Thankfully, saner heads prevailed and the location scout initially scheduled for 7:15 a.m. this morning was moved to a much more bearable 8:00 a.m. The trip to Stokes Pitt took about 45 minutes and I spent the time chatting food with producer John G. Lenic, and catching up on my emails. You know, I used to hate the very idea of text messages, dismissing it as a tween fad. Why go through all the trouble of texting when it’s so much easier to simply talk to someone? Of course what I failed to fully appreciate at the time was how wonderfully impersonal texting can be. No need for small talk or post-discussion niceties . Just say what need to be said and hit SEND. I am now a text-messaging convert. In fact, if I play my cards right, there will eventually come a point where I’ll be able to enjoy a life thoroughly devoid of human contact.
In the meantime, however, it looks like I’ll be doing things the old-fashioned way – ie. dealing with people face to face. Like today, for instance, when the ten of us hopped out of the transport mini-van like circus clowns and checked out the site of Sheppard’s day in Hell eppy. We needed someplace to park the jumper, and then someplace that would serve as a proper cliff setting. Check and check. The first one will be easy. The latter will require a bit of imagination, a backhoe, an Art Department extension, and some green screen effects, but the ten foot drop-off we sized up should do the trick. We stood around, discussed, took measurements, stood around, traipsed through the forest, stood around, and then, once everyone was satisfied (for my part, I could have done with a little more standing around), we piled back into the clown car and headed back to the studio.
The prep schedule was juggled so that we had only one meeting today: Playback and VFX. For the playback portion, we discussed oscillating energy signatures, scrolling alien script (not to be confused with), and scrolling alien text (it scrolls the opposite direction to help differentiate). We moved on to visual effects and some discussion about that damn bay window in Woolsey’s quarters (what the hell was I thinking?), the visual depiction of physical damage, the scenic cafeteria view, stuns, muzzle flashes, beam downs, and the big reveal.
Which took me to lunch – which we ordered from Rangoli. The usually bitter Carl was unusually extra bitter, renaming the curry chicken dish he’d ordered “curry cartilage” and making a big show of fishing every second piece out of his mouth and loudly lamenting his failure to order butter chicken from that other place.
We capped off the day with a Day 2 Mix of The Daedalus Variations. Usually, I’m sick of an episode by the upteenth viewing but this is one I’m enjoying more with repeat viewings. Great stranded-team script by Alan McCullough, terrific direction by Andy Mikita, and some MAJOR visual effects battle sequences courtesy of Mark Savela and his crew. If you thought Search and Rescue was big, LOOK OUT!
Well, I continue to be impressed by the overall quality of the commentary posted as part of the ongoing book of the month club discussions…
Sylvia writes: “Because of your imagination and ability to explore the things some of us humans fear, you are gifted to be able to unfold these fears in a way that is rather riveting and spell binding.”
Answer: I agree. Even though a number of the stories were unnerving both in terms of subject matter and the writer’s ability to exploit it to full effect, Pelland’s style made reading them a true pleasure. Like I said in my review, even though I thought certain tales worked better than others, they all reflected the skills of a terrific storyteller.
Christin writes: ““Big Sister/Little Sister” was just so deliciously twisted and dark. I couldn’t completely sympathize with either the Big or the Little sister and I loved that.”
Answer: Yes, I found that particularly interesting about this story as well. You would assume the reader would sympathize with the plight of the younger sister and yet it’s very hard not to sympathize with the older sister instead. Despite the tale‘s horrific conclusion, I couldn’t help but think “Okay, at least I can kind of understand where she’s coming from.” Still…
Christin writes: “ “Songs of Lament” made me snicker. It shouldn’t, but it did because I read it and thought “see, even the whales think we’re jerks”. I find that amusing because I think we’re jerks, too.”
Answer: Agreed. Which is why, in the review, I suggested that we were fighting on the wrong side of the impending war for the very survival of this planet.
Thornyrose writes: “Starting with “For the Plague…”. […] But the worst part about this is that I could imagine a significant segment of society reacting just as Teesa and her fellow believers did, working to hasten the end instead of seeking a way to reverse it.”
Answer: I saw it as a means of empowerment, the hitherto helpless victims of the plague deluding themselves into a position that allowed them to take back control.
Thornyrose also writes: “ I felt that the Call was an excellent short piece, and revived my interest in the rest of the book. Not so much that it had many twists, but simply because of how it engaged my imagination, trying to picture the universe where such a choice had to be made.”
Answer: Yes, interesting dilemma but, with all due respect to the human race, not a mission I’d volunteer for. I WOULD help out by recommending some pretty good candidates though.
Iamza writes: “Celebrity is a funny thing, isn’t it? We make ordinary people over into something much greater than they could ever hope to be, and then feel hurt and betrayed when they don’t live up to our expectations.”
Answer: So true. It reminds me of the time I spotted the Pillsbury Dough Boy at Starbucks and asked him for an autograph. He totally blow me off. That guy’s an asshole.
Fsmn36 writes: “For the Plague Thereof Was Exceeding Great…[…]. Replace AIDs with any unknown future virus, the rantings of the priests and doomsayers with those of today and it makes for a truly frightening picture.”
Answer: Interesting you should say that. I wonder how this story would have worked had Pelland elected to go with a mystery virus rather than making it a mutative strain of the AIDS virus. Would the message have been as effective? Would a more subtle approach done a better job of making the point or would it only have served to diffuse the message?
Fsmn36 writes: “While sane people find it hard to understand why anyone would make such a jump as he did with the waitress, reading as the character, it was obvious he was obsessive.”
Answer: Maybe so, but she didn’t even know his name! He seemed obsessive, certainly, but also kind of dumb – which really ran contrary to what we learn about him later in the story.
Fsmn36 writes: “I wondered how you reflected on that story reading it as a maker of a show that attracts a “fan base”. Any further thoughts, Joe?”
Answer: Well, fortunately I’m only a lonely writer-producer so I needn’t worry about obsessive fans. The guy who played wraith warrior #3 in Spoils of War, on the other hand, HE’S got something to worry about.
Antisocial Butterflie writes: ““Brushstrokes” was a spectacular end to the book. I felt that the story was fleshed out nicely with the description of the society, the characterization, and the pacing of the plot. I felt for the characters, how they banded together in the end rather than railing against each other and in that act became a symbol that hopefully would incite change.”
Answer: Even though this was the longest entry in the collection, I found it so richly detailed in terms of its setting and characters that I was almost sorry the author didn’t take advantage and explore it in novel form.
Today’s entry is dedicated to Shawna’s squashed finger, little Emma, and birthday gal Jennie Smith.
Today’s pics: Hey, look at the gifts I received! A special chocolate dedication from Nathan in the front office, and the sequel to David Louis Edelman’s Infoquake, Multireal, compliments of the gang at Pyr. Also, check out my writing partner’s new sweet ride and snaps from our class field trip to Stokes Pitt.
Today’s videos: Two today. Fearless director Will goes cliff-climbing while Lulu discovers the lawn sprinklers.
Mailbag:
Eugene from Aus writes: “1] Will Brad Wright and/or Martin Wood drop in for questions on Continuum after the UK release date(UK’ers seem to be getting it last according to Wikipedia) or will it be seemingly near the Aussie release date for Continuum?
2] Has the cover art be officialised yet? (That is, the Gate/Space or the Gate/Ice)
3] Who will actually be doing the Commentary for Continuum?}
and No4] Will we be getting one of your poems anytime soon for whichever Stargate Atlantis season is coming up?”
