Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

Stay out of the doghouse…

by //

JC Penney has been running a campaign called Beware of the Doghouse that highlights the consequences for men who buy inappropriate holiday gifts for their wives and girlfriends.

I wrote about this campaign from a marketing point of view over on Marketing Roadmaps. Mostly positive, a few criticisms.

I’ve gotten to know one of Penney’s agencies through some of the other topics I write about, and they offered me a $100 gift card for a contest prize for my readers.

That’s ONE gift card, folks, but it’s enough to buy a nice Valentine’s gift for your significant other. Or let’s face it, clothes for the kids or new towels.

Now, I happen to think jewelry, the JCP product pitched in this campaign, is actually a pretty nice gift. Once your partner understands the type of jewelry you like, it always fits and you never have to wait in return lines after the holidays.

Seriously, think about Christmas. I can think of no better argument for jewelry as a gift than the following exhibits:

snowman_sweater santa_sweatersanta2_sweater1

So, here’s my contest. Write a post about the worst gift you ever gave or got from a significant other. Please link to this post and leave a comment here as well so my other readers find your story.

My brother has graciously agreed to be my judge, so he will review all the stories and pick his favorite. You don’t have to link to the JC Penney video to be entered, but it’s pretty funny, so you make the call.

Contest ends at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, February 7, 2009. Void where prohibited and all that jazz.

UPDATE 1/29/09: It has been gently pointed out to me that people may not want to get in trouble with a significant other by calling out a gift as awful, so I have decided to expand the scope to any giver/receiver. You can also relate a third-person tale if you wish. Also, since some folks don’t have blogs, you can leave your story in the comments or write your own post, whichever you prefer. Just make sure that something ends up in the comments to this post as that’s where we will pull the entries from.

BSG 4.5: “Sometimes A Great Notion”

by //

Spoilers for the episode but no future spoilers

The first episode in the final 10-episode arc of Battlestar Galactica, Sometimes a Great Notion, was exactly that.

Great.

Ron Moore and team consistently deliver excellent entertainment. If you get too emotionally invested in the fate of ANY character, you are likely to be disappointed, because the BSG team likes to do the unexpected.

I mean, given the 3 season build-up, who expected earth to be a radioactive wasteland? Originally inhabited by humanoid cylons and nuked more than 2000 years earlier?

But no matter what they do — even if you don’t like what happens to your favorites — it is almost always good entertainment. Sure, every now and then an episode misses, but rarely. Very rarely.

And you can never accuse any of the actors of phoning it in.  All the performances in Battlestar are consistently good. Even if you don’t like the character, you can enjoy the performance. Just think about Dean Stockwell, whose character Cavil has absolutely no redeeming features.

Based on last night’s show, we are in for a wild, dark ride as the series winds up. If you haven’t watched it yet, go do it now before you read the rest of my post.

What I liked:

Michael Hogan as Saul Tigh has become a highlight of the show. The character isn’t always likeable but when he’s on-screen, you are compelled to pay attention. I especially liked his scene with Adama, when he pulls the Admiral out of the bottle for a change.

Callum Keith Rennie as Leoben. Another unpleasant character portrayed with perfection by the actor. His scenes with Katee Sackhoff were amazing, especially the final one when he abandons her on the planet.

The overall pace of the episode was great, and every major character got some screen time, which isn’t true for every episode.

Some will disagree with me, and I know there is a fair amount of fandom angst that Moore has offed another female character, but I thought Dee’s suicide, while surprising, was good for the story. And  not just because I’ve always been a Kara Lee shipper.

As Tigh says, it is likely that many citizens of the fleet are having similar suicidal thoughts. This needs to be shown onscreen, but if it were a truly minor character, it wouldn’t have as much impact.

It works with Dee because the character was close to both Adamas, giving it maximum impact. It then becomes the plot device that both prevents Starbuck from confiding in Apollo about what she found on the planet and spurs the Admiral to move forward.

It’s also a fitting exit for the actress. There really hasn’t been much storyline for Dee since the end of Season 3, and I don’t think any fans — even Dee fans — wanted to see the return of the dreadful quadrangle of  “lurve.” This way, Kandyse McClure gets a showcase episode, literally going out with a bang that shocks the fleet.

