When your wife’s cellphone rings at six in the a.m., your mind and body are kick-started with an adrenaline rush that has you up and out of bed in seconds, scrambling to consider all of the possibilities – someone you know has been in an accident, someone you know is dead, someone you know is in desperate need of your help, someone has screwed up big time and your input is required to set things right, some earth-shaking global catastrophe has occurred, some earth-shaking local catastrophe has occurred, someone is calling to warn you about something. Yes, you consider all of the possibilities save one. “Wrong number,”Fondy informed me, snapping her cellphone shut and going back to sleep. Body charged, heart pounding, mind racing, I lay in bed for over an hour, willing myself to doze off. I eventually did, around 7:30 a.m., and slept fitfully, dreaming of lost dogs, missed appointments, and terrible restaurant experiences.
By the time I awoke, it was past 10:00 a.m. No time for my morning work-out if I wanted to accompany Fondy to her doctor’s appointment. There, she received the results of her full physical and blood work (all good!) afterwhich he headed down to Yaletown for lunch. I’d heard about a restaurant called Phat that made smoked meat sandwiches even east-coasters such as myself could appreciate. I was dubious as the smoked meat sandwiches I’d sampled in Vancouver to date were pale, rubbery imitations of the rich, unctuous versions I grew up with in Montreal. But, as it turns out, Phat makes a pretty decent smoked meat sandwich. The bread is a little oversized but the meat itself was very tasty. When we order in Montreal, we are always given the choice between “lean” and “medium” (which is a nice way of asking for the fattier cut). We were offered the option at Phat and, although we chose “medium”, what we received was still fairly lean. But good nevertheless. Fondy also ordered a side of poutine and particularly enjoyed the meaty fries that formed the basis of this most Quebecois of dishes.
Since we were in the neighborhood, we swung by Chocoatl and ordered an assortment of chocolates – which I brought home and promptly ate. An exquisite assortment, this one highlighted by a dark chocolate with cocoa nibs, a dark chocolate pumpkin, and the ever-so-delicious Macchiato.
Oh, and lest you all think that I’ve spent the last couple of days doing nothing but lazing about, sleeping, watching football (that was a helluva Monday Night game!), and reading (two-thirds of the way through The Fall of Hyperion), you would only be partially right. Well, if I was to award some sort of percentage to said assumption, I’d say about 90% right. The other 10% of my time was spent changing all of the spent light bulbs in the house, working on this blog (you ungrateful ingrates), and preparing our Thanksgiving dinner. Yep, you heard correctly. I actually cooked. On the menu last night: Roasted Chicken, Roasted potatoes with onions and garlic, Wok-fried Broccolini with Oyster Sauce, Fried Sweet Peppers, and Caramelized Cipollini Onions.
Looks like my episode, Reunion, will be airing this Friday. I’ll have plenty to say about the episode on the day, including a little insight into what the hell I was thinking when I wrote it – and, once it airs, I’ll offer a little more insight into the production itself including excerpts from the script that didn’t make it into the final cut (but will be making their way onto a future DVD special feature).
Today’s pics: Phat, smoked meat, poutine, Chocoatl chocolates, our Thanksgiving meal minus the roasted chicken I evidently forgot to snap a picture of. But, honestly, I did make one! Ask Fondy the next time you see her.
Today’s video: Click on the date for a 360 view of the village set on our last day of production.
Today’s mailbag:
Promogirl writes: “Any word on Lifeline’s ratings?”
Answer: Nothing official yet. Gone are the days when we would receive that final number on the Monday following the show’s airing.
Skipgunner writes: “ Do you ever cook for yourself and how gourmet do you get?”
Answer: I rarely cook but it just so happens that I did last night. Check it out.
Skipgunner also writes: “I just picked up a combo of Niven’s The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring. Ever read it and if so, what did you think?”
Answer: Integral Trees sits on my bookshelf. It’s another title I have to get around to.
Charles Schneider writes: “How do you feel about larger-breed dogs like Labs? When you chose your dogs, was it more based on their personalities, or did was size a big factor too?”
Answer: I’m a big dog fan in general. In the case of our dogs, Fondy had some particular breeds in mind.
Alison_974 writes: “OK, I like Where’s Wally, but I can’t see Rachel Luttrell in the cast photo… little help?”
Answer: Rachel had wrapped by then and enjoying her well-earned time off.
Elizaeth writes: “Is Jacob Carter going to be on Atlantis or in the movies, Continuum or Ark Of Truth?”
Answer: No comment.
Audrey writes: “ David Nykl said on his blog there were 10 episodes with him in it, whereas earlier reports had been 15. Can you confirm a number?”
Answer: “Off the top of my head, I don’t have an exact number of episodes.
Zabadoo writes: “1.If the unimaginable gets imagined and Atlantis gets cancelled, are your new pilots that you are writing sci-fi or a different genre? 2.Would you stay and write for Brad and Rob on the new spin-off if that were to get picked up instead? 3.If Atlantis gets picked up for a fifth season, will you be show-runner or will Brad and Rob be back? If not, what will they be doing?”
Answers: 1. Scifi, horror, drama, comedy. 2. Unless Paul and I are busy with other projects, there’s no reason why we wouldn’t. 3. If Atlantis does come back, Paul and I will be showrunning. As for Brad and Rob, they’ll be busy working on something Stargate-related. Right now, it’s too early to say what.
Lexxye writes: “Sorry, going back to the cast picture; who got the honor of holding Lulu?”
Answer: That is our production coordinator, Tanya Balic, who Lulu absolutely adores.
LostCityGuardian writes: “Is it you who approves the comments so they are posted visibly or do you have somebody do it for you?”
Answer: I approve the comments.
Jono writes: “Do you ever have regrets over story decisions made previously?”
Answer” Oh sure. In hindsight, there are decisions I might have reconsidered or handled differently were I given the opportunity to travel back in time. And I’m sure that any television writer or producer would have similar feelings about their own work.
Mrs.B108 writes: “With all the upcoming dramatic scenes and slated angst, do any of the crew become emotionally overwhelmed and display any out of character behavior?”
Answer: Yep.
Ben writes: “If you could go back and know that season 10 of SG-1 was the last, what would you change about the way the story played out?”
Answer: Approximately, oh, nothing. Rob does a great job of tying up most of the loose ends in The Ark of Truth.
Atlantisfannew1 a ecrit: “1)Vous préféré le sucré ou salé?? 2)Quel acteur ou actrice arrivé souvent en retard sur le plateau? 3)Quesque vous avez prévu de faire pour votre anniversaire??”
Reponses: 1) Sucré. 2) — 3) Je ne sais pas. Peut-etre je sortirai avec Marty G. la nuit suivante.
Dee in South Africa writes: “If the Canadian Dollar continues to be strong will it affect shooting next season?”
Answer: Probably.
Jessica writes: “ I haven’t been reading long, so maybe I missed it, but have you tried Zakkushi?”
Answer: I have. Just do use the search option on my blog and you’ll see Zakkushi come up several times. Fondy and I are semi-regulars.
Eboni writes: “1.) Does the Wraith attack command being executed by the Wraith affect Teyla and other Athosians with the Wraith gene? 2.) Surely the Ancients have a failsafe against Replicator attacks. What would happen to the Replicator processing system, if it encountered the Wraith gene and the Ancient gene embodied in one person? 3.) I may have missed this, but can Teyla self-regenerate like other Wraiths or is she not Wraith enough?”
Answers: 1) It does not. 2) They did. 3) No, she can’t.