Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

November 22, 2009: Wait! I’m not gone yet!

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I leave for Tokyo tomorrow. Today, I finished packing. I think. I mean, I’ve double, triple, and quadruple-checked and it appears as though I’ve remembered everything. But, of course, I won’t really know whether or not I’ve remembered everything until I actually need everything. And I won’t get around to needing everything until I’m in Tokyo. Hope not to find out the hard way.

So, hey, rather than go kindle I followed a suggestion from a blog regular and downloaded the ereader app. All well and good until I went to the ereader store to buy some books and discussed these ethereal nothings cost as much as actual books – you know, the kind you can keep and put up on a real bookshelf. Ridiculous. I’m going to go with actual books. I’ll be bringing December’s book of the month club pick, The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans (Come on! If I can read it while on vacation, surely you can make the time to check it out.) and…hmmm…not sure. I’m looking for a reasonably fat paperback to keep me busy when I’m not practicing my Japanese. Preferably something good as there’s nothing worse than lugging around a book you have intention of finishing. I’ve narrowed down my choices to: Poul Anderson’s The Boat of a Million Stars, Iain M. Bank’s The Algebraist, Ben Okri’s The Famished Road, and Tad Williams’ Otherland. Thoughts? Anyone familiar with any of the aforementioned titles?

I might also bring along the outline for my upcoming SGU season 2 script – if I can find it. After leaving it at the office and almost forgetting it at a restaurant, I seem to have misplaced it on the home front. Bad luck or more a case of my subconscious ensuring I leave my work behind for a couple of weeks?

No. Seriously. Where the hell is that damn outline?! I brought it back with me last night so it must be around here somewhere. Come one! Don’t make me pick through the garbage!

Okay, it’s not that big a deal. I mean, I have copies. But it would be nice to be able to reference everyone’s notes that I made a point of writing down on that hard copy.  And yet …

It never fails.  Every time I submit a script, someone in the room will point that I failed to incorporate one of their notes?  Was it a creative decision?  An inability to make it work?  Sheer ego?  Nope.   Truth be told, my handwriting is so bad that I’m often incapable of deciphering my the sanskrit-like scribbles adorning the headers, footers, and margins.  What’s that?  “Rush puts the tuber inside the camry”?  Was that really Carl’s note?

Nope, I’m actually better off without those scribbles to confuse the issue.

Yep, better off just working from memory.

Yep, much better off.

Yep…

Fine!  I’m off to root through the damn garbage.

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60 responses

  1. Light Avatar
    Light

    Check your car! Maybe you left it there.

    Reply
  2. Thornyrose Avatar
    Thornyrose

    hope you are taking more than Misenchanted Sword. It’s a great read, but given your reading speed it will barely last the flight. Here’s hoping the weather gives you good and safe flying. And you can always check e-bay to see if some rabid fan beat you going through the trash. Though to be fair a rabid fan wouldn’t sell it.
    Silly question. Ever played the card game Munchkin? Your writing pool just seems the type to have a go at it. I’m eyeballing coming up with a Stargate Munchkin, if ever I have enough spare time to go through the shows to pick up appropriate items and monsters. anyways, again, safe flying.

    Reply
  3. mamasue9 Avatar
    mamasue9

    Relax and enjoy your stay in Tokyo! Please post pics of the Tokyo sights.

    Reply
  4. PoorOldEdgarDerby Avatar
    PoorOldEdgarDerby

    As for the missing outline, did you leave it in the can? Not the one off the bedroom frequented regularly, but the one you almost never go into and sometimes wonder if it would make a better reading room?

    I’m assuming that you have more than one bathroom and, if I did as well, I would leave things in there a lot.

    Fly safe.

    Reply
  5. belouchi Avatar
    belouchi

    LOOL… put on some gloves man.

    Safe trip buddy… try not to forget us with some of your amazing discoveries in the archipelago of 6,852 islands…

    cheers

    Reply
  6. Narelle from Aus Avatar
    Narelle from Aus

    Sony estore has all new releases for $9.99 USD. That’s a lot cheaper than I can get a paper novel for. I love it when I’m reading a series, read the final page, duck onto my PC, download the next in the series and away I go again.

    I’m going to convert you to a Reader if it kills me Joe. Yeah, you heard me. And in the tradition of any great bunny boiler, if I don’t manage to convert you, then you just can’t be allowed to live. Ok?

