The fact that I could actually watch Anthony Bourdain eat twelve different foie gras dishes and some raw seal (including the prized eyeball) signaled the worst was over. My appetite was still off, but I was feeling much better. Well enough to shower up and get dressed rather than lounging about all day in my pyjamas like some endearing eccentric, but of course nowhere near well enough to actually head out and run errands. My body is still recuperating after all.
I woke up late, actually managed my morning run, and watched a few more episodes of Gankutsuou a scifi/anime remimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I can’t recommend this one enough – a smart, complex, character-driven, gorgeous series.
I started yet another book for the book club and, after one hundred or so pages, had to set it aside. It was frustratingly overwritten and, frankly, not all that interesting. Which is too bad because the novel is described as a space opera and it’s a sub-genre I thought I’d enjoy. But the last two “space operas” I read were dreadful, so I’m going to have to put “space opera” up there with “cyberpunk” as two types of scifi I need to avoid at all costs. Unless someone can recommend a worthy example of either of course. Anyone? Well, fortunately, I had a back-up book handy, Parable of the Talents which is a sequel to Parable of the Sower, an at times incredibly depressing but remarkably well-realized post-apocalyptic novel by the great Octavia E. Butler.
I also went back over some of my early Hong Kong posts and re-upped some of the photos that had Flickr had eaten.
And finally, I got around to watching Thank Your For Smoking which stars Aaron Eckhart as a charismatic, smooth-talking shill for Big Tobacco. It’s a great movie that mixes fact and fiction to wickedly provocative effect. It feels like ages since I’ve sat through a movie I actually enjoyed, and this was one of those rare instances.
Dinner: I managed some cereal for breakfast and a power bar for lunch. By the time Fondy came home today at a little after 7:00 p.m., I was ravenous. I wanted to ease myself back into eating form with a bowl of nutritious soup from The Sha Lin Noodle House, but the place was packed. Cranky, hungry, and unwilling to wait anywhere for a table, I drove us to McDonalds. One Big Mac, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, and an order of fries later and I’m not feeling quite as well. Well, nothing that a piece of dark chocolate can’t fix, I’m sure.
Time for some viewer mail –
Anonymous #1 writes: “1) I’ve only ever seen Wraith suck life out of someone with their right hands. Can you get left-handed or even double-handed Wraith when it comes to sucking life? 2) Do the Wraith that wear masks look the same as the Wraith without masks, or does Wraith society have 3 genders (i.e, soldiers, workers and queens)?
3) Since the Wraith are evolved from the Iratus bug, does that mean that new Wraith are ‘born’ the same way as Iratus bugs, or are they like humans in that matter?”
Answers: 1) The wraith have one feeding hand. 2) We’ll get a peek at their concealed mugs in season four and there are three distinct sub-set of wraith. 3) Again, check out season four to find out.
Alipeeps writes: “Have you read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-
Time?”
Answer: Nope. Is it scifi?
Meg writes: “Have you ever read “Still Life with June” by Darren Greer?”
Answer: Nope. Is it scifi?
Lughtigern writes: “I think the Sunchoke soup did it.”
Answer: That was my initial suspicion because I started feeling sick approximately two hours after I’d had the soup. And while one could well have pointed the finger at the soup’s cream base or the organic raw egg yolk, I’d be more inclined to blame the raw pea sprouts. If, on the other hand, the prevailing wisdom is that one will only feel the effects of food poisoning after 24 hours, then the only thing it could have been were the strawberries I had for breakfast Thursday morning. A fascinating mystery.
Lughtigern also writes: “Is there any chance that an episode in season 4 (or later) will cover more of the backstory of the Ancients?”
Answer: Various stories over the course of season four will offer more pieces to the puzzle.
Lorr54 writes: “You mentioned ComiCon yesterday. Any idea who from the crew/cast will be going?”
Answer: I have no idea who is going as of yet, but I know that SciFi has let if be known they would love the entire cast to show.
