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July 22, 2012: Vote for The Greatest Season-ending Cliffhanger in Stargate History! The Evolution of Akemi at Starbucks! Back to the Kits Street Fest for Dinner!

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A reminder to cast your vote for The Greatest Season-ending Cliffhanger in Stargate History for a chance to win a signed script and a nifty Stargate security badge –

Yes, winners will get their choice of security badge.

Head on over here, pick a cliffhanger, then leave a comment for a chance to win:

To whoever asked – yes, I’ll be continuing my trip down Atlantis memory lane, starting sometime in August to coincide with Gateworld’s Stargate: Atlantis season 3 rewatch. Speaking of Gateworld, head on over here (Atlantis Season Two Awards: Vote Now!) to vote for your favorites in the category of season 2’s: Best Episode, Best Sheppard Moment, Best McKay Moment, Best Weir Moment, Best Ronon Moment, Best Teyla Moment, Best Beckett Moment, Best Alien Race, Best Individual Individual Villain, Coolest Ancient Technology, Coolest Alien Technology, and Best Guest Star.

For some reason, Akemi’s name baffles most English speakers who seem incapable of pronouncing it correctly, often offering a variety of erroneous renditions: Acme, Kimmy, Akenny, Ankimo, etc.  Nowhere is this more frustrating than at Starbucks where the person at the counter not only mispronounces her name, but writes it down incorrectly as well.  But I’m pleased to report the Starbucks has gotten better.  Witness the evolution of the Akemi cappuccino…

A game effort and full marks for the smiley face. Sort of like A-Carl or A-Joe, it’s like she is one of numerous Kimmy’s in existence.
Aw, come on. You’re not even trying. Atmi? Really?
Ooooh. So close!
Finally! Success! It helps to be served by the Japanese counter person at the San Diego Airport Starbucks. The heart is greatly appreciated as well.

Lawren comes by today to discuss this season’s Fantasy Football League (my Snow Monkeys are defending champions, as if you didn’t know: December 27, 2011: Snow Monkeys are World Champions! Finally getting around to unwrapping those gifts!

And, tonight, I head out to dinner with my writing partner so that we can spin some new series ideas.  We’re heading down to L.A. the first week of August to pitch (is that NEXT week?!) and it would be nice to have something to talk about beside the weather.

Tomorrow, this blog resumes its originally scheduled programming when our Supermovie of the Week Club resumes with Cookie Monster’s review of Steel.

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37 responses

  1. Rich Avatar
    Rich

    I liked the 1st season of SGA. There was more of a mystery and suspense in the stories when they didn’t have to rely on Earth. However, I enjoyed the series very much. You can watch the episodes over and over. SGA was the first complete series I have bought on DVDs.

    Reply
  2. Ponytail Avatar
    Ponytail

    What, you’re not going to watch The Bachlorette tonight as Emily picks either Ivon’s little twin brother Jef or the cute race car driver Arie? Yep, Jef made it to the end! He is a cutie. Just like Ivon!

    Reply
  3. arnk2u Avatar
    arnk2u

    Camelot was by far my fav. Someof the othets wereclose, but no cigar….lol
    SG-1 is my favorite of all the franchises

    Reply
  4. Barbaro Avatar
    Barbaro

    I still like Within the Serpent’s Grasp fo best season ending cliffhanger. There is still something there, the threat to Earth when SG-1 had never faced anything of the magnitude before. Everything else pales in comparison because even with different threats in later seasons, it was already proved that a much greater force could be defeated by a few determined individuals. This show is the original. Nothing is certain. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

    Reply
  5. Henry N Avatar
    Henry N

    I voted for Gauntlet because it’s also a series-ending cliffhanger! Normally, I would prefer a series to wrap up all its loose ends, but I don’t think SGU was ready to end yet! In addition, Destiny’s mission is also very open ended so it’s fitting that (for now), viewers can fill in the rest of the story with their imagination 🙂

    Reply
  6. cooki Avatar
    cooki

    I voted for First Strike because its exciting!