    As for your missing outline, check outside on the grass after each member of your canine family has relieved themselves to see if there is a hint of white with whatever font you’re using now present.

    sparrow_hawk – Still no luck with finding an e copy of Selling Out but I found an audio book of it. Only problem is, it’s so relaxing to listen to at night I keep on falling asleep and waking up with a fully drained Reader and no recollection of anything past 15 minutes into it. Nath is intrigued to see how much I can recall from when I’m asleep. So far it’s only been the odd sentence here and there I can remember.

    PG15 – You’re the only person with whom I can make “Does my butt look big in this space/time?” jokes and actually laugh at them, so of course you’ve got a fan here 🙂

    Angelus – All the best for you and your family.

    Reply
  7. Ponytail Avatar
    Ponytail

    Joe you are so funny! Check the bathroom for your outline. You better hope the dogs have not gotten ahold of it. Don’t forget your shampoo (like when you went to your mom’s) and don’t forget your toothpaste and toothbrush. Really, who cares what you forget. Just go to the store in Tokyo. That is were America gets all it’s stuff!
    Remember to pace yourself. Have a wonderful time! I’m looking forward to it…

    Reply
  8. DP Avatar
    DP

    Don’t fret too much about forgetting to pack something. There should be a few stores in Tokyo.

    I wouldn’t know – the year I made the team, only the men’s team was invited to the tourney in Tokyo, but I’m not bitter (*said through clenched teeth*).

    Have a nice trip.

    Reply
  9. Chad Avatar
    Chad

    What is Destiny in Ancient? (Hows its prenounced basically like Stargate is Astria Porta for instance)

    Reply
  10. Stuart Blessman Avatar
    Stuart Blessman

    My one complaint with the book club is that you pick books I can’t easily find unless I buy them online. Local stores don’t carry anything good nowadays…

    All these food and restaurant reviews, but I’m curious…burgers. Where you stand? What are the best? Got that Canadian habit of mayo on burgers? (I’m partial to tartar sauce with fries…)

    Reply
  11. anneteldy Avatar
    anneteldy

    Check the car first. It might never have made it in.

    Have a good trip.

    Anne Teldy

    Reply
  12. nicole gustas Avatar
    nicole gustas

    Not familiar with the others, but I really loved Otherland. Although, geez, you could stun an entire herd of rampaging bison with those books. I think the entire series is something like 4000 pages.

    Reply
  13. Tim Gaffney Avatar
    Tim Gaffney

    Well, I just watched “Life” and, like in “Earth” the scenes on Destiny were an A+ and the scenes on earth were an F. I have decided I won’t go into details about all that was bad with the scenes on earth, except to say that this was the first Stargate episode I can remember that I could have watched live, but I taped it so I could fast forward past all the stuff I wish you would stop including in the episodes. You mentioned in a recent post that the live ratings numbers were down slightly but the +7 numbers were either steady or up. Perhaps more people are doing what I did this week.

    Spoilers

    Spoilers

    Spoilers

    Spoilers

    Spoilers

    You could have had an entire episode about the problem regarding the ancient chair. That should have been the A story. Rush’s machinations to lure someone into that chair in order to gain access to untold data would have been fascinating to watch. TJ’s efforts in this episode could not only have been a solid B story, but would have gotten all the character moments in without the stupid stones. As in “Time” we could have had a number of characters interacting with the sympathetic TJ and learned as much about them as any trip back to earth would bring. I am not a big fan of conflict in my shows, but the Young/Rush/Wray battle for leadership is something that would be interesting to follow. Let’s have more of that and less of the crap back on earth.
    Great performances by R. Carlyle and A. Huffman. TJ and Rush are my favorite characters on the show. You just don’t know what you will see when Rush is on screen. Will he help you or will he use you? I still don’t understand why there is such a long break between episode 10 & 11. I can’t remember if there was such a long break for Atlantis’ first season. I would think that Sci-Fi channel would worry about losing any momentum you may have with this brand new show.

    Reply
  14. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Hee! I recently had to root through the garbage for my medicine that I accidently threw away. I had wrapped it in a tissue and put it in my pocket…and then promptly threw it away because I thought it was a dirty tissue. 🙄

    My hand-writing is atrocious, too. My father has absolutely beautiful handwriting, and he’s nearly 80. It doesn’t even look like a man’s handwriting, let alone that of a high school drop out turned refrigeration mechanic. It’s very elegant and graceful and perfect, and he’s a good speller, to boot. Me? Whereas your writing looks like Sanskrit, mine is more along the lines of Arabic. The difference is, I can understand what I write, even if I come across it five years later. No one else would be able to figure it out, but I pretty much understand my own writing, no matter how terrible it is.

