I received a very strange package from Fed-Ex yesterday. Overnight delivery, rush, rush, rush. Before I opened the box, I noted that it came from Maryland, so I thought perhaps it was something from Cemetery Dance. When I opened the box, I found first a white legal envelope with my first name handwritten on it. Instead of foam peanuts, the packing material was a kind of synthetic straw. Nestled in it was a good-sized wooden box.
The letter inside the envelope was from the Discovery Channel. How the heck they got onto me, I have no idea. There’s no name associated with it. The wooden box is an invitation to join a viral marketing campaign for the second season of a show called The Colony. I’m not familiar with the show, but after reading This is Not a Game last year and then participating in the Scarecrow Jow ARG for Under the Dome, I was intrigued.
Inside the box was another letter. It looks handwritten and is addressed to me and mentions my home town, and is in context (I must have heard about the viral outbreak since it started in West Texas). It’s signed simply “Terri.” I have no idea who that is. Also in the box was a 4GB USB flash drive that contains a QuickTime video and some gear to be used in case of emergency. There’s a vial of water purifier, a filtered face mask, some MREs (meals ready to eat) and other food (I didn’t open that bag yet, but I think there are Skittles in there, too!) and a nifty little combination radio flashlight that actually works. Doesn’t look like they spared any expense. It’s an impressive package.
The only fly in the ointment is that the ARG uses Facebook Connect and when I went to join up, it wanted Facebook to share all sorts of information with the application, including family and personal info and friend feeds. Not knowing what the application intended to do with all of that information, I didn’t allow it access. However, if you’re a fan of The Colony, or interested in the ARG, you can visit www.JoinTheColony.com to watch the introductory video. (Apparently what the Facebook connection does is grab posts from your friends’ feeds and puts them into a new stream that makes it seem like they are trying to communicate about the epidemic.) I don’t really have time to devote to this ARG, but I am curious to find out how I got on their list of people to send the neat little box to. I can always use a 4 GB flash drive, and the radio/flashlight will come in handy when the next plague hurricane hits.
The Closer had an excellent episode this week. Whenever Mary McDonnell shows up as Captain Raydor, you know sparks are going to fly. The writers did an excellent job of misdirecting viewers in several ways. I was sure the Man in Black (Lost‘s Titus Welliver) was going to be in some way involved in the killings. He kept acting suspiciously and evasively. It was a brilliant touch. When the culprit appeared on-screen for the first time, there was absolutely nothing to create viewer suspicion toward him. And, finally, Raydor’s background check had an unexpected outcome, too. All that plus a killer confrontation scene at the end made for a fine show. Brenda didn’t get to talk a confession out of anyone, though.
I also liked episode two of Rizzoli and Isles, though Tess Gerritsen fans on a mystery newsgroup I frequent aren’t as fond of it. The show is doing extremely well in ratings, even outdoing The Closer this week. I thought Sasha Alexander would be the show’s draw for me, but I like Angie Harmon’s character a lot. I did guess who the real culprit was the moment he appeared on screen the first time (famous guest star syndrome). Tying in to the Boston Strangler case worked very well, and enlisting Chaz Palminteri as Rizzoli’s father was a fine stroke. They need to find something useful for Lorraine Bracco to do other than whining about the plumbing. The bigoted suspect’s mother was a scream.
I posted my review of Stories: All New Tales on Onyx Reviews last night. Next up: a review of Meg Gardiner’s The Liar’s Lullaby.
Did another edit pass on the story in progress, which is called “The Vengeance.” I’ve reached the point where I’m simply fine-tuning word choice. I haven’t done a pen and paper edit pass yet, so that’s the next step before I send it out.