    Reply
  7. Deborah Rose Avatar
    Deborah Rose

    Saw the latest Batman movie. Not bad. Could nit pik it, but overall it didn’t unduly strain my suspension of disbelief. And the ending was reasonably powerful, emotion wise. All in all, an respectable trilogy.
    I dont understand the difficulty in Akemi’s name. The one thing about Japanese names, is that they tend to be very easy to pronounce using phoenetics. And spelling wise, other than confusing an occasional i with an e or even an a, again, very simple.
    And it’s already time to talk football? Ah well. The Snow Monkeys are at least more interesting than college football to me. And better a few months of football than the eternity that seems to make up basketball.
    Best of luck on spinning more stories, and looking forward with a bit less anticipation tomorrow night’s discussion.

    Reply
  8. Randomness Avatar
    Randomness

    Anyone that spells Akemis name wrong is clearly ignorant of the Japanese language/culture.

    I mean, a Japanese person asks for a drink, and someone spells their name as Akimmy? That’s kinda ridiculus, and I’m sure you’d agree Joe, It doesn’t take a Rodney McKay level intellect to know how to write a name like that.

    Most Japanese names aren’t that hard to write, just from hearing it once or twice.

    Anyway good luck with your series stuff Joe.

    Reply
  9. sg1efc Avatar
    sg1efc

    If you have a lot of StarGate memorabilia, have you considered putting some on auction at Ebay and give the proceeds to a charity? 🙂

    Reply
  10. DP Avatar
    DP

    I went with Within the Serpent’s Grasp. It was just a great moment.

    —–

    And don’t spin any shows where gorillas show up unexpectedly. Nobody likes that. Okay, fine, I’m just venting that my daughter’s refusing to watch Sponge Bob.

    Reply
  11. lisarrrr Avatar
    lisarrrr

    @Randomness: My older son is going to be taking Japanese this year for his high school foreign language. He’s looking forward to it.

    @Joe: Hope the dinner went well.

    Have a great night!!!!!

    Reply
  12. Ponytail Avatar
    Ponytail

    Ivon is getting a new sister-in-law. Jef got the girl.

    Reply
  13. shane calhoun Avatar
    shane calhoun

    Keep those akemism’s coming

    Reply
  14. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    I voted for Incursion II, in recent memory that was excellent cliffhanger – no hope, Chloe and Eli lost, Young and the military officers about to be executed, TJ wounded, Kiva and Telford’s shoot off, and the radiation bursts.

    Reply
  15. paloosa Avatar
    paloosa

    Jelly looks happily regal in her royal carriage! But I was wondering what’s happening with the other pups you wanted to adopt. Or did I miss something?

    I voted for “The Last Man”. I still don’t understand how you all were able to tell so many emotional stories in such a short period of time. And each one was complete and so compelling. Just great storytelling from beginning to the end, and a tour de force for all the actors.

    Best of luck pitching your projects. After all your hard work, I hope I’ll soon be watching another great show!

    Reply
  16. Mike A. Avatar
    Mike A.

    I remember when I first saw Camelot. That heavy feeling of “holy crap, what the hell just happened and how are they ever going to destroy those ships” dominated my mind’s ability to figure out a way out of that jam. That’s how I know I’ve been “cliffhanged” properly.

    All the other ones were great, too, and especially Gauntlet, of course. In fact while Gauntlet was truly epic for so many great and sad reasons, it’s those very reasons that make it not fair for it to be amongst the others in the list. We knew going in that it was a franchise finale and were pre-saddened, as it were. Then you bring in Joel’s music, and you’re not playing fair at that point. But, Camelot truly left me with a WTF feeling that I still kinda get when I rewatch it. The Ori were quite the ominous foe and a pleasure to hate. Thank you for that.

    -Mike A.

