Scheduling snafus abound as the season draws to a close between this issue and that issue and pulling up and pushing back. We all sat in John Smith’s office this afternoon (John Smith, John Lenic, Paul, Carl, Alan, Martin Wood, Andy Mikita, and myself) and went over the seemingly endless scenarios – shifting, switching, scrambling – until we finally arrived at a tenuous house-of-cards solution that could very well fall apart anytime between now and the last day of shooting. I’m exhausted. The weekend couldn’t have rolled in on a better day (Fridays have always worked best for me).
An email response to the email query from the ailing Isa Salmon, hard done by her greedy family, looking to bequeath $18 million dollars to someone willing to make the world a better place. And who better than Baron Destructo. The Baron wrote back:
“Dearest Wretch,
I share your mistrust of humanity and hope that, through our shared efforts, there may come a day when their pestilent existence will come to a brutal and irrevocable end. On that day, their tormented shrieks will serve as the elegant overture to our operatic conquest of this backwards world and then you shall have your revenge for billions will die cursing the name of Isa Salmon. Hopefully, despite your present suffering, this prospect of murder and mayhem on a mass planet-wide scale will serve to brighten your dark days. Failing that, might I suggest your check out the first season of the Dave Chapelle Show. He is a very funny guy. Funny, yet doomed – like the rest of humankind!
As I informed the previous individual who contacted me via email with a similar opportunity, the League of Aliens and Mutants for Evil does not make use of vile Earthly institutions such as banks and wire services. Instead, we prefer the personal touch of a hands-on exchange and massacre. Given your present condition, I doubt a visit to our moonbase would be possible. However, if you could provide your address, I can make arrangements for one of my associates to visit you, complete our transaction, and extinguish your pitiful life.
Get back to me at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for keeping the dream alive,
Sincerely,
Baron Destructo
Cc: Calamitous Jane, Glaxnor the Miscreant, Sinderella Washington, Xxxaptak’qul, Dr. Catastro, Dr. Disastro, Dr. Quinn Meddlesome Woman, Ray Mephistopheles, Archfiend Animus, Brutus Badly, the Plague Zombies, Vorzik the Planet Squisher, the Malevolater, Count Sinister, Kugal Baruth, Death Knell, Star Father Celestio, Shatterdam, Princess Arcana, the Mystifier, the Procrastinator, the Soul Emancipator, Quickstrike, Professor Frosty, Flamer the Flaming Man, the Pummeler, the Purple Lamprey, and John Tesh.”
Also, my Melvin kidnappers@yahoo.com account has received an impressive amount of scam mail. Alas, the kidnappers are on vacation, but their automated out of office reply system was hard at work fielding queries:
“Automated Out of Office Reply:
The kidnappers you seek will be out of the office from August 27th to September 14th. In the meantime, please feel free to make use of our automated response system. The heading of your email –
SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCEþ
– indicates you are inquiring about the following kidnap victim:
Count Ludovico Amaretto
A native of Naples, Italy, Count Ludovico Amaretto is heir to the vast Amaretto Packing Peanut Empire. In addition to being an accomplished badminton player (ranked #215 in Men’s Single), the Count is a master of the longbow and a student of both the French horn and tambourine. His main residence is the Castle Amaretto on Lake Como which he has occupied since 1983 along with his eccentric supercentenarian aunt Rosa, his halfwit cousin Nunzio, and his faithful Alsatian wolfhound Einhandsegeln.
Date of kidnapping: March 15, 2006.
Ransom demanded: $12 million euros.
Status: Unfortunately, Count Amaretto’s remaining relatives are either too senile, mad, or slow-witted to effectively negotiate his release. Our last contact with them was on January 17, 2007 when we offered to lower the ransom demand from $15 million euros to $12. Family members requested time to consider the proposal before getting back to us. They have not been heard from since. It is assumed they simply forgot. Subsequent attempts to reach them to continue negotiations have proven fruitless as the woman answering the estate phone only speaks Italian, a language we do not understand.