    I blame my bad handwriting on two things (well, three): 1. Being left-handed, 2. being left-handed in a grade school run by a 16th century throwback principle-cum-teacher (6th grade teacher) who, along with his wife (1st and 2nd grade teacher) – if they had it their way – would have tied my sinister hand behind my ungodly back and forced me to write with my right hand…just before they burned me at the stake as a heretic and a witch, and 3. the computer.

    I had such writing conflicts with this teacher in 6th grade, that I actually remember the day in school that I uttered my very first curse word (‘shit’), and also remember that it was while in 6th grade that I experienced my very first headache (I didn’t even know what it was… and I remember thinking, ‘THIS must be that thing mom calls a ‘headache’!). I also used to try to break my glasses by ‘accidentally’ dropping them on the floor, in an attempt to get out of classwork. The problem was all about ‘slanting’ my letters, which I couldn’t do because I didn’t turn my paper, or write ‘upside down’ like many lefties do. Instead, I write with my hand in the normal position, which makes my letters straight up and down. When I tried to ‘slant’, they looked terrible. I became obsessed with trying to make my writing look good, and it just got worse, and now I write partly slanted, partly up and down, partly in cursive, and partly in print. It looks like crap, unless I really concentrate, WHICH GIVES ME A HEADACHE!! Blah! I hated that teacher!!

    See what you did, Joe??! Now I’m in a bad mood. 😡

    Oh well…

    Happy packing, happy travels, happy dining…and…

    DON’T FORGET THE IMODIUM!!!

    😀

    das

    Reply
  15. suziesbluefeather Avatar
    suziesbluefeather

    And that is why we love you so much Joe!

    I’m praying for the safest of travels for you tomorrow. Will you be blogging from Tokyo again? If so I can’t wait to see the pics and hear about all the great food!. No to mention future Weird Food Purchase of the Day installments. Did you ever get around to reading the instruction manual so you can use the toilets over there this time?

    Reply
  16. SebiMeyer Avatar
    SebiMeyer

    Tried to get into the Agebraist three times and gave up each time. I am told it is a good book, but the weird made up words and odd syntax give me a headache just like I “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” did. Just. Can’t. Read. It. (If you make it through it, tell me how you liked it. And how the hell you made it through it.)

    Otherland is quite good, but long. Not epic, just long. I’d recoment it, but not as a travel book, simply because one colume of the 4-parter is so long/big you may as well bring 4 other books.

    I also agree that digital books have to be a lot cheaper than the “real” kind. Sadly I seem to be fighting a lost fight. I work for one of the two biggest sports publishing houses as copy editor and they sell the digital version for 1 euro/dollar less than the “real” version. They justify it by saying it is just as much work to create a digital book as it is to create a “real” book and the printing costs only factor into this slightly.

    This may be true, but I still think it is wrong. Just like I just laughed at paying 14.99 euro for Star Trek on the PS3 store if the DVD, not to mention the BluRay costs about the same. Don’t buy it, and hopefully the majority of customers will do the same and things will change. Or not.

    Reply
  17. HBMC Avatar
    HBMC

    Quick random question RE: Life.

    Assuming the chair they found is what they say it is… why would the Ancients need it? They already know what they know, so why would they need a chair to tell them what they already know?

    I can understand them storing things, like the database on Atlantis, but why the chair?

    Reply
  18. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Joe wrote: “Wait! I’m not gone yet!”

    I forgot to ask… do you mean physically, or mentally…?

    😉

    das

    Reply
  19. Johnny E! Avatar
    Johnny E!

    Hey Joe! Can I get my yearly shout out to Celebrate the day I was born? November 22nd is a great day!. Thanks!

    Reply
  20. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Ugh…

    Principal. I meant principal. I do know how to spell…just not after midnight. 😛

    das

    Reply
  21. Arctic Goddess Avatar
    Arctic Goddess

    Hi Joe:

    Don’t worry. Forgetting things is a sign of age and just gets worse as you get older. So start practicing leaving important things in the same place every day, and start making lists. If you don’t, you will be screwed. Trust me.

