- Carl runs us through the upcoming shuttle sequence. “Okay, um, first, you have the shuttle…”
- “and…uh…it’s going like this…”
- “…and then this comes around this way but that keeps going that way…”
- “…eventually ending in something that looks like this.”
- “And…that’s all I got. Yep. That’s it.”
- “Please, stop that.”
This is a warning to you trusting individuals out there. If somebody calls you claming to be a representative of a sprinkler service and asks you to pull the fire alarm to “reset” the system, question him to make sure he is who he claims to be. And, if he is, then go ahead and follow his instructions to shatter windows, shut down power, and break off a sprinkler head. You know, I’ve always wondered what kind of a moron would fall for those spam emails. Well, know I know…http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0609092prank3.html
After lunch today, we sat down and watched the director’s cut of Time. Hoowee! What a ride! Great script, great direction, and great performances all around make this one of the stand-out episodes of what has thus far been an overwhelmingly solid first season line-up. A special shout-out to David Blue (who wasn’t on set when I swung by this afternoon to congratulate the actors on a job well done) for a performance at turns humorous, commanding, and touching. And, of course, an extra-special congrats to Robert C. Cooper who wrote, directed, and produced the episode. Tonight, we celebrated Hungarian style…with schnitzel platters for everyone (“Everyone” being Robert, Carl, Lawren, and myself).
So every once in a while, I like to check out my blog stats and, specifically, the search terms that led those unwary first-timers to this blog. Usually, it’s names like “Joseph Mallozzi” or “Amanda Tapping”, or titles like “Stargate: Universe”, but occasionally it’ll be a term so bizarre or foreign to this blog that it leaves me scratching my head wondering: 1) How the hell did this search term lead back to my blog? and 2) What the hell were these people tracking down “kilted hamsters” for? A few of my favorites from the past week:
“Chocolate party” (seven searches)
“Komodo dragon clip art” (four searches)
“Gene Simmons” (three searches)
“Scooby Doo” (two searches)
“creepy house” (two searches)
“Ottawa vulcan seat” (two searches)
“lion cupcake violet crumble” (one search)
“is it safe to give a whole carrot to a 9” (one search)
“Montreal map prostitutes” (one search)
“NJ 2009 alternatives to serving jail time” (one search)
“Barney the dinosaur cursing on tv” (one search)
Hope everyone found what they were looking for.
Some Elric discussion:
Iamza writes: “Is some of Elric’s perceived evil because he does not have a typical Melnibonean outlook on life?”
Answer: He certainly comes across as noble, even likable, in contrast to his fellow Melniboneans. In all fairness however, we never get to know any of his fellow countrymen.
Iamza also writes: “I mean, a lot of things that people consider evil are things they don’t fully understand.”
Answer: True. I love the fact that, on the surface, Elric’s actions may seem cruel and self-serving, yet this outward appearance is deceiving (adding to his notoriety). It’s interesting to note that he appears to take no pleasure in his actions. Even his acts of revenge come across as painful exercises, duties to be completed.
Thornyrose writes: “ What parts of the book gave me a sense of the Melinbonean’s inhumaness. Hmm. I think the impression really sets in later in this book, when Moorcock is giving a description of Elric’s cousin, and describes his beauty as inhuman.”
Answer: How interesting then that Elric, the albino denied the beauty of his Melniboneans turns out to be the most human of them all.
DasNdanger writes: “ I found it interesting, too, that Elric finished him off at the urging of Moonglum. Still, I can’t decide if he put the man out of his misery because of Moonglum, or simply because he become bored with it all.”
Answer: Given the pain and suffering he’d endured as a result of Jagreen Lern’s actions, I suspect Elric very much enjoyed meting out his punishment. Eventually, he may have grown tired, but I doubt he’d have been bored.
DasNdanger also writes: “Though he agonized over Cymoril’s death and his role in destroying his culture…it only served to further convinced me that Elric was more the sentimentalist than the conscience-pricked man. That’s not to say that he felt no guilt or remorse over what he had done…he certainly did. But over what? The wanton destruction of his own culture, or his failure to come off victorious?”
Answer: I don’t know. I really feel as though the responsibility he bore for the deaths of his friends and loved ones helped solidify his dark, brooding persona and, over time, transform him from a cold-blooded killer to a fairly sympathetic anti-hero.