    Reply
  17. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Heya, Joe…hope dinner went well! I know mine did! 😀

    Today was lovely, but for some reason Mr. Das and I did absolutely nothing all afternoon. I think we’ve just been so stressed from the heat that we just couldn’t come up with a game plan. So I took a nap, he watched tv, and later we chatted with a neighbor. We spent about a good half hour or more just staring at each other, asking, “What do you wanna do?”…”I don’t know, what do YOU wanna do?” About quarter past six I had an epiphany. We were both hungry and we had a gift certificate (that’s been sitting around since last fall) for our favorite restaurant, The Washington Inn. I gave them a quick call and asked if they had any openings, and they did – at 7:00. We quickly stripped off the play clothes and donned our stepping out duds, and drove into town.

    We were seated at our favorite table, right next to the window offering a nice view of the quaint Victorian street. I was so hungry I just wanted to order everything on the menu, which meant it took me forever to decide what to get. 😛 Finally, we made our choices:

    For an appetizer, we shared the cavatelli and braised lamb with broccoli rabe and olio verde, topped with shaved manchego. But there was a bit more to it than that. When I took my first bite the flavors just exploded with an unexpected but exceedingly pleasing amount of heat and garlic. Simply out of this world! Though everything was excellent, this spicy surprise was the highlight of the evening. It was also a relatively large portion for an app, so our waiter suggested dividing it so we both had our own portions. Good call. I love a waiter who makes great suggestions, especially when I’m starving and brain dead.

    Cavatelli and braised lamb (taken after I already started devouring it 😛 ):

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/cavlamb2012.jpg

    Next came the salad. Though there were several great selections, Mr. Das (just peachy!) and I (say, cheeeeese!!) both went with the same choice, and we were not disappointed: Arugula with imported burrata and Jersey peaches in a white balsamic vinaigrette (again, I started eating before snapping the pic…there had been more… ):

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/salad2012.jpg

    For our mains, Mr. Das went with the plancha seared local fluke, topped with almonds and jumbo lump crab in a brown butter passionfruit glaze (the glaze coupled with the fish was incredible!), and I chose the filet, topped with roasted red pepppers, sweet garlic, olives, olio verde, and shaved manchego – another winner.

    The fluke (nibbled upon):

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/fluke2012.jpg

    The filet (un-nibbled upon):

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/filet2012.jpg

    And for dessert, Mr. Das could not pass up his favorite, bananas foster (served in an almond shell), and I just had to have something chocolatey (to go with my wine, of course!) so I picked the Inn’s sweet staple for these past 30 years – the chocolate tower, filled with chocolate mousse that’s both rich and light as a cloud, and topped with fresh berries. A perfect ending!

    Bananas Foster:

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/bananas2012.jpg

    Chocolate Tower:

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/cocotower2012.jpg

    An amazing meal at a restaurant that never disappoints. 🙂

    das

    Reply
  18. carol Avatar
    carol

    Has to be Within The Serpents Grasp – it was the first and the best… and the shot as it panned out to space was magical…long live the start of 10+ years & 3 different series of wonderful cliff-hangers!

    Reply
  19. El Floruso Avatar
    El Floruso

    (sorry for my English, I’m French)

    I ‘ve choosen The Siege II (Atlantis, season 1).
    I remember that when i watched it on french tv, i thank that it was an incredible cliffhanger, i wanted to know what was going to happen.
    So, a few day after, one of my friend downloaded this episode, which had already been broadcast in the USA.
    It was the first time that i watched an episode in English (I was young, I was affraid to not understand very well episodes in English).
    I loved this episode and i believed that it was an incredible end to the siege.
    For me, it’s one of the best episode of Stargate.

    Reply
  20. DP Avatar
    DP

    Oh, I forgot to send my other comment yesterday. In addition to considering Within the Serpent’s Grasp, I was considering Seige II for excitement.

    I was also considering Camelot for how the pacing led into a smooth transition into the cliffhanger despite how differently the characters were positioned. Instead of the usual feel of team vs. “Mo’ peril! Mo’ peril! Mo’ peril!”, the characters had such personal and lonesome ties to the stakes. It left me slack-jawed, then sucked my breath out.

    Reply
  21. Carl Avatar
    Carl

    How do we pronounce Akemi ? I’m from Montreal area, french speaking. When I read it I pronounce it “Akémi”. Am I close ?

