who was Winners Dog on Sunday, and Ch. Blueberry’s Surely You Jest (Henry), the 2005 Montgomery winner, who received an Award of Merit.
A very good day indeed.
Technorati Tags: Montgomery County, dog show, Scottish Terrier
Posted by Susan Getgood @ 8:28 pm | 2 Comments
Sci Fi Press Tour Part 2: Amanda Tapping Q&A
October 4, 2008 | Science Fiction, TV, TV/Film
Cross posted to BlogHer
Like many of my fellow sci fi fans, I looked forward to the premiere of Sanctuary Friday night (10/3) because it is one of the few new science fiction shows we are getting this year. The other is Fringe, upon which I’ve already commented over at Snapshot Chronicles.
But Sanctuary isn’t interesting simply because there isn’t much else to divert our attention. Some of the other reasons the show appeals to me:
- It started as a web-based show last year before it was picked up by Sci Fi
- It uses green screen for its sets
- It stars a woman - Tapping - in her early 40s. Amen to that, especially in such a fanboy genre. She’s also an executive producer.
Amanda Tapping did a Q&A during last weekend’s Sci Fi Channel digital press tour, and addressed many of these things in her comments.
On her new role as executive producer of Sanctuary. Tapping finds it to be one of the most challenging jobs she’s ever done. She’s extraordinarily busy and commented:
“I now have the completely biased opinion that actors are wimps. Because I used to think that Sam Carter was the hardest job in the world. 10 pages of technobabble — I’m going insane. And now I’m like, please, please sweetheart. If only. Yeah I miss being an actor.”
Like many moms, she also worries that she doesn’t spend enough time at any one of her jobs - producer, mom, actor. I’m sure many of the parents reading this will recognize themselves in her comment that she doesn’t feel like she’s 100% anywhere.
She works at her acting/producing job 14-16 hours per day when they are filming and then goes home to be a mom, with weekends devoted to family. It’s a juggling act that we all play, regardless of how rich or famous. But well worth it.
“At the end of the day,” she said, “I have a really happy child. She’s well adjusted, very funny, very secure and I think if that’s the kind of child I am raising, I’m doing a good job.”
On leaving Stargate and her new character Helen Magnus. Tapping played the role of Samantha Carter in the Stargate franchise for more than 10 years. She said that only a really special character could have drawn her away, and it was a very difficult, tear-filled decision:
“The Stargate franchise has been great to me, the character has been good to me, it was a massive thing to let go of that. By the same token, to be honest, as I was bawling my eyes out, I was thinking there’s this whole new groundswell of creativity that’s coming up, a whole new challenge ahead of me. I was really excited by it, so it was this real double edged sword for a while. And slowly the excitement took over for the angst and pain.”
While it wasn’t easy to say good-bye to Carter, Tapping knew it was time, and describes it as a “soft landing:” “I did episode one of Atlantis and I just did their last episode last week so I never really left home. I just said, see you later.”
For Tapping, part of what makes Helen Magnus so interesting is her backstory and the fact she is from Victorian England:
“It [Victorian England] defined women in a a huge way. The fact that she was a woman who thought outside the box, who pushed the envelope socially and scientifically so appealed to me. In an era when it would have been so easy to toe the party line and be status quo, she blew it out.”
Another element that contributed to Tapping’s interest in the character were some of the strange choices Helen makes, including the great love of her life John Druitt (played by the excellent Christopher Heyerdahl ) and the decision to have a child. “At the bottom of it all is a 157 year old woman who is incredibly lonely,” she said.
In an episode called The Five, Tapping says we find out how the character has lived for so long.
On creatures and mythology. Tapping said that much of the mythology is taken from modern day mythology - the things that go bump inthe night, that scared us as children. They’ve also taken things in modern life, such as autism, and put a new meaning around them: “What I love about Sanctuary is that we (the characters) firmly believe that whatever we’re studying is in fact the evolution to our species.”
On green screen. Sanctuary doesn’t have sets. Everything is filmed in green screen. This presents some unique challenges to actors, but Tapping thinks the benefits are worth it. She said that once you get used to it, it’s like doing theater where you have to work with a few props and set pieces to create an environment for both yourself and the audience. The hardest thing to communicate is scope. Referring to the lovely view of the Rocky Mountains we had, she said:
“We could be in this room and all the walls would be green, but I would have to imagine a stunning panoramic view, and something that may occasionally pull my eye away. I have to create that feel, that’s the challenge.”
She said that green screen isn’t necessarily cheaper but it gives them more freedom to incorporate just about anywhere, anything in their storylines.
On how the show started on the web and migrated to network. Tapping said their initial intentions were to create a web-based show and social networking site on which Sanctuary fans could interact with the show and each other:
“We started on the web with the purest intention of living and breathing on the web because we understand sci fi and we understand the fan base, and we thought why not take a show straight to them.”
But they couldn’t monetize it, so they started to look for more traditional outlets. The logical choice was broadcast tv. If/when they got that going, they could go back to the web. That remains her plan. If the show is successful, she hopes to implement some of the interactive experiences they had initially planned.
On the next Stargate movie. She doesn’t know anything about it, except that she’s been asked to participate and has said yes.
On fan fiction. While she can’t read fan fiction as a producer due to legal issues, she loves that there is so much creativity devoted to her shows. She recalls showing the occasional story to the Stargate producers, telling them “See what happens with Sam and Jack. Looks good on paper.”
My question: Our kids put so many different constructs on what we do when we are not with them, what we do for a living. I asked Tapping what her daughter thinks she does for a living, given that she can’t watch the shows:
“She sees commercials, and she sees Stargate sometimes. You turn on a television, it seems impossible to turn it on without seeing Stargate somewhere. And she goes ‘Mumma.’ But she actually knows that my new show is called Sanctuary and she knows that I dyed my hair brown for my new show. I don’t know that she’s actually put together that I go to work and make a tv series. She’s been to set, she’s met Bigfoot, she’s seen things and so she knows that I go to this weird place, and that it ends up on tv but I’m not sure that at 3 and a half she’s made the full connection.”
“But she actually said to me, the best quote ever from my child is ‘Mumma, everyone has to have a plan’ and I said ‘You know what Olivia, you’re right. And I said What’s your plan?’ And she said ‘Sanctuary’”
Tapping was clearly so pleased that her daugher, at such a young age, had paid enough attention to know what her mom’s new job was, even if she didn’t really understand exactly what Mum does. It was that pleasure, more than anything else, that helped me identify with her, and reinforced my decision to at least give her show a try.
I watched a screener of the first epsode and some of the visual effects had not been added. It’s a bit slow; there’s lots of story exposition, and it dragged in places.
It also definitely falls more into the Stargate class - good TV if you like the genre and the star but it isn’t going to convert anyone. Unlike Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Farscape, all of which pushed the envelope and brought new fans into the sci fi genre. Tapping hinted that there is a lot more to come, so I’ll with-hold final judgment until we’ve seen a few more eps.
Bottom line: There are worse ways to spend an hour. Give it a shot. I plan to.
Bonus: A fun activity you can play while you watch is spot the sci fi stars. Many of the current crop of sci fi shows are filmed in Vancouver and it’s a kick to spot favorites (or not favorites) from other shows. Kandyse McClure is danger of being typecast as bitchy gitlfriend, though. You’ll see what I mean when you watch.
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Attendees at the Sci Fi digital press event paid their own travel expenses.
Technorati Tags: science fiction, tv, Amanda Tapping, Sanctuary