Answers: 1) Martin is busy working on another show and Brad is equally busy working on a little something I’m calling Project Terzo. 2) It certainly has. 3) I know that Brad and Martin will be providing commentary. Don’t know if there will be additional commentary. 4) I write up a spoiler poem at the beginning of every year. The poem containing references to the back half of season 4 as well as season 5 can be found here: http://josephmallozzi.com/2007/12/31/december-31-2007-poetic-licentiousness/. And in case you weren’t able to figure it out, the line “A mission is snagged by an untimely birth.” is a reference to Search and Rescue, our fifth season premiere.
Nicole Gustas writes: “How do you like WordPress, and what made you decide to switch to it from Blogger?”
Answer: I liked Blogger well enough until their spambots temporarily suspended my account because they suspected it was a spam site (I blame Baron Destructo). Despite repeated assurances that they would have my blog up and running in no time, days went by until, fed up, I switched over to WordPress. In the end, it worked out for the best. WordPress has been a terrific home.
Zoniduck writes: “Which S5 episode is the big Ancient Toilet/Stick Fighting/Arbor Day extravaganza you were teasing us with last year, hmm?”
Answer: Our milestone 100th episode of course.
Katja writes: “Did you catch Joe on Chelsea Lately last night?”
Answer: Nope, but if his wife did I’m sure he got in a lot of trouble.
Paula writes: “I also rather enjoy reading your non-SGA stuff. You’re hilarious and manage to do all sorts of interesting things.”
Answer: True. Today I had a big salad for dinner. Beat THAT!
Alipeeps writes: “So, any news on how things are progressing in your anticipated fight to keep in the darker elements of the story? Were the network okay with the dark stuff or are you having to fight for it?”
Answer: We’ll find out tomorrow morning when we have our notes session.
Drdledeboer writes: “Pretty good ratings start to SGA s5.”
Answer: Actually, a tad better than reported. It was a 1.35 which would have been a 1.4 and not a 1.3. It’ll be interesting to see the DVR numbers.
Les Fez writes: “ I was wondering, with the 100th episode apparently being so huge, what are the chances that MGM/SciFi will let you guys make it an extra-long episode like threads?”
Answer: Most unlikely.
Skypig writes: “An acquaintance of mine owns a pug. It’s every breath is a loud, slurpy snore. Is this normal for pugs?”
Answer: Yep. Try sleeping with three on your bed.
EH-T writes: “All you could come up with was we need “a different skill set”? That’s even more lame than the way Sam was written out of SG1 in season 9.”
Answer: We’ll be touching on the I.O.A.’s reasoning in this week’s episode, The Seed.
Michelle writes: “Hi Joe, the latest Comic Con schedule is out, and it looks like there will be no Stargate autograph sessions this time. Is that for real and final?”
Answer: No idea. I’m out of the loop on the Comic Con front.
Sean writes: “Have you ever read any of Cormac McCarthy’s work? I recently read “The Road” and was wondering what you thought.”
Answer: It was fine. It reminded me a lot of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents, two books I loved.
Brendan writes: “Do you know which episode Amanda Tapping will be in, in Season 5 and is it still just one episode for her?”
Answer: Provided she is available, we would love to have her appear in our 100th episode.
Kellie writes: “I’m practicing being “politely persistent.” Any word on the script? Hope you’re well!”
Answer: Yes! I’ll email you this weekend!
Wonderingbrit writes: “Will you guys ever go on location to another part of the world?”
Answer: Does Las Vegas count?
Great Blog entry today Joe!
Hey- Lulu has her own personal water pick. I’ll better her teeth were squeaky clean today!!!
Very Cute INDEED~!
Thanks for sharing!
Patricia Lee
A ten foot drop as a stand-in for a cliff? I am disappointed, but not surprised. Men. Ha! Insert your own off-color joke here, ladies.
>>>>>”… a life thoroughly devoid of human contact.”<<<<<<
So, as Weird Al once phrased it, you’re stranded alone in the gas station of love and you have to use the self-service pumps? Does Fondy know about this?
Thanks for the dedication, Joe (even if you did leave the ‘a’ off my name and thus turn me into a male). My finger appreciates it.
Have you heard about Joss Whedon’s little internet show thing? It’s a supervillain musical (reminded me a bit of Baron Destructo there, to be honest), starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. It’s not going to be up long, so check it out: http://www.drhorrible.com
Hey joe, I wanted to pop by and let you know that blog regular Trish(whovian) is in the hospital. She’d just gotten back from Shore Leave and was apparently in great pain all night so her hubby took her to the ER, where they admitted her.
She may have to have surgery tomorrow, but everyone is crossing their fingers that won’t happen. Think its possible to send some good wishes her way?
Thanks!
Okay, the second video is too cute, now Lulu has her own drinking fountain!
How is she doing? Keep me posted.
Joe
Shawn. A. Fixed!
(Hey, Joe, not sure how kosher this is — feel free to delete if need be.)
At Dragon*Con this year, we’re having an auction in memory of Don S Davis, and among the auction items will be my “Mars the Dog” My Little Pony, which was signed by David and Kate Hewlett. We will be accepting proxy bids on this item, among others (I know that David has signed a McKay action figure as well). So far, Pierre Bernard Jr and Cliff Simon are also donating ponies that they will have decorated . (I’m not sure what they are doing with them, but Joe, if Cliff Simon ends up doing a Ba’al pony, shall we put you down for a bid? ^_~)
Speaking of Pierre Bernard Jr (for those scratching your heads, he was on SG-1, and does the Recliner of Rage segments on Late Night with Conan O’Brien), he’s coming to my panel on customizing My Little Ponies! 🙂 If you’re going to the con and interested in attending the panel, we have a limited number of slots available for hands-on participation (and there is a registration fee, to cover the cost of supplies and the pony you’ll get), but all are welcome to come watch for free. If we end up with money left over from the supplies, we’ll be donating that to the American Heart Association too. See here for more information.
Hi Joe!
I’d comment on lots of the cool stuff you posted today, but my right index finger is in a splint, which slows my typing down by the amount of coolness Shep gets from wearing his wristband. 🙂
Love Lulu and the sprinkler. Good to see she’s not scared of it. One of my late dogs, Sebastian, used to love to catch the water from a spray nozzle attached to the garden hose. It was quite a fun game for him. (He was a Sheltie/spaniel mix.)
Looks like Will Waring has taken a wardrobe cue from Martin Wood (the shorts).
Best photo caption today is “Jump! Jump! Jump!”
Watched Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Act I) today. Seems there’s an Evil League of Evil out there, led by Bad Horse. Hmmm….Baron Destructo better get out there and do some PR for L.A.M.E. so as not to be left out in the cold coldness of space.
Shep? In Hell? On a cliff? COOOL!
eddy
All the best healthy thoughts to Trish (whovian)!!!!
eddy
It appears only the field trip pics were posted. Could you repost those others you mentioned?
Joe…in “Unending” we saw SG-1 use the Asgard transporter to create basically anything they wanted. Will we see this again with the Earth ships equiped with the transporter?
Adorable vid of Lulu! XD Funny that she likes the spray — my dogs *hated* water, other than to drink ….
Due to some email weirdness and the busy schedule of the editor, and despite it being done at like 2:30 AM Monday morning, my review of “Search and Rescue” went up very late this week — as in about an hour ago. Anyone interested can read it here.
*BIG HUGS* to my friend Trish, and to little Emma!
Don’t you know, Las Vegas is another world.
Katja writes: “Did you catch Joe on Chelsea Lately last night?”
Answer: Nope, but if his wife did I’m sure he got in a lot of trouble.
😆 Yes, that made me lol…
Will have to check out the pictures tomorrow – only getting red x’s tonight. Stoopit dial-up.
