With Fondy awash in doggy-related paraphernalia, I was on my own for lunch today and, rather than celebrate my last Friday of my hiatus with a tin of Brunswick sardines and a bottle of spring water, I decided to go the Lonely Guy route and treat myself to a table for one at Fuel. Since we were planning to go out for dinner (as opposed to what exactly?), I decided to eat light. To that end, I skipped the oh-so-good chorizo sandwich with red onions in favor of the crispy rainbow trout and the organic “Celebration” salad.
Okay, now I’m admittedly the last person who would order a salad at a restaurant but this particular salad is, well, fantastic – comprised of an impossible variety of greens and dressed with firewood honey, confit lemon, and home-made ricotta. The trout – as wonderfully crispy-skinned as advertised – was delicate in both taste and texture, accompanied by sidestripe shrimp ravioli, dandelion greens, and a hazelnut-studded crème fraiche.
One of the nice things about eating alone is that people no doubt feel sorry for you and so are more inclined to stop by and chat. Both owner and sommelier extraordinaire Tom Doughty and ultra-talented Executive Chef Robert Belcham dropped by to talk about that organic salad (one of the leaves possesses an almost root beer-like flavor), discuss the new additions to the menu (a whole lobe of duck foie gras for the serious foie gras fanatic, and an enormous 35-day dry-aged bone-in rib-eye sure to satisfy the meatiest of meat-eaters), and sample their very own house cured subtly-smoky pork loin which fairly melted in my mouth.
Great service. Great food. And I am eyeing those two new additions to the dinner menu. But I may need some back-up. When’s Marty G. getting back in town?
Q&A –
Sandyeggobooks writes: “Why do you think that you probably won’t ever write a novel? Do you think there are different skill sets required for novel writing vs. script writing?”
Answers: To answer the second question first – yes, novel writing requires a different skill set and is, in my opinion, much more difficult and demanding. To answer the first question – if some time frees up, I just may give it a shot.
Lulu_wella writes: “ Speaking of chocolate superiority…have you ever tried a ‘tim tam’…”
Answer: Yes. We have an Aussie fan contingent (Seldear and co.) who send us a yearly shipment.
PG15 writes: “What did you mean when you said “It’ll be great to finally see the big men spare”? Big men spare? What is that?”
Answer: That’s was I get for not proofreading. I meant to write “see the big men spar”.
Anonymous #1 writes: “…during Seasons 8-10 of Stargate SG-1 when the fans would talk about the fact that they thought both of the Stargate shows were hurt because too many of the same writers, producers, directors, etc., were trying to do 2 shows (…) however now it seems that almost everyone who is involved with the Stargate shows who talks about it in interviews says how good it is NOT to be doing two…”
Answer: Sure. There’s a difference between saying the quality of the show suffered because we were producing 40 episodes of television (which is what YOU are saying) and saying there is less pressure producing half as many episodes (which is what WE are saying).
Zabadoo writes: “1)1.)Have you ever thought about directing? 2) Do you consider the fourth season of Atlantis to be a new chapter in the story? 3) Are you planning on answering a lot of long wondered questions this season of Atlantis or do you plan to just develop the questions further?”
Answers: 1) Sure, in much the same way I think about being an all-pro corner for the Los Angeles Raiders. 2) I see the fourth season as a deeper and richer development of the established storylines and characters. 3) We’ll be answering some questions, developing others.
Ccbarker writes: “Which do you prefer–Northern Italian or Southern Italian cuisine?”
Answer: My mother is from the south, so it was always more lasagna or pasta with tomato-based sauces over risottos and cream-based sauces. Still, I enjoy both. It really depends on my mood although, for the stuffed pastas (agnolotti, tortellini, gnocchi) I prefer the cream-based sauces.
Rderoch writes: “Is there also a gap in the directors schedule?”
Answer: Nope.
Pauline writes: “With the Wraith ships having organic looking fixtures…”
Answer: Very interesting thoughts. Season four will offer up some insight into some of the wraith organic tech.
Anonymous #2 writes: “How many pages are there in a script for an episode of Stargate Atlantis?”
Answer: Anywhere from 55-60 pages.
Anonymous #3 writes: “When the fans ask questions, do they have to stay strictly with questions about Stargate? I would love to know more about Chris and Michael’s ‘Rage Of Angels’ project, but I didn’t know if it would be rude to ask.”
Answer: Ask away.
Anonymous #4 writes: “Now that there are only a few episodes left to write for season four, are you able to tell us yet if Daniel will be in any episodes?”