DasNdanger also writes: “Oddly enough, I did not see his sacrifice as ‘tragic’. It was…beautiful. What a contrast to the brutal torture Elric could mete out, or the demons he could conjure up, or the souls he could so ravenously take at the tip of his sword. Here was the one soul that was not his to steal, the one soul that was neither evil nor suffering, but one to be given willingly, in all pureness of motive.”
Answer: Except that when he is at death’s door and giving up his soul, Moonglum’s reaction is far from noble or beautiful. It’s a horrible, frightening, and painful experience, and that’s what makes it tragic.
Well now I don’t even need to watch the real shuttle sequence. Carl’s just that good with his hands.
Except that when he is at death’s door and giving up his soul, Moonglum’s reaction is far from noble or beautiful. It’s a horrible, frightening, and painful experience, and that’s what makes it tragic.
Yeah. Self-sacrifice has always struck me as a sentiment much easier to applaud and strive for if one is not actually the one having to offer one’s life up on the platter. Something better thought about in the abstract. Because with all the best motives in the world, I suspect I’d very much want to be changing my mind when confronted with the reality, just as Moonglum was.
And yet, had Moonglum not followed through, not given Elric his strength, Elric would not have been able to fulfill his destiny. Or, you know, get to feel the, er, sharper edge of his sword, too. In some ways, given how many of Elric’s cohorts the sword had taken, I thought it was kind of fitting that Elric ended up sharing their fate. One final thought: As Elric is dying, he despairs over the fact that since Stormbringer has taken possession of his soul, it means a part of him will never know peace — part of his soul is in a kind of limbo, or possibly even hell. Oddly, this made me a little happy, because if Elric’s soul cannot rest because it has been eaten by Stormbringer, I figured a part of Moonglum and Cymoril and Zorazinia and the two Dyvims must also still be present, so Elric would have a reunion, of sorts, with those he cared for best.
Hi Joe:
You and Carl seem to have such a great time together. You must really enjoy coming to work in the mornings. Good on you guys.
Patricia
Ok –hits to your site,, have you counted how many messages,,? Do the searches reset after so many days? And Carl looks like a bit of Tai-chi or something there> I mean in between the shuttle describing stuff. I guess people are always going to pull pranks since the -Do you have Prince Albert in a can time..Some people on the receiving end are just not thinking,,Duh!!
Answer: “Except that when he is at death’s door and giving up his soul, Moonglum’s reaction is far from noble or beautiful. It’s a horrible, frightening, and painful experience, and that’s what makes it tragic.”
Oh, THAT. Yes…that was a bit tragic, though I still did not see it that way. How can I explain this in type?? To me, it was as if Moonglum had been ‘enlightened’. The truth hurts, so to speak. He finally grasped what he had witnessed hundreds of times before, yet never fully understood: he knew what it was like to die by Elric’s hand…he knew the depth of his cruelty, this one for whom he had such affection and pity. He was astonished, it seemed, that Elric would not be ‘gentle’ with him, though I suppose you could say that it really wasn’t Elric, but Stormbringer. Still, one must question in this symbiotic relationship how much of Elric is part of Stormbringer, and visa versa.
Answer: “I don’t know. I really feel as though the responsibility he bore for the deaths of his friends and loved ones helped solidify his dark, brooding persona and, over time, transform him from a cold-blooded killer to a fairly sympathetic anti-hero.”
But that’s it, isn’t it? With the exception of Cymoril, perhaps, it was the death itself that weighed him down, not the loss of the individual. Was he brooding over his failure to save them, to stop the killing, to control events? I suppose I should have asked Moorcock this…but I get the sense that Elric broods over his failures, not so much the individual losses he suffers. It’s as if he can’t get past the guilt and anger stages of mourning.
Answer: “True. I love the fact that, on the surface, Elric’s actions may seem cruel and self-serving, yet this outward appearance is deceiving (adding to his notoriety). It’s interesting to note that he appears to take no pleasure in his actions. Even his acts of revenge come across as painful exercises, duties to be completed.”
This is true – for the most part, he takes no pleasure in his actions, except on the few occasions when he gets into a battle frenzy, such as the one that ends Rackhir’s life. So, even when he relishes his actions, often something goes wrong that ends up making him rue what he’s done.
