Akemi’s latest breakfast bento creation: oatmeal snowman!
This morning, we checked out a new place, a cozy little apartment in the ritzy Yorkville district. Pros: Upscale neighborhood, better oven, located close to gourmet shop Pusateri, and the woman who showed us the suite was gorgeous – but, in all fairness, I failed to inquire if she came with the place. Cons: Longer drive to work, longer walk to the dog park, more traffic outside, father away from St. Lawrence Market, downtown restaurants, vet, doggy daycare, and Martin Gero. Tough call but I have a feeling we’re staying put. Akemi doesn’t like the cutlery in the new place.
In the words of little Ralphie from A Christmas Story: “Oooh fuuuudge! Only I didn’t say ‘fudge”.” After I incorporated all of the notes for the last draft of episode 3 of Transporter: The Series, the script came in at a weighty and wholly uproducable 60+ pages. Sadly, since I’m prohibited from redirecting funds earmarked for frivolous expenditures (ie. my fellow Exec. Producers’ salaries, first aid supplies, etc.) toward overages, I had to make some trims to get the page count down. Following days of careful consideration and judicious cuts, I succeeded in bringing the script down to a much more manageable 52 pages. Pleased, my work on episode #3 presumably complete for the time being, I redirected focus to my rewrite of episode #6.
Until Trevor, our assistant, noted a problem with my script format – specifically, the fact that my default format settings were incorrect. Trevor corrected them. And in so doing, my 52 page script (formerly 60+ pages long) ballooned to 57 pages (formerly a hell of a lot longer). Sigh! So my first attempt to fix the problem – a.k.a. firing Trevor – while personally satisfying, did little to help address the page count. In the end, I spent another two hours making the proper trims that brought the script down to 53 glorious pages.
On to production!
And a new assistant!
Thank you to those who pointed out my error in mistaking SG-1 season 9’s Beach Head for season 10’s The Pegasus Project. I will rectify this oversight in the following weeks by switching it around and mistaking The Pegasus Project for Beach Head.
PROTOTYPE (909)
Alan McCullough scripts his first Stargate episode and, based on his efforts here, is invited to join the writing staff. He’ll spend two seasons on SG-1 and four on Atlantis, working his way up to Supervising Producer, displaying not only good story sense but a real affinity for the editing room as well. A great guy and much-appreciated member of the raucous writing room of Carl Binder, Marty G., Paul, and myself that produced Atlantis’s final two seasons.
This episode also marked the first appearance of actor Neil Jackson who would turn in an equally brilliant performance as the undercover wraith in Stargate: Atlantis’s fifth season episode, Vegas.
THE FOURTH HORSEMAN I (910)
When we broke this mid-season two-parter, we fully expected to have actor Sean Patrick Flannery reprise the role of Orlin. Unfortunately, it turned out he was unavailable for both episodes. As a result, we were forced to rethink his character’s role in the story. In retrospect, it was different but “good” different, offering up some terrific opportunities for both the Orlin character and Samantha Carter. The part ended up being played by Cameron Bright who has gone on to play the role of Alec in the Twilight Saga.
It was great to have Don S. Davis back as General George Hammond. I appreciated the fact that, even though he’d shifted focus to his art and enjoying his retirement, Don still found time to revisit with us. Like most of my friends, we wound up connecting over our mutual appreciation for food and spent many an evening out on the town, bonding over everything from ribs to foie gras.
THE FOURTH HORSEMAN II (911)
In this episode, Earth officials attempt to contain an alien virus that spreads from Stargate Command to the United States, then North America and, eventually, the rest of the world. And reporting on the breaking news are – well, news anchors and reporters. And who better to play news and anchors and reporters then actual anchors and reporters. Surprisingly, it happens all the time in film and television. We auditioned a bunch of them and, quite frankly, they were all great, but ended up going with local television personalities Dawn Chubai and Dagmar Midcap.
The part of the Jaffa Aron is played by Chris Judge’s brother, Jeff, who I was a long-time regular at Chris’s notorious poker nights.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE (912)
I loved this episode and, as much as I’d like to lay some claim to it, this was all Paul, my writing partner (I was busy working on the next episode, Ripple Effect). One of the things I loved about working on Stargate was the freedom it gave us as writers. We could tell a variety of stories – standalone, arc-driven, Earth-based, set off-world, SF, fantasy, horror, comedic, or dark. In the case of Collateral Damage – standalone, off-world, SF, and dark, and it does all four incredibly well.
