So here’s something interesting I came across the other day (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDMXKb0oqb34&refer=home). According to the article, fourth quarter shipments of DVD’s fell 32% in the U.S. and Canada: “The drop is the biggest since the industry-funded researcher started keeping track in 1997.” It goes on to blame the consumer shift toward digital media services like iTunes…
January 30, 2009: Jean-Georges Comes to Vancouver
“The hotel restaurants,”my mother once advised me in her thick Italian accent. “They are never good.” I took issue with that statement and tried to come up with an example of a truly great hotel restaurant. The only one to come to mind was Kozue in the Park Hyatt Shinjuku, where, several years ago, my…
January 29, 2009: Author Jeff Vandermeer Sweeps In – Like A Mini-Hurricane!
So, last night I gathered up your questions for Jeff Vandermeer, sent them his way, and settled down to do a bit of work on the script. Less than thirty minutes later, I received a response from Jeff. Well, not just "a" response. ALL the responses. What I assumed to be an acknowledgment of receipt…
January 28, 2009: Actor Mike Dopud Answers Your Questions
Today, I'd like to turn this blog over to a familiar face - stuntman and actor Mike Dopud who has made three memorable appearances in the Stargate franchise (Full Alert's Colonel Chernovshev, Bounty's Odaii Ventrell, and Tracker's Kiryk). So far. He's incredibly talented, a helluva nice guy and, should my SF pilot ever get off…
January 27, 2009: Losing My Wallet And My Mind (In No Particular Order). A Solidarity Sick Day.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of flipping open your wallet to pay for something only to discover an empty space in the slip customarily occupied by your credit card. “Terror” isn’t really the right word for it. It’s more, I think, a feeling of deep foreboding roughly akin to the sensation serial killer victims…
January 26, 2009: City of Saints and Madmen, by Jeff Vandermeer
Prior to this month’s BOTMC selection, my exposure to the literary genre known as New Weird was limited to the works of China Mieville (The Scar being a personal “If I Was To Be Stranded On A Deserted Island And Could Only Bring 25 Books With Me This Is One of the Books I’d Choose“…
January 25, 2009: Why I’d Make A Terrible Alcoholic
I was going to have a glass of absinthe tonight but the instructions on the packaging called for me to dissolve a sugar cube into the spirit with equal parts water. Sadly, I found no sugar cubes in the house and while I briefly considered going with some densely packed brown sugar instead, I ultimately…
January 24, 2009: To Haggis or Not to Haggis?
This morning proved my productive beyond my wildest dreams. I completed three whole pages of my SGU script AND plotted out the next scene. I also started organizing my thoughts on the wondrous and weird City of Saints and Madmen, the next book up for discussion early next week. To be honest, a bit of…
January 23, 2009: Pigging Out At Fuel
One of the nice things about being a regular at a restaurant is the occasional invitation you’ll receive to a special event like, for instance, the Roasted Suckling Pig Evening hosted by the gang at Fuel last night. While Chef Rob was out making sausages all night (No, I’m serious.), Chef Ted was in…
January 22, 2009: This Blog Goes to the Dogs. Yet Again.
In spite of the fact that the production office is my “place of work”, I’ve been accomplishing very little in the way of actual script work there of late. I’ve been spinning my wheels on a complicated sequence that has been made all the more complicated by the fact that I’m dealing with all new…
January 21, 2009: Book of the Month Club Announcements, Guest Authors, and My Luck is About to Change!
I’m going to start off today’s entry by announcing the titles for next month’s Book of the Month Club discussions: Infoquake, by David Louis Edelman From the publisher: “Natch is a master of biologics, the programming of the human body. He's clawed and scraped his way to the top of the biologics market using little…
January 20, 2009: The Return of Norman Shuttlecock Junior
Today was a much better day insofar as I experienced no internet problems, didn’t encounter any black ice on my way in to work, nor did I have a bird shit on me. Instead, Tuesday was a quietly productive day spent helping to break a story (a possible episode #12) with a new freelancer. This…
January 19, 2009: The Living Dead, edited by John Joseph Adams
Early in season five, when the script for Whispers was in its earliest stages, I was presented with a concept drawing for one of the episode’s featured creatures. It was delightfully monstrous. In fact, too much so, I thought. As much as I liked the initial creature design, it wasn't quite what I was looking…
January 18, 2009: Series Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer/Writer/Director/Duck Smoker Robert C. Cooper Answers Your Questions
I was watching the NFL playoffs and, at one point, one of the defenders for the Pittsburgh Steelers intercepted a pass and started to run it back, zigzagging his way through defenders and, most importantly, his own players. Nothing can slow down your progress like an unwitting teammate backstepping into your path. I could almost…
January 17, 2009: Author David Weber Answers Yours Questions
So on Wednesday, I gathered up the five full pages of fan questions for author David Weber and sent them his way with the understanding that he could feel free to pick and choose among them. After all, he’s an immensely busy guy and you wouldn’t expect him to respond to all five pages. Well,…