Oh, something I failed to mention before, but that touched me, was Elric’s affection for Flamefang. I’ve often said that a man who loves animals can’t be all that bad! The way I see it right now, Flamefang was more than just a dragon to Elric, but the last vestige of his culture and peoples and history, again suggesting to me that he was a sentimental fellow. Still, his affection for and connection with the beast was touching, and I’m very happy with the way it was handled.
das
Dear Joe,
How you been sir? Hope you are doing fine. I have a quick question regarding the Stargate Universe upcoming series: you mentioned on an earlier blog entry that you were waiting for the opportune time to release to us fans some cool concept arts of the Destiny and other tech related props. Any idea when that time will be, if you can post them that will be great.
Another question that has been bugging me relates to my favorite show Atlantis: Will the creation or replenishing of ZPMs issue get solved in Stargate Extinction movie?
Thanks
This is a warning to you trusting individuals out there
You assume that we are trusting.
Ha. We are, instead, carnivorous… and hungry.
Hi, Joe,
This bug I’m wrestling makes me feel rotten. A blog dedication would lift my spirits…
We may not want to remember, but June 29 is the anniversary of Don’s death.
Haha I love the random searches. Montreal map prostitutes? Someone seriously searched all WordPress blogs for that and it brought him here???
And WOW I’ve missed a LOT. I guess I’ve got a lot of catching up to do… two weeks of moving/cleaning/moving AGAIN but now I’m back in Scranton for the summer, so my time is my own again! Tomorrow is for catching up on blogs! 😀
That prank reminds me of a more insidious report I heard of someone calling fast food places pretending to be management or something and telling the male adults to perform strip searches on the teenage girls who worked there… which they did, sometimes going even farther than that. All because someone on the phone said so. It’s crazy.
Joe, have you seen any of the literal music videos?
With Carl and his skills at acting out the scenes with his hands, aren’t the actors a tiny bit redundant? Mind, I don’t want to see them go unemployed, especially since it looks like any strike has been averted for a couple of years, but what a precident you could establish. And if Carl in a solo performance(perhaps his skills stop with demonstrating ships and other non living items?) you could draft the “kids” into playing out roles. Brie would be an absolute heart stealer, and Maximus just oozes the gravitas. And on that sleep deprived note I think I shall call it a night.
Just want to share something I think is funny – or disturbing – not sure which.
Tonight we were reading – hubby finishing up an Elric story, while I tackled the 7-ish Wolverine: Old Man Logan (Millar/McNiven) arc that I have been collecting – and waiting to read – since last summer. So, we’re reading, and suddenly Mr. Das starts fretting over Elric’s outfits…how the colors and styles don’t match and stuff. 😕 My husband is rather particular about his clothes, but still…that’s NOT the same as being particular about another guy’s clothes.
Geez. I better keep him away from Lorne. 😛
das
Mr M
When are we getting Ashleigh’s Q&A?
It’s been really interesting to follow the Elric discussions. So many different subjects have been addressed, some of them in considerable depth. I love that aspect of your BOTMC, since even those who aren’t participating at present can appreciate some of the books’ most complex issues by looking at them through other peoples’ eyes.
Last pic of Carl, with caption: Haha. I wonder if any of your colleagues are going to ask for modeling fees at some point.
As a search term leading to your blog, “current alternatives to jail time in NJ” makes sense, sort of. “Chocolate party” connects to your blog? Who would’ve guessed? About “Is it safe to give a whole carrot to a 9?” — the possibilities are, uhh. . . . Oh look, it’s time to log off and get some zzz’s.
This is why I like Carl so much. Next time make a video of the hand gestures, set to music. I know, when do you find the time.
Carl’s still my favorite writer, next to you, and Marty G. and Rob. And Brad. I’ll stop now.
How are the dogs doing? Since I don’t “twitter”, I haven’t seen them around lately. Hope everyone is OK and eating.
@das: I had a good laugh reading about your husband’s new interest in other men’s fashions, and about keeping him away from Lorne. 😀 Best of luck with that. 😉
hi Joe!
huge fan, hey Joe I was just wondering if you have ever read any books by Stephen Baxter? He’s my favorite Scifi author (excluding scifi tv writer’s off course 🙂 and he has some awesome stuff i think you’d like.