In the original pitch, it’s Teal’c who ends up imprisoned on an alien world, charged with a crime he didn’t commit despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Given Teal’c’s existing arc that season, we elected to make it a Mitchell story as it allowed us the opportunity explore his past.
The part of the doomed victim in this episode, Dr. Reya Varrick, is played by the lovely Anna Galvin who is one of a handful of actors who have appeared in all three Stargate series – as the mysterious Vanessa Conrad in one of my fave Atlantis episodes, Remnants, and then as Chloe Armstrong’s mother in Stargate: Universe.
How did I miss this?! Past Book of the Month Club guest author Daryl Gregory is writing a new Planet of the Apes series for BOOM! Studios, one of my favorite new comic book publishers: http://www.darylgregory.com/comics/apes.aspx
Hey, fellow foodies, check it out! Interview with my friend and fave chef Robert Belcham of Fuel/Refuel fame here: http://vancouverfoodster.com/2011/06/08/chef-robert-belcham/ – in which he makes mention of the unbelievable 30 course dinner he prepared for me before I left Vancouver (March 18, 2011: The Meal To End All Meals!).
Via Io9 – A site that uses facial recognition software to pair you up with the dog of your dreams. My perfect match is apparently a beagle mix named Olly: http://www.doggelganger.co.nz/
This is how it starts.
First, a creative little concoction for a loved one’s breakfast.
Then, pictures hit the internet.
It’s now been several days in a single week of photos of Akemi’s lovely breakfast treats.
Tomorrow, she’ll start to feel the pressure.
How will she out-do herself each day? How will she continue to amaze and delight both you and your readers? Will she continue the streak, or will she cave under the pressure?
Perhaps she’ll continue for a while, making dish after dish of tasty food cleverly disguised as anthropomorphosized characters, all the while earning praise from legions of hungry blog readers.
But one day, she’ll crack. It’ll just get to be. Too. Much.
Akemi, though, has a plan. She’ll leave your final dish of food on the table. But she won’t be there. As you sit, sad and confused as to her whereabouts, you take bite after bite and discover, hidden in the layers of your morning meal, a carefully crafted message. One that only you, Joe, will be able to decipher.
To the rest of the world, Akemi will seem to have disappeared, the victim of her own culinary creativity. But you’ll know the truth. That she’s out there, somewhere. She’s on her way to someplace else. She’s in the care, the company and, quite possibly, the trunk of…
The Transporter
@Lou Zucaro: Very nice! 🙂
Hi Joe!
Joe – it’s been bugging me as I re-watch all of SGU, so I have to ask: Is it orneriness that causes Rush to call Dale Volker, Mister rather than his proper title of Doctor? I noticed when he mentioned him during Common Descent with Lisa Park he said Doctors (on bridge with Yazou). So he’s well aware of his title.
@Lou Zucaro: I liked that too!! 🙂
Joe, my favorites out of this bunch were The Fourth Horsemen Parts 1 and 2.
Have a good evening!!!!
Thanks for the memories Mr. M.!
Thanks for the laughs Lou Zucaro!
ROFLMAO at Lou. But it is sad… I want her to stay. 🙁
Speaking of sad, poor Orlin. 🙁
So you are just tired of looking for places so not moving or really have pretty much run out of options? You current place sounds like it will be hell this summer.
Neil Jackson, love him. He boxes, does martial arts and is as cute as Akemi’s snow man. Ah, X-Men Last Stand, that’s where I know Cameron Bright from.
The horrific heat has taking away my appetite; looking forward to cooler temps this weekend and the best pierogies in Pittsburgh; couldn’t remember the name of the diner so I googled “best pierogies pittsburgh” and bingo, the wonderful Gullifty’s; hard to spell but tasty:
http://www.gulliftys.us/
I am sad. Secret Six has been cancelled. 🙁 I really hate DC right now. Gail said she was able to wrap up the story (something they didn’t let her do with Birds of Prey), so I will certainly read the two or three remaining issues. I really need to stop liking stuff, because I really hate it when it goes away.
Added to my sadness is a cold (or allergy – I really can’t tell), and it’s the most annoying thing I’ve had since I was real sick a couple years back. Most things I suspect to be illnesses just go away in a day or two, but this one’s been hanging on all week…AND I’m supposed to go out of town the next three days. Grrr. On top of all that, it got up in the 90s today (our bank showed a temp of 104, but that seems a tad high for our area). I’m hot, snotty, and sneezy…and mad and sad…and I just had a tift with Mr. Das because he kept talking about the locks he fixed today (which I asked him to stop doing because I wasn’t in the mood for tech/work talk), and I was trying to watch a rugby match from last Friday – I’ve started it like 10 times, and keep getting interrupted – and he comes in and starts talking right over the game, and I finally yelled at him to shut up. I am a bad person. 😛
das
to debra: poor orlin indeed.
collateral damage was a good episode. although i guessed mitchell’s suppressed memory (or whatever it was) before it was revealed.
