Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 86
August 15, 2017
Review: The Imitation Game
***WARNING: There will probably be spoilers ahead, so if you don't want to hear anything about this movie, stop reading now.***
I was looking for a movie to watch and did some searching online for what was showing on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Trying to browse through either site is frustrating for me, especially Netflix, so I appreciate that there are websites that list the movies available. It came down to two, one on Netflix and the other on Prime. I chose poorly.
The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, a real-life mathematician who helped crack the German's enigma code during World War 2. The website that had the brief summary of each movie on Netflix made it sound like a suspense story and I was like, cool! I knew Turing had had some awful stuff done to him because he was gay and I really didn't want to see anything that grim, but a WW 2 thriller? Bring it on.
The website summary was extremely misguided. It did largely focus on the WW 2 years and breaking the Nazis' enigma machine, but it was not a thriller. Although in defense of this website, IMDB calls it nail-biting. I missed that part. I found it rather plodding, although not unwatchable.
Part of my problem with the film was the fact that I missed the beginning and didn't realize there were flashbacks going on. This left me confused a few times, especially when they were discussing Turing's military service in the past tense. I was like, do they mean World War 1? Was he old enough to have fought in WW 1? Who are these men and why are they asking these questions about Turing? I assume that if I'd seen the start, that I would have known that these scenes "present day" in the film and the WW 2 stuff was flashback.
I'm not sure how accurate the movie was in its portrayal of Turing of anyone else in the movie. I had the impression from the film that he was autistic, but had no clue if he was in real life. I also don't know how historically accurate the other plot points were either: Did he go to Churchill when the man in charge of the project wanted to scrap Turing's machine? Did he become engage briefly to a woman working on the project with him? Was there really a Russian spy on the project who was blackmailing Turing because he was gay? I have no idea. I suppose I could research it--probably it wouldn't take too much to learn the truth--but I don't care enough.
That was basically my problem with the entire movie--I just didn't care. It wasn't a bad movie. I wouldn't have sat through the whole thing if it had been. But at the end--which was as grim as I'd feared--I was meh about the film. I totally wished I'd chosen the other movie. Other reviewers have enjoyed it and it has a decent score at IMDB. My verdict? It's not the worst thing I've ever seen.
Two stars out of five.
I was looking for a movie to watch and did some searching online for what was showing on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Trying to browse through either site is frustrating for me, especially Netflix, so I appreciate that there are websites that list the movies available. It came down to two, one on Netflix and the other on Prime. I chose poorly.
The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, a real-life mathematician who helped crack the German's enigma code during World War 2. The website that had the brief summary of each movie on Netflix made it sound like a suspense story and I was like, cool! I knew Turing had had some awful stuff done to him because he was gay and I really didn't want to see anything that grim, but a WW 2 thriller? Bring it on.
The website summary was extremely misguided. It did largely focus on the WW 2 years and breaking the Nazis' enigma machine, but it was not a thriller. Although in defense of this website, IMDB calls it nail-biting. I missed that part. I found it rather plodding, although not unwatchable.
Part of my problem with the film was the fact that I missed the beginning and didn't realize there were flashbacks going on. This left me confused a few times, especially when they were discussing Turing's military service in the past tense. I was like, do they mean World War 1? Was he old enough to have fought in WW 1? Who are these men and why are they asking these questions about Turing? I assume that if I'd seen the start, that I would have known that these scenes "present day" in the film and the WW 2 stuff was flashback.
I'm not sure how accurate the movie was in its portrayal of Turing of anyone else in the movie. I had the impression from the film that he was autistic, but had no clue if he was in real life. I also don't know how historically accurate the other plot points were either: Did he go to Churchill when the man in charge of the project wanted to scrap Turing's machine? Did he become engage briefly to a woman working on the project with him? Was there really a Russian spy on the project who was blackmailing Turing because he was gay? I have no idea. I suppose I could research it--probably it wouldn't take too much to learn the truth--but I don't care enough.
That was basically my problem with the entire movie--I just didn't care. It wasn't a bad movie. I wouldn't have sat through the whole thing if it had been. But at the end--which was as grim as I'd feared--I was meh about the film. I totally wished I'd chosen the other movie. Other reviewers have enjoyed it and it has a decent score at IMDB. My verdict? It's not the worst thing I've ever seen.