What I didn’t like:

EJO’s angst was a bit over the top, especially in morgue scene and the early parts of the Tigh scene. I get that the morgue scene was to put the two Adamas in counterpoint, and like with the aftermath of Kara’s “death,”  show how tragedy makes Lee stronger even as others, including his father, crumble around him. But it was just a bit much. As was most of the Tigh/Adama scene. End was good though, with the fox story.

Now to the final cylon. It wasn’t terribly surprising. Ellen Tigh has been at the top of many lists since she appeared on the show. It will be interesting to see how they explain the Final Five in light of the new discoveries, and when/if/how Ellen reappears in current time.

And of course, what *did* happen to Starbuck?

Is it Friday yet?

Backyard birdwatching and the end of Stargate Atlantis

by //

Whoever coined the phrase “eats like a bird” had obviously never actually watched birds eat. We have five birdfeeders set up in the backyard, and all day long, regardless of the weather we have a steady stream of birds. Two pairs of Downy Woodpeckers, at least one pair each of Hairy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, a pair of Cardinals, plus many Blue Jays, Titmice, Chickadees, Juncos, Wrens, Goldfinches, Morning Doves and Nuthatches.

Some of our regulars:

IMG_3725

IMG_3701

IMG_3722

This little guy, a Carolina Wren, is a new visitor, just started coming last week.

IMG_3717

—

Friday night was the series finale of Stargate Atlantis, Enemy at the Gate. It wasn’t a bad episode but it pales in comparison to the series premiere five years ago. Which pretty much explains why it was the finale. The show really lost its steam a couple years ago and most of the episodes for the past two seasons have been average.

Just compare the money shot from the premiere — the rising of Atlantis — to the final scene in Friday’s episode, the balcony shot of most of the remaining regular cast (plus an interloper) gazing at the Golden Gate Bridge after Atlantis splashes down on Earth.

still1225412018

The first is OH MY. And the last. Just sorta meh. But you just know the producers intended them to be bookends.

Not so much.

What was good about the episode? It mostly focused on what’s left of the original cast, without too much screen time for brand new characters. It had Todd the Wraith, with some great scenes  for Joe Flanigan and Christopher Heyerdahl. It had Walter.

What was okay about the ep? The storyline. All too predictable and full of holes, but better than most of the eps over the past two seasons.

What sucked about it? I know the producers would rather forget they ever had a character called Elizabeth Weir, but the fans sure remember and the other characters would too. I would have liked to see some mention of Weir as everything presumably came full circle. Sheppard and the others mention her from time to time (mostly at the insistence of actor Joe Flanigan from what I’ve read.) It would have been so easy to insert a scene with Sheppard (Flanigan) either looking at a picture from the early days or the Athosian pot he gave Weir for her birthday in season one. Because all the fans just know he kept it when she was captured by the Replicators.

And who is this Amelia chick who managed to insert herself in the closing scene? I haven’t been over the moon about all the Keller-centric stories this season, but at least Jewel Staite was a regular and Robert Picardo (Woolsey) has been part of the Stargate franchise since the beginning. They didn’t mention Weir, and they didn’t have Zelenka (David Nykl), Lorne (Kavan Smith)  or Chuck (Chuck Campbell ) on the balcony, and they had this Amelia character? My bet is that the producers are trying to counter criticism that they are more than a tad misogynist by balancing the genders in the closing shot.

Not the way.

There’s going to be a TV-movie, and I wish the producers would get their heads out of their collective posteriors and figure out a way to woo Torri Higginson back. But they won’t. In fact, rumor has it that they are also cutting actress Claudia Black out of the next SG-1 movie…

Oh well. Bye bye Atlantis. We’ll miss you a little, but really, the show I was watching left the airwaves more than a year ago. Around the same time we saw the last episode of Battlestar Galactica in fact.

And that’s the good news for sci-fi fans. We’ve got Battlestar back  on Friday. Only 10 episodes left. Who knows how it will end, but wherever these producers take their storyline — even if you don’t like what they do —  you know it will be damn good TV. All 10 hours.