I haven’t been getting much sleep of late. I blame my dogs who, for reasons unknown, have taken to waking up a full hour before my alarm. And if they’re awake, you can be damn sure they want me awake. Rather than barking or biting however (Maximus is particularly adept at locating that fleshy area just behind the elbow for gnawing purposes), they’ve adopted more subtle means – walking around, wrestling with each other (La dee da. Just minding our own business. Oh, sorry. Did we wake you?). I ignored them. Until Bubba took a stroll across my forehead this morning. Annoyed but determined, I shoved him aside and rolled over to face Jelly. Who sneezed in my face. That did it! I was up! Hopefully, I’ll have better luck tomorrow.
- Patrick Gilmore as the pondering Dale Volker.
- Johnny Z. keeps an eye on Ivon.
- Director Ivon Bartok and Brian J. Smith (Lt. Matthew Scott).
As I was snapping pics of a suited-up Peter and Haig, Lawren and Ashleigh abandoned the darkened confines of the production offices to take in the action on Stage 4. Lawren snapped some pics of his own while Ashleigh sat back and offered Ivon unsolicited advice on his shot selection.
- “Uh, you sure you want to stay wide on this one?”
When they were setting up for the next shot, I told Lawren and Ashleigh about my close call the other day. As I was heading back to the car after a return visit to Greek Fest, I tripped on the curb and almost stumbled into oncoming traffic, catching myself in the nick of time. As you can imagine, it was a terrifying ordeal and I was sure my good friends at work would empathize. Well, this was Ashleigh’s reaction –
Then, reading my disaproving look, she tried to cover by claiming that sometimes, in moments of extreme anxiety or sorrow, people break into laughter as a coping mechanism. I almost bought it until she suggested that, to avoid future accidents, I might want to invest in a walker – then proceeded to do an imitation of me using said walker…
As they finished shooting the Scott/Brody/Riley/Volker scene, David Blue arrived on set for his first scene. He too came armed with a camera and, as he was snapping pics, I asked him about the photos I recently posted of him. He said he didn’t like them, but I was sure he signed off on them. As it turned out, yes, he signed off on them, but he generally hates pics of himself – especially the kind you can click on and enlarge. So, I snapped a pic of him, got him to sign off, and am posting it here in all its unclickable and unenlargable glory.
Kerry dropped by from post and it was a downright party atmosphere – until Lawren started to complain about how hungry he was and, hey, is that Greek Festival still going on? Well, even though it was a little after 11:00 a.m., we decided to head out for an early lunch – and brought Brian along for the ride, promising to return him in time for his ADR session.
- Kerry watches them shoot while Ashleigh wonders how she keeps her hair so sheeny and bodiful.
We got to the festival only to be told that they wouldn’t start serving food until noon – but Kerry managed to sweet talk her way through official channels and, in no time at all, we were enjoying the sunshine and chowing down on gyros for Brian, pork souvlaki for Kerry, lamb dinners for Lawren and I, the vegeterian platter for Ashleigh which, I believe, was made up of the various sides served with the real meals, and double loukoumaes and baklava for everyone!
- An anxious Brian wonders where the hell we’ve whisked him away to. Poised to dial 911. And pick up his gryo.
- Ashleigh suffers the disgrace of “the vegetarian section”.
- Kerry chows down on loukoumades.
- “Finish your salad or no baklava!”
We OD’d on Loukoumades. Brian had four and insisted he couldn’t have another in spite of my insistence that he wasn’t getting enough sugar in his diet. Lawren imagined he’d be so wired that he’d be speeding through his dialogue at first and then, once the sugar crash hit, snoozing through the rest of his session. Kerry and Brian headed off, leaving Lawren to polish off the baklava and Ashleigh to enlighten me on the subtle nuances of the Joey character from Full House, evidently a show she watched a lot of…
- …It….
- Out!
It now supplants “DY-NO-MIIIITE!” as my catchphrase.
So, we went back to the Bridge and said our goodbyes. I ran into my writing partner Paul and chatted with him. “See you Friday!”he said as he headed off toward his motorcycle, referring to the fact that we would be catching the same flight to Montreal later in the week. But Friday? I thought we were flying out Saturday. Well, good thing I ran into him because, it turns out, I AM flying out Friday.
Headed home and then Fondy and I went downtown where enjoyed some JapaDog (Vancouver’s premiere Japanese hot dog stand)
- JapaDog is hopping!