If this is the correct kidnap victim, please leave us a detailed message including your name, your counter-offer (if applicable), and an email or phone number where you can be reached.
Thank you,
The Kidnappers :)”
Today’s extra special blog dedication goes out to Jill whose home suffered some recent tornado damage, and glennh73 whose home suffered some recent jerk-crook damage. Hope that in both cases, home and family are doing better.
No mailbag today but plenty o’ pics: lotsa o‘ Lulu settling in.
Today’s video: Oodles of fun on set. Click on the date for a video of David, Amanda, and Jewel yukking it up.
Your video today made me smile. It seems like you get to work with a lot of fun and very talented people. Thanks for sharing these little glimpses behind the scenes with us.
And Lulu hasn’t gotten nearly as big as I would have thought by now! All the puppies are adorable.
Taking a cue from today’s video… from SG-1 and Atlantis, which actor tends to crack up the easiest? And which actor tends to crack the others up the most?
Lulu’s ears are as adorable as ever, and looks like they have all settled in very nicely together.
Are we going to see any Shep angst for whatever condition Weir might be in?
I know sometime I slip and ask these silly questions 🙂
Have a great evening Mr. M.
hmmmm… i gues the spelling thing doesn’t work… bannnana …..
Aww… for Lulu, and then for Jill and Glennh73.
Do you have plans for a post-season getaway?
lol, what happened to cause those laughing fits in the video?
hi, joe,
LOVE the yucking it up vid!:D what did david do to make amanda laugh so hard? :p
also…
there’s a video of a very young and cute richard dean anderson singing on the old dinah shore show. i’ve got a link for it from youtube, and i’d love it if you’d show this video to amanda and ask her opinion on it. of course, relay that opinion to your blog. (i’d love to see her face when she sees it! :p)
sally 😀
Ooooooh, puppies!!!! 🙂 *stares*
Too. cute. Must avert. eyes from….them. Or can’t. type. at…normal. rate.
Very nice dog piccies. Loved the video of people laughing with David. (I hope!) LOL
Ah, the return of the Baron! So nice of him to offer to extinguish Isa’s pitiful life in exchange for $18 mil.
As an ill wind might blow down your tenuous house of cards solution (God forbid), do you feel like Dave Chappelle–“funny, yet doomed?” Or is it one of those situations where something’s going on air, dammit, and hope it’s good enough for the SGA moniker?
In other words, what happens if a show doesn’t get completed? Can that happen? Does that happen?
Cute, but Doomed.
Hi there – have you ever had chocolates from Burdicks in Cambridge, MA?
Ah Friday otherwise known as Poets day:-
Pi**
Off
Early
Tomorrow’s
Saturday
Still trying to get through Excession the ships talking to each other is a bit of a slog but I shall persevere.
My leave finishes on Monday back to work Tuesday, oh well all good things.
Have a good weekend.
Pauline
will we be blessed with ancients in season 4?
also cute dogs, i would imagine its lots of work looking after so many, but as they say, a dog is a mans best friend, the more the better, as they act like minions 😛
dont think anyones asked this but, how you doing Joe? hows life?
Ohhh…I can’t wait for the blooper reel!!
Ok Joe, I’ll just cut the Qs from yesterday:
1. How would you react if, walking around town one day, a fan rolled down his car window beside you and yelled “Atlantis Season 4 is going to rock!!” and then quickly drives away? I need to know since…uh…well, I just need to know.
2. Are we going to get some good “explore Atlantis” stuff in the second half of Season 4?
3. Will you be able to tell us the show’s ratings when they start airing on the 28th? If so, how soon afterwards?
Love the videos and pictures from this weekend. I just now got to read them as Dragon*Con occupied so much time.
David going to Hogwarts….you know, I can imagine his face all lit up in that statement!