Two stars out of five.
August 10, 2017
The Backup Pair
When I find a product I love, I always try to buy a backup. This is usually about shoes, so I frequently say backup pair. Shoe styles come and go, and when I find a pair that I love, I want to wear them forever.
I know a lot of people think this is crazy. When I mentioned it last, someone said to me that she'd just go find another pair of shoes she liked as well. :-/ Well, okay, but it takes a lot of work, a lot of trial and error to find the pair that meets my standards. They must be comfortable. They must be reasonably stylish, although I will sacrifice looks for comfort. They must be reasonably priced, although--again--I will pay more if they are super comfortable.
I've been burned every single time I haven't bought the backup pair. For example, I loved my Skechers GoWalk 2 shoes. I wore them to death, and when it was time to replace them, I had to buy the GoWalk 4. I did not love the 4. Instead of the soft, silky inside that felt so good against my foot, there is now a rougher, less silky interior. :-( They also changed the insole. It's okay, but it's not love.
I also found the perfect running shoe. Perfect! But my feet are already big and in most running shoes, I have to buy a size bigger. Do you think anyone had the super cute pink color in my size available when I realized I needed a backup pair? No, of course not. I did find it in a Navy.
One pair.
I even went to the manufacturer's site, but apparently this shoe is discontinued. I bought the navy, but now I literally can't find my size anywhere in this shoe style, not even on eBay.
So when I found another pair of shoes that I loved and met all my criteria, I immediately bought a backup pair. I also went to buy it in more colors. The hot pink pair were already unavailable on the manufacturer's website and all of the shoe websites, too. I found a pair on Amazon, but the price was high. Then I checked eBay and found it for $18 less! Win!
Of course, my dad (who's lived with me since my mom died) had to comment when the pink shoes arrived about why I bought another color of the same style. Just wait until my backup pair in black arrives. I know he's going to make a remark about that, too. :-(
That won't stop me because backup pairs are critical to my happiness. Backup pairs forever!
I know a lot of people think this is crazy. When I mentioned it last, someone said to me that she'd just go find another pair of shoes she liked as well. :-/ Well, okay, but it takes a lot of work, a lot of trial and error to find the pair that meets my standards. They must be comfortable. They must be reasonably stylish, although I will sacrifice looks for comfort. They must be reasonably priced, although--again--I will pay more if they are super comfortable.
I've been burned every single time I haven't bought the backup pair. For example, I loved my Skechers GoWalk 2 shoes. I wore them to death, and when it was time to replace them, I had to buy the GoWalk 4. I did not love the 4. Instead of the soft, silky inside that felt so good against my foot, there is now a rougher, less silky interior. :-( They also changed the insole. It's okay, but it's not love.
I also found the perfect running shoe. Perfect! But my feet are already big and in most running shoes, I have to buy a size bigger. Do you think anyone had the super cute pink color in my size available when I realized I needed a backup pair? No, of course not. I did find it in a Navy.
One pair.
I even went to the manufacturer's site, but apparently this shoe is discontinued. I bought the navy, but now I literally can't find my size anywhere in this shoe style, not even on eBay.
So when I found another pair of shoes that I loved and met all my criteria, I immediately bought a backup pair. I also went to buy it in more colors. The hot pink pair were already unavailable on the manufacturer's website and all of the shoe websites, too. I found a pair on Amazon, but the price was high. Then I checked eBay and found it for $18 less! Win!
Of course, my dad (who's lived with me since my mom died) had to comment when the pink shoes arrived about why I bought another color of the same style. Just wait until my backup pair in black arrives. I know he's going to make a remark about that, too. :-(
That won't stop me because backup pairs are critical to my happiness. Backup pairs forever!
August 8, 2017
I Never Learn
I've been trying to write, and while it's been a struggle since my mom died, I was actually sort of making progress. Very rough progress, but progress nonetheless. And then I came to a screeching halt.