    Reply
  22. Maggiemayday Avatar
    Maggiemayday

    Gee, das, after reading about the terrific meal, I got nuthin’ to say! Nice, very nice!

    Reply
  23. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    Was that was the rant? When I was 19, I worked with this vet that had a five minute hissy fit because the receptionist misspelled his name. She spelled it Beecham instead of Beauchamp. I’ve never let my misspelled name bother me since that spectacle. Akemi is such a nice simple name. I would think one time seeing the name would be all that it would take for most people. What does Akemi mean in Japanese? Something pretty I bet like Cherry Blossom or Lotus petal? Or… maybe bread lover 🙂 . It’s a pretty name whatever it means.

    Das: What a wonderful meal! The desserts looked the best to me.

    Lisarrr: That is great about your son studying Japanese this year! My son is taking French again. He loves it! He is hoping to take a mission trip to Haiti in high school and he wants to be prepared. Plus, he wants to move to a French speaking part of Canada when he graduates college. He says it’s too hot here and he could use his French on a daily basis up there. What school did you go with?

    I’m voting for Incursion II because it had so many storylines going on. Plus, the actors were so good in their performances. Oh yes, the writing was excellent too 😉 . It was a tough decision because you picked some really good episodes.

    Reply
    1. lisarrrr Avatar
      lisarrrr

      @Tam Dixon: We are using Tell Me More Japanese (homeschool version). There’s also a Japanese festival that we’re planning to go to in September for him to start getting a flavor of the culture. Really hoping things go well with this. We have been discussing the language he wanted to study since last fall, and he has stuck with wanting to do Japanese.

      Reply
  24. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    Did you see the fine for Penn State: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf–penn-state-sanctions-mark-emmert-four-year-bowl-ban-60-million-fine.html . Woozer but those big money guys must have known something was hinky. Lot of bad stuff going on in the world 🙁 .

    Reply
  25. E Avatar
    E

    My vote went to “Camelot”. Although there were several other strong season enders, this episode really left me gasping for air! Our guys seemed to have zero chance beating the Ori, if I remember correctly (it’s been awhile) all member of SG-1 had something to do, no to mention the amazing soundtrack by Joel.

    Honorable mentions go to “Within the Serpent’s Grasp”, “The Siege” pt 2, “Incursion” pt 2 and “Gauntlet”.

    Reply
  26. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    “So, das…what have YOU been doing this morning?” you ask.

    Well, I’ll tell ya. I’ve been cradling a wee li’l black kitten, that’s what I’ve been doing! 😀

    You see, yesterday morning we saw this little black streak run by when we fed our feral cats (all of our 6 ferals are spayed/neutered). We went back inside and waited a bit, and sure enough…after a little while this little black kitten emerged from the ivy and started bouncing around the yard. No idea where it came from. I haven’t seen any strange cats around; in fact, our ferals haven’t even chased off other cats in a couple years. So maybe the kitten was dumped (since it’s a black cat and people are stupidstitious about such things, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone just tossed it).

    Anyway, we set up the have-a-heart trap with tuna, and wait. Damn kitten bounced all around it and didn’t take the bait. Come home from services, and still the trap isn’t tripped (our ferals know to stay away from the trap – they’re all like, “been there, done that!” 😆 ). I take my nap, wake up, still no kitten. Once in a while you could hear it mewing in the distance, but no idea where it was. We went out to dinner, came home, and I totally forgot about the trap. Hubby, however, noticed that two of the feral cats from the back yard were in the front yard (unusual), and acting strangely. The air was filled with the scent of skunk, so I said, “Oh, the trap! We probably caught a skunk!”