Das
Re this:
I really need to stop liking stuff, because I really hate it when it goes away.
I can’t tell you how many times my wife and I have said the same thing to each other. It does suck.
And re this:
I am a bad person.
Well, at least you know why you’re sick, then
😛
(kidding aside, hope you feel better…being sick when it’s really hot is awful)
You can’t fire me, Joe. Alex already did earlier today! And yesterday. And the day before that…
@ Lou, that was terrific! But sh-h-h-h-h-h-h. We don’t really want Akemi to go anywhere. 😀
In other news, my “doggelganger” is a German Shepherd mix. Cool app.!
Das, thought of you last night when I went outside after dark and saw a 2.5-inch hairy black spider. Its body was most of its length. Nearly screamed, well, like a girl, but didn’t want to wake the neighborhood. Was going to find a picture online, but got scared again. How do we have spiders that big in the city??? 😯
Never fall victim to some flashy walls and a $7k stainless restaurant grade stove.
The neighborhood is everything.. Never move away from the things you love. I unfortunately made that mistake and after two years of hating on where I moved to.. Sold that place and moved back!
Btw my breakfast is going to pwn your breakfast tomorrow. =)
Sorry you’re feeling poorly, das. I hope you’re better soon so you can enjoy your trip. Awww, man… cancelling Secret Six? I liked it, too. I’m glad Gail is going to be able to wrap up the story, though. It’s maddening when a story just – stops. We had two days of awful heat and then rain. And more rain. And more rain today. Three and a half inches in two days and still coming. At least it cooled off.
@Joe: the nerve of your assistant making sure your draft is correctly formatted before you submit it!
The nerve!
Oh.
Wait.
That’s part of his job isn’t it?
@Trevor: Keep up the good work!
Love Akemi’s breakfast creations! They’re so cute! 🙂 I’m gonna start putting smiley faces on my oatmeal. 😉
Damn, my toast has brekkie cuteness envy.
Poor Trevor! Joe have you ever made a mistake? Oh let’s see…why just last post you confused two episodes with each other that the general public had to point out, or how about losing an entire script once at your house, or what about consistantly messing up the date of your daily blog. I can look up tons more evidence dating back to November 2006 on this blog. Shall I continue? I didn’t think so.
Have a great day…Trevor!
@ das – feel better “Babe”.
Das wrote, “I really need to stop liking stuff, because I really hate it when it goes away.”
Awww. Didn’t someone once say, “It is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all”.
Dumb shit. Whoever said that should be horse whipped then shot!
Heres my poem (i was bored)
I know that I will never see,
The Ancient spaceship Destiny,
The FTL provides her speed
Stopping some to fulfil the need,
For food and water and what is good,
Evading drones wherever could;
Weapons fire, shuttle fly,
FTL engage and bye bye bye,
Shields active from head-to-toe,
Galaxy to galaxy is where you go,
When running low, as sometimes you are,
You stop for a visit to a lonely star;
Those on board are not your makers,
Their antics lead to quite a shaker,
Despite all this, you’re still around,
Your hull is rusty, silver and brown,
Your million-year journey is not at the ends,
We’re still waiting, your fans and friends.
By the way Joe, I think Syfys Nielson box viewers have lost all credibility, people say they didn’t watch SGU because it had too much drama, characters not being likable and not enough action.
Along comes Red Faction Origins, giving a good amount of Drama, Action and character development, another show with a talented cast, and yet it got horrible ratings.
Basically Red Faction Origins only got about a million viewers.
@Randomness: Are you saying that Red Factions: Origins had all the stuff that people said SGU lacked and still got low ratings? (I didn’t see it so I don’t know.) IMO, I don’t think SyFy expects those movies to get high ratings. I mean, really, the production values are horrible. I did think about checking the movie out though, but forgot it was coming on until after it was over. That’s the way my life has been going lately. 🙂
My husband and I just watched the last episode of SGU on Netflix today, having relinquished cable/satellite access a year ago. We were bummed to hear the show had been cancelled. The quasi-ending was enough to be a closer of sorts–I hoped for a possible movie, but read in an article that it wasn’t going to happen. I feel that it had enough story left at least for another season. Has anyone considered a mini-series!?!?