Answer: We’ve been off for three weeks so nothing has changed.
Speaking of scripts, I write my own for a little Trek fanfic series I’m doing, but it’s extremely hard to trim it down to that 55-60 page goal you have there. Hell, I’m lucky if I can get it down to below 70 pages. But then, I use Microsoft Word and a lot of tabbing instead of actual script software.
So, my questions are: 1). Do you use script software, and if so, what? 2). What’s the longest script you’ve ever written for Stargate? Longest script by any writer?
Thank you!
Hey Mr. Joe,
Salad can fill you up, if you have a crapload of meat in it!
I was wondering, what will we see from Ronon? Will there be friends, or family who escaped from Sateda?
How’s the weather in Vancouver? It is midnight here in Scotland and raining cats and dogs.
And guess who is going back to work on Monday and leaving his three little puggies at doggy daycare.
Hey Joe, I was watching Prometheus Unbound (again) this morning and something caught my attention. When Daniel has Vala at er, zat-point, she tells him that the Kull warrior suit she is wearing absorbs zat-blasts. Yet after she headbutts him at the end of the scene and he manages to zat her, he shoots her in the torso area of the suit, but she still gets stunned. Is there an explanation for this or will I just pretend I never saw it?
THANK YOU!!! You didn’t say no. That means it’s still a maybe. If it was a definite no you would have said so. Right Joe? But you didn’t say no! THANK YOU!!!
Oh, I forgot to mention what I’m thanking you for. Nevermind. I have a feeling you already know anyway. Thank you Joe. ((Hugs))
Piccies
Is that one pug trying to bite the backside of another pug?
Are your pugs related to each other in any way? My cats are siblings which means that they fight and bicker all the time.
novel writing requires a different skill set and is, in my opinion, much more difficult and demanding
Joe, I had to chuckle when I read your answer re: novel writing. I’m a novelist (one published, 2nd one will be out next spring) – and I’ve always thought writing screenplays was much more difficult.
Guess it’s all depends on which side of the keyboard you’re sitting on. ::g::
BTW, I enjoy your blog immensely.
Will you ever cast yourself in Atlantis or the new stargate series you are developing, better yet will any of the writers have a mini part that they can play?
like i don’t know, a villager on an offworld planet, a bad guy that ends up you know at the end of the episode.
if that has happened could you quote me an episode?
hi, joe,
i’m sorry to hear that rick or ben aren’t going to be in a season 4 episode of atlantis. they were the only sg1 characters i was hoping would make an appearance (besides sam of course). 🙂
sally 😀
in the episode Window Of Opportunity which was episode 6 of season 4 aka the groundhog day episode, Jack was reading a book with the name Joseph Mallozzi on the front as the author, i dont know the name, but was that a real book or a fake prop that was put there so fans can go, Ah hes the writer for SG1 etc
Joe,
It’s good to hear that Peter Woeste will be directing an episode. My question is will the other Peter, Peter Deluise, be directing any episodes this year?
shippy question:
1)Do you think Carter will mention Jack is season 4 ?Because in season 10, she didn’t.
2)Why do you think she didn’t ask for him “TRNT”?.Do you think she didn’t want to find out he was dead or something like that?
thank you!
Hey Joe,
Ive been thinking about writing a novel and even a script of some sort for a while.
Ive started a couple of books but never seem to get around to finishing them haha.
Ive just resently started another book. Its a lot different than my others and hopefully i’ll finish it.
A friend and I are planning on doing this short film. Its a fight scene with lots of special effects. Should be fun!
Now I can’t claim to be a “long time” watcher of SG-1 but I did start watching about season 5. One of the things that bothered me about season 9 was the command issue. Hopefully you can answer this as I have seen it discussed many places on Stargate forums and it has rekindled my interest in why the decisions that were made were made:
why did you put someone with no Gate experience and no offworld experience in charge of the flagship team (really, someone who had clearly never seen the SGC or the Stargate before, which the very first episode of season 9 made clear) especially when you knew Carter would be there?
This was one of the things about the season 9 changes that contributed to my drifting away from Stargate early on in season 9.
It left a bad taste because to me it made so little sense it was hard to overcome, I guess for me, at the end of the day it was impossible to overcome and I was sorry about that because I really liked the show before that.
Dear Sir, I was wondering since SGA has their action figures out or in the works will the marketing companies have Atlantis as a model to build or Lantean design ships?
(Warships or Scientific ships)
Loved your letters to the scammers. That was great fun and fed my desire to get back at those guys who clutter our mailboxes and fleece poor unsuspecting souls.