    While you are in Tokyo, would you mind asking one of those very clever sales people if it’s possible to buy a cell phone in Tokyo and set up a phone number and plan in North America? Hey, I’m desperate for decent and affordable service.

    Have a great trip.

    Patricia

    Reply
  22. joflyaway Avatar
    joflyaway

    I can’t wait to see the pictures from your trip. I also enjoy pictures of your hotel room. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  23. otros ojos Avatar
    otros ojos

    I’m trying very, very hard to be empathetic about the lost notes; but realistically, I’ll have to quit laughing first. So it might be a while. — Well, actually, I can readily relate to the problem of one’s memory not always being set on high-res. At some point in college (probably the first time I woke up irascibly hungover, then realized I didn’t know what I’d done with my contacts — talk about nuclear), dire circumstances led me to switch from truly pathetic disorganization to near-OCD levels of dealing with my possessions. I’m sure a happy medium exists somewhere, but I’m disinclined to look for it. Anyway, good luck with finding tubers inside a Camry, and whatever else turns up on the (hopefully) temporarily misplaced notes.

    Re. truly bad handwriting, one of my favorite memories relates to snarking a doctor about that. (It was justfied payback, honest.) The results were both funny and touching, but it’s one of those “you had to be there” things. So why’d I bring it up? Hell if I know. . . .

    I bet the pooches will be happy to help you root through the garbage. You could see it as quality family time. And as all animal-lovers know, they’ll think nothing of profuse cursing as long as it sounds like you’re saying “Good girl/boy!”

    — Yeah, I also hope you don’t find out the hard way about that item you haven’t yet packed. And I hope you have a good trip.

    Reply
  24. Alexander of Houston Avatar
    Alexander of Houston

    Question on Life

    I have to know the same as HBMC why is it (chair) knowledge? Rush “knew” as soon as he looked at it, but that makes no sense as there were no previous chair references to ancient technology that pertained to knowledge repositories. There was a chair that would act as a control center for things which is what my initial thought was, “oh they found the early model of the control chair, looks painful to sit in since it binds you to it…” plot hole i think…

    *sticks finger in* I am not going to look through it up close, it might pop out of the wall and grab me.

    Reply
  25. Alexander of Houston Avatar
    Alexander of Houston

    zoh right, umm have a safe trip and enjoy the Nippon Islands and good luck at Nihongo.

    why are you going to japan again vacation? well which parts did you got to? and who is watching bubba?

    Reply
  26. Kristina Avatar
    Kristina

    Hope you have a good flight and a great break 🙂

    Kriss 🙂

    Reply
  27. paloosa Avatar
    paloosa

    About your outline, I think Carl’s messing with you. It’s obvious he’s hurt that you’re not taking him along on your trip.

    I’m trying to get into the love triangles, but I just can’t. Young using the stones to come back to Earth to punch out Telford was over the top for me. This isn’t to criticize any of the writing, because I thought Carl’s script had his unique great moments, as have all the writers over the course of the season so far. And I’m assuming the use of the stones in this way was something that was worked out during the concept stage. But the show grinds to a halt for me when the story shifts to Earth.

    From what I understand, the stones are being used for romantic and political backstabbing. And it’s all done through surrogates, which quite honestly, in my opinion, dilutes the impact of any of these confrontations. And when on Earth, nobody from Destiny can be held accountable for anything they do. That’s a fundamental problem for me, and unless it’s addressed at some point, it’s another reason I’m not thrilled with that aspect of the show so far.

    On the other hand, I’m becoming more intrigued with Rush’s agenda, and the interactions of the characters on Destiny. I’m beginning to look forward to see how those elements evolve. And because of that, I’ll keep watching.

    The one thing I’m really missing is a sense of Destiny as a character in the show. It obviously senses the needs of the crew, but there doesn’t seem to be any interest in how or why the ship does that. Is this something that may be explored in future episodes?

    But most importantly, what I’m really waiting to hear about are your adventures in Tokyo with food, friends and fun. My best wishes to you for a safe and fantastic vacation!

    Reply
  28. Cody Avatar
    Cody

    Good luck in finding that outline. My method is using the same bag and portfolio to carry all of the documents that I need in. the problem with that is that sometimes I take papers that I should really leave at work home with me. Oh well there’s no perfect way of doing things, we’re only human after all.

    Enjoy the Japan trip. My grandma was born in Japan and I’ve always thought it’d be cool to see the place. I’m a tad jealous!!! Have a safe flight. I can’t wait to see the amazing food you’re going to have.

