One of those high-end groceries just opened up a mere five minute stroll from our place. It’s your one-stop shops for such unique upscale products as four dollar avocadoes and rosewater soda, items no sane person would ever consider buying. Cyprus black lava flake salt? Truffle honey? Pickled capers? Okay, maybe if you’re looking to create a very special dish. Or kicking off a new video blog segment titled “The Weird Food Purchase of the Day”.
Yes, what I thought I’d do is pick up the strangest food product I happen to come across on any given day, take it back home, then have Fondy document me sampling it for the first time. Will the discovery of a delightfully exotic concoction have me singing its praises? Or will it have me rushing off to the bathroom to induce vomiting instead? Let’s find out. The first video in what I hope will be a semi-regular feature (stomach permitting) can be found at the bottom of this blog entry.
Hey, pursuant to yesterday’s entry concerning my top 5 July reads, I was wondering about your respective attitudes toward books on the opposite end of the scale. Are you a patient reader? How patient? I, for one, consider myself a fairly tolerant reader and do try to finish most any book I start – but there are occasions when that’s just plain impossible. Either the story hasn’t grabbed me, the style is off-putting or, in some instances, I’m bored to tears or wholly unimpressed. Still, looking back over the past 100 books I picked up, I have a pretty impressive 95% completion rate. Whenever I start reading a book, I like to apply my 25% Rule. It’s quite simple really: Stick with it through at least 25% of the narrative and, if after completing that 25% you still feel like flinging the book across the hallway, then you’re well within your rights to fling away. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen. The last book I gave up on was an 800 page tome. I reached the 350 page mark before calling it quits. It was very well-written but it didn’t engage me and, at the end of the day, I thought “Hey, I could be out back watering Fondy’s hydrangeas!”.
So, do you have any set rules applicable to challenging reads? Is it 10%, 25%, or 100 page cut-off? Or are you like my writing partner, Paul, who adopts a Life’s Too Short attitude and drops books more often than he finishes them?
And what rules do you apply to authors? As far as I’m concerned, one bad book is not enough to cross an author off my to-read list. Two will do it though.
Another reminder: You have one more day to post your questions for writer-Supervising Producer Alan McCullough.
Mailbox:
Wams 352 writes: “So, First Atlantis Recon Team – you do know what that makes the acronym, right? (and for those of you who don’t – FART?).”
Answer: Thanks for pointing that out when you did or it could have been very embarrassing. Fortunately, we were able to change the team designation in post before the episode shipped. Officially now, they’re Stargate High Intel Team. Whew! Dodged a bullet there.
Iamjohn writes: “Why did SG1 seem to have a much easier time renewing seasons 1-5 then Atlantis did?”
Answer: Because SG-1 actually spent its first five seasons on Showtime and only moved to SciFi in its sixth season.
Charles Cooney writes: “ Are the aliens we see in daedalas variations the same ones in the mid season 2 parter?”
Ryan writes: “I would like to know whose idea was to let Shepperd play around with a Nintendo DS in a few scenes this season?”
Answer: I believe that was director Andy Mikita’s idea.
MysteryMadchen writes: “What I don’t understand cause I missed a few episodes was why did Rose go to an alternative reality? Wasn’t see from earth, I mean the none alternative “our” earth? I’m soooo confused.”
Answer: Haven’t watched Dr. Who’s 4th season but, back in season 2, Rose was stranded in an alternate reality and unable to continue her travels with the doctor.
Inpa writes: “I read over at Gateworld (since they provide some behind the scenes tid-bits on episodes in the episode page) that you once said that you were worried about the episode (Daedalus Variations) while it was in the outline stage, what was it at the time you were concerned about?”
Answer: In its early stages of development, I was concerned that the reality-jumping beats would prove repetitive. As it turned out, however, they were executed in a way that proved both unique and fun. And the huge VFX budget helped.
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