    Well, it wasn’t a skunk, but the wee kitten! 🙂 It’s about 5 weeks old, and veeery scared. I’ve been able to hold ‘him’ (not 100% sure yet on the sex, his tail is tucked tight under him and I don’t want to force it until he’s calmer). When I get a chance I’ll snap a picture. For now he’s secure in a cage with litter, food, water, and a comfy bed. I’m keeping the cage covered for now, until he feels a bit more settled. He’s adorable, though, and mom has already laid claims on him since she lost her beloved black cat two months ago when he was hit by a car. So, looks like mom will have a new baby…IF I’m willing to part with him. 😉

    das

    Reply
  27. Shana Avatar
    Shana

    Akemi I sympathize with the fact that your name seems to baffle most English speakers as my name has the same the effect. Apparently Shana (like Anna) does not register with most people. I have memories of my first day of kindergarten wandering around the coat racks looking for my spot. When I asked the teacher why my name was not there she walked me over to my coat hook pointed to Shannon and said “here you are dear”. To this day I still get e-mail replies with my name spelled Shawna, Shannon, Shanna, Shanea, even though my name is in my signature. It has become a bit of joke with my co-workers where anything that comes in with a strange name comes right to my desk. My personal favorite was a fax that came to the attention of Laquisha. Tired of trying to decipher when an order was actually mine at places where they call you name I gave them my knick name Louise. A few minutes later the girl behind the counter yield out Louis and no one stepped forward, I looked around and there where only woman waiting, I shook my head and walked forward. I gave up at that point.

    Reply
  28. David-Luc Méthot-Bélanger Avatar
    David-Luc Méthot-Bélanger

    The Siege Part II was a very good season ending I think be the possiblities to make a Part III was huge. I liked how the script was separated in three parts instead of two.

    Reply
  29. Joseph Sardone Avatar
    Joseph Sardone

    Hi Joe,
    Gauntlet by a mile! I’m not seeing my vote posted, so here I am trying again.
    Thanks!
    PS, Please vist Facebook’s page “Save Future Stargate Travel” or email me to let me know if talks for the next SG >anything< are under way yet.
    The natives are beyond restless at this point for more Stargate!
    With deep admiration for your work, Thank you sir!
    Joseph Sardone chief admin at SFST.

    Reply
  30. Randomness Avatar
    Randomness

    @lisarrrr

    That’s great, you might enjoy doing Japanese calligraphy with him when he does. You might find it quite relaxing to do.

    Quite a common thing for people to do in Japan actually. Well calligraphy in general.

    Reply
  31. Elminster Avatar
    Elminster

    Hey Joe

    Quick little question…
    Where are we to put our ‘comments’ for consideration for the prizes?
    Here, or in the comment section of the poll?

    Elminster

    Reply
  32. BaronDestructo Avatar
    BaronDestructo

    Either works but it’s easier for me to tally you up in the comment section of the poll.

    Reply
  33. Elminster Avatar
    Elminster

    Hey Joe

    I voted for Camelot. It was, by far, the greatest season ending cliff-hanger. In fact it may be the greatest cliff-hanger of any show. The action starts right from the beginning and stews right through to almost the end, when Sam beams over to dial out, then ALL HELL breaks loose. By the time the short space battle is over and done 3 members of SG-1 are missing, supposedly blown to pieces on their respective ships and Sam is left floating in space with just a few hours of air left. “My God”, I thought, “how in the hell are they gonna set things right in season 10!” Then I spent the rest of the time before the start of the season wondering who wanted off the show so bad they had to get blown up…

    Now, I’m not just saying this because you wrote it, but that was one fine episode.

    Elminster
    (posted in both spots)

    Reply
  34. Redbeard Avatar
    Redbeard

    I voted for Exodus for many reasons; not the least of which is I just always have a smile when there are Goa’uld warships getting blown up and fact that this story was part of that huge arc at the end of that season/beginning of season five. The Siege II was a VERY close second for me.

    Reply
  35. TJ Avatar
    TJ

    Though there have been many great season cliff hangers, (each one better than the last), I have to say that Gauntlet is the biggest cliff hanger. Partially because we will never see the other half, but mostly because of Eli Wallace. If i had to pick a single character throughout the while franchise who grew the most, it would be him.

    Eli came into the show a bit of a scared fool, but more than anyone in the show, he grew into him self. Grew into a a brave character, willing to fight and even die for the cause.

    Here’s to Eli…. (sip)

    Reply
  36. Gene Avatar
    Gene

    Loved the season one/two story line Siege. Lots of cliffhangers, big and little all through the story.

    Reply

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