    Reply
  29. SGUfanatic Avatar
    SGUfanatic

    Poor Joe, so picked on. LOL have a safe trip and the outline will be in the last place you look, or the first depending on what the nasty little paper fairy decided to do with it.

    Reply
  30. Gilder Avatar
    Gilder

    Das mentioned Imodium /generic name loperamide. I also recommend extra-strength, 125 mg simethicone (Gas-X and the like) and ranitidine AKA Zantac for heartburn.

    Have a safe and delicious trip!

    Reply
  31. Platschu Avatar
    Platschu

    Have a nice vacation, Joe!

    Reply
  32. annie from Fremantle Avatar
    annie from Fremantle

    As Bugs would say

    Bon Voyajeeeee!

    Reply
  33. tori Avatar
    tori

    JOE

    Please check your BaronDestructo@yahoo.com. I don’t have your normal e-mail address anymore, Just something I think you should know. I hope I’m not wasting your time.

    Tori

    Reply
  34. o6untouchable Avatar
    o6untouchable

    Hey, Joe! As one of your favourite kinds of fans (specifically the kind that asks really awkward, annoying, and trivial questions), something popped into my head while watching the Kino scenes online.

    In #4, Eli states that Rush thinks the Destiny Stargate is a “prototype”, that predates all of the other Stargates they know about. What exactly does he/Rush/you mean by that? Is the Stargate aboard Destiny the “original” Stargate: the first one built in the history of ever, before the Milky Way ‘gates, etc? Or is it just the prototype for the SGU / Destiny style of Stargate? Up until now, I’d been assuming that the Ancients set up the Milky Way Stargates first – consolodated themselves in one galaxy before they branched out into others – but now I’m not so sure.

    Hope you enjoy your Tokyo trip… and fingers crossed your internet troubles will be sorted by the time you get back!!

    Reply
  35. JES Avatar
    JES

    Kindle–accept no substitute. My husband and I both have one. We bought them about a year ago because we were running out of space on the bookshelves. A single purchase is downloaded to both devices; no more waiting to read a book until the other person finishes. Kindle is better than any iPhone app because the books are less expensive and, importantly, you don’t have to read it on a backlit, itty-bitty screen; electronic print is like reading a book not a computer screen. Kindle is better than Sony because you don’t have to download the books into a computer first and then transfer them to your device. The books are downloaded directly to the device in less than a minute after purchase, which you can also do from the device. This is done with a Verizon wireless connection paid for by Amazon. No computers needed. Margin notations and bookmarks are easy to do. I take my Kindle everywhere because I never know when I might have a few extra minutes to read.

    No, I don’t work for Amazon; I just love my Kindle–my precioussss. 🙂

    Reply
  36. Thasc Avatar
    Thasc

    I haven’t read The Algebraist, but I thoroughly recommend Iain M. Bank’s other books, particularly the Culture series (Excession is my personal favourite, there’s just something about reading about the machinations of huge clever spaceships that makes me feel like a giddy schoolgirl).

    Reply
  37. Gen Avatar
    Gen

    Safe travels, Joe. Looking forward to hearing about your Tokyo adventures.

    Reply
  38. Golden Avatar
    Golden

    @SebiMeyer
    Agree on The Algebraist… just veeery lengthy and boring to read imo.
    As for Otherside, a lot of friends recommended this one to me, but didnt start it yet, because its that long.

    @Joe
    Did you read “The Swarm” by the German author Frank Schätzing, yet? Its totally awesome, and makes for some funny surprises along the way.. And because of its length you cant devour it in only one day. 😛
    Another book of him, “Lautlos” (silent), is quite nice, too. But its rather a thriller then Sci-fi (or, sorry, sience fiction :P).

    Reply
  39. Shiningwit Avatar
    Shiningwit

    When you eventually find your outline have a quick check to see if my checkbook is with it will you? it sure as shit isn’t in this dimension!
    Have a safe journey, we’ll be with you in cyberspace:)

    Reply
  40. JimFromJersey Avatar
    JimFromJersey

    Have a safe trip Joe.

    Reply
  41. Gaspode Avatar
    Gaspode

    Take Otherland. If you finish it before the end of your trip you can just get the next volume and continue. It’s a fantastic book, one of my all time favorites. There is more mindboggling stuff in this book than most writers manage to come up with in their entire career. However, if you prefer books where the entire plot becomes clear after no more than 50 pages or so, you might want to pick something else. Otherwise, you’re in for a treat.

