I arrived home today to the sight pictured above (Pic #1). My first reaction was “We’ve been robbed!” My second reaction was “Why would the burglars root through the garbage?” Why? Because burglars didn’t root through the damn garbage! The pugs did! While Lulu was at daycare and I was at work, someone (I won’t name names but it could be the same person who left the Halloween chocolates out on the coffee table last year that resulted in the pugs getting mighty sick. Thank God the assortment was made up of Smarties, Crunchies, and KitKats and, thus, contained very little actual chocolate.) left the door to the wok kitchen open, allowing the dog easy access to the garbage bag sitting inside.
At work today, we got a surprise of another sort when Alex Levine walked in with two dozen cream puffs from Beard Papas, a bizarrely named Japanese cream puff chain that opened a franchise at the Aberdeen Center in Richmond and has been doing crazy business. According to reports, you have to go there early weekday mornings because the line-ups on weekends will have you waiting close to two hours! Only original vanilla flavor available today, but delicious nevertheless: two tier pastry (pie crust on the outside, choux pastry on the inside) stuffed with pastry cream and a touch of whipped cream). I ate three in rapid succession before Brad had even finished his first. As good as they were, I don’t know if I would line up for two hours for another dozen – but I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to send Alex back on another run.
And speaking of delightful deliveries – Paul finally received shipment of the new Golden Tee motherboard and hard drive that will allow the office’s avid arcade golfers (that would be everyone except me) to play a slew of new virtual courses. I haven’t seen them this excited since we heard we got picked up. No, check that. I’ve never seen them this excited.
Amidst the unpacking and the Golden Teeing and the general cream puffery, we did manage to sit down and watch a Day 1 Mix of Midway. Damn fine episode. Teal’c and Ronon kick mucho wraith ass – when they’re not beating the crap out of each other.
Today’s pics: Drop zone, the cream puffs, the chocolate Fondy brought me back from Montreal, like kids in a candy store
Today’s mailbag:
GrapesofWraith writes: “I was wondering what was your first experience in script writing? And would you recommend buying a script writing program, or just using my regular word processor?”
Answer: My very first paying gig was a script I wrote for The Busy World of Richard Scarry, an episode titled Patrick Pig Learns to Talk. And, yes, I would definitely recommend buying a scriptwriting program (we use Movie Magic Screenwriter). Despite a writer’s best efforts, word processor scripts always look amateurish.
A.Q.J. writes: “Q: which scene in the whole 4-seasons of SGA do you love most? Finally, the humor in the show is more than jokes to made! i love them all, i laugh on them more than anything else. Q: how much is your participation in that humor?”
Answers: Off the top of my head, my favorite scene is probably the surprise kiss in Duet. As for the humor – all of the writers throw out ideas and suggest funny lines during the breaking session after which it is up to the writers to incorporate the funny lines (in addition to the countless others he has come up with), then it is the actor’s turn to deliver the line in a funny way, the director’s job to capture it, and the editor’s job to find the best take.
Mackenzies Momma writes: “Whats the one thing you most want for christmas?”
Answer: The time to go back to Japan and Hong Kong.
Palmereldritch writes: “Joe, if you were able to design your own Joe Mallozzi celebrity sandwich, what would it be?”
Answer: Pacific salmon with light mayonnaise and chopped green onions with avocado and sliced cucumbers on toasted multi-grain.
Amelia writes: “Re Pauline’s comment about Scotch Eggs…”
Answer: What’s a Scotch Egg? They sound delicious.
Tesajb writes: “ So what are your plans for the weekend?”
Answer: Finally make some headway on Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night. Oooh. Spooooky.
Mrsb108 writes: “Will there be any mysteries left unsolved crossing over to Season 5?”
Answer: Oh yeah.
Anonymous #1 writes: “Exactly how long is this boring baby storyline going to be on screen in Season Five?”
Answer: Darn that Rachel. We kept telling her “Come on! Have the baby already! We need to get on with this storyline!” But rather than accommodate people like you, she chose to wait the full nine months to have the kid! Can you believe it?! How incredibly selfish of her!