If you’d like to see some D*C photos you can go to my lastest blog post. There are directions there to view them. 🙂 Enjoy!
Awww, puppies! Baby anything is just about adorable but that goes double for pups and kittens. I’ve always been more of a cat person myself (my cat is Darth Furball), but those puppies are cuuuuute.
The vid’s funny. DH seems like such a riot…
Not sure I have any salient questions but I do have one curiosity…any chance we might actually hear Joe play guitar? 😀
That vid of RDA was hilarious. I used to watch him on General Hospital. I didn’t like his character, Jeff Weber. Thought he was arrogant and obnoxious. Hmmm…now who does that sound like? O’Neil??? LOL….actually I like O’Neil…he’s a riot! Funny and so dry!
Looks like you guys are having so much fun, Hope we’ll be having fun too when S4 airs…
I had a great Friday! It was a public holiday here in the ghost town we call Sydney.
Thanks to the OPEC (oops I mean APEC) Summit, we had the day off to get out of town.
Can’t wait to see what “National Costume” we put these hapless Heads of State in!! I hope it is something goofey – that’s the price you pay for taking over our town!
Gotta feel sorry for the tourists who only had one day to visit our fair town and were told “sorry, you can’t go near the Opera House or we will have to shoot you”EOR
Joe, I don’t recall seeing all of your dogs in one shot. Am I mistaken or is that a near impossible task?
Hey Joe, thanks for the video!! I was sssoo happy to see Amanda there!!I made my day for sure!!!!:D
Hi Joe,
I can’t figure out why the SciFi Channel isn’t currently airing any Season 3 Atlantis episodes, which would lead up to Season 4.
If they’re really interested in the show, one would think they’d want to promote it more to hopefully entice or keep the SG1 fans watching, plus attract additional audience.
Do you have any idea why they’re not airing it?
Haha, did DH fall or something? 😀
Your video brightened my day, Joe. I’m moving away from home today so was feeling a bit low so thanks for cheering me up!
So, I wouldn’t call myself a big pug fan, but yours are way to cute, especially the early pics where they are so amusingly rotund, in a good way. A friend of mine pointed me towards your blog a couple of weeks ago (yay SG1). I got drawn in by your torture of telemarketers (as any good super villain does), and your comedic timing. I’ve been attempting to read my way through your blog from the start (where you eat things I’d never have to/get to/have the nerve to/desire to). (I’m stuck Feb ’07) Your delicious looking pictures make me want to drive up to Vancouver for lunch (not really a viable choice as I live in Portland). Any chance you’ll dedicate the next blog to me? (me = Amber), as I have had an unpleasant, yet constructive criticismfully, evaluation at work today.
-why david is fell? what’s happend? is he clumsy?
-it is a very great video so funny like forever.
The vid was really great and I love your spam replies, especially the Baron and the kidnappers, but how did you come up with “Einhandsegeln” as a name for that dog??? Do you speak German by chance? Do you do sailing? You confuzzled me.
And I think it would be better to use € instead of $ if you’re speaking of Euros 😉
Looking forward to the next blog entry!
Is it just me, or does Lulu look disturbingly like Stitch, of “Lilo and Stitch” fame, except … not blue. It’s the ears!
Thank you for the puppy pictures. They are so adorable.
I heard that Connor Trinneer may appear in the Kindred 2 parter. Is this true?
Awwww that pic of the pups all curled up together is priceless Joe. My two kittens have just started to curl up together and its sooooo sweet.Thanks for sharing that vid too… what did David do/say to make Amanda crack up like that? LOL
Have a good weekend and make sure you have some ‘you’ time.
Hugs
Wendy
John Sheppard is my happy place
1)Can we expect to see a dark side of Sheppard this season?
2)Are there any surprising revelations this season?
I totally sympathise with all the scheduling issues. For the last month my coworkers and I have been diligently working to fill an empty library full of books for our grand opening in two weeks. As we were getting ready to head home for the weekend, after unpacking the last box of books, we were told that due to unforseen issues our opening will be delayed for a month.