    Reply
  42. Ben Avatar
    Ben

    Hey Joe! Enjoy Tokyo. A city I really must visit one day.

    Since you guys are spinning S2 stories for SGU, can I make a suggestion? More of the same! Keep doing what you are doing. I’m just loving SGU – I find it a more emotionally rewarding show than either SG1 or SGA. The only thing thats bumming me out is this hiatus we’ve got coming up – do we know how long it’ll be? Three months? More?

    Re: your reading choices. I found Okri’s The Famished Road a wonderful well written novel, full of heart. It is a sometimes demanding read, but the sheer power of Okri’s prose wins you over. I have found some of his other works a little elipitical in comparison to The Famished Road; I think you should read it. Whether it is the right book to read on a holiday in a city as madcap and distracting as Tokyo though, I’m unsure. Tad Williams’s Otherland series is great fun, at times a little derivative (but I often find that with this kind of thing), and Williams is a strong writer (not in the same league as Okri). I’ve not read the others you are considering, but Banks always has something interesting to say. For Tokyo, then, I’d recommend the Williams, and save the Okri for when you get back and can savour it.

    Reply
  43. Jean de Montreal Avatar
    Jean de Montreal

    Hmmmm…

    Your mind is playing you subliminal tricks by letting you forget that outline almost everywhere you go with it.

    Are you sure it is that good? Maybe you inconsciously want to rewrite it altogether once it’s definitively lost forever.

    (sorry if someone else allready told you that. I’ve skipped the comments for three days now since I couldn’t manage to get anything out of spacecast.com for the whole weekend and haven’t seen Life yet. I fear to inadvertantly read spoilers. So now, you’ll now have to wait for Tuesdays not only for our UK friends, but also for those watching SGU on the net from the Space channel in Canada! Will they ever send us free cheese? 😉 Global and CTV worked fine and fast so this slower-than-me-ol’dialup was definitely on Space’s end.)

    Reply
  44. sylvia Avatar
    sylvia

    Joe – if you prefer not to have the solicitation for MAW for Emma, please edit out.

    4Crazymom – perhaps some of can help by making a donation to Make-A-Wish in Emma’s name? WHen you contact MAW, perhaps they have a way where you can set up a mechanism that will accept contributions for Emma’s wish.

    Most of the Kindle book imports cost $9.99 US, however, there is a huge selection of FREE, and some that cost more than the $9.99. I have been able to find BOTM selections on Kindle as have others. One was FREE. But the Jan selection is not available, at least, not yet, on Kindle.

    Reply
  45. Shadow Step Avatar
    Shadow Step

    You could always buy a scanner and scan your books – would take a while though *g*

    Reply
  46. Jammer Avatar
    Jammer

    Hey,
    “upcoming SGU season 2 script” i like that sounds of that :). Does this mean SGU will be getting renewed for a 2nd season? Anyways have a safe trip.

    –James

    Reply
  47. Shadow Step Avatar
    Shadow Step

    “The dogs ate my outline”

    Haven’t heard that one for a while *g*

    Reply
  48. DP Avatar
    DP

    I had a friend in school who could read my writing even though I couldn’t. You know that part of school where you have to find something to do to look like you were paying attention to the lecture? I’d be writing something in my binder to entertain her for the next class and she’d be reading the last thing I wrote. I couldn’t do crosswords during lectures and she couldn’t pull out her novels so it worked out great.

    Reply
  49. Tammy Dixon Avatar
    Tammy Dixon

    Look under things. Everytime I loose sight of something, it’s under something else.

    Narelle: you’ve almost got me talked into a reader.

    Crazymom1: prayers going your families way.

    Have a wonderful/safe trip Mr. M!

    T

    Reply
  50. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Wait!

    Pack extra undies! 😀

    Send us a postcard! 😀

    Don’t forget your passport! 😀

    Beware of strange women! 😀

    Make sure Ashleigh isn’t hiding in your suitcase!! 😀

    Beware of dark alleys! AND dark allies! 😀

    And whatever you do, if you get a rash, see your doctor immediately! 😀

    Have a good one, sir!

    das

    Reply
  51. Tammy Dixon Avatar
    Tammy Dixon

    Sorry for grammer errors, Mr. M. I know how that drives some people crazy (er).