@ Trish – oh no!! Sending good vibes and thoughts your way! *hugs*
@ Tammy – Thanks! Glad you enjoyed my bit of silliness. 😀
das
Who knew that staring at a dog staring at a sprinkler for 34 seconds could be so amusing? 🙂
And I loved my school field trips to the planetarium! Mr. Mascotti had the BEST planetarium voice.
Trish… I am praying for you.
Pat
Hope Trish is ok. Sending positive vibes her way.
Joe, after the question yesterday about why you moved from blogger I went back and sifted through the 580 comments from when your blog was down.I’d definitely recommend it for a chuckle. Its funny looking back on it. I’d only been reading your blog for a week and seeing all of those names back then and not knowing who the hell they were compared to now made me want to say how amazing the people are here… Including the moderator 🙂 so thank you for keeping up your blog and not just writing “yeah, I had a salad”.
And may I add you have an incedible retention rate for commenters that would make most employers envious.
You think three pugs are bad. Try a dog bigger than you that learnt to snore off his father. I get it in stereo!
Back to work, writing this on blackberry. But wanted to get wishes to Trish.
Your cliff reminds me of the kind of places I used to play at with my friends when I was a kid. I had skinned knees from the time I was five until I was twelve.
“Answer: Agreed. Which is why, in the review, I suggested that we were fighting on the wrong side of the impending war for the very survival of this planet.”
I know I’d be rooting for the whales.
“Despite the tale‘s horrific conclusion, I couldn’t help but think “Okay, at least I can kind of understand where she’s coming from.” Still…”
Oh yeah. I didn’t want to sympathize with Big Sister, but I did to a point. And I wanted to sympathize with Little Sister, but I couldn’t completely. I love stories that aren’t so crisp and clean.
Positive get better soon vibes to Trish (whovian)!
In fact, if I play my cards right, there will eventually come a point where I’ll be able to enjoy a life thoroughly devoid of human contact.
Ahhh. A psychopath after my own heart.
Best of luck to Trish, get better soon.
Hey Joe!
Glad to see you found your ‘cliff’ (though it’ll require some work :P). Leads me to a question though. That backhoe you folks have. Do you guys have to rent that kind of heavy equipment or is it on hand at the studio? No wonder why you are able to pull off stuff like the destroyed building in “Search and Rescue”, you got access to everything you need. 😀
Thanks as always, love the Lulu video! So cute!
– Enzo Aquarius
Before you put up the pic of Paul’s new ride, I was expecting a fancy car. Didn’t know that Paul was a Hell’s Angel at heart!
Oh boy, I hope Trish is alright. Surgery? It’s not appendicitis, is it? Well, whatever it is, I wish her all the best in either avoiding the surgery or recovering quickly afterwards with no complications.
So Joe…Project Terzo? I can only imagine that that means that Brad will be casting actress Venus Terzo in some major role. I can’t wait!! She was awesome as Black Arachnia.
It’s either that, or you’re talking about the third movie or series, which makes little sense, even if Terzo means “the third” or something in italian. Yeah, I’m sticking to the Venus thing. Much more sense, it makes.
Marathon review time! I’m currently working through a backlog of marathon reviews that I never ended up doing since I was too busy actually watching the marathon (again); so these are for episodes I saw a few days ago:
Childhood’s End: Well, it’s a good thing Marty G. improved! Haha, I’m just kidding. Though I do consider it the “worst” of the bunch so far, it is far from bad. There were some very interesting and disturbing concepts as well as some wonderful character moments laced throughout, but I just didn’t think it had the oomph as with the other episodes. Still, I loved the interaction between McKay and the two little kids (and I thought those 2 kids were pretty good actors too), as well as seeing Elliot…I mean, Kerris interact with Sheppard. I thought there were great “guy-bonding” moments in there. Courtenay J. Stevens is just a marvelous actor, and he conveyed the sense of duty, honor, and friendship wonderfully. I do hope you find a way to get him back again for a recurring role of some sort; I don’t care if he looks the same as two other Stargate characters. His talent outshines that. As for the suicide pact concept, well, as I said, it’s disturbing, and I can only imagine what went through the mind of its creator, knowing that so much had to be sacrificed for the safety of the others. It must’ve been a hard decision. Oh, and that ending? It’s hard to believe you snarky writers would come up with something so disgustingly sweet. Haha. So anyway, a solid episode, though not as good as the others.
Icon: Like Childhood’s End, this was a solid episode; however, it didn’t have as many good character moments. The concept of SG1’s arrival triggering a massive war was again a disturbing one, namely because of how easily it could happen. In fact, there were several moments where I was reminded of the Iraq War. Meanwhile, I found the Daniel plot quite repetitive, as it seems that we’ve seen “Daniel comforts a lady” many times already; most recently in Resurrection. Though that’s one of Danny’s strengths as a person, it’s starting to get boring. As for the religious plot…well, it was scary, and reminded me a lot of what’s happening right now. Though, if I wrote the episode, I’d toss Soren straight into Goa’uld occupied territory and let him see face-to-face what his Gods truly are. Just a thought, heh. I’d also like to mention Matthew Bennett’s portrayal as Kane; I thought he was pretty good, and I actually felt for him when he confronted Leda about her feelings for Danny. Also, I thought Amy Sloan did a great job as Leda as well. Lastly, I loved the scenes near “the end”, when the city got bombed. There was a great atmosphere of doom. Still, overall the episode was mediocre, though still entertaining to a degree.
Poisoning the Well: And Atlantis hits its stride! This was a fantastic episode, and so far the best one after the premier. Though it happened to focus on a recurring character, said character hit it out of the park. Oh yes. Carson, and in turn Paul McGillion was absolutely brilliant in this episode, putting so many little nuances into his performance. Luckily, I’m not one of those fans who cry foul at any character revealing that they may be attracted to the opposite sex, so I only grinned as Carson was first dumbstruck by Perna’s beauty, and then turned on the old boyish charms. Haha. After that, we saw him let loose his medical expertise, as well as his cautiousness over the whole project. Perna was a fascinating character as well, and excellently portrayed by Allison Hossack as the beautiful, yet totally professional and dedicated scientist. Overall, this episode had everything a standalone should have: great character moments, chilling, disturbing moments, as well as a heavy moral problem. The plot revolving the obsession of the Hoffans, their staking of priorities on knowledge instead of human beings, and their miracle drug was telling, and together with the previous episode (and the one after this) reveal just how much influence the Wraith have had on the mindset of the Pegasus humans. Chancellor Druhin’s judgement was clearly clouded by this obsession. Very disturbing. Similarly disturbing was Steve’s feeding scene, where he walks up slowly to his victim and sizes him up. Only after a painfully long hesitation does he lunge forward to feed. Very cool. Speaking of Steve, his interactions with Sheppard provided most of the humor in this episode; I loved the “Hi Steve” “Bye Steve” moment. Hilarious. The ending had me tearing up again, mostly due to how close to tears Carson was as he looked down at poor Perna who, until the very end, was still unable to come to terms with the fact that their obsession with upholding her ancestor’s goals has doomed herself and her people, which was mirrored in the very last scene as the team leaves the planet (and the lines were chilling: “If and when we ever return, I don’t imagine you’ll be here.” Prescient.). Talk about your downer endings; it was just one of many factors that made this a great episode.
Avatar: What started as just a cool, fun, action episode turned out to be so much more; I loved this one. As I said, at the beginning, it was just BAM BAM BAM shooting and running and AWESOME directing (I assume it’s to emulate video games, but I’ve never played them so those really fast shots were just cool) that made everything so exciting and fast-paced. After a while though, this became a little repetitive. However, this little problem was soon solved by something much more substantial, namely the scenes talking about Teal’c “ego”. The revelation that back in Season 2 Teal’c actually thought that he was fighting for a lost cause was fascinating, not to mention tragic that he would put up a front for his friends. Not only that, but we also got to know once more how determined Teal’c really is, as the game continues to up the ante because of what basically amounts to Teal’c challenging himself; that subconscious sense of “I can do better than this, even if it hurts”. That led to one of the most powerful scenes in the series, as Teal’c can do nothing but sit in hopelessness as everyone is killed over and over again, his options having run out. Together with the phenomenal background score this was just a wonderful sequence. The episode then rises to another level when Daniel enters the game, and after being hilariously killed twice, we get that wonderful and tragic character moment, where Teal’c laments his predicament, and suddenly a fun episode turns very serious. I loved that. The way Chris Judge delivers “It won’t let me out.” It was again one of those brilliant “vulnerable Teal’c” moments that we rarely get. Daniel’s offering of aid at the end of that scene was equally as great. I love these team moments. Anyway, the rest of the episode was awesome, as Teal’c uses all that he knows of the game to win it, and then when it ends, that music…it was a relief. Wonderful episode.
Covenant: Another solid episode. Though it’s slow moving at times, the concepts it presents, and the characters themselves were fascinating. I’m with Sam; the world’s not ready, and yet I can relate to Colson’s point of view. Given what he’s experienced, that he lost his family at 24, it’s not surprisingly that he would be one of those “grab life by the nipples and never let go” type of people, as he’d never know when he might lose it all again; and so he continues to go forward without looking back. However, for him, it seems that there is now nowhere to go in terms of advancing humanity’s mindset…until he caught on to the truth that is the Stargate. No wonder he tried all he can to expose it. Without a shock of this magnitude, humanity can only stagnate and waste time; time that he believes should be put to better use. And yet, as his friend Brian points out, it is this determination without consideration that would bring about his downfall; he bit off more than he can chew, as he said. By the end, it was only with more loss that made Colson realize how wrong he was to not put borders on his attitude; it was a demonstration of, not only was humanity not as “forward thinking” as him, but that even the people closest to him, his best friends, were not ready to forsake their livelihood for the truth. Such a tragic character; he went from multibillionaire to a lonely, broken, and poor man in 42 minutes. That last scene was just heart-breaking; Charles Shaughnessy’s “He was my best friend” was just so sincere and filled with sadness. Similarly, his declaration that he had betrayed Brian could’ve only been expressed the way he did by a man who’s deeply grieving, and who has finally seen the error of his ways. Of course, the only way I got all of this out of the episode is thanks to Rob Cooper and Ron Wilkerson, not to mention Charles Shaughnessy’s excellent portrayal. So overall, a pretty good episode. Though it did drag at places.
Oh, and the 302 scenes were awesome, and so was the reference to Bregman.
How is she doing? Keep me posted.
Joe
Will do joe! I’ll pass on all the well wishes to her, in the morning(since its almost 1 am her time).
Best wishes to Trish and hope for a quick recovery.
I’ve sent this via eMail as well, in case I don’t get approved this time around…
Am I even close with the “translation” of the Episode Poem?
**********
The brilliant one slowly loses his mind, the Shrine
While a group of replacements puts the team in a bind. Whispers (?)
Wallace’s research a menace let loose. Outcast
The key to success is compress not diffuse. Be All Our Sins Remember’d
A relationship blossoms, an engagement is planned. Quarantine
An old enemy sweeps down and gains the upper hand. Kindred I
In an underground chamber the trio is stuck, Trio
While Sheppard battles some really bad luck. Remnants
A corpse is discovered and John plays detective. Identity (?)
The city assailed by mutations infective. The Seed
Call the doctor from Earth to help us take action, First Contact
As the death of a loved one spurs McKay into action. The Last Man
Get talked into escorting a precocious young brat. Harmony
The experiment’s minions the team will combat. Kindred II
A battle is waged on the defender’s home field, The Prodigal
And the means of production is fully revealed. Spoils of War
Two warriors head off an incursion on Earth. Midway
A mission is snagged by an untimely birth. Search and Rescue
The status quo shifts, a power play made. The Queen
The arrival of this one leave some feeling dismayed. Brain Storm (?)
An old friend returns, loyalties are reversed, Broken Ties
And a ghost from the past has us fearing the worst. Ghost in the Machine
Atlantis the target of a mysterious race, The Lost Tribe
While myriad permutations are viewed from space. The Daedelus Variations
What’s Chelsea Lately, and what did Joe do? Curious! Did we Americans miss out on something?
Oh, and I just like to comment on that last picture there. I think it’s brilliant. In fact, I’m inspired by the heroic poses. How about a new Stargate series – Stargate: Location Scouts.
It’s 10 years after the Stargate has been revealed to the public, and SciFi films are all the rage as mankind is captivated by the adventures of the SG teams. To that end, film companies have began to exploit the wonders of the galaxy by sending location scout parties and writers to other planets, looking for a backdrop that could be used to house the next blockbuster, and for inspiration, respectively.
And so it was, that one day, a group of 3 producers, 1 writer, and 1 Executive producer/writer are sent through the Stargate along with a SG team (for protection) to explore the planet of…Stoka, yes. The planet is home to several tribes, all of which are on good terms with Earth, but not with each other. For the next few days, much hilarity is had as the showbiz people stumble around in the backwoods and alien landscapes measuring things and…stuff, unable to keep their clothes clean or their knees unscraped. And yet, the SG team can only stare at them in awe as the location scout wows them with showbiz lingo (Showbabble, as they call it). A few days later, tribal warfare breaks out, and our team is forced to defend themselves. Against all odds, it is the Location Scouts that save the day.
After this disasterous mission, all film studios quickly pull their scouts from offworld. But, what will they do now? After some arguing and much monetary incentives, the responsibility of off-world location scouting is given to the one group that managed to save lives and overcome alien adversity: The writer, the producers, and their leader: The Executive Producer/Writer. Actually, 2 of the producers will be fired or killed because the cast is too big at this point. It’d make good drama! Anyway, 2 military personnel is assigned to the new SG team (much hilarity will be had by the differing personalities) nicknamed…SGX, because the showbiz people know that things with X’s in them get higher ratings.
And there you have it. Every week, follow the adventures of the Location Scouts (SGX) as they scout various worlds for massive amounts of money, and maybe, juuuust maybe…they’ll have some fun on the way.
…You know what? I think this actually has some merit. Seriously. Hmmm…
*headdesk* Apparently I screwed up the HTML in my comment linking to my review of “Search and Rescue”. XD Here, people, just cut & paste:
http://www.pinkraygun.com/2008/07/15/stargate-atlantis-search-and-rescue/
@PG-15 ~ No, not an appendecitis, thankfully. Something of a similarly painful and personal nature, so I don’t feel comfortable giving details, but suffice to say, they’re monitoring her hemoglobin, and if her levels are good, which seems very likely, she’ll go home without surgery tomorrow. 🙂 Cross your fingers!
I think your DVR numbers might be low. My Time Warner DVR didn’t recognize S&R as a new episode so it wasn’t recorded.
For Trish:
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2985/nvtggetwellsoon001cardrj1.jpgThanks so much for the birthday dedication, Joe! I’m now embarrassed that I asked, but it was still fun to see my name in your blog.
Hugs,
Jennie 🙂
http://wraithfodder.livejournal.com/218744.html
SGA Action Figure Theater!
My apologies to Wraithfodder, if he/she reads your blog, for cross-posting.
@wolfenm: Ouch. Well, it’s good to know she’s doing well, and thank you for the update! Hopefully this positive trend continues.