Thank goodness it’s Friday!
Salut Joseph!!!
C est votre plus grande fan^^!!
Vos chiens sont vraiment trop adorable^^!
Il parait que beaucoup de gens lise mes commentaires!lol je ne comprend pas,ma vie n’est pas int�r�ssante^^!
Mais bon c est vrai que j’ai passer une tr�s bonne journ�e et bien charger!!
Je suis aller a Royan! C est une ville en bord de mer, pour y aller j’ai pris le bateaux pour travers� lestuaire le plus grand d’europe !^^! Je me suis promen� et j ai bien manger(frite avec viande de kebab, accompagn� d’une sauce et en dessert une cr�pe avec de la glace au nougat des amandes griller et un couli de fruit rouge!) hmmm miamemiame! =D
En plus aujourd hui je vous est ……..�h�h� non =D sa c’est une surprise lol!^^
Demain ont va manger a un restaurant Marocain! je vous raconterez…;)
Pour les questions, je poserais les m�me qu’hier:
1) Vous pratiquez quel sport?
2)Dans la saison 4, on ne vera pas de fran�ais?
3)Vous lisez quel livre en ce moment?
Bon bah, bonne journ�e! Gros bisou!!! je vous adore �norm�ment =)
Hi Joe,first off i’d just like to say awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww,what cute little Doggies…..Um,ok question,Will Teyla be wearing more of her Athosian clothing rather that the Earth Military uniform this season?
At DragonCon, I asked Michael Shanks how Stargate was ever able to stay in production, given how often they seemed to degenerate on the set and, hence, cost money. (Well, at least according to all of their stories.) He said he really didn’t know. Jason, of course, claimed that the SGA set was way better behaved. I am starting to doubt his sincerity. 🙂
By the way, those kids of yours are looking adorable!
I was watching Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory today (don’t ask. Thank fully, it was the original, with Gene Wilder, (don’t get me started on the remake). Anyway, I had to do a double take, when I realised that he had your mannerisms and biting acerbic wit, not to mention both of you adore chocolate! 😉 Given that the film came out when you were little, were your aspirations ever to be like Willy Wonka?
Just reposting my question from yesterday. 🙂
Quote:
1.Will Teyla get a love interest,well maybe not a love interest as such but maybe someone taking an interest.
Answer: Yes
Is this the love interest that Rachel referred to in her interview, saying that “we haven’t met him yet?”
Thanks!
i know you have just announced the finale as the last man but does Teyla appear in this episode at all? and does it have anything to do with the birth of the baby?
im just wanting to ask can you tellus something about tela in the second half of the season that we dont already know pretty please
Hi, please answer this question!
Will there be any Jack and Sam moments in either Stargate Atlantis season four or the Stargate movies [Ark Of Truth or Continuum]?
Cute pugs!
Thanks!
Hi agains! Love the video, Is it alright if I pretty please link it on my myspace page?
http://twi-lekku-jade.spaces.live.com
I was wondering, I recently listened to a podcast of a writers meeting for a Battlestar Galactica episode and I loved to hear the creative process behind an episode in so much detail, as you know in public you guys have to be vague for PR reasons and I understand that whole-heartedly. I would love it, and I’m sure other fans would too, if you guys could pretty please do something around the same thing; that is record a writers meeting for the spinning etc. of a certain episode of SGA. It doesn’t matter if it’s online months after said episode airs, it’s just really great for us fans to get that real insight into even one episode of our favourite show and gives us even more appreciation for what you guys go through to get an episode on the screen. It doesn’t have to be a podcast or anything, it can just be a random recording on your blog or something . . . Given the rampant explicit swearing at their meeting throughout the 3 part 3 hour recording,
I’m sure you SGA writers can do better! lol You people rock.
luvs lillian