    T

    Reply
  52. deeinsouthafrica Avatar
    deeinsouthafrica

    Try the Loo (admit it Joe, what else do you read in there?)

    E books are cheaper. You are just rushed and don’t have the time to investigate.

    I wish we had the Kindle in South Africa – or the Sony Reader. Alas, all I have is my Omnia, but it’s better than nothing.

    Have a safe trip. I know you will – the airlines can’t afford to crash airplanes anymore. 🙂

    Reply
  53. Phil Avatar
    Phil

    I like SGU. I like when its crazy and does completely bold things, like that body swapping sex scene in Earth. My main concern so far with the show so far the balance between character development and actual story development is heavily skewed in the one direction.

    Episodes like Earth and Life are heavy on the character and thinner on the story to make up for it. Time is heavy on the story but thin on the character development (bar Greer who has issues with what never even happened). There seems to be very little in the way of simultaneous development in both fronts which is caused by a single point, however. For example, in Before I Sleep, we learned that Weir’s previous-timeline counterpart secured the success of the “current” Atlantis expedition – sacrificing her own life by sitting in a stasis box for 10,000 years. The events of that episode plus Weir’s own storyline contributed towards both the story and the character progressing forward together, rather than strictly one or the other.

    I need more of that. Everything except Air Part 1 and Time has been character-heavy and im ready for the focus to either switch or to become more evenly-balanced between the two. I don’t want to see Eli going back to Earth to see his mum, then Young to see his wife and Scott to see his ex-partner, when i would prefer something like Eli spend time with Rush (or any of the other scientists on Destiny, or even back at the SGC!) learning about Ancient technology and the stargates in a similar fashion to the “how-to guides” back in Air Part 1.

    Reply
  54. fine Avatar
    fine

    u claim to want to here people’s views of the show and yet in the mailbag time and again u just dismiss people’s clearly justified problems with the show and yes i know that there are some rude people who exagarrate their point but noone visiting this blog wants the show to fail and there are so very many problems at the minute, all the women do is have sex, all the men do is brood and oh just read this article io9 where always better at explaining my opinions http://io9.com/5410612/were-getting-a-bit-winded-from-sgus-space-aerobics

    Reply
  55. Anais33 Avatar
    Anais33

    Coucou Joseph 🙂

    éhéhé le voyage approche!!! Je suis contente pour vous, vous allez pouvoir vous ressourcez un peu las bas et ça vous fera du repos..peut être pas pour votre estomac 😉

    Moi ma journée c’est mal passée, mais bon c’est pas important.

    Bon voyage et gros bisou 🙂

    Reply
  56. Alexander of Houston Avatar
    Alexander of Houston

    Oh joe, I am sorry to suggest this late, but have you ever read anything by Neil Gaiman? In my opinion and apparently my english professor’s opinion, he is great at what he does. I think it would be interesting for you to check him out.

    out of my head and onto the screen, I wonder what he could write for the show if at all… he did write an episode for babylon 5.

    Reply
  57. Nina K.P. Avatar
    Nina K.P.

    Hm, I thought you have an iphone. Isn’t there a kindle reading app for the iphone?
    As for the book titles you mentioned. I don’t know the other titles, but Tad Williams “Otherland” is definitely worth reading. One of my favorites. For someone like me who enjoys science-fiction and fantasy alike “Otherland” has a good mixture of both due to the virtual reality world. In addition to that you also get political thriller, a killer/police story, cultural myths, and more.
    However, “Otherland” are four books, not one. So nothing really to take on vacation.

    By the way, enjoyed “Life” and Camille Wray’s background. Oh yes, and the last scene with Eli doing Tai-Chi. 🙂

    Have a great stay in Japan!

    Reply
  58. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    Hi Joe – try the Iain M Banks. I think it’s his best on Culture SF novel. Also, which e-reader were you trying on the iPhone? Try Stanza and check out the Random House free sample site.

    Reply
  59. Shadow Step Avatar
    Shadow Step

    And of course with the Kindle, Amazon can remotely delete books from it – that’s always handy *g*

    (google kindle and 1984)

    Reply
  60. Violet Avatar
    Violet

    “Nope, I’m actually better off without those scribbles to confuse the issue.

    Yep, better off just working from memory.”

    Maybe you can add this to Season 2. Have a character (Rush and hit notibook) having this same problem.

    Just a thought.

    🙂

    Reply

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