– and then purchased tickets to UP! Yes, that’s right. For the first time in recent memory, I actually went to a movie theater. Normally, I’d just wait for the DVD to come out but I made an exception for this movie because: a) Carl can’t stop talking about it and b) I wanted the whole kooky 3D experience. Anyway, loved the movie and certainly hope it gets a Best Picture nomination when the time comes. If it doesn’t, expect a tirade from either Baron Destructo or Cookie Monster.
I’d said my goodbyes at work and was walking around downtown when who do I see walking toward us but Ashleigh. Of course she has spotted me and is doing one of those “I’m going to make like I don’t see him by pretending I’m texting” but sees me smiling and standing in wait and so, realizing she won’t be able to avoid me, looks up and smiles: “Oh, hi!”. I introduce her as “Ashleigh who works with me.” and for some bizarre reason she hears “Ashleigh who worships me.”. Well, after getting that cleared up, I wished her all the best for her trip. She and her beau will be trekking across Europe. Since they’ll be hitting the Czech Republic, I strongly urged her to watch Hostel before going but she has steadfastly refused to follow my advice. I, of course, was just trying to be helpful. Anyway, I said goodbye for the second time that day and insisted she not bring me back anything…unless she saw something that screamed “Joe”. She promised she wouldn’t and headed off.
I wonder what she’ll bring me back?
Today, it was Ivon Bartok’s turn to step into the director’s chair and call the shots on a full slate of kino scenes. When I rolled in this morning, he was overseeing a funny sequence involving Scott (Brian J. Smith), Sgt. Riley (Haig Sutherland), Brody (Peter Kelamis), and Volker (Patrick Gilmore).
In by the skin of his teeth!
Are you growing a goatee?
Get the Dog Whisperer in. Sleep is so important. Otherwise, soon you’ll become known as Cranky Joe, Narcolepsy Joe, What crawled up his …. Joe, etc.
It will also prevent mishaps such as getting hit by public transportation, electrocution, being mauled by a bear, thinking you’re flying out on a completely different day to what you really are, blogging really, really late, typos, you get the idea.
In your sleep deprived state you also become an easy target for practical jokes. It loses all the fun when you become an easy target. I’m just thinking of you here Joe. Why? Because I care. **nods reassuringly**
For anyone interested in learning more of Japadog, they have a website: http://www.japadog.com/
Hey Joe,
Glad to hear you liked Up. I was particularly fond of the various dogs. Loved the english bulldog. For some reason, I couldn’t stop laughing at the “helium” voice of Alpha. And I loved that bit at dinner when the guy says “treat” and all the dogs freak out…
Have you ever been to the Czech Republic yourself?
Nadine
Japadog….hear so much about these dogs….Dying to try 1….When is my next trip to Vancouver….
Coucou, Vous allez bien?
Ahhhh superbe photo =D J’adore celle de vous ♥ Je les rajoute à ma gallery!
Lol, vos chiens dorment toujour avec vous? Vous n’avez pas peur d”en écraser un?
Il fait beau à Vancouver on dirait, ici sa faisait déjà 7 jour qu’il n’avait plue et cette nuit c’est arrivée…mais avec de fort orages…je ne sais toujour pas comment internet et l’éléctricité ont fait pour résiter^^!!
Merci, Bisou
Bonne journée!
Ps: n’oubliez pas mon email =D
Wow, both of your nemeses (Ashleigh & Kerry) in one pic. Hope they are not planning some future dastardly deed together. Especially after the musical show outing that Kerry won on the playoff wager. Still quite amuse by Kerry’s Pyrrhic victory . Did you get her the musical show soundtrack yet? LOL. And Ashleigh is off for another oversea trip. The girl really gets around. Wonder if she could find good vegetarian meals in Bohemia and Moravia.
What film did you go and see, sounds intriguing
OMG, I haven’t seen/heard/thought of the “cut it out” since I was maybe 8 or 9. But man, we LOVED doing that back in elementary school. LOL My mother, of course, hated it.
Quite the day, Joe!
Hi Joe,
Just started watching the Season 5 Atlantis DVD’s.
Am really enjoying them and the commentaries and extras.
I liked Whispers and your observations, it was fun to watch again and also with Jason Momoa on Broken Ties.
One thing I noticed, and please don’t take this wrong, as it is just an interesting observation to me, is that you come across much sweeter as a person when you are talking than when you are blogging! It was a bit disconcerting, to tell you the truth, I honestly wouldn’t have connected the two personalities (blog and commenter) if I didn’t know it was you doing both.
Not sure what that means???
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks so much for a great series, I am truly enjoying watching it again and all the BTS stuff on the discs.
OK, so what exactly are “kino” scenes?
And lunch looks wonderful, by the way 🙂
Have a safe trip.
Joe, you’ve been taking so many photos of cast and sets that you’re not allowed to show us because of the top-secretness of SGU, are you interested in putting them into an online photo album for us to enjoy once the series goes to air? We’d very much love to see them 🙂
I wonder if David Blue has realized yet that you lied. =)
Have a wonderful 4th everyone!
Joe, you can celebrate too! Just get sunburned while eating and drinking too much…then play with some fireworks. Good times man. Good times!
My eyes bugged out when you wrote of almost falling into traffic. Being a couple years older than you, I was horrified and really worried for you. Glad you’re okay. You need to start being more careful about falls. Concentrate on walking in a straight line, don’t get fancy and do any quick turns or backing up.
By the way, I was able to click at least twice on David Blue’s picture. Got right up into his nose, it was so big. (the picture, not his nose)
haha! How soft are you Joe? Your dogs walk all over you and your assistant mocks your dice with death! Maybe it’s time to enrole in some kind of assertiveness class, no?
Japadog sound very cool – how were the hotdogs?
I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoy how you’re putting in the pictures for your blog entires nowadays. I know you’ve been incorporating the pics throughout your entries (as opposed to just putting them at the beginning) for a little while now, but nevertheless I thought I’d still say something!
Hi Mr M!
Sad to hear about Jan Rubes and Karl Malden.
Karl Malden was a LEGEND in our house, with the Streets Of San Francisco being a real treat for those of us who remember it. I was let up late to watch it.
Our National Broadcaster (RTE) showed re-runs of SoSF for years, right up to the 90’s.
In fact, with out any hint of irony, they at one time ran:
The Streets on one Channel whilst at the EXACT same time ran Police Squad on the other…..Schedulers and Irony-lovers everywhere beware!!!!
I always think of your quip about episode titles for SG1, in relation to the Streets of San Franciso….
Tonight’s Episode : Fools Goa’uld!
Best to all
S’n’T
Hope your sleep improves! Get ready for a lot of advice on insomnia. (As if I hadn’t thought of sleepy time tea, a relaxing bath, exercise early in the day, etc….)
I had insomnia for years and would get a little crazy with all kinds of remedies. The only thing that worked for me was Mono. When you have Mono, you sleep all the time. It seem to reset my sleep patterns after I recovered, too. I wouldn’t recommend that method for everyone 😀 .
Nice pictures!
Das: Hope your CT comes out normal. Have they tried fungal therapies yet?
Tam
😆
No better alarm clock than a pet. Fortunately, my cats have settled down lately. Marbles – my old lady cat who is usually the one to walk across my face or frantically mew like she’s Lassie trying to tell me that Timmy fell in the well again – has settled down a bit now that the heat’s set in, and the windows are open, and she’s found other early morning distractions. However, she did wake me at 6:30 this morning, licking my legs. 😕 Either I needed a bath, or a taste like chicken.
I agree with David Blue about the ‘click and enlarge’ pictures. I don’t always enlarge them – they just show TOO much – like the other day when I enlarged that profile pic of you in the restaurant, and I swear you had a booger in your nose.
I quickly made it small again. 😛
Ashleigh is just too cute for words! Love her smile! Hmmmm… Perhaps she’ll bring you back a box of chocolates. Of course if she does, you can never be sure that she didn’t lick every single one before giving them to you… 😈
Quick question – who was more ruffled by the misheard ‘Ashleigh worships me’? Ashleigh, or Fondy?
Have a good day, sir!
das
Funny story Mr. M (that relates to yours): One of our cats has an autoimmune disease and when he has an attack, I have to give him a shot of steroids. So my hubby and I are trying to decide if he needs a shot that day. So I’m debating if our cat feels bad enough for a shot and my hubby says “Did anyone walk on your face this morning?”. I say “No” and he says “Well there you go! He is obviously not himself.”
Tam
Thanks for the update and gorgeous pics. I’m sure Ivon hit it out the park. But I might be a little biased.
Cheers, Chev
Wow, pic-o-rama! It’s so great to see everyone enjoying themselves at work.
So glad that you liked UP. I thought the 3-D was wonderful. They used it to draw the audience into the story rather than in that coming-to-poke-your-eye-out way that most 3-D is done. With more Best Movie slots available and so many of the summer blockbusters disappointing, I too hope their will be room for Up come Oscar time.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the pics and everything. Oh and I really have to pick up the season 5 boxset, looks beast.
It’s my B-day to day, and the end of camp, and I’m UBER depressed, well, checking out.
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
@ das – I SAW THAT BOOGER TOO!!!!
An introduction of, “This is Asheligh, my arch nemesis” would have been way better. Also I think she is stalking you, don’t be surprised to see her in Montreal because her Eurotrip took a “dramatic detour”.
If I may ask, where is JapaDog? and whats so special about it?
@ Nadine –
This ‘Daddy Long-Legs’ (a.k.a. Crane Fly) is not an arachnid, but an insect:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly
This ‘Daddy Long-Legs’ (a.k.a. Harvestmen) is an arachnid, but not a spider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones
This ‘Daddy Long-Legs’ (a.k.a. Cellar Spider) is both an arachnid, and a spider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_long-legs_spider
Confuzzled yet?? 🙂
das
oh no, you girls and your boogers, ,,so funny.. that will teach you to make big on the pictures..! (or not)
Joe I hope you have a safe and fun trip to Montreal 🙂
Oh what model canon is Lawren using if I may ask>thanks.
My 20-month old male bichon frise, Bristow, is preternaturally calm and quiet (people have actually checked he’s alive when I bring him to parties and he lies down to watch), yet EVEN he does the “accidental” shake (jingling his collar) ever morning when he thinks it’s breakfast time (6:30am, I don’t have to be up until 7:30 or 7:45am). Then he has the audacity to look at me like “Oooh, you woke up! What a coincidence… Breakfast?? NOW!”
How our dogs rule our lives….
Please ask the Pugs to report on twitter if they have any mmo virtual pets.
I tried doing the @JellMaxBubLu thing on twitter to ask (I prefer going straight to the source), but I think they turned that feature off.
Perhaps the dogs were trying to condition you to an early rise for your flight tomorrow? Or, sensing you were leaving for another trip, they are trying to wake you in order to enjoy more time with you. And thank you for the great laugh, when you mentioned Jelly sneezing in the face. Have to admire tag teaming pooches.
Very happy to see Mr. Bartok moving on from his special features into directing what will no doubt become some of the best episodes of the new series.
Hope everyone enjoys their hiatus. And based on your comments, I think I’ll break down and go watch “Up” later this afternoon. It’s probably the only chance I’ll have for some time, so I’m counting on your recommendation to ensure I wont be wasting my time.
Oh my gosh, what did you do to David Blue’s picture? I was going to click on it again a couple of times to check out the pigment in his eyes and now it won’t blow up anymore. Did he complain? I bet he did. (are you going to let him spoil our fun?)
Okay, I’ll stop posting. As the Full House people would say, “Later dude…”.
It’s possible you referred to me as Kelly in your post. And by “possible” I mean “you did.” This is a problem. I’ve only worked with you for 6 years, Joe. I got over you spelling my name incorrectly the first five years when you insisted on using an ‘I,’ but two L’s instead of two R’s make for a whole new name… which isn’t mine…
I won’t miss you over hiatus. Haha. No, seriously, I won’t.
Dear Joe, we all know you’re Awesome at keeping your body fit and trim, even while indulging in your somewhat less-than-healthy diet. However, some of us were wondering, how do your teeth fair? How are your teeth not riddled with cavities after all that chocolate? Any oral health care hints for us poor slobs who come home from the dentist with cavities? (Your smile is delightful, btw, please show it off more often!)
— LJ (who learned she has a cavity at the dentist today)
@ Kerry – I’m totally convinced that Joe was drunk-typing that entry.
First, he morphed your name with Jelly’s.
Second, he said, “Lawren snapped some pics of his won…”
Third, he said, “…loved the movie and certainly hops it gets a Best Picture nomination…”
And this from a fella who boasts about being such a great speller. 😉
das
Spelling mistakes? What spelling mistakes?
@Ponytail
Several listee have notice the coding deficiency that allow David Blue’s pic to bloomed and reported it. Guess Mr M fixed that. Well, maybe not. But you will have to figure out how yourself. One hint, Firefox. Hehe.
@ Mr M
Kerry‘s presence have grace your blog. Does that mean she have change her mind about doing a Q&A? [slithering off with laughter]
Maybe the dogs are communicating with the cats in the area on how to tick you off the best. I’ve been scratched, walked on, sat on, licked on my eyebrows, everything to wake me up from a deep slumber. Even been wrestled on by two very naughty kitties.
Gyros. You’re making me hungry.
Cheers, Joe – Have a great holiday. Hope you get some sleep before playing with any fireworks.
Ditto on the “kino scenes” question.
Ashleigh pics – for a vegetarian, she appears to be quite the ham.
My dogs are driving me nuts also!
CHEATER!!!!!! 😡
Now…go correct all MY spelling mistakes, too! *cracks whip*
😀
das
Great news, Joe Flanigan is going to be at the Los Angeles convention in November. He is the one main Atlantis cast member I have not yet seen in person. He will also be attending the big official Vancouver convention next year.
Yeah, with pets you seldom need an alarm clock. I sleep with my bedroom door closed, but at 0630 my Labrador retriever snuffles under the door, then flops down as heavily as she can, shakes her head so the tags on her collar jingle and, if that doesn’t work, does the big Lab sigh and groan. Repeat as needed until dog-food-giver-person is awake.
Have you seen this article?
Bad news for vegetarians: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/hl_afp/healthfooddietaustraliavietnam
Tam
I’m sorry you are having sleep problems. They can really affect your entire being. For example, after a few years of not getting quality sleep, I started typing things that I had no recollection of and was highly embarrassed when someone pointed me to a blog response I wrote. So maybe, folks, we should be encouraging sleeplessness; perhaps we will get some unauthorized secrets on SGU. LOL. Just joking. I hope your sleeping issues get better. I just can’t imagine sleeping in the bed with that many dogs and my spouse. My golden retriever (just a mere 50 pounds) is already quite enough for us. But perhaps she got tired of being hit in various parts of her body when we’ve turned over in our sleep because for the last week, she is laying on a blanket in our master bath. Be careful out there. I think if I would have missed traffic like that I would have peed my pants. Honestly. Or at least had such an adrenaline rush I would have had the shakes for a good hour.
Around here, it’s Elway wagging his tail in your face, kissing you or tooting, and Molly jumping on your head with happiness. Flannery (who, by the way, has gained weight and is doing wonderfully) and Summer sleep in their doggie beds, so they aren’t a problem. Hard to get angry 🙂 Ok, maybe the tooting is pushing a bit.
@das: I should be cracking some whips around here. Went to “witch doctor” and she was true to form. Kept me waiting for an hour, spent all of 5 minutes with me, see ya in 7 weeks, will call you with your lab results, tough rocks with the flu. Then the a/c took a sh–. Good times today. 🙂
Joe: Funniest post in ages! Especially the Ashleigh bits. I couldn’t help but laugh at her laugh at your misfortune.
Furry alarms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q
I love this clip.
When I was in high school Mom would use the dogs to wake me up for School. Alex the biggest and heaviest of the 3 Blue mural collies was enough to get me out of bed.
Joe, becareful Ashleigh might have a life insurance policy out on you.
You haven’t mentioned Fondy recently – I hope that she is okay.
Corrr, her butt filled that chair 😉
Is the body armour that the Props Dept use, real? I only ask because I think at the progressive state of play, you should have some kevlar based products close to hand with Ashleigh about 😉
Just lost a long-ish (what a surprise) comment since I forgot to copy to clipboard before clicking on a pic. My snoring husband functions somewhat like your sneezing and gnawing dogs, so no shortage of insomnia here, nor the predictable computer mistakes (not as many as your rushed-typing spelling goofs, or my comp would break down. And, yes, I’m just jealous because you seem to be able to get an incredible amount of highly creative work done despite your missing sleep. Simultaneously, I’m in awe. It’s that voodoo that you do so well. [I didn’t really type that.] )
Just for my own amusement, I keep wanting to untangle all the funny “he said, she said, they said” stuff that you post about, regarding colleagues. (Pic captions included.) Those stories are all very entertaining. I think I’ll settle for that, since without doubt, between all parties involved, there’s enough spin to outdo a convention of dervishes.
Still, there’s something that’s just very wrong about Ashleigh’s impersonation of you using a walker. — Oh, yeah: For safety, you would have your water bottle in a baggy-sweats side pocket. Problem solved.
Fun post, pics, and captions. Oh, and the dark-purple shirt looks good. *thumbs up* Even without mauve lipgloss. Although, they would look good together. Maybe Paul McG. and David H. could give you some tips on letting that feminine side out. *half of brain runs screaming, while other half leers smugly*
When I think about Vancouver there are two things that come to my mind, Japadog and Fuel, they are also the reasons that I know I will be back 🙂
You have no idea how obsessed I’ve been, I’ve also tried to recreate the food myself, but no luck 🙁 I’m getting closer and closer to the Miso dog, I just can’t make a sauce that I like and as for Fuel… My shots at the corn soup have all been sad… I even ventured into the ice cream world so I could make a soup with a scope of ice cream… as I said, sad, sad.
I know you haven’t been going much lately but any favorites in their summer menu?
Take care, Carolina