*crosses fingers Jonas style* 🙂
Hmm….did I lose my other little post because I have now logged in and I wasn’t before? (If you have a post saying thanks for the birthday dedication, then I guess you can ignore this one??) Silly me, I just wanted to log in so my picture would show with my post. Guess I did things in the wrong order, eh? *blush* Oh well, never mind. :-/
@pg15– I totally agree with you, SGX sounds like an awesome show idea. Like a reality show…only tons better! I’d pay money to see that!
And Joe, that cute vido of Lulu and the sprinkler reminds me of my rat terrier, Bailey. Only he’s a bit more violent with the water. He prefers to kill his water before he ingests it, so a lot of snapping of teeth ensues. Its not as cute, but definitely adorable.
First off – Get Well wishes to Trish!
Secondly… Nice to see that people pay attention to all those “Stay OFF the Slopes!” signs – *not*! Hope you guys had a soil engineer handy, cause if it rains anytime between all those measurements and when you all are back out there again to do what it is everyone does, well… hope all the insurance payments are up to date…
PG15 writes:
Oh boy, I hope Trish is alright. Surgery? It’s not appendicitis, is it? Well, whatever it is, I wish her all the best in either avoiding the surgery or recovering quickly afterwards with no complications.
@PG15- no, not appendicitis, we’ll go with evil alien entity instead 😉 😉 👿 I think appendicitis would be preferred but I suppose you can’t get that twice.
That’d be awesome, thanks!
Joe, these are your words : « I have a pretty big screen at my place so if you guys are in town anytime between now and… I don’t know, before the end of July, call over, call first and we’ll have like a huge screening » That’s exactly what you told the guys of Gateworld in April at the Continuum screening ! So what now? Because I am in town and here is the only way to contact you! I am sure we are a bunch of people here in Vancouver who would love to see the movie on the big screen!!
Hi Joe,
two questions today:
1. Are you going to follow the two new much anticipated and talked about series “Dollhouse” and “Fringe”?
2. If asked, for which movie director and genre would you like to write a script? Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci started with Alias and they went to Transformers. Do you envision you and Paul one day writing for feature films?
Coucou Joseph!! Sa va !!
Merci pour tout ces photo et video^^!
Vous avez passer une bonne journée!
Alalala vous m’avez rendu triste..!
J’ai vraiment pas de chance d’être fan d’un écrivain-producteur solitaire……=(…J’ai assayer mais je ne peu pas décrocher désoler…
fans obsessionnels en déprime -_-‘…
In the case viewer statistics, does anyone record the number of internet downloads from sites? […]
Many of the people I know use sites like these rather than own a TV these days.
Ah oui j’ai quélque question:
1)Si on vous proposez d’écrire un ou plusieur épisode de stargate univers, vous direrez “OUI” ?
2)Si stargate atlantis a une 6iem saison, cela ne repoussera pas la date de tournage de stargate univers prévu en 2009?
Wow, looks like an exciting day with all that climbing!!
Answer: Interesting you should say that. I wonder how this story would have worked had Pelland elected to go with a mystery virus rather than making it a mutative strain of the AIDS virus. Would the message have been as effective? Would a more subtle approach done a better job of making the point or would it only have served to diffuse the message?
It may indeed have diffused the message she was trying to get across. At the same time, I feel that since any kind of disease could be inserted, it will keep the story relevant. We don’t only have such fears over AIDs. It also happens over the Ebola virus and God knows what things we haven’t discovered yet. I loved the in-your-face aspect of using AIDs, but I think it’s as effective no matter what disease is used.
And now, that I finally have a little time on my hands and working internet, I want to ponder over KJ Bishop’s questions.
What do we look for in books; why do we give them hours and days of our time? Given the length of time it takes to read a book, is there something you as a reader expect in return that you wouldn’t expect from, say, a painting?
Obviously, I expect a deeper, richer story. A painting can be made to be truly intricate with things in the foreground vs the background, but it can really only tell a snapshot of a universe, or a few emotions. A story needs to evoke many different emotions, tell several actual stories within one for it to be worthwhile. A whole novel is different than even a movie or a musical which can only tell so much within that limited time. Novels don’t technically have a word limit, and a reader can take all the time they need to read one.
Do you read novels for insight into the human condition, to immerse yourself in another world, to live out fantasies vicariously? Other reasons?
All of the above. It depends on my mood, really. Sometimes I like simple escapism, other times I want something that is going to test my notions and opinions I hold dear. I suppose I desire all my books to make me think, though. Even in my easy reading, fantasy novels I prefer to have to think a bit. Be it some intellectual, witty puzzle (Piers Anthony’s puns in his Xanth novels) or something deeper and more fundamental, I really like to be challenged. It’s partly why I love sci-fi/fantasy and spy thrillers and why I don’t read romance novels.
Could you read a book that took abstract expressionism or cubism as its inspiration?
Probably. I probably wouldn’t even know that’s what inspired it. And considering I’ve read many an avant garde play, it wouldn’t be a long stretch. As long as it was well-written and captivating, why not?
Is there anything you’d like to say about your relationship with these strange long lies called novels?
A lot of people might accuse me (and other adamant readers) that we’re not living life. I might say it better prepares me for life. And that that’s a very unique way to classify them.
I think that catches me up…
Lulu just taught us three things that you can do with a water sprinkler other than water your grass/plants; brush your teeth, drink from it, and also use it as a source of amusement. The latter, I have done before, but not for years. Who needs a water sprinkler when you have so much rain?
I also find texting comes in handy when you’re arranging something because then you can go back and check the details in the texts later rather than having to rely on your brain to actually retain them.
Best Wishes to Whovian.
Ack, well, apparently WolfenM has updated you about this already. But never say I wasn’t one for the redundant.
Actually don’t say it because I just deleted my update.
Thank you for your words and thank you Mackenzie’s Mom and Wolfy for sharing the information. I didn’t even think of mentioning it. :).
I will say Kdvb1 over at dgeek is doing very well in informing us of any changes. Thank you Kimberly, if you’re reading.
RE YOUR CURRENT ENTRY:
What? You want I should not leave a comment on your blog?
re: paul’s bike
Wow. It’s very…blue. And…motorcycle-y. It actually looks a bit…frightening. He does wrap himself in bubble-wrap before he rides that, right?
True. Today I had a big salad for dinner. Beat THAT!
Truly, you’re living the dream!
I hope Carl has a better day, today. He’s not usually grumpy.
And can Lulu get any cuter? She’s been pushing the boundaries, lately.
“Most unlikely.”
Ah, shame:( Thanks for answering though!
Thanks DAS!
From your recent posts i now have the image of wraith in their underwear prancing through my head. All up on stage singing show tunes doing kicks. Damn, Todds got that feather boa strategicly placed.
OMG, now they’ve started a conga line!
wraith in their underwear. I don’t know how but for some reason that seems less sexy then all the black leather.
sorry joe, try and banish the bad images.
Joe,
I haven’t posted in months. I try to avoid spoilers, don’t have time to read much and am not much of a connoisseur of fancy foods (I’m a meat and potatoes gal, some of the food descriptions you give sound positively disgusting to me). Now with the premiere of the new season, I have something to comment on.
I was attending my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party this weekend and finally got a chance to see “Search and Rescue” last night so I apologize if I repeat stuff that has already been said, haven’t had time to read the previous posts yet.
I was a big fan of season 4, lots of hits with only one poor episode (Quarantine) and one “Ugh, I wish they’d only made 19” episodes (Travelers), so I was really looking forward to the premiere. S&R did not disappoint.
The Good: McKay was perfect in this episode. Neurotic and self-centered as normal, McKay showed his growth as a character by his concern for his missing teammates, his shrugging off medical attention when Lorne was in greater need, and his coming through in the end for Teyla. This kind of episode is why McKay is my fave character.