MushyPup writes: “Anyway, she said that the only food poisoning to come on that quickly after eating is a form of staph, usually found in shrimp”
Answer: Alas, I had the shrimp on Wednesday night, a good 60 hours before I started feeling nauseous. It has an alibi.
Anonymous #2 writes: “Wasn’t it mentioned that Kewlona (yeah, my spelling is awful) was one of the planets wiped out in um…Counterstrike?”
Answer: It was never said Kelowna had been “wiped out”, only that it had fallen to the Ori.
Shivani writes: “Are you going to use more of your bench players in the upcoming season then you have in the past?”
Answer: The way season four is shaping up, it looks like we’ll be seeing a fair amount of both Radek and Lorne.
Sis writes: “The restaurant I visited in Miami is called Michy’s…”
Answer: So where are the pics?
Thank you for answering my questions about the Wraith. I look forward to seeing what the answers are in season four. =)
Joe,
Hope that you are feeling better.
Do you have any guest star casting news that you can share?
Will the origins of Teyla’s pregnancy be hinted at in early S4 or will The Seer be the first reveal? And will we actually find out the origins or will you keep us guessing?
Any other instances of Shep Whump you can share?
Glad to hear you’re feeling better. I’ve never been able to eat wisely after being sick–everything just tastes so good when you finally can eat again!
We are on Day 2 of Life While Dad Is Away, which GeekBoy compares to teenagers throwing wild parties while their parents are gone. We haven’t thrown any parties, but there hasn’t been a vegetable in sight since he left on his trip. Dismayed by how fast the dirty dishes pile up when the chief dish-washer is away, we have vowed to stock up on disposeable dishes tomorrow and avoid cooking whenever possible. I made a pot of spaghetti and meatballs and a big tuna casserole today, which should hold us for several days. Then to celebrate my paycheck arriving several days early, we bought ice cream, hot dogs, and an extra-large box of Cap’n Crunch. We’re set for a while.
I’m glad you’re feeling better Joe! I guess sometimes you just have to pay the price for eating at so many restaurants and for being so adventurous with food.
Looks like there is going to be a lot of “Wraithing” going on in Season 4; awesome. Now, for the Ancients, you talk of a puzzle; does that mean you have a grand plan as to the Ancient storyarc, or are you guys more making-it-up as you go along?
Without knowing which two titles of space opera you’ve tried… my suggestion would be David Weber’s Honor Harrington series (beginning with On Basilisk Station).
Space opera is rather hard to define; many definitions I’ve seen would include Karen Traviss’s work which you’ve mentioned that you’ve enjoyed, for example, or even Stargate. (I assume the same holds for cyberpunk, but I haven’t read anything that I’d include in the genre.)
Hi Joe:
You have had an amazingly bad week with first your dental appointment, then your illness. Maybe you caught stomach flu from your dentist?
Are there any further details about the distribution of the Stargate movies?
Patricia
I don’t know if you have a health store around,but if you can get some digestive charcole, it might help. It’s what the hospitals use on people that O.D. I know my husband uses it why he has the stomach bug. Good luck, hope you feel better. I’ve had food poisoning before and I know it wasn’t fun. That was when I was a meat eater.
Kelowna fell to the Ori?
How could I have caught that without actually catching it? *feels pity for a certain Jonas Quinn*
Anyhow, glad you’re feeling better.
I’m nothing if not persistent…
When you wrote Season 4 did you take into account what happens in the DVD movies ? I mean what happens in the movies will have an impact on Season 4 ? Do the action in the 2 movies happen before S4 or after or in between ?
Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better Joe – though how you could see McDs as a good step on the road back from food poisoning beats me!!
Feel even better soon
AMx
Joe, glad you’re feeling better. Interesting taste man, interesting taste. Anyways, I’m just wondering, are we going to be seeing Andee Frizzell again in S.4?
Oh, you really should read The Curious Incident. It’s an absolutely fantastic book.
Info about The Curious Incident on Wikipedia.