If you’d like to see what high tea is like at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena, I finally managed to get the pictures up on my blog.
I’ve been a mostly entry level-mid level geek for most of my five year production career in broadcasting, but I’m in the process of putting together a proposal for a show… I think I have an amazing idea (although I know this is sort of similar to thinking your kid is the cutest), but I’m curious as to how to best SHOW the potential of my idea right from the proposal that will innevitably end up on someones desk among many other proposals… How would I catch the right person’s attention without looking stupid? Any suggestions? It’s taken a lot of guts and hard work to finally get to the point where I feel comfortable trying to sell my idea to someone else, but now that I’m here, I’m completely stuck. Nothing I put together seems to feel right… and since I know I may only have one shot, I’m extremely nervous and want everything to be perfect. HELP!
Hi Joe:
Someone told me that there are no mosquitoes in and around Vancouver. Is this true? If so, why has Vancouver escaped the little daemons?
By the way, are the wraith based on mosquitoes, wasps or a combination of the two, or something else entirely?
Patricia
I’ve noticed the food you picture is often rather fancy looking dishes. Do you ever enjoy more simple things like fresh fruits and vegetables? I’ve been eating the first of the corn on the cob where I am from and it is delicious!
A few questions:
1. Why do the Wraith have sharp scary teeth?(I’ve been wondering for awhile. Were they made that way just to be scary or is there another purpose?)
2. Can Wraith eat food with their mouths?(I’m thinking no, but then why the sharp teeth?) If they can’t eat now…were they ever able to eat food?
3. Can Wraith feed off animals or just human type creatures?
(That would make an interesting twist…a colony of Wraith that have developed a conscience, who feel for sentient creatures and won’t feed on them, and choose to feed on dumb animals instead. Who, if anyone, would they side with in a war?)
I hope your 3 weeks off rejuvenated you and the rest of the SGA crew!
As to the guess on where Lorne grew up…my guess would be around one of the big cities on the coasts. Near either Seattle, San Fran, LA, Boston or New York. He just doesn’t seem like a country/mid-west raised person…dunno why…
Bonjour, j’aimerais savoir si on aura la chance de voir un personnage français dans stargate atlantis ?
Hey, Mr. Joe! I’d like to be known as Col. Matarrese, but as you can see, my name is James…question:
In one episode of Atlantis, McKay said something about it being good that he remembered DOS when he was trying to use a Wraith computer. Does that mean a Wraith computer uses an operating system similar to DOS (or any classical computing OS for that matter) or was it just another wonderfully snarky McKay quote? Thanks!
Are you sparky and spanky?
I was wondering… since you’re a foodie, would you mind sharing what a tuttleroot looks like? You know, from the soup Charin makes, and the one Teyla failed at making?
Want to publish a book?
How about “Eat out every night and still stay trim by Joseph Mallozzi”?
Come on, we all would like to try your exercise routine…
“One of the nice things about eating alone is that people no doubt feel sorry for you and so are more inclined to stop by and chat.”
I disagree with you on this part. As someone who always has to eat out alone (parents do not count) this never seems to happen to me.
I can’t even get some to come out with me-and I’m willing to pay!
But then again you know a TON more people then I do. 🙂
Ok how can I get a blog dedicated to me? I’ve also got the sinus thing, a bronchial infection, throat thing and a sick 22 year old son which believe me is INFINITELY worse than the 19 month old, a recovering 19 year old and a hale and hearty 12 year old who is currently baking a huge batch of Swiss Rolls unsupervised because I can’t bear to watch!
Add to that the fact that our whole areas broadband has been out of commission for the past 24 hours and is still sketchy even now and I’m trying to cram in as much internet time as I can before it goes FUBAR again!
have a good weekend in any case.
Cheers Joe:)
Salut Joseph!!!
JOYEUX FÊTE NATIONAL DE LA FRANCE !! XD
Trop génial!!!
lol!
dsl je ne peut pas écrire bc aujourd hui, car j ai une lomg journée^^!
Donc je vous souhaite de passer une bonne journée, a demain, je vous adore, ET VIVE LA FRANCE!!!^^
Joe,
As an Atlantis fan, I can’t tell you how glad I am that Mitchell/Ben will not be making an appearance. There is absolutely no reason for him to be there. That’s what we have Shep for. I hated the way that Mitchell treated McKay in Pegasus Project and Mitchell basically ruined SG1 for me.
And Majorsal, the only reason you want Jack is so that you can have your shippy moments. This is Atlantis not SG1. Maybe you’ll get your shippy moments in Continuum but they don’t belong in Atlantis. The only way I would want to see Jack do a guest spot is if it was an episode that Sam isn’t in.