Sheppard’s “I’m the GUY” was such a great line and the scenes between he and Ronan while in the debris, and then the exchange in the jumper with Ronon and McKay showed why he is in command.
Michael (apparently) got away……Yay!!!
The Bad: Keller, nuff said. I don’t get this character, liked her in “Adrift” and “Lifeline”, hated her for most of the rest of last season, then just as I was starting to warm to her after “Kindred” and “Last Man,” (she and McKay do make a cute couple) she pulls another clunker like this. The quivering voice every time she’s in a tight spot has gotten old and makes her look bad. Sorry, but if I’m hurt and in need, she would not inspire confidence in me.
The credits are the same ones we’ve had for the last four years. I was hoping to see something new.
Lingering Questions: What happened to Kanaan? Where did Michael go?
Next week: Keller gets infected with an alien. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll give her a personality adjustment.
My guesses at the spoiler-poem for the remaining lines:
The brilliant one slowly loses his mind, – The Shrine
McKay getting the Pegasus-alzheimer
While a group of replacements puts the team in a bind. – The Lost Tribe
Todd & his Wraith on board the Apollo instead of the crew
While Sheppard battles some really bad luck. – Hexed (shelved for s6)
Since ‘Hexed’ was the super Shep-wump episode.
A corpse is discovered and John plays detective. – Vegas
Vegas was formerly titled ‘CSI Atlantis’
The city assailed by mutations infective. – Infection
Call the doctor from Earth to help us take action, – First Contact
Dr. Jackson, I presume?
A battle is waged on the defender’s home field, – Prodigal
Mikey and his hybrids attacking Atlantis in search for the baby
A mission is snagged by an untimely birth. – Search and Rescue
Teyla’s baby
The status quo shifts, a power play made. – Inquisition
The Genii unfolding their twisted plans for galactic domination
The arrival of this one leave some feeling dismayed. – The Seed
Woolsey arriving as expedition leader – not everyone seems to be happy with that.
An old friend returns, loyalties are reversed, – Broken Ties
Tyre
And a ghost from the past has us fearing the worst. – Ghost in the Machine
Weir/FRAN
Atlantis the target of a mysterious race, – Remnants
The hallucination aliens
While myriad permutations are viewed from space. – The Daedalus Variations
Since the Daedalus is a spaceship
How far am I off?
Hey Joe,
Is Stokes Pit the same location used for SG-1 Season 7 “Enemy Mine”? That cliff looks familiar.
Lulu + sprinkler = too damn cute!
Hey Joe.
I made it back from SHORE LEAVE. Did you miss me even just a little? 😉 🙂
I have six days of your blog and the comments to catch up on but I just wanted to come on now and tell you how incredible SEARCH & RESCUE was.
It was intense and funny and quite moving. Rodney delivering the baby was priceless. Teyla naming the baby after Sheppard was so sweet. To my eyes there was even some Keller/Mckay stuff. : ) Keller’s joke about Sheppard’s surgery was hilarious.
Please next time you see David Hewlett, tell him thanks from me for being so generous to his fans. He was incredible at SHORELEAVE.
Well must get back to work. I have four days of work to catch up on.
Well, from the look of things you’d be a lot of fun on field trips Joe. Maybe a part time job tagging along on other peoples field trips would be up your alley? It would certainly be amusing for the rest of us!
(imagining the ad)
Are you sick of the same old field trip structure? Tired of the monotonous information that’s aaaalways given out? Why not hire Joe the Clown to liven things up. Laugh as he goads your friends off cliffs; snicker when he tricks someone into thinking there’s hide and seek. Call now for all the field trip fun you can handle
Yep, I can see it. Can’t you?
Joe M: Answer: Actually, a tad better than reported. It was a 1.35 which would have been a 1.4 and not a 1.3. It’ll be interesting to see the DVR numbers.
Great, please post when you get them.
Frank: I think your DVR numbers might be low. My Time Warner DVR didn’t recognize S&R as a new episode so it wasn’t recorded.
I had that problem with Bright House last year, when I finally figured out what was wrong I gave them absolute hell! so please call and inquire. My understanding is that each record instance is counted. This time I’m making sure the episode is marked “NEW” on the listings screen so the box knows to get it. I have it set to record First Run on the channel.
feel better Trish
DD
What upcoming books will you be highlighting in the days ahead so I can get onboard with the reviews?
Nevermind on the books I found them below. Sorry!
Loving the pictures and the captions make it that much more interesting (lmao). You are too good to us.
Good luck with the notes. We like the dark as long as he comes back to the light eventually.
Joe:
I hope you don’t mind if I use your blog to mine the wealth of sci fi knowledge shared by the folks who visit here. A friend of mine is getting married, and they are doing this bit with romantic movie quotes – and they are looking for quotes from science fiction movies. Joe, do you have any favorite romatic sci fi movie quotes? Anyone else? And, yes, I have already quoted Han Solo and Princess Leia – and yes, “Farm Boy, can you get me that pitcher.” Has been included. Any others would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Lulu was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo cute with the sprinkelers! She looked so confused lol
Thinking of you Trish. I hope you get better soon. Also best wishes to Emma, hope you get better soon as well.
Hugs, Chev
p.s. Joe, how about stained glass windows for Woolsey’s quarters? He looks like he’d be into that.
I’ve found Unwelcome Bodies rather intriguing du eto the fact that it resembles greatly a dream journal I used to keep way back when. What I call strange dreams other people would call nightmares and they range in intensity to terrorizing. Anyway, the one that really caught me was The Last Bus, as it mirrored a dream I too once had enough for me to recognize the same them although in mine I traveled a short distance through an evil pergatory and fought the rest of the way on foot to make it to the gate of exit.
This one had a wonderful ending and left me grinning with a good feeling at the end.
Captive Girl touched me as well. I felt so bad for her state of existence, but worse still was the fact that her love wouldnt come back to her unless she bound herself up again and pretended to be helpless so the other could feel important and needed. Not only did I feel that showed a great sense of low self-esteem on the caregivers part but teetered too much in the world of abuse. To hold another person hostage with love as the ransom or reward. That one left a profound mark with me.
The Last Stand of the Elephant Man was another that stands out for me. Also I didnt come away from that story feeling a happy tidy ending. I actually put it down feeling that Merrick was going to find himself back inside his own body and then being refused the surgery promised. He was jumping at the “grass could be greener” promises instead of waiting to let the body be healed before choosing to return to it. Unless I missed something there.
A thought-provoking collection though and I’m glad you chose this one for the discussions as I’m sure I never would have had the pleasire otherwise.
and please forgive my typos I’m typing with a splint on my index finger……. challenging lolol
And seeing as I’m here again, let me just say Thank You! -for Search and Rescue. Would love to see more of Sheppard’s dreams in future episodes if they all have Teyla in them *grin*
Great Ronon and Sheppard buddy moments too. Need many more of those as well. McKay and Teyla… way to man up Rodney! He’s doing a great job growing as a person and really showing impressive gains,
This episode really rounded up pretty much everything I waited for in Season 4. Thanks to all involved in giving the John/Teyla shippers a glimpse of what we knew to be the truth since The Rising.
KUDOS!
Just watched the red carpet special for Continuum on Gateworld…it sounds like it is going to be awesome. The day the movie comes out in the US my husband and I are going to Vancouver the leaving for an Alaskan cruise so I’ll have to wait 10 day before I see it….it is almost enough to make me rethink my vacation….almost. I wonder if it will be available to order in our hotel in Vancouver that night….assuming we are able to find the hotel.
I love all the commentary on Atlantis Season 4…yall keep up the great work!
Feel better soon Trish! 😉
Lulu is cool as always, trying to paw the water to sloe it down?!? up the nose, no stopping,,haha. funny.
Is the McKay bathtub scene coming up soon? not that I am anxious or anything.
Great exercise/cliff climbing pictures, did you have yourt shorts on as well?
Enjoy the day!
Hi again Mr M!
Greetings from balmy Tipperary (some 20 degrees C / 70F)
What news re: Mr G’s YPF?? Also, good luck with your dental appointment!!
Thanks
S’n’T
hey Joe,
great “on location report”. at first I thought this was for the 100th episode but then I remembered that’s supposed to be in Vegas, at least the part that takes place on Earth. I’m guessing this had to do with Remnants. anyway I rewatched S&R (which by the way is an awesome season premiere) and I can’t wait to see Daedalus Variations, now that you’ve mentioned the visual effects. I was going to ask about Sam’s departure and if it was going to be explained but you already answered that question.
what I’d like to know is, will her current job, after leaving Atlantis, (SG team, head of some facility, R&D at Area 51 etc) be mentioned in the 100th ep? also some people have already seen Continuum and I know you had nothing to do with the movie so this may be a stupid question but as I understand it, what you and the rest of the Atlantis writers and producers would like to change is Sam’s rank since it’s supposed to take place after S&R, right? and last but not least I was looking for something Stargate related on wikipedia (yes I know not the best source) and sometimes besides “Writer” and “Director” it says “Teleplay by”. For example for The Shroud it says “Story: Brad Wright&Robert C. Cooper, Teleplay:Robert C. Cooper”. what does that mean?
oh and of course I have to mention the live +sd rating for S&R. season 5 is already off to a better start than season 4 which is great. The Seed sounds like an interesting episode and the trailer confirmed this. also I’m sure folks will be happy to see Carson again. thanks for answering the questions 🙂
Best wishes for Trish, hope she’s feeling better soon.
I love the pics and the vids – especially the cute and cuddly Lulu!!
Sounds like you’re having busy days again. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the hard work that goes into making SGA so very, very good – and I’m sure so do others fans. So a big Thank You to you and the crew!
Leesa
1)Will any of the team discover that their full destiny is greater than they ever imagined?
2)Does Teyla’s newfound motherhood begin to effect her while in the battlefield?
3)Does Sheppard continue to show more emotion this coming year?
Hi Joe
You know what would be really funny in the show. If John;s Team were running to the cloaked Jumper and they run into it and they all fall on their butts. That would be a riot, I am cracking up as I type this.
Ummmm Joe. How does an enemy steal a Cloaked Jumper (Search and Rescue), you’d have to have the Gene to fly the thing don’t you?
Hugs
Fran
Hehehehe…Lulu and the Fountain – so cute! 🙂
Oh and congrats on the good ratings for S&R Joe. 😀
Hey Joe!
sorry for my absence as of late. I’ve been in the Czech Republic for the last two and half weeks. I’m here for another couple of weeks! I have been having an amazing experience out here. I’m a pianist and I’m performing extensively and playing for some master teachers. It’s incredible.
I did see ‘Search and Rescue’ and I loved the upgraded feel to everything especially in the visual effects department. I’m looking forward to Daedalus Variations. Also, the Seed looks very interesting.
I’m very very busy out here, but it’s nice to catch up with my favorite show. I’m performing here on Friday again. Wish me luck!
Having a hard week…taking in my cat Gus to a cardiologist because it looks like she is in the beginning stages of heart failure…=(
Just wanted to say the S&R was amazing and can’t wait for this week’s ep
Mackenzie’s Momma wrote:
<blockquote<Hey joe, I wanted to pop by and let you know that blog regular Trish(whovian) is in the hospital.
Please pass on my sincerest hopes for a speedy recovery. I’ll keep sending positive vibes her way.
Please let us know how she is doing.
Anne Teldy
Hello Joe and Everyone! 😀
I’m out of the hospital and on the mend. About 10 years ago I went thru the same thing and they thought it was appendicitis. Great guess, PG15. 🙂 They took my appendix THAT time though. I suffer from fibroid cysts. I was in a lot of pain (equal in intensity to child labor 🙁 ) and the ER doc assumed the worst (internal bleeding, possible infection, etc.). The ob/gyn doc said I wasn’t in that danger, though and gave me the option of surgery to relieve the pain or *waiting it out*. So I opted for no surgery. (Duh! Cuz surgery hurts, too!) The doctor had me spend the night to make sure things were getting better and not worse. Fortunately, the doc had great instincts. All I really suffered was some poking and prodding and an uncomfortable and sleepless night in the hospital.
It’s not all bad. I got to have my blood drawn from my left arm four times, an iv put into my right arm, AND an ambulance ride. Good times! I’m sure yesterday was quite boring for some of you and you are very envious of my experience. 😉 I do know how to party.
I was feeling even better this morning and after my final blood test they let me go home. The other good news is that I can take medication to prevent this from happening in the future. Best news EVER!
Thanks so much for all the well-wishing: Joe, Pat, drldeboer, chevron 7, wolfie, green, mackenziesmomma, pg-15, Ganymede, Paloosa, riley, christin, narelle, das, rebecca t, airelle, Lessa Perrie, and noir (the pic put a smile on my face! 😀 ) anyone else I missed.
@Joe: I was GOING to say (before my detour) that I had an amazing time at Shore Leave. I loved meeting David, Kate, and Jewel. They are all as wonderful, smart, funny, and gracious as you. I’m very lucky to have had that experience! The SGA family is without a doubt like none other!
Also, David’s squirrels (me being one of them) raised over $1, 500 for David’s favorite charity: Doctor’s Without Boarders. So be proud squirrels! We did good!
And the MAILBAG question I wanted to ask is this:
On Search and Rescue, was Michael behind the planet Mars in the Milky Way Galaxy? It looked like he was keeping an eye on earth. Or maybe I need new glasses. I watched that epi at Shore Leave with 600 or so of the fans. That’s my excuse if my question is totally wrong. But a red planet with two moons next to an earth-type planet??? I’m going with Mars. Sorry if it was asked and answered. I haven’t caught up yet and I’m going to throw that pesky hospital excuse at you. 😉
Thanks!
Trish 😀
AAACCKK!! Crazy busy day! Quick drive-by posting…
That’s NOT a cliff. That’s a bluff. 😉
Once again, Lulu is Best in Show. Adorable!! Certainly more entertainin’ den dem pasty-leg’ged fellers scamperin’ up dat thar mole hill.
@ BlueJay – if it’s like that in YOUR head, imagine what it’s like in mine! 😛 I’ve been living with this for days now…The Amazing 100th Episode: Blazing Stargates! I can just hear them now…
Throw out your hands!!
Stick out your tush!!
Hands on your hips,
Give them a push!!
You’ll be surprised,
You’re doing the Wraith Mistake!!
VOILA!!
.:?
das
so, i am a long time reader, but i never say anything. i’m going to start small and just say; text messaging is the best thing ever invented… no more having to speak to someone that you just need to say a simple message to.
Love your work, your blog, your kindness… thanks for taking the time! :o)
*peace*
Michele Blue
Me revoila! Sa va mieux! fan jusqu’au bout!
j’ai enfin finit la décoration de mon site “Joseph Mallozzi Fan”
Il ne me reste plus qu’a remplir le site d’information, video et photo..
Je voudrais avoir votre avis…Aimez vous le style du site ??
http://josephmallozzifan.wifeo.com/index.php
@ Trish – ack, missed your post! Glad things are okay, and hope you’re feeling lots better today. You had us all worried! *hugs* Take care!
