Monday, Aug. 18, 2008

Can you spot the gnome this week?

BethZilla is your go-to woman for music and entertainment in the Tri-Cities. A reporter, photographer, videographer and blogger extraordinaire, she speaks her mind on anything and everything.

Ever seen the French film Amelie? There's a touching, but very humorous, part in the movie where the main character steals her father's beloved garden gnome and has her friend, who is a stewardess for the airlines, take Polaroids of the gnome in different countries. She then sends these Polaroids to her father in an effort to get him to travel the world as he's always dreamed.

There's little doubt that's where Travelocity got their Roaming Gnome idea from, having their mascot be a similar garden gnome.

Many have since taken on the task of capturing their own gnome on different road trips, like here, here and here.

A former Herald reporter came up with this idea, saying how it'd be fun to take pictures of a gnome at different locations at the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo.

I fell in love with the thought and began mapping out how to do so...That was about 2 years ago.

This year, the gnome idea has come back to me and I think I'll try to execute it this time around. Except, where do I find a good garden gnome? I mean, I don't want to pay a lot for it, either. Us writers are broke, man.

Then another coworker came up with the idea of using Hello Kitty instead of a nameless garden gnome. If Hello Kitty can be an ambassador for Japan, then why can't she be the face for my gallery?

The question is, who are more people going to identify?

Would people recognize the Hello Kitty brand, or would they recognize what most people would assume is the Travelocity gnome?