Oh, and a couple of questions in passing: is Paul still signed for two episodes, or has the mysterious third episode been unshelved? If not, what are the chances of him appearing rather regularly in Season Five?
Since you brought up Anthony Bourdain, I just saw the episode in Vietnam. Knowing your love of Asian Cuisine, my question to you sir is, have you had or would you try PORCUPINE? The way they prepared the porcupine on the show was not that appetizing but I think I would try the porcupine before the tempura tarantulas that I saw prepared on another food show this morning.
Cheers!
Glad to hear you’re feeling better.
Two questions:
1) Have you seen/did you like “Little Miss Sunshine”?
2) Is there a story as to why we don’t know Major Lorne’s first name? (IE: can you please make it something hideously embarassing and hilariously funny?)
hi joe, i hope you feeling better, i have these questions in my head, things i really need to know please!!! so here we go: 1.will teyla and john someday talk about the kiss they shared in conversion? 2. when john was possesed by thalan and he said to teyla “he cares for you more than you know” this was him or thalan? 3. We will know if that statement is true? 4. can you tell me if it is?5. he do cares for her more than she knows? please tell us.
Hi, I just recently stumbled upon this blog and I’ve been wondering about something.
Are we ever going to see Thor again? I don’t know what the odds are of him showing up in any of the movies, but maybe Atlantis? I miss the little guy! 🙁
Dear Mr. Mallozzi,
How can i say this in the simpsons way? Answer: Forrest 1, Mallozzi 0. I am afraid it is not a sci-fi, but a drama book. But the structure of it is unique.
Today’s question is this:
If I was writing a two-parter for Atlantis, who should I (a writer from NZ) sent it of to, and where do I go from there?
Thanks,
Frank “Forrest” Forrester
Hey Joe! Glad to hear that you’re able to eat again. Though Mickey D’s would never be my choice after food poisoning.
So… you don’t read anything but sci-fi when it comes to novels? The Curious Incident… is about an autistic boy. It was a fun read, even though I had to read it for class. Definitely recommend it!
I came to Octavia Butler recently. She builds her fictional universe in such detail that it’s hard to leave. Saw Thank You For Smoking at the Toronto International Film Festival. Very intelligent, enjoyable, well-made.
Try Walter Jon Williams’ Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy, although I’m not sure it completely qualifies as a space opera.
Glad you’re feeling better. McDonald’s? I’m having a deja vu.
EC
Hi Joe! I am happy that you are better!!!
I am not a fan of scifi and fantasy genre books, except Tolkien… but there are two books about scifi genre that I liked.
Have you read “Andrea Victrix”?
It is a interesting science fiction book.
“Andrea Víctrix” is the title of the famous book by Llorenç Villalonga that is situated in Mallorca in 2050, making a caricature of a world in which man has been dominated by techniques and the absolute power of the State.
And, have you read “Brave New World”?
Another interesting book is “Brave New World” of Aldous Huxley.
The world it describes could also be a utopia, albeit an ironic one: humanity is carefree, healthy and technologically advanced. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated and everyone is permanently happy. The irony is that all of these things have been achieved by eliminating many things from which people currently derive happiness—family, cultural diversity, art, literature, science, religion, and philosophy. It is also a hedonistic society, deriving pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use, especially the use of soma, a powerful stimulant taken to escape pain and bad memories through hallucinatory fantasies.
If you had read some of these books, what is your opinion about them?
salit!!!
contente de sa va mieu aprés votre intoxication alimentaire!!!
voila ma question^^!:Est-que le pére du bébé de Teyla est humain?
Voila! merci a plus ;}
I can see why you chose to start you recovery with McD’s. They’re bland. Tasty, but bland. Just the thing for a recovering stomach!
Regarding Lorne. Most people in the Fanfic community settled on his first name being Marcus.
Please say it is.
Sitting here listening to Pink Floyd. You like? Can’t hear it? I’ll turn it up then – PF should be played loud anyway…
How many episodes is Carter going to be in NOW?(optimistically)
Would you ever put the cast on “celebrity surviver” or “big brother”?
Do you ever think we will see Jonas Quinn in the movies?
Thank you for writing the blog even though you were ill. I’m pleased that you are feeling better now.
“Silver writes: “What do you feed your dogs?”
Answer: They eat dog food – and the occasional McDonalds French fry. I’m sorry to hear about your dog. “
Thank you.
My post sounded like we had a sad day. That’s not the case. the family & dog went out and had a golden good time. When we realized it had been our anniversary, we agreed it was the most memorable one of our marriage. We could not have planned anything better.
We recently rescued a 70 lb puppy, a true agent of destruction. He was not as ill-treated as your former basement resident ( I’m reading my way thru the back blogs) but shows signs of neglect.
Don Davis looks like a happy person. What kind of chocolates are you feeding him ?
Completely off topic – Line in the Sand. The conversation between Sam & Cam when she thinks she is dying. What a great scene & how realistic. Stargate has dealt a lot with false gods. The earth concept of God & afterlife hasn’t really been broached.
Thank you for answering my post. It means a lot to me.
Silver
Alipeeps writes: “Have you read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-
Time?”
Answer: Nope. Is it scifi?
Nope, but it is a fab book and a really good read. Here’s what Amazon says about it:
The title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (or the curious incident of the dog in the night-time as it appears within the book) is an appropriate one for Mark Haddon’s ingenious novel both because of its reference to that most obsessive and fact-obsessed of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and because its lower-case letters indicate something important about its narrator.
Christopher is an intelligent youth who lives in the functional hinterland of autism–every day is an investigation for him because of all the aspects of human life that he does not quite get. When the dog next door is killed with a garden fork, Christopher becomes quietly persistent in his desire to find out what has happened and tugs away at the world around him until a lot of secrets unravel messily.
Haddon makes an intelligent stab at how it feels to, for example, not know how to read the faces of the people around you, to be perpetually spooked by certain colours and certain levels of noise, to hate being touched to the point of violent reaction. Life is difficult for the difficult and prickly Christopher in ways that he only partly understands; this avoids most of the obvious pitfalls of novels about disability because it demands that we respect–perhaps admire–him rather than pity him.
Glad to see you’re on the mend physically at least,(the McD’s had me worried for a while)
How are you getting on with the Pratchett books?
Have you ever read Harry Harrison’s “Stainless Steel Rat” series?
Hey Joe, glad your better. I am going to ask again, just cuz I gotta know…well not really. 1. Who is the overall “Big Picture” person for stargate. The one who gives direction to the episodes so that it is not randomness from ep 1 to ep 20? You don’t have to give a name, title would be fine. Also, is Memeorial Day celebrated in Canada? I know that Sci-Fi took the weekend off (no new fri eps) but do you guys get off too? Thanks man, and again glad your better!
Answer: It was never said Kelowna had been “wiped out”, only that it had fallen to the Ori.
Ooohh. My bad. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that episode, and it was one helluva epy too. Get well soon!
You´ve said that you read the Harry Potter books. What do you think, is Severus Snape good or evil?
Yes!!! A Big Mac with a side of greasy fries. Fast food is always the answer, however, the Quarter Pounder might have been one sandwich too many. There’s nothing like fast food to keep your cholesterol level up where it should be…. Just make sure you stay away from lamb! Glad you’re feeling somewhat better Joe.
So…. Tonight Taco Bell?! I hear their rat problem was limited to only one restaurant in the States, so you guys in Canada should be fine. You guys do have a Taco Bell don’t you?
Hi Joe
Making up names for characters must be the best part of writing trying to encapsulate a person in a name. God I wish my mother had more of an imagination then to just call me Pauline after her best friend!!
Thinking about first names for Major Lorne a few came to mind. The most strikingly obvious Greene (Ha .Ha..) followed by
Barnabus
Jasper
Ezra
Noah
Thackery
or just Albert!