Joe is writing Sam as a strong character. Why would you want to ruin it by bringing in Sam/Jack ship or a character (Mitchell) who took away Sam’s leadership and made her character look incapable of leading for almost 2 years?
reSalut Joseph!!
La j ai un peu de temp pour vous parler!!
Il fait beau, les oiseaux chantent,je suis heureuse,ce soir je vais a un feu d artifice! le bonheur quoi^^!
=}Oh trop mimi la photo de vos chien!!
=}alors voici une question que je vais vous posez, je suis sur et certaine que vous n allez pas me répondre, mais je tente le coup:
Sous quel forme va revenir Carson dans la saison 4? sous la forme d un fantome?
pitier ne me répondé pas “peu étre” XD!
Bon aller je vous fait de gros gros bisou! a demain, bonne journée!!
Hey Joe!
I heard that someone asked you if there would be any chance of an Australian character making it on to SGA. Are we talking a real Australian or an American doing a absolutely horrible fake Australian accent? Coz that can only end badly and is honestly quite offensive. Thanks mate.
Hi Joe,
will Mitchell be promoted to the full Colonel, so there is clear SG-1 leadership?
I hope this isn’t a dumb question, but if Sam is being promoted and then Mitchell is promoted how would there be clear SG1 leadership? If Mitchell is promoted too then I doubt that Sam will still be a member of SG1. How about Sam’s promoted and Mitchell is smacked back to Major. I know I’d be happy.
JM would you suggest that for this season overall it will be an emotional rollercoaster for the characters, and as viewers we should be prepared?! I don’t think the other seasons have been as emotionally impacting on the characters as a whole, just one or two. But it seems now ever since Sunday and eps of that nature that S4 will be bordering along very emotionally and psychologically driven eps.
**Everything seems to be edged in drama, ep after ep, after ep that has been listed.
ok i heard a rumor, Is it true that Weir takes command again of SGC as the actor that plays Landry probably wont be around?
This would please alot of us, this way we could see see the Stargate Command during episodes of Atlantis.
hi,
Shep has several times shown admiration (cant find a better word) for Ronan’s gun and even said ‘I gotta get myself one of these’ in reference to it, my question is, will he ever get one?
why did you put someone with no Gate experience and no offworld experience in charge of the flagship team (really, someone who had clearly never seen the SGC or the Stargate before, which the very first episode of season 9 made clear) especially when you knew Carter would be there?
*sigh* Exactly what part of “because AT was third banana and Browder was the new lead” do you people still not understand?
There’s a very nice review of the season 10 DVD set here that you might be interested to read, Joe.
Joe is writing Sam as a strong character. Why would you want to ruin it by bringing in Sam/Jack ship
Silly, Nonymouse! Don’t you know that Samantha is nothing without Her Man? 😉
“Anonymous said…
I hope this isn’t a dumb question, but if Sam is being promoted and then Mitchell is promoted how would there be clear SG1 leadership? If Mitchell is promoted too then I doubt that Sam will still be a member of SG1. How about Sam’s promoted and Mitchell is smacked back to Major. I know I’d be happy.”
And for what crime exactly? I suppose there should be really serious reason for actual de-moting. It’s not going to happen. Sam leaves for Atlantis, so I guess she leaves SG-1… so clear leadership situation for Mitchell.
Hi Joe,
could you tell me whether Claudia Black’s fans are going to find at least short VIDEO interview at either The Ark of Truth or Continuum DVDs? 2 YEARS now and we’ve got NOTHING at all so far. It’s simply NOT FAIR and I really hate MGM for doing this to us.
si vous etiez un personnage de stargate atlantis, qui seriez vous?? moi je serais Weir car j’adore les roles de leader
Hi Joe, I remember sometime last year Amanda, Richard, Ben and Joe F auction dinner and lunch for charity looking at your food pictures and description I’m sure people would also pay for a good cause to have dinner with you, but beside that I’m curious, would you auction yourself? and what “experience” would it be? for charity of course. Take care!
Carolina
Oh God the anti Sam whiners are at it again. What makes them come out from under their rocks?
From Anonymous “Oh God the anti Sam whiners are at it again. What makes them come out from under their rocks?”
Kiddy-garten is out for the summer and they have extra time on their hands.
Kiddy-garten is out for the summer and they have extra time on their hands.
So maybe they thought they’d spend the time productively and learn whining from the real pros, the Sammifan whiners.