As most of you probably already know, Stargate SG-1’s 200th episode has been nominated for a Hugo Award in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form, up against a Battlestar Galactica and about a half-dozen episodes of Dr. Who. While checking out the various other categories, I noticed that a number of the nominees vying for Best Short Story are available online. A terrific bunch of candidates. And being the film buff I am, I found Timothy Pratt’s Twilight Zone-esque “Impossible Dream” a particularly enjoyable read. If you have the time, why not swing by and check out the stories yourselves – and if you like what you read, maybe think about picking up further readings by the respective authors (I’ve included some suggestions):
Neil Gaiman’s “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” –
http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/shortstories/partiesstory
Pick up: the Sandman series (graphic novels), Fragile Things, Neverwhere, American Gods.
Bruce McAllister’s “Kin” –
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/Kin.shtml
Pick up: Dream Baby
Timothy Pratt’s “Impossible Dreams” –
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/Impossibledreams.shtml
Robert Reed’s “Eight Episodes” –
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/8episodes.shtml
Pick up: The Cuckoo’s Boys, The Well of Stars, Marrow.
Benjamin Rosenbaum’s “The House Beyond Your Sky” –
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2006/20060904/house-f.shtml
Check out: “Embracing-the-New”, “Start the Clock” – available online.
Paul finished his pass on This Mortal Coil and did a great job. The script is much clearer and cleaner. We celebrated in the grand writer tradition, lunching on chicken pot pie and avocado salad, then swung by the conference room where we picked up our very own Ark of Truth t-shirts to go with our Ark of Truth caps and Ark of Truth boxers (coming soon). And then, look at who dropped by the office today: none other than Bob Picardo who is in town filming an episode of Stargate: Atlantis (The Seer).
Fondy is on a cooking tear – two dinners in a row! To mark the occasion, I have included pics of last night’s roast beef dinner.
Q&A –
Anonymous #1 writes: “Okra for or against?”
Answer: The first time I tried it, I was decidedly against. But there’s a Malaysian restaurant in town, Banana Leaf, that makes a great sambal okra – so I’ve changed my vote to “For”.
Anonymous #2 writes: “All the “oh they don’t advertise enough” and “the fans just won’t accept what we’re giving them” won’t fly if the series fails.”
Answer: Yet the fact is that after a six month lay-off, lack of any significant promotion, and previous airings throughout the world and on the internet, both Stargates have seen their numbers dip. It doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots.
M writes: “Are all your pugs boys?”
Answer: Maximus and Bubba are boys. Jelly is the little lady.
Haliyah writes: “How do you get a concept/story/script solicited so that it becomes legitimate and legal in the eyes of the show executives?”
Answer: It would have to be submitted through an agent. But in the case of Atlantis, we’re not currently looking for outside submissions as we have the back half of season four pretty much thought out.
Anonymous #3 writes: “On average, how many hits a day did u get in the past week?”
Answer: I average a little over 2000 visits a day.
Paula writes: “So what are you going to watch now that Amazing Race is over?”
Answer: The end of Survivor.
Edward4th writes: “I was driving through a cornish village this morning when an elderly gentleman wearing a flat cap and escorting three pugs on a leash crossed the road in front of me. Any relation?”
Answer: That was me.
Namiko writes: “I know you get on the treadmill every (is it EVERY?) morning for at least 30 minutes, but do you do strength training as well as cardio? And if so, what do you do? What about yoga?”
Answer: No yoga. I run every other day. On the days I don’t run, I work out with weights exercising two muscle groups, 3 exercises each, 3 sets of 8-10 reps, followed by some ab work.
Alipeeps writes: “Have you guys started work on the back 10 episodes yet?”
Answer: Yup. Martin is finishing up work on the second part of the mid-season two-parter. Alan is working on what like to call “the third part of the mid-season two-parter”. And Carl has started work on the relationships episode. He’ll be moving onto the cross-over episode once he’s done. Then there’s the two-part return of THAT character. Which brings us to episodes 17.
Carolina writes: “I started watching Iron Chef America thanks to your blog and I have a question, imagine yourself as a judge, sitting in your chair, waiting for the secret ingredient to be revelead, what ingredients would you be crosing your fingers over for a)Please let it be…? and b)Please let it not be…?”
Answer: Please let it be Battle Chocolate! Please let is not be Battle Garbanzo Beans! Thankfully they’ve already done the latter. And, come to think of it, I think they’ve already done the former as well.
Anjirika writes: “I personally think that you should pay more attention to the hard core fans- they are your loyal viewer-ship and probably make up most of the numbers.”
Answer: First of all, the number of hardcore fans are actually dwarfed by the multitude of casual viewers. As for listening to the hardcore fans, which hardcore fans would you be referring to? The hardcore fans that want the Shep-Weir ship or the ones that want to Shep-Teyla ship? The ones that want to see more Rodney or the ones that want to see less McKay? The ones that want to see more crossover or the ones that don’t want to see any crossover?
Anonymous #r writes: “Since you used focus groups to off Dr. Weir…”
Answer: We did?
Leave a Reply