No wonder Bubba was having trouble chewing. He went in for his dental today and ended up having seven teeth removed! Him and Jelly now have roughly a half dozen teeth between them. I’m going to suggest Akemi start chewing their dog food for them like a mother bird.
Well, he’s all hopped up on goofballs and hopefully feeling no pain. And, on the bright side, his appetite appears to be back. I’ll, of course, be taking it easy on him for the next week or so while he recovers. That means early wake-ups, no long walks, and absolutely no dogsercise classes for him.
Akemi is in a bit of a culinary rut. She didn’t love the 72 hour sous vide short rib we made the other night. Then, last night, the oven broke and she couldn’t make her tarte tatin. Then, tonight, she declared her pork dumplings a disaster, insisting they tasted weird…”like lamb”. As a result, she’s told me she’ll never cook dinner again. Which could be a problem because I really do like her mapo tofu. I told her to relax. Don’t despair. Not like this terminally worried-looking little guy we met at the farmer’s market last weekend –
As for me – nope, not worried at all. Until, of course, those deadlines rear up. For now, Paul and I await word on the second draft of the urban fantasy series (they’re still talking about shooting the pilot this spring), the first draft of the SF series we’ve set up (this one seems imminent – but who knows?), and the horror script (if it’s a go, we’re going to need to find a director). That “scifi project based on an existing literary property” has garnered a lot of interest and I expect we’ll be starting work on the pilot very soon. We’ve also got an early morning conference call scheduled tomorrow to discuss our potential involvement in another miniseries. I honestly don’t know if we’ll have the time but Paul is optimistic. Other than that, my cable drama pilot is progressing nicely. Another seven pages today puts me at the 37 page mark. Still aiming to have a solid first draