Watching The Orphanage: I was pleasantly surprised. Well, maybe not THAT surprised. If I was to draw up my list of favorite horror films, the majority would be foreign.
Finishing up The Speed of Dark: August’s book of the month club pick. And a terrific novel. I’ll be weighing in with my thoughts on Monday.
Sitting out back with the dogs: They love sun and company. But, of course, not as much as food and sleep.
Cooking: On today’s men – Slow roasted wild salmon with a chive beurre blanc sauce, squash salad with toasted pine nuts and feta, and garlic sautéed broccolini.
Waiting around all day for the locksmith to show: He never did.
Today, I leave you with the sneakiest of peeks at the offices of Homeworld Command. Then, check out the mailbag.
- Only peruse these pics if you’ve been given clearance by Homeworld Command
- They had to put the sign up because people kept thinking the place was still a bakery.
- Homeworld design
- The offices of Homeworld Command
- Presumably the terrorists have called it a night as well.
- We discovered this lone individual overseeing global security.
- Uh oh.
The mailbag:
2cats writes: “Hey, what is the blog consensus regarding Jalapeño Poppers?”
Answer: I’m in the pro-Jalapeno popper camp. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I’m pro-Jalapeno in general.
LesFez writes: “1. Now that Gateworld has shown us the exterior of the Destiny, are you allowed to post some exterior stuff of your own, and concept art?
2. Also, how many pages do you aim to get your scripts to? I seem to remember you saying a while ago that one you wrote was at 52 pages, and that was a bit too long?”
Answers: 1. Unfortunately, I have no exterior shots of Destiny. I tried mounting a camera at the back of the ship but I’d lose it every time it jumped to FTL.
2. Great question. In the beginning, we were aiming for 55-ish – only the first few episodes were timing way too long. So we scaled it back to 46-ish – and that turned out to be too short. Now, I believe 52-ish is about right.
Caitlyanna writes: “Hey Joe, what’s the worst thing that ever happened to you on a trip?”
Answer: Off the top of my head – having a bad reaction to the snake soup served at the Hong Kong airport. It put a bit of a damper on the Tokyo leg of my trip.
Daniel Willis writes: “How did you record this? I thought it was a visual effect added later, by having a green screen behind the gate. This looks so real! Or has this video been edited to include the visual effects?”
Answer: Nope. That’s why it’s called a practical puddle. It’s not a visual effect – as in the show’s early seasons – but a practical one. What you see is actually an image being projected on a screen. Pretty impressive, no?
MAtthew486DX writes: “Me and a friend, possibly more, are interested in building full size replicas of the Milky Way and Pegasus Stargates.
1. Is this legal? Like, for example, would it be any infringement of copyrights to build our own full size Stargates, for, basically “the hell of it” and possibly fan videos?
2. This is a long shot I’m sure, but is there even the slightest hope of getting some assistance from TPTB, specifications, measurements, 3D models, anything at all, to aid in our efforts? We have theorized about making the Gates out of a number of materials as well, resin, wood, etc. Each seems to have their pros and cons. Any info, documents or insight on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
3. How much did it cost you guys to build each Stargate? Milky Way, Pegasus, Destiny?”
Answers: 1. I’m no lawyer, but I’m guessing that if you’re just building it for fun and not deriving any income from the product, you should be okay.
2. If I come across some gate designs with specifics, I’ll be sure to post them.
3. A lot. No, scratch that. A helluvalot.
Thornyrose writes: “Talking about spinning ideas for season two, and not to jinx anything, but at what point will you know for sure there IS a season two?”
Answer: No idea. Since we’re premiering October 2nd, I’m guessing we may have to wait as late as early 2010 to find out.
MajorSal writes: “a few weeks ago, my sister lost her beloved dog. i think she should get another (to help fill the void), like a pug or a little lulu (french bulldog?). i’d like to know if you have a bunch of pics or vids in one place i could show her of your bunch, to entice her?”
Answer: Head on over to my twitter page: http://twitter.com/JellMaxBubLu
Bridjess writes: “Saw that you read We3 recently and wondered what you thought of it…”
Answer: Loved it.
Quade1 writes: “ For example, The Shrine, they just happened to know of a place, then aside from all other cases the creature just decides to crawl out of McKay’s head, and he is magically unscathed, despite having a creature literally running around in his brain?”
Answer: Well, for starters, the creature was literally running around in his brain. It was immobile and growing in one area until affected by the radiation. The reason is “crawled out” in this, rather than any other cases, was as a result of the hole Keller drilled into McKay’s skull, relieving the pressure (created by the expanding creature) and allowing it the opportunity to move to a less constrictive environment and away from the radiation. As for the just happening to know of a place – if this parasite has affected many other inhabitants of the Pegasus Galaxy, then it would stand to reason that Ronon or Teyla would be acquainted with the “disease” and this place.
Quade1 writes: “uhm…..wormhole drive?”
Answer: That one, however, I’ll give you. We had discussed the prospect of a wormhole drive for some time, but never introduced it because we didn’t have a story-specific use for it – until we talked about using it for the movie. Rather than suddenly introduce it in the movie, thus making it feel convenient, we thought it would be better to set it up earlier. And we did – in Enemy at the Gate – but in an episode in which it proved instrumental to the story – and, thus, felt convenient. In hindsight and with a little more time, it would have been preferable to layer the idea in with passing references building up to its actual use in EatG.
Major D. Davis writes: “1. Have you seen any of the final Shiny VFX for SGU…. also how close is Air(first two parts) to being completed?
2. How long till SGU has some cool shirts and merch, cause when I was at the bridge I saw some cool “sexy” LOL SGU shirts(the crew were wearing them, they were a black shirt with the SGU logo printed on them). I just wondered when it will hit shelves cause I would die to get one of them.
3. Did the email to Mr. Bill work out?
4. Do you think we can have some pics from the set of the “puddle jumper on sterioids”. I believe that’s what you called it, and you said it was some type of shuttle.”
Answers: 1. Some very close-to-finals. They look terrific. Definitely Emmy-worthy, but what do I know.
2. No idea what the merchandising plans are.
3. I received it, yes, but don’t head back to work until next week.
4. I have pics of the shuttle and will eventually post them as well.
Tammy Dixon writes: “Does anyone know if the the new SG-1 DVD has nudity on it? “Children of the Gods”.
Answer: It doesn’t. It was a sore point with Brad for years and once he finally go the chance to lose it, he did.
DasNdanger writes: “1. Does Fondy prefer you in the office, or working from home?
2. Does Fondy read this blog?
3. Does your Mom read this blog? Your sister?
4. Will you ever share any of your baby pictures with us, or maybe something from your wayward teenage years?
5. What’s the most physically dangerous thing you’ve ever done?
6. Can you dance?
7. If you’re home and not feeling all that great, what’s your ‘comfort food’?
8. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever found in your refrigerator (as a kid or as an adult)?
9. Have you ever milked a cow and, if not, have you ever wanted to?
10. For hauling your junk around: Boxes or briefcases?”
Answer: 1. Depends on how much I’m annoying her on any given day.
2. Nope.
3. My sister reads it. My mother reads it when my sister directs her to something of interest. Like, say, snaps of her home cooking.
4. No plans to at present. Maybe once I’ve run out of stuff to post/talk about.
5. I’m not a danger junkie. You’d never catch me cliff diving or bungie jumping or gun-running in Central America. That said – “most physically dangerous”? Hmmm. I once stopped out onto a very high balcony.
6. If my life depended on it? No.
7. Chocolate. Ice cream. Nutella. Chocolate chip cookies and milk.
8. The worst thing I ever found was something in a piece of Tupperware I couldn’t even identify.
9. I have – as part of a school trip once.
10. Boxers with South Park prints.
Purp writes: “ Which are your top 5 NCAAF teams heading into the regular season?”
Answer: As in teams I’m rooting for or power ranking. In terms of power ranking: 5. Penn State, 4. Alabama, 3. Florida, 2. Texas, and 1. Oklahoma. In terms of the top 5 teams I’m rooting for (who actually have a shot): Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Boise State, and Alabama.
Ytimyona writes: “Hmm, can you expand the discussion of freelancing versus full-time? It seems to me like either you have a greenlight to write a script (and hence, a full-time job) or you don’t (and then you’ve got NO job). But I’m sure there’s more to it than that.”
Answer: When I was freelancing from home, I was story-editing and writing scripts. Everything that needed doing could be done at home, sent via email, or discussed over the phone. When working full-time, I’m in the office spinning stories, writing, editing, casting, and, generally, hands-on producing.
Artdogspot writes: “I have to agree with Greg about The Usual Suspects. Did you leave that off your list for some reason?”
Answer: I guessed the twist from the moment he fumbled with the lighter. But that wasn’t why I left it off the list. Ultimately, it wasn’t a movie I enjoyed because, at the end of the day, those characters were screwed no matter what they did. They were mere pawns in a greater game beyond their control, hapless and hopeless.
DP writes: “Is the Destiny’s Gate Room in the same spot at the studio as the SGC’s Gate Room?”
Answer: Nope. The SGC gate room was in Stage 5. The Destiny is in Stage 4.
JYS writes: “Where did you get a real black truffle?”
Answer: Meinhardts.
Patricia Lee writes: “Maybe you will surprise us all with an OMG twist ending for the SGA movie!”
Answer: Yep. I pitched this twist out last year: Atlantis comes under attack by the united forces of the wraith. A grand battle ensues but, ultimately, the city is destroyed. At which point our characters awaken and discover that they are on the mist planet from season 1’s Home and never actually left. Surprised?!
Leave a Reply