Pauline
In the episode in which SG1 encounters the Ashen,(after the future episode), what ever happens to the embassidor, who went with that Planet with Carter to negotiate a treaty between Earth/Ashen, only for it to go horribly wrong, and like Carter escaping and him remaining onboard the Ashen ship on that planet… is he Alive or dead?
To clarify my earlier post. When I said “earth concept” I meant excluding other worlds. & I’m talking about the idea of there actually being a god – not in reference to a myth . It’s been mentioned a few times that there are many different beliefs on Earth. But I didn’t recall a major character expressing any specific beliefs.
I’ve since remembered the Mitchell -Landry exchange in Origin which can be interpreted as faith in God.
Joe,
really glad to hear that you’re feeling a little better.
Well, you know, everytime you post these pics I get hungry, really hungry, and it’s 8 in the morning when I look.
Had today duck mmh…
Take care of you and greetings to Fondy.. =)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is indeed a worthwhile read, but from my perspective it wasn’t a fun read. Fascinating, yes, and also incredibly true-to-life. GeekBoy has a much milder form of autism than Christopher, but there were still times when I had to put the book down and walk away. The train trip was particularly harrowing for me to read, as a mom. I thought the author did a particularly good job showing how there’s so much going on in Christopher’s head that no one else sees. Once we made GeekBoy understand that not everyone’s mind works like his, and he needs to explain what’s going on in there sometimes, it made all the difference in the world. He thought people knew but just didn’t care.
Bonjour Joe!
Je viens de découvrir ce blog par l’entremise d’un forum dédié à Ben Browder. C’est un vrai plaisir de lire tes commentaires.
J’ai une question côté écriture: Say that you’re watching some show on TV ( not the one you’re working for, obviously) and you find that they’re using the same plot, idea, scenario, whatever, of a script that you wrote a month or two before. What would you do about this?
Je suis en train d’écrire un livre et je passe mon temps à voir mes idées se ramasser à l’écran… qu’est-ce que je fais ?
Do I scrap the bits they used and start again or I keep them and hope nobody sees the similarities ?
It’s getting ridiculous, really. I’m starting to think somebody’s spying on my work. I fear that if I ever get published (unlikely, but we never know), they’ll think I copied from these shows when, in fact, it seems like we got the same ideas at the same time… maybe I should fire my muse and get another one.
I’m just happy it hasn’t happened with Stargate… yet.
Glad to hear that your feeling better.
Q: How come that Torri Higginson replaced Jessica Steen as Dr. Weir?
(if it has been answered just ignore it) I really tried to go through all your entries, but got hungry… ;0)
dee in south africa said…
Regarding Lorne. Most people in the Fanfic community settled on his first name being Marcus.
Please say it is.
I have no idea where I got this idea from, but I thought his first name was Evan. If I didn’t get that from an ep then it must have been in a fanfic. He’s definitely not a Marcus. Marcus was a tall, cynical, witty, dark haired Ranger who died saving the woman he loved… 😉
Laz said…
Marcus was a tall, cynical, witty, dark haired Ranger who died saving the woman he loved…
Mmmmm, Marcus…he’s not dead! I refuse to acknowledge any episode that says he is!
Joe,
Thanks for blogging!
I’ve seen in previous posts that you like some reality TV shows. Are you watching the new one called “On the Lot” about filmmakers, or is that a little bit too much like the day job to entertain you?
Love your pugs…
hi Mr. Mallozzi i just want to ask you if we will know who is the father of teyla’s baby in the first half of the season 4?
Hi Joey
Poor Baby!! You have really had a bad week. You certainly need a few days to rest up from this sort of thing.. Curiously I’m just reading the part in Lies of Locke Lamorra where Locke takes this strange concoction to make him throw up and he says it made him throw up his meals for the pass year..
YOu should have called in Dr House.. Of course his cures are worse than the illness..
Your reference to the flicrvision how do you upload pictures to that site.. Its certainly fascinating to watch all those scenes from all around the world at the same time.. Anyway you should keep away from chocolate for a few days.. you poor baby.
Take care
Dori
*waves*
Hiya Joe, glad to hear you’re feeling better. There’s nothing better than vegging out in your PJ’s when you’re poorly. So with that thought in mind, any chance we can have an ep just dedicate to Shep slouching around in his PJ’s with just his bottoms on 😀 I’m sure it will be a real fan pleaser. And if you feel so inclined to have in his PJ’s as a result of whumpage… who am I to disagree. 😀
Quick question while i’m here, when you went to Hong Kong, what did you enjoy the most? My Dad was stationed over in Kai Tak over 30 years ago, and I was born over there. Unfortunately we came back home when I was a few years old, but would love to go back over. Where would you recommend? My Mom used to tell me about all the food markets over there by the harbour, are they still there now?
Wow, that was a bit of a long-winded question, but then did you expect anything less? hehehe.
Glad to see the MaccyD didn’t make a re-appearance. Feel better soon.
*hugs*
when john was possesed by thalan and he said to teyla “he cares for you more than you know” this was him or thalan? 3. We will know if that statement is true?
Just the thought of John/Teyla is enough to make me feel worse than the most violent food poisoning possible.
Glad you are feeling better!
You said, 1) The wraith have one feeding hand., but isn’t the Wraith in “Common Ground” using both hands at the end of the episode? I could be wrong, though.
Have a nice one, B!
Had a couple of thoughts (dangerous, I know).
Any chance of Dr Jay Felger (hilariously played by Patrick McKenna) turning up in Atlantis? I love him, he’s so adorkable!
And does anyone else, when they think of Rodney and Rod, think of Arnold Rimmer and Ace Rimmer from Red Dwarf? When I thought of that the other day I was in stitches…
Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast!
Hi Joe:
A comment from silver: Completely off topic – Line in the Sand. The conversation between Sam & Cam when she thinks she is dying. What a great scene & how realistic. Stargate has dealt a lot with false gods. The earth concept of God & afterlife hasn’t really been broached.
This is a very good point. Is there a reason why writers on Stargate and Atlantis have stayed away from Christianity and Judaism? Is it for fear of opening a can of worms, so to speak? As the very talented writers that you are, I’m sure you could deal with the Western concept of God and heaven in a respectful, yet interesting way.
Patricia
crazymom said…
Mmmmm, Marcus…he’s not dead! I refuse to acknowledge any episode that says he is!
As does my friend Jenny.
I’m sorry, but he’s gone. But he died saving Ivanova, so he died happy. Just hold on to that thought.
And I second Anon’s suggestion of an Evil McKay episode. That would be SO AWESOME! (But don’t tell David I used the “A” word!)
Ok, going to bed now, will stop bothering you for the night 😉
I have a fundamental question about Stargate itself. What would happen if you travelled through the WRONG SIDE (other side of the whoosh) of an dialling-out stargate?
Hi Joe,
A friend and I will be visiting Vancouver in June – is there a list of locations around the area where the show is sometimes filmed? And if there is, how do I get one?
We’d love to go check them out!
Nichole said…
You said, 1) The wraith have one feeding hand., but isn’t the Wraith in “Common Ground” using both hands at the end of the episode? I could be wrong, though.
Ahhh, now if you look carefully you’ll see he’s holding the one Genii down with his left hand, pinning him in place, while he feeds on the other with his right hand (hence you see the guy pinned down – still young and un-aged – freaking out, seeing the other guy being killed).
Why yes, I may have watched that episode just once a couple of times… or three.. or four… or was it five…? 😉
Joe,
I’m glad you seem to be feeling better from the upset stomach yesterday. The pictures looked like lovely dishes.
Just wondering, do you like dimsum? I’m not sure if you mentioned this before.
Have a lovely Memorial Day!
~Anna~
1) The wraith have one feeding hand.
I may be wrong, but didn’t the Wraith in “Common Ground” use two hands to feed? I believe this was near the end of the episode, right after he had fed on Sheppard to gain strength in order to fight the Koyla’s soldiers. When he had two of the soldiers down, he kneeled over them and using both hands, fed on them…I think. :S