If I were smart enough to learn from the past--which apparently I am not--I would have realized pretty quickly that I was trying to make my characters do something they wouldn't do. I would have mulled it over, talked to my hero and heroine, and measured what I knew of them against what they said and what I was trying to write.
Why? Because often (I won't say every time, but a lot of the time) when I'm stuck, it's because I'm trying to make my characters do something they wouldn't do for the sake of the plot bits I have in my head.
But as I spun my wheels for week after week after week, it never dawned on me that this could be the problem. I blamed it on Point of View (POV) first. I switched back and forth between my hero and heroine about four or five times. I blamed it on not being able to envision the logistics of the scene. How was I going to get my h/h from point A to point B without them getting shot? So I spent time making notes about how to handle this. I even blamed it on not having a clear idea on where the plot was going.
I never asked either of my characters: "Am I trying to make you do something you'd never do?"
Then, after an embarrassingly long time, I finally thought, "Hey, I wonder if it's that problem I almost always have when I'm stuck? Let me look at this."
And guess what? Sure enough, I had my heroine doing something she would not do. In fact, she was pretty adamant about not doing it. Sigh.
So I cut the scene I'd been struggling with entirely and went back to the previous scene and started doing some editing, cutting, adding. My ability to get word count again was nothing short of miraculous!
But it also left me wanting to bang my head against the wall. No matter how many times this happens to me when I'm stuck, it never seems to enter my brain that it's me trying to shoehorn my characters into what I envision rather than letting them act naturally that's the problem. I mean seriously, if this has happened to you repeatedly, don't you think you'd eventually put it toward the top of your list of potential issues?
I haven't yet. Will I in the future? I hope so, but my track record doesn't give me hope.
If I were smart enough to learn from the past--which apparently I am not--I would have realized pretty quickly that I was trying to make my characters do something they wouldn't do. I would have mulled it over, talked to my hero and heroine, and measured what I knew of them against what they said and what I was trying to write.
Why? Because often (I won't say every time, but a lot of the time) when I'm stuck, it's because I'm trying to make my characters do something they wouldn't do for the sake of the plot bits I have in my head.
But as I spun my wheels for week after week after week, it never dawned on me that this could be the problem. I blamed it on Point of View (POV) first. I switched back and forth between my hero and heroine about four or five times. I blamed it on not being able to envision the logistics of the scene. How was I going to get my h/h from point A to point B without them getting shot? So I spent time making notes about how to handle this. I even blamed it on not having a clear idea on where the plot was going.
I never asked either of my characters: "Am I trying to make you do something you'd never do?"
Then, after an embarrassingly long time, I finally thought, "Hey, I wonder if it's that problem I almost always have when I'm stuck? Let me look at this."
And guess what? Sure enough, I had my heroine doing something she would not do. In fact, she was pretty adamant about not doing it. Sigh.
So I cut the scene I'd been struggling with entirely and went back to the previous scene and started doing some editing, cutting, adding. My ability to get word count again was nothing short of miraculous!
But it also left me wanting to bang my head against the wall. No matter how many times this happens to me when I'm stuck, it never seems to enter my brain that it's me trying to shoehorn my characters into what I envision rather than letting them act naturally that's the problem. I mean seriously, if this has happened to you repeatedly, don't you think you'd eventually put it toward the top of your list of potential issues?
I haven't yet. Will I in the future? I hope so, but my track record doesn't give me hope.
August 3, 2017
Review: Everlast Notebook
***I received no compensation of any kind and paid full price for this notebook and all other things mentioned.***In one of the Facebook groups I belong to, someone shared that she had a notebook that was reusable from Rocketbook. I'd heard of them before, but their first notebook needed to be microwaved to erase the ink and reuse it and I totally didn't want to do that. (It's called the Rocketbook Wave.)
This notebook, though, that the woman was talking about didn't require microwaving. You wrote with a Frixion pen and then with a damp paper towel, could wipe the page clean. I use Frixion pens 90% of the time anyway--I love that the ink is erasable--and the idea of an erasable notebook? I mean how cool would that be?
After stalking online to buy this notebook, it finally became available. The Rocketbook Everlast Notebook.
I know I should have read the description, but I was surprised by how thin the notebook was. There weren't that many pages so if you were somewhere you needed to make a lot of notes and didn't have time to erase or upload, it might be an issue.
The paper itself has an interesting, slippery texture to it. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but it's the key to the reuse part. The pages are dot gridded and have a QR code at the bottom as well has a group of symbols. More about those in a minute. The cover is heavy duty plastic.
Thing number one is you must use a Frixion pen. Number two: It takes a little while for the ink to set. The back of the packaging the notebook came in suggested a few seconds, but that wasn't my experience. I ran my finger over the sentence I wrote probably ten to fifteen seconds later and you can see that it still smeared. I stopped as soon as I saw it.
Three: You need to setup the app on your phone or tablet to upload your pages. That was relatively painless except that I made a typo on my email address--the phone keyboard is small--and there is no way to correct a mistake. I had to uninstall the app, reinstall, and reregister.
I'm still not sure what the QR code is for, but the little icons are directional markers. For example, on the app, I setup the rocket to auto upload to Dropbox. I also updated my app settings to make the page a PDF rather than a JPG. All I need to do is put an X through the rocket icon and the app sends it directly to my Dropbox. If I make the X through the diamond, it goes to email and I can setup the other icons for other cloud services as well as OneNote.
For the record, the auto upload to Dropbox as a PDF worked fabulously! So fabulously that I didn't think it had sent and so I manually sent it again. Oops! Trust the app, Luke. ;-)
So the big question: How well did it erase?
In my test, I found it wiped clean easily. The biggest issue I found was waiting for the page to dry. The paper towel is supposed to be soaked, wrung out, and then used to wipe. I guess how long you wait depends on how well you wring it out. I had to wait a while. But here's a shot of the page after I wiped off the writing.
The reason I was interested in this notebook to begin with is so that I could have my story notes electronically and not in notebooks all over the house. I think this will handle that well if I can remember to do the uploads regularly and if I can get used to the feel of the paper. I never thought I was real tactile when it came to how a paper feels beneath my fingers, but apparently I am.
Overall thoughts: The book does everything it promised and the app works well. The paper is slippery and doesn't feel very much like the paper I know and love, so I'm having an adjustment period. At least I hope I adjust. The notebook is expensive and the pages are few, but since it's reusable, it ultimately could be a money saver. There's a wait after writing and a wait after wiping, but that can be worked around.
Ultimately, I'm giving it a thumbs up, but I might revisit this topic later as I use it more.
***I received no compensation of any kind from anyone for anything I said in this post.***
August 1, 2017
No More Dual Planners
I've used a mid-year planner for years and it's always kind of bothered me having a switch at July, but I couldn't see going without a planner for 6 months. I rely heavily on my planner and I didn't want to run dual planners. Or I didn't until I found almost the perfect planner (for me). I've reviewed my planner before, but just an FYI, I use Start Planner. (No Compensation for me of any kind.)
So my planner was almost perfect, but the bound version has Saturday and Sunday share a page. Um, these the two busiest days in my week. I need full pages for both of them. After almost six months of doctoring the page up so that I at least had two full halves (the planner gave me 2/3rd of 1 page for both days), I changed in January to the Fancy Pants version of Start Planner. This is a six-ring binder system instead of spiral-bound, but it gave me full pages for both Saturday and Sunday and I loved that! (With a few caveats which I won't get into here.)
I just couldn't put a half-finished planner on the shelf, though, and so from January first through June 30, I used both planners. Yes, it was totally annoying trying to remember to record things in both planners.
Well, June 30 has come and gone and I'm down to one planner again! I am so happy! Well, as happy as I can be with only two months of the year put into my binder, but that's another story and it's my only quibble. I feel incredibly free, as if a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. Don't ask me why. I mean really, writing in two planners isn't exactly a huge chore, but it began to feel that way.
And really, to give you an idea how big a deal this is to me, here I am blogging about it weeks later. What can I say? I'm finally free from dual planners!
So my planner was almost perfect, but the bound version has Saturday and Sunday share a page. Um, these the two busiest days in my week. I need full pages for both of them. After almost six months of doctoring the page up so that I at least had two full halves (the planner gave me 2/3rd of 1 page for both days), I changed in January to the Fancy Pants version of Start Planner. This is a six-ring binder system instead of spiral-bound, but it gave me full pages for both Saturday and Sunday and I loved that! (With a few caveats which I won't get into here.)I just couldn't put a half-finished planner on the shelf, though, and so from January first through June 30, I used both planners. Yes, it was totally annoying trying to remember to record things in both planners.
Well, June 30 has come and gone and I'm down to one planner again! I am so happy! Well, as happy as I can be with only two months of the year put into my binder, but that's another story and it's my only quibble. I feel incredibly free, as if a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. Don't ask me why. I mean really, writing in two planners isn't exactly a huge chore, but it began to feel that way.
And really, to give you an idea how big a deal this is to me, here I am blogging about it weeks later. What can I say? I'm finally free from dual planners!
July 27, 2017
Latest Knitting Project
Hopefully, by the time this posts, my cousin will already have her gift. Otherwise I'll be rescheduling this blog post so I don't ruin her surprise.
One of my cousins recently (as of my writing of this post) moved into a new home. I wanted to send her something cute and then I remembered the free pattern for the Kitten Kaboodle Dishcloth. Since she loves cats, I thought this would be perfect. Plus the pattern is easy, and as a beginner, that's my speed. :-)
I bought the yarn and plan to make 3 of them, possibly 4 depending on how fast it goes. The first one had a few errors, but overall, I'm happy with how it turned out. It hasn't been blocked yet, which means getting it into the right shape for you non-knitters, and I still need to handle the loose ends, which you can see on the top left and lower right, but there is a dishcloth with the outline of a cat, so I'm calling #1 done.
My gauge was a little small, so I went up a needle size for the second one. I'm still working on that, so no pictures. I had a really hard time with the beginning because I thought I needed to cast on 51 stitches and the subsequent instructions weren't working. It took me a little while before it occurred to me to double check the cast on. Sure enough. It calls for 55 stitches. I'm hoping I'm on track now because I have a shawl to work on and a few more projects behind it.
One of my cousins recently (as of my writing of this post) moved into a new home. I wanted to send her something cute and then I remembered the free pattern for the Kitten Kaboodle Dishcloth. Since she loves cats, I thought this would be perfect. Plus the pattern is easy, and as a beginner, that's my speed. :-)
I bought the yarn and plan to make 3 of them, possibly 4 depending on how fast it goes. The first one had a few errors, but overall, I'm happy with how it turned out. It hasn't been blocked yet, which means getting it into the right shape for you non-knitters, and I still need to handle the loose ends, which you can see on the top left and lower right, but there is a dishcloth with the outline of a cat, so I'm calling #1 done.
My gauge was a little small, so I went up a needle size for the second one. I'm still working on that, so no pictures. I had a really hard time with the beginning because I thought I needed to cast on 51 stitches and the subsequent instructions weren't working. It took me a little while before it occurred to me to double check the cast on. Sure enough. It calls for 55 stitches. I'm hoping I'm on track now because I have a shawl to work on and a few more projects behind it.
July 25, 2017
Review: Iron Man
***WARNING: There might be spoilers in this post. The movie is from 2008, so I'm assuming if you wanted to see it, you would have seen it by now.***
Last week, I blogged about having the choice between two movies and I didn't love the one I picked. The next night I decided to watch the one I hadn't picked. Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr.
I like Robert Downey Jr. in general and that he overcame addiction to become hugely successful in Hollywood, so I had some decent hopes for this superhero movie. If you're not a frequent reader of this blog, you might not know that I'm not a fan of superhero movies and largely give them a wide berth. Because of this, I did not go into this film expecting to love it. I figured if it kept me entertained for a couple of hours, that was all I could ask.
The plot of the movie is basically that Tony Stark (Downey) is the genius owner of an arms manufacturer, and on a trip to the Middle East, he is taken hostage. He builds a metal suit and escapes. He sees that his company's weapons are being used for evil and is determined to cease production of them. His second-in-command doesn't agree with this. Oh, and Stark rebuilds his Iron Man suit, making it even better than what he cobbled together in the desert.
Pretty typical fare for a superhero movie. Simplistic villain who was obvious from the beginning and a basic good versus evil plot.
That said, Downey has enough charisma to carry this movie and make it watchable. I did sit through to the very end and liked it well enough that I'll watch Iron Man 2 when it either becomes part of Amazon Prime free streaming or makes it to Netflix. I didn't like it well enough to pay for another installment. :-)
I didn't enjoy all the setup to Stark creating the Iron Man persona, but once he became Iron Man, the film became a lot more fun for me. If I'd been the writer, I probably would have started with him already being Iron Man and then dribble the setup into the story, but I'm a novelist, not a film writer and maybe there was no good way to do that in a script? I also would have preferred a bit more complexity to the villain or at least for Stark to have realized what this guy was capable of long before the start of the film. It was so obvious and Stark is supposed to be a genius. Maybe too self-involved to pay attention?
Anyway, it was an enjoyable enough movie, and with the setup out of the way, I'm hoping the second installment will be more to my liking. I'm giving this 3 stars out of 5 with the caveat that I seriously am not a fan of superhero movies.
Last week, I blogged about having the choice between two movies and I didn't love the one I picked. The next night I decided to watch the one I hadn't picked. Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr.
I like Robert Downey Jr. in general and that he overcame addiction to become hugely successful in Hollywood, so I had some decent hopes for this superhero movie. If you're not a frequent reader of this blog, you might not know that I'm not a fan of superhero movies and largely give them a wide berth. Because of this, I did not go into this film expecting to love it. I figured if it kept me entertained for a couple of hours, that was all I could ask.
The plot of the movie is basically that Tony Stark (Downey) is the genius owner of an arms manufacturer, and on a trip to the Middle East, he is taken hostage. He builds a metal suit and escapes. He sees that his company's weapons are being used for evil and is determined to cease production of them. His second-in-command doesn't agree with this. Oh, and Stark rebuilds his Iron Man suit, making it even better than what he cobbled together in the desert.
Pretty typical fare for a superhero movie. Simplistic villain who was obvious from the beginning and a basic good versus evil plot.
That said, Downey has enough charisma to carry this movie and make it watchable. I did sit through to the very end and liked it well enough that I'll watch Iron Man 2 when it either becomes part of Amazon Prime free streaming or makes it to Netflix. I didn't like it well enough to pay for another installment. :-)
I didn't enjoy all the setup to Stark creating the Iron Man persona, but once he became Iron Man, the film became a lot more fun for me. If I'd been the writer, I probably would have started with him already being Iron Man and then dribble the setup into the story, but I'm a novelist, not a film writer and maybe there was no good way to do that in a script? I also would have preferred a bit more complexity to the villain or at least for Stark to have realized what this guy was capable of long before the start of the film. It was so obvious and Stark is supposed to be a genius. Maybe too self-involved to pay attention?
Anyway, it was an enjoyable enough movie, and with the setup out of the way, I'm hoping the second installment will be more to my liking. I'm giving this 3 stars out of 5 with the caveat that I seriously am not a fan of superhero movies.
July 20, 2017
Tick Tock Treat Yourself
I receive a lot of promotional emails. Not spam. These are email lists I've actually signed up for and (mostly) want to get from various retailers. There's two tactics, though, for the title that make me insane every time I see them.
The first one is starting out the title with Tick Tock. I know why they use it--they want to signify that the sale/opportunity is nearing its end--but I still hate it. It seems very childish, almost condescending in a way. As if I can't order something I want on my own before the sale ends. If I wanted to buy something from your store, I would have. Stop sending me reminders and definitely don't use the phrase Tick Tock. It's pretty much guaranteed to make me hit the delete icon.
And since I mentioned it, there are a few retailers that insist on sending me up to three emails a day. I get the first one early in the morning telling me about the sale, at lunchtime there will be another email (this one usually has my name in the title), and then comes the third email in the evening. This is the Tick Tock email. Seriously, once a day is too much. Multiple times a day? Knock it off!
The second email title that I can't stand is Treat Yourself! This is often found in the body of promotional emails even if it's not in the title.
This one tries to use psychology and it's irritating. Buy something, whether you really need it or not, because you deserve it. You've been working hard at your job, at your home. Maybe something stressful is going on in your life. Or maybe you earned a raise at work. It's time to whip out the credit card and buy the totally unneeded product to clutter your house.
It makes me think of those holiday commercials for Lexus where they try to convince you that you deserve a car for the holidays. Treat yourself. Snort. I treat myself whenever I want to do so and I'm not going to fall for the psychological BS.
You're probably thinking I should unsubscribe from all these promo emails and save myself the aggravation, but I don't want to. When there's a sale or a really good coupon, I want to know about it. I just don't want to know about it three times in one day. Tick Tock.
The first one is starting out the title with Tick Tock. I know why they use it--they want to signify that the sale/opportunity is nearing its end--but I still hate it. It seems very childish, almost condescending in a way. As if I can't order something I want on my own before the sale ends. If I wanted to buy something from your store, I would have. Stop sending me reminders and definitely don't use the phrase Tick Tock. It's pretty much guaranteed to make me hit the delete icon.
And since I mentioned it, there are a few retailers that insist on sending me up to three emails a day. I get the first one early in the morning telling me about the sale, at lunchtime there will be another email (this one usually has my name in the title), and then comes the third email in the evening. This is the Tick Tock email. Seriously, once a day is too much. Multiple times a day? Knock it off!
The second email title that I can't stand is Treat Yourself! This is often found in the body of promotional emails even if it's not in the title.
This one tries to use psychology and it's irritating. Buy something, whether you really need it or not, because you deserve it. You've been working hard at your job, at your home. Maybe something stressful is going on in your life. Or maybe you earned a raise at work. It's time to whip out the credit card and buy the totally unneeded product to clutter your house.
It makes me think of those holiday commercials for Lexus where they try to convince you that you deserve a car for the holidays. Treat yourself. Snort. I treat myself whenever I want to do so and I'm not going to fall for the psychological BS.
You're probably thinking I should unsubscribe from all these promo emails and save myself the aggravation, but I don't want to. When there's a sale or a really good coupon, I want to know about it. I just don't want to know about it three times in one day. Tick Tock.
July 18, 2017
Review: The Bold Type
I've only watched one episode of this TV show, The Bold Type, so maybe I should wait and review it after I've seen the rest of them. There is one more available On Demand, so it would give me a better idea if the series holds up, but what the hell? I'm going to talk about it now anyway.
The series follows three young women who work for the fictional Scarlet magazine and who became best friends there. Jane has just been promoted to a writer position, Kat is the social media manager, and Sutton appears to be an admin. (Scarlet magazine is Cosmo and the woman who runs Scarlet is supposed to be based on a real person at Cosmo.)
In episode one, Jane is trying to pitch ideas for stories to the woman in charge of the magazine. Her boss, though, isn't impressed with any of her safe ideas. Jane accidentally pitches how to stalk an ex who isn't on social media and has to track down her own ex-boyfriend who broke up with her in the middle of a train terminal.
The magazine had an article about an artist that was supposed to run, but the woman withdrew her permission. This sends Kat on a mission to change the artist's mind. And Sutton is having an affair with one of the male executives involved with the magazine and she's hiding it from her friends.
As I said above, I only watched the pilot episode and it really takes a few weeks worth of shows to discover if a premise is going to hold up (or get better) or not. I was impressed with episode one. Kat and Jane are both fully formed characters and I was rooting for them to succeed. Sutton was less fleshed out, but I'm hoping that changes as the show goes forward. The boss was also an interesting character and her relationship with the three main women promises to be intriguing. She appears to be part mentor and part mother pushing her birds out of their safe nests.
I'm very picky about my entertainment, especially television, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show and really had no big complaints. I definitely enjoyed it enough to continue watching it.
Final verdict: Recommended with the caveat that I've only seen the pilot episode.
Edited to add: I watched the second episode after writing this. It was even better than the first episode and Sutton's character has had some backstory revealed. Yea! Episode 3 airs tonight. Definitely recommended!