He has a series called Manifold about this character who in each different novel starts off in the exact same situations but somehow some few seemingly insignifcant changes take his future in entirely different directions, and off course theirs Aliens and tech discussion too 🙂
If you have an opening i think anything by Baxter would make an awesome book for your book club.
looking foward to your next blog, more weird foods of the day vids! lol
Louis
Hey Joe,
Loved the pic of Lulu today.. Will she actually chase the ball, or does she prefer tug-of-war type games?
We used to have a Border Collie who would quite literally run his paws raw chasing a ball if you weren’t careful, but Bella (bulldog) far prefers good old-fashioned tugging games. You can actually drag her around the house ’cause she won’t let go; our floors are all hard-wood so technically, she just slides around 😀
I seem to recall reading that the pictures on the sidebar are randomly generated, but have you read them all? I swear I saw a pic of Mary Doria Russell’s “The Sparrow”.
If so, have you read it? Did you enjoy it? Was there ever a BotM discussion for it? I read it several years ago and found it utterly engrossing…
Nadine
Interesting search terms there, indeed. Ottawa Vulcan seat? What is that even??
Do you ever wonder if one day Carl will just snap?
The sprikler and the hotel – kind of reminds me of those psychological tests where the subject is repeatedly ordered “Push the button!” Don’t do it often, but the link was worthy of being sent to a few select sadistic friends – thanks!
Hey Mr M!
Greetings from Sunny Ireland.
It’s obvious that Carl was detailing (in mime) his own Traffic Management Plan for Southern California….and I have to agree Carl…especially the last part!
RE: Paul McGillion: Thanks for doing the Q and A. Can I ask you what fav Sci Fi authors do you read? or if not Sci Fi, what authors do you read? Thanks for the many years of Beckett (and many more to come!) Also, as an actor, when Beckett came back as the Clone…do you think “Clone” Beckett feels in some ways uncomfortable or even a bit “inferior” knowing he is a clone?? Did this inform you as an actor / did you prepare slightly differently for the “clone” role? Thanks again.
Mr M: I too am curious re: Ashleigh’s Q and A….Has she gone all shy?
Best to all
Shirt’n’Tie
Ugh…I keep thinking of things from The Stealer of Souls – hope you don’t mind, Joe…
1. Dyvim Slorm. At the final battle, when they capture a man at the city of Chaos and interrogate him, I found it interesting that Dyvim took the man’s soul with his own blade, even though well aware that Elric was weakened, nearly to the point of death. I wondered how much of that was due to his Melnibonean blood (a lack of empathy for his fellow), and how much was due to Mournblade’s selfish hunger?
I was also struck by the fact that Elric didn’t dress him down for it…but accepted his cousin’s action though it was a great loss to himself.
2. Elric, once learning what his Destiny was, still chose to follow it. As I recall, there were times when it was suggested to Elric that Fate wasn’t necessarily set in stone…that, perhaps, a man could change the outcome. Even the Lords of Chaos tried to sway him back to their side on more than one occasion, but Elric had grown so disgusted by the world ruled by Chaos, that he was determined to bring an end to it all, even though it meant his end, as well. Still…he did have the choice – to return to Chaos and become a ‘god’, or to continue to fight a battle that would wipe him out of existence. In the end the decision was his to make and he chose the latter. Is that truly ‘Fate’ and ‘Destiny’, or is that that the exercising of free will?
das
coucou Joseph! ça va ?
Moi oui, j’ai passer une bonne journée! Alala merci pour ces photos de Carl, il est super =D
Mouhahah les mot clé pour arriver sur votre blog son un peu étrange lol!
Bisou, a plus Joseph!
ahhh si j’ai une petite question! Qui vous appel encore Joseph sur cette planet?
@ fsmn36: Spock’s birth place in the other, other Alternate Universe?
That Holiday Inn story reminds me of a horrible one I saw on Dateline a couple years back. Someone called a McDonalds informing the manager that he was a Federal Agent, and one of her employees was a criminal. She took the young teenage girl in the back room and strip searched her because the guy on the phone told her to!!! Then after a couple HOURS, it hit dinner time so the restaurant got busy. She was told to get her husband to watch the girl, who was still naked, while she went back to work. The husband then was told to perform sexual acts with the young girl and he did them all!!! It was all caught on video tape and I believe the husband went to jail. They never caught the guy on the phone. The entire time he kept reassuring them that police were on the way, and they never thought to call the police to verify this??