Trish: “Oh yeah, yeah… I had a fibroid cysts once, incredibly painful. Same kinda thing from what I’m told so I… I hear you. Actually my cat and I had one at the same time, we were not fun to be around, I’ll tell you that much. He got his because he ate too much of the dry food, I got mine because I wasn’t drinking enough liquids… you know, that’s why you always see me hydrating. I have no desire to experience that kind of pain again!”
(Sorry, it just seemed to fit so well… 😉 )
das
@das: you need to come with a warning label! 😆
Blazing Stargates? Cats and their owners suffering the same condition as me at the same time? ROFL!!!! Oh laughing hurts so good! 😛
@anneteldy: thank you! I appreciate the well-wishing. 😀
So, what’s the difference between Project Terzo and Project Twilight?
Trish,
Glad you’re feeling better – I had the same “icky” issues – so I completely empathize.
RE: your thoughts on SAR, we thought the same thing. “Awesome CG! Hey, wait, isn’t that Mars?”
Was still an amazing graphic transition/intro though.
Pol
Were the special effects in S&R done exceptionally well or was that the benefit of watching SGA in HD for the first time?
I still haven’t jumped on the texting bandwagon; I’ll try to avoid it as long as possible if I can.
@ Pol: ((((((HUGS))))))) to you then! For suffering what I’m suffering AND for being the ONLY OTHER FAN (so far) that thought that was Mars! And yes, awesome CG!
@ Rebekah: I’m guessing you don’t want “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”
LOL!
Cheers, Chev
Glad you’re doing better, Trish!
“… The Daedalus Variations. Usually, I’m sick of an episode by the upteenth viewing but this is one I’m enjoying more with repeat viewings.”
That’s good to hear – I’m really looking forward to this based on the premise alone.
@ Trish – the cat thing is Rodney’s quote from S&R. I stole it! 😀 The underwear thing from yesterday, however, was all me… 😳
das
Hey Joe,
May I post a link to your blog from mine?
Thanks!
Pol
Hi Joe…Forgot to add in my last note to you (#84) you don’t have to approve that comment (or this one), and my blog is here: http://polsblog.wordpress.com/
Thanks again.
Pol
Back again with questions for Jennifer.
1. I really appreciate the notes you wrote for each story. I felt it added greatly to the whole piece. What inspired you to do this? Was it at the editor’s encouragement or are you merely a person who loves to talk about your work and ideas?
2. Can you talk a bit about the publishing aspect of your stories? At what point did you decide to submit stories to the magazines? How was that process for you (what did it entail, was it enjoyable, easier than going straight to a some other format)? And how was this book released so quickly? Was it the format (short stories)? The publishing company? Or something else? I ask merely because I know a lot of authors have to wait at least two years after writing the book before it comes out, whereas your most recent story was only about a year ago.
3. What was your favorite story of the bunch? Do you have a favorite? How do you feel about your stories once published? Do you wish you could tweak, do you refuse to reread them, etc.
4. As Joe mentioned in his review post…any plans for a novel? Pretty sure I’d be first in line to buy it (or at least, the first to preorder it online, lol). Any places I can expect a new story from you, actually?
5. I think my favorite notes were those on “Brushstrokes”. Taking in that and your “Firebird” story…are you a big fan of anything? Do you have a passion for a certain TV show/book/movie universe(s)?
And mainly, I want to say, how talented I think you are–and brave. You took some really odd concepts and touchy subjects and made them into beautiful, thought-provoking stories. The whole package was wonderful and I enjoyed each story. Thank you for that.
I lied! One more spammy comment, Joe, sorry. Again for Jennifer:
You mention your LJ in the acknowledgements–is it a public blog so fans can keep track, or merely a private one?
Yes! Welcome back Trish! Good to know that you’re feeling better + you didn’t have to go through surgery + you won’t suffer this again! Congrats! 🙂
@ Mackenzie’s Momma: Thank you for the update! Oh noes, she could’ve had a belly Goa’uld!
@ Mercie: I’m open to donations. 😉
Lulu is a cute thing isn’t she.
Tonight I’m watching S&R for the third time.
Know why? quality network TV.
I believe network TV has hit a historic all time low.
Fox – So you think you can dance?
CBC – Big Brother
NBC – Baby Borrowers
ABC – Wife Swap.
yep, pure quality – all on at the same time.
And people make fun of SciFi fans.
Trish, good to hear you’re out of the hospital. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet and recognise you in person, though I did note the attendence of the Squirrels and their dedicated moneyraising. Maybe next year we can get a Mallozzi’s Mob together…
Mr. M. Thanks for a great blog posting. I’m still suffering from the Hotel Hades, but a few more days and I can once again take in my normal daily dose of internet addiction. Meantime, keep up the pooch videos, PLEASE! that was the high point of my day.
So just heard…my cat has one to six months left. I am not sure what to do here…technically Gus is my sister’s cat so this is her decision but I don’t know if I can handle waking up one morning and finding her gone. For those pet lovers out there that your pet has become like your own kids…what do you think i should do? I mean if we treat her we could have more time with her but then aren’t we just prolonging the inevitable? I am really lost here.
@pg15– Sorry but I’ve already spent almost my entire fortune to go to the Stargate convention in Chicago this August…completely dry on money right now. But once I get my new job at the bank (crosses fingers) I’ll be rolling in dough!
Okay, maybe not rolling…but at least standing in dough the area of a square foot. But I can dream!
So, what IS the name of Teyla’s father? Tagan, as she said in “Rising” or “Torren” (or whatever it was) in Search and Rescue?
And PLEASE get rid of Keller. She is absolutely AWFUL.
Good to see you here, Trish … fibroid cysts, good times. I gots ’em too, but so far no pain. Good to hear you had an excellent doc, you avoided surgery, and that there’s meds. May you heal completely and swiftly and may your insurance company be kind and generous!
(There’s meds? What meds? Do I need to look this up for future reference when mine go bat-shit crazy?)
Mmm, TMI!
Hey Joe,
Thanks for replying to my comments. It is nice to know that someone appreciated my bantering and that my creative writing minor isn’t completely going to waste.
@Trish
I’m glad you’re feeling better. My mother suffers from the occasional fibroid cyst and the empathy pain alone is bad enough. I can’t even imagine. I will project warm fuzzies in your direction.
@ dyginc – I’ve had cats all my life – have 4 indoor cats now, and two ferals we feed outside (Both ‘fixed’ – but born and live in the wild). I love cats. But…they are just cats. I try to keep a balanced view of things when they take sick. I can’t let an animal suffer, so if it’s obviously suffering, and if treatment is either too expensive or not guaranteed to help, then I will put it to sleep. However, I’ve never had to do this yet, and in some ways I’m glad because I think I’d always question my decision. I’ve lost two since we’ve been married, one died at the vet (she was very sick), and the other died at home after a brief battle with cancer. Still miss that little fart. 😥 She was a real character.
Waking up and finding them gone is hard, but at least you know they went out on their own – it was out of your hands.
I just try to give them the best life right up to the end, within reason. If surgery or something is only going to give them a few more months, it’s not worth it to put them through that, only to die soon after. But if the treatment can perhaps give them years, then you have to decide if it’s worth it…sometimes it is.
Talk with your family, and base your decision on the way the cat is acting, and the treatment options. If it doesn’t have any sort of quality of life, then you need to decide whether or not it would just be happier released from the suffering. But if it is still enjoying its life, and if treatment can help (and is affordable), you may want to give it as much time as you can.
It’s a damn hard decision. Get other opinions, but in the end I’m sure you’ll make the right one, both for you, and for your kitty. *hugs*
das