The series follows three young women who work for the fictional Scarlet magazine and who became best friends there. Jane has just been promoted to a writer position, Kat is the social media manager, and Sutton appears to be an admin. (Scarlet magazine is Cosmo and the woman who runs Scarlet is supposed to be based on a real person at Cosmo.)
In episode one, Jane is trying to pitch ideas for stories to the woman in charge of the magazine. Her boss, though, isn't impressed with any of her safe ideas. Jane accidentally pitches how to stalk an ex who isn't on social media and has to track down her own ex-boyfriend who broke up with her in the middle of a train terminal.
The magazine had an article about an artist that was supposed to run, but the woman withdrew her permission. This sends Kat on a mission to change the artist's mind. And Sutton is having an affair with one of the male executives involved with the magazine and she's hiding it from her friends.
As I said above, I only watched the pilot episode and it really takes a few weeks worth of shows to discover if a premise is going to hold up (or get better) or not. I was impressed with episode one. Kat and Jane are both fully formed characters and I was rooting for them to succeed. Sutton was less fleshed out, but I'm hoping that changes as the show goes forward. The boss was also an interesting character and her relationship with the three main women promises to be intriguing. She appears to be part mentor and part mother pushing her birds out of their safe nests.
I'm very picky about my entertainment, especially television, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show and really had no big complaints. I definitely enjoyed it enough to continue watching it.
Final verdict: Recommended with the caveat that I've only seen the pilot episode.
Edited to add: I watched the second episode after writing this. It was even better than the first episode and Sutton's character has had some backstory revealed. Yea! Episode 3 airs tonight. Definitely recommended!
July 13, 2017
I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
I haven't actually watched Mad Men, but there was a mini-series on Smithsonian Channel (I think it was Smithsonian Channel) about advertising that did a lot of cutting between the TV show and real ads from that decade. I believe it was four weeks long and looked at the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. It was long enough ago that I watched it that I can't swear this is correct, but I'm close. :-)
Anyway, they showed how Mad Men concluded--with the Coke commercial from 1971. Even though I hadn't watched any of the series, I knew it was a genius way to conclude it just from everything I'd heard about the show. The ad? I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.
In May of 2016, the real creator of the ad, passed away and the Washington Post ran a nice article about his creation of the jingle. It seems his plane to London diverted Shannon, Ireland because of fog and he was inspired by what he saw at the airport the following morning. Yes, they were delayed overnight.
The article includes a video of the commercial, a video of last few minutes of Mad Men, and a video of the man who created the ad talking about it.
I am totally an advertising geek. It was my major in college and it continues to fascinate me today.
There's a couple of interesting points. Well, interesting to me anyway. :-) It started out as a radio jingle and people called into radio stations requesting it. With this huge popularity propelling it, the jingle became part of a television commercial. It was supposed to cost $100,000, but because of weather and other issues, came in at $250,000. At the time, it was the most expensive ad ever. The other super interesting thing is that because of the jingle's popularity, it was actually released as a song. When was the last time you heard that happening?
Here's the ad in case you don't want to click over to the article:
Anyway, they showed how Mad Men concluded--with the Coke commercial from 1971. Even though I hadn't watched any of the series, I knew it was a genius way to conclude it just from everything I'd heard about the show. The ad? I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.
In May of 2016, the real creator of the ad, passed away and the Washington Post ran a nice article about his creation of the jingle. It seems his plane to London diverted Shannon, Ireland because of fog and he was inspired by what he saw at the airport the following morning. Yes, they were delayed overnight.
The article includes a video of the commercial, a video of last few minutes of Mad Men, and a video of the man who created the ad talking about it.
I am totally an advertising geek. It was my major in college and it continues to fascinate me today.
There's a couple of interesting points. Well, interesting to me anyway. :-) It started out as a radio jingle and people called into radio stations requesting it. With this huge popularity propelling it, the jingle became part of a television commercial. It was supposed to cost $100,000, but because of weather and other issues, came in at $250,000. At the time, it was the most expensive ad ever. The other super interesting thing is that because of the jingle's popularity, it was actually released as a song. When was the last time you heard that happening?
Here's the ad in case you don't want to click over to the article:
