Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

Review-apalooza

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Books

Over Memorial Day weekend, I was looking for something to read. I like fantasy novels, so the clerk at our favorite Woodstock bookstore Shiretown Books recommended Sabriel by Garth Nix. It’s classified a Young Teen book but she highly recommended it, so I bought it.

It was so good, I went back the next day to buy the two additional books in the series, Abhorsen and Lirael.  I knew Shiretown had them and didn’t want to wait or run the risk that Borders at home wouldn’t have them.

The books are a pretty fast read, but the mythology stacks up well against the classics – Tolkien, McCaffrey, LeGuin, Eddings. If you like fantasy, you’ll enjoy this series.

I finally got around to reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, the inspiration for the HBO series True Blood starring Anna Paquin (more on that in a minute). It was pretty good, and I am now reading the second, Living Dead in Dallas, but I’m trying to lower my expectations, as reviews on Amazon indicate that the series doesn’t maintain the same high standard as time goes on.

While I was in San Francisco for New Comm Forum, I picked up Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson, who you may remember as Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Benson has made some interesting indie films since her time as Willow’s far -too-nice girlfriend on Buffy, and co-authored the Ghosts of Albion series with Christopher Golden.

My take: Death’s Daughter makes a great airplane read. You aren’t too fussed if you don’t finish it on the plane, but it will keep your attention. Plus it has a cute dog. Benson is on a book tour so check out her blog for dates and locations.

TV

Burn Notice is back. That is all.

Well, not really. I did check out True Blood the other day — FIOS has it On Demand, so I watched a couple episodes including the season two premiere. I liked it, but I probably wouldn’t stay home to watch it. Or subscribe to HBO. I’ll wait for FIOS to have it for free.

Merlin. Douglas liked it, so as a step up from Zack and Cody, I’ll take it. Plus Anthony Stewart Head. Yeah, I’m shallow like that.

Anthony Stewart Head in a Nescafe Ad

Movies

Douglas and  I went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian on Sunday. What can I say? Your willing suspension of disbelief will get a major workout during this film, but who cares. It’s amusing, the kids will like it, and you’ve been to worse films. I know it. I still have Sheena Queen of the Jungle to live down because I thought Ted Wass was cute. Will my mother let me forget it? Noooo. Stupid zebra that was really a horse painted with zebra stripes.

Moving along, we are looking foward to Transformers, which starts tomorrow. The previews we’ve already seen pretty much summarize the plot, but we don’t care. Robots. Action. Explosions. It’s a Michael Bay film, and I’ll be right there with my kid cheering for Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.

Yeah, I ‘m weird like that.

Random Thoughts, from Letterman & Palin to BlogHer & some stuff in between.

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This has been a somewhat random and slightly disjointed week. In that spirit, welcome to a random and disjointed post.

On David Letterman, Sarah Palin and the Jokes – I’ve commented on a few posts about Letterman’s notorious Palin daughter takes NY jokes. My take: if anyone is pimping the Palin daughters, it is the Palins themselves. That is all. YMMV.

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Reality TV celebrities/characters – Can these people be any more unpleasant? Seriously. Why is anyone watching their boorish, bad behavior (Speidi)? Why are audiences feeding into their narcissism (Real Housewives, shows about families with lots of kids)? Sorry, I know it can be entertaining to watch a figurative train wreck, but many of the character-driven shows seem to be like this. Isn’t the economy depressing enough? If you enjoy one or more of these programs, can you please help me understand the appeal, because I just do not get it.

To be fair, I don’t really like reality TV in general, but my family has suckered me into watching the dancing one from time to time, and I’ve seen snatches of American Idol. At least those shows entertain in a variety show sort of way. “And a von and a two.”

The character type shows just seem like the most unpleasant soap opera you’ve ever seen, where no one is particularly likable. Why do we watch them?

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Iran. – Wow. It reminds me a bit of Tiananmen Square 20 years ago. It was a similar polarizing moment. I hope this ends better.

I was in Hong Kong in the end of May and early June 1989. Read my reminiscences on Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip.

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Last Saturday, we held the Boston BlogHer pre-conference meetup at my house. The weather gods were most definitely smiling on us; it was the best weather of the week. We had a great turnout, and from all reports, everyone had a terrific time.

Pictures from Janice of Meal Makeover Moms, Angela from mommy bytes, Christine from Boston Mamas, and posts from Jon of Daddy Scratches, Karen of 3 Garnets and 2 Sapphires and Alana from Good Girl Gone Blog. Alana also made a page on springpad, one of our sponsors (and also her employer.)

Thanks again to our food sponsors Peapod, springpad, Friendly’s, Hebrew National, Home Free Treats and door prize sponsor Westport Rivers Vineyard.

We had lots of leftover food, and took a bunch of the non-perishables down to the local food pantry on Tuesday. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take ice cream, so that continues to tempt us from the freezer.

PS —

Peapod has offered BlogHers (anyone really)  $15 off their first delivery. CODE: BLOGHER.

Terms: Save $15 on your first delivery.  Limit one per household.  Cannot be combined with any other offer.  Expires 8/31/2009.

My thoughts on the Battlestar finale, finally

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I can finally put some words around my feeling about the Battlestar Galactica finale.

First hour: everything I’ve come to expect from this show. In some places, maybe more. The way they wove all the stories together was superb.

Which was what made the second hour so very disappointing.

The action roared to a fever pitch. Starbuck dialed the FTL, and they were… at Earth?

Show could have ended for me right there. Because we didn’t get any more answers in that last hour than we had at that moment.

I remember my husband saying: so now it’s over. No, I replied, there’s another hour. 20 minutes later he asked again. So that’s it, right?

No.

But perhaps it should have been. Because except for a few moments — Roslin’s last flight and the Helo/Athena interplay — we didn’t get much in the way of answers or resolution.

Instead of a bang, it was a bit of a whimper.

I don’t even mind so much that we didn’t get a real resolution of the Lee/Kara storyline. Anyone a fan of that pairing saw *that* coming from two seasons away. I sort of stopped caring somewhere in mid-quadrangle of doom.

I’m not even that fussed that we never got a resolution of the Starbuck story. Who was she? I’m not sure I really care. It was still good TV. Most of the time.

Except for the last hour, that is. What bugged me was that it seemed so, pointless. We all knew Roslin was going to die. And Baltar was so slimy you knew, just knew that he’d make it.

I also have no real argument with any of the performances, even in that last oh so pointless hour. The storyline though? Not the best ever.

Battlestar has had good and bad eps in the past. It’s just too bad that one of the uneven, less shining moments was the last hour. Among other things, I must say “what the frak” to the following:

  • Hera’s big deal was to be mitochondrial Eve? Helo and Athena are what, cro-magnon pimps?
  • Tyrol went to be the father of all Celts? Explains a lot though I suppose.
  • Apollo was going to be the pre-historic Jeremiah Johnson? But would he eat pigeon pie?

Seriously, I loved this show. I still love this show.

But that last hour. Meh.

So say me all.