I would kind of think twice when he says, now search her mouth with your……
Purple Monkey Dishwasher.
I’m just trying to be helpful.
Hi Joe,
Sorry for my inactivity.. I have been busy. Anyone miss me? I have started working out and am already loosing weight. I am SOO excited. I might pick up P90X soon but that is a big maybe. So.. Questions for Paul
Just before the questions I just wanted to thank you for doing the Q&A and for wonderfully performing your role on the greatest show on earth
1. What Carson episode is your favorite.
2. How many takes did it take to nail the McKay-Carson kissing scene in duet?(Sorry to bring up the bad memories)
3. Are you planning to be involved in the Atlantis movie(Which is shooting in November I believe)? Have you been contacted yet by TPTB regarding acting deals?
4. I remember hearing you were considered for the role of Scotty in the Star Trek Movie but instead got a part as a barraks officer because the producers were so impressed with your skillage. How close did you actually get to getting the Role of Scotty, (Which I think you could have played much better than the actor they chose) were you their second choice?
Thanks again Mr. Paul
And a question for you Mr. Mallozzi if you don’t mind 🙂
Almost one year ago, Brad had an interview in which he said the Atlantis movie would be made in the near future(Also, he already knew you guys were doing Universe, so I am assuming he had that in mind during the interview). Almost 10 months later the actors haven’t even been contacted yet. I mean how can this not be considered a delay?
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
HaHa… Carl is epic.
I mean seriously look at the scripts he has written(Midway, The Prodigal. Phantoms) His humor and facial expressions. lol. He is funny!
Very much into the new book “Blood of Ambrose”. It’s a pleasure to read.
Thanks,
Tam
Brian J. Smith seems to look very Jason Bourne. Awesome! Btw I don’t suppose that you could find someway of making a joke about Matt Damon in any upcoming episodes? Matt Damon jokes are funny!
Das: keep him away from dresses, also. An old acquaintance of mine was interviewed in our local paper Sunday. It was regarding his/her recent gender change. Why would anyone bother getting a painful sex change when they are near 70 years of age? (that was my first question)
She/he said in the interview that he wanted to live as a woman. Got me to thinking, how do we (women) live differently? I don’t wear dresses, hardly ever use makeup, love power tools and I like to punch people/objects.
Comparatively, he/she is more of a woman than I am. Interesting, no, yes?
Tam
@ Tammy Dixon – I don’t think I have to worry about that! My husband gets creeped out at the very thought of wearing women’s clothes…he won’t even wear my coat in a pinch, and my coat is a guy’s coat! But because I wear it, he thinks of it as a woman’s coat, so it’s off limits to him.
Now…sex change stories!! Are ya ready, folks??!!
When we moved into our house, there was a middle-aged couple living next door. Husband, wife, daughter (not living at home), and son (still living at home due to a disability). Well the husband, I thought, was a hippie reject… 60ish, longish hair – bushy, not flowing – big glasses, earring. Really didn’t think much about. He was always working around the house, making improvements – even put on a brand new roof.
A man’s man, or so I thought.
One day after chatting over the fence with them, my husband and I went back inside and Mr. Das said, ‘that’s a transvestite.’ I laughed, and told him he was CRAZY – the guy’s a dude, through and through. Hubby stood his ground.
Well, a couple days later early in the morning, we here him outside, saying goodbye to his family. Their driveway was right outside our bedroom window, and they were being a bit loud, so I looked out side…and there he was! In high heels and a mini skirt – with boobs! 😯
Anyhoo…the rest of the summer was quite entertaining – mainly because I thought I was seeing things (surely I was mistaken!), so I asked the neighbors. Nope…no one had seen anything unusual…only the guy up on a ladder, putting on the new roof. Guy. Okay. I was seeing things – maybe they had a visitor – yeah, that’s it! His twin sister! Yeah…that was his twin sister pulling up in the car…and in the backyard grilling steaks, and…going to the beach…in a sundress…
Time passed…the summer wore on and just before they went home, the husband informed me that he was going away for surgery, and would be down to recuperate during the off-season, so not to be alarmed if we saw activity around the house. Okay. Fine. Surely he was having back surgery! Everyone goes to Minnesota for that!
That fall he showed up, walking around as if he had just gone cross-country on an overweight horse. He attempted to tell me about his surgery, but I passed on the offer. However, he did tell me his – I mean…her…new name.
Oddly enough, once he had the sex change, he stopped wearing dresses and stuff, and went back to pretty much being a dude. With boobs. His wife stayed with him, too.
But here’s the funny part…
All that time I was feeling so alone, no one else on the street seemingly aware of the situation next door. I really started to think I had made it all up in my mind because of my husband’s suggestion (surely men change their names to Mary and Betty and Sue all the time!).
Then one bright early spring day a woman came strolling across the street – a woman I had never seen before. She lived several doors down on the other side of the street, and we had never met. Nonchalantly she introduced herself, then asked me about one of my shrubs. We chatted. Then suddenly she changes the subject, “Tell me, what’s going on with your neighbor?”
I asked her why…
She replied, “Well, the guy next to me said he sat in his sunroom all last summer with binoculars, watching your neighbor up on the roof, trying to figure out if it was a man or a woman!”
Whew! So I wasn’t seeing things! I was just asking the wrong neighbors! 😆
das
@ das: And you found nothing strange about one of your neighbours watching another one of your neighbours with binoculars for most of the summer?! 😉
@Dan
Well Joe will write an episode of SGU later on so good idea. Pleas Joe, take the wise man’s suggestion!
Can you please promise to put a Jason Bourne/ Matt Damon Joke in an upcoming episode(If the situation calls for it)?
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
@Das
You have the strangest stories. 🙂
Hi Joe,
I’ve been watching “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Outta Here” to support Lou Diamond Phillips. I’m a little confused though, is his character (Col. Telford) considered a regular or not? I’ve always liked Lou and he seems like a great guy so I am hoping that he is. Him and Robert Carlyle are who I’m looking forward to!
Sneak him in more scripts to make sure he doesn’t slip away! Haha. =)
-Morticae
P.S. I am graduating from my university! Perhaps a *weee* little blog dedication as a gift? It’d make my year!
Carl kind of looks like he is flashing Stargate gang signs.
….WORD! (…quite literally in Carl’s case.) 🙂
https://josephmallozzi.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/img_15211.jpg
Carl ROCKS!!
Hey Joe! Hey everyone!
I know that there are a lot of readers who enjoy this blog, and probably some of you check out John Scalzi’s blog as well. But if you haven’t lately…he recently wrote about an award-winning author named Cat Valente who, because of personal circumstance, is going to post her latest story online. As she writes it! Her hope is that if her readers enjoy the story, they might donate whatever they feel is appropriate.
Her Live Journal entry, explaining the venture, is here: http://yuki-onna.livejournal.com/487082.html
Might be worthwhile to check out.
So I was curious and I googled ottawa vulcan seat. Turns out there is a seat for a Kawasaki motorcycle called a vulcan and I bet you the person they were hoping to find lives in Ottawa.
Hi Joe and everybody, I’ve been pretty snarky lately (thyroid meds) so have only been reading and not commenting much. Can’t even think of an intelligent question for Paul that he hasn’t heard a thousand times already. Off to Miami for the weekend, so everybody be well, see you on Monday! Hey, I wonder if Paul’s ever worn a kilt? 😉 Loving the pics of the dogs, by the way 🙂
Das: so funny!
Sorry Mr. M, but a lot of the times, truth is stranger than fiction.
Tam
pg15 wrote: “And you found nothing strange about one of your neighbours watching another one of your neighbours with binoculars for most of the summer?!”
No! I thought it was HILARIOUS!!! 😆
@ Tammy Dixon – I have a million of them…in fact, one of our employees had a sex change a few years after leaving our employ. I think it must be something in the water.
Then there’s the guy who worked for us – he was living with this family, a family just helping him out. The wife (of the family he lived with) helped out in the office for a bit, too. But then the guy supposedly molested her daughter, so he ended up in jail, and the family just moved on. A couple years later, they made headlines – the wife tried to get the guy who molested her daughter to find her a hitman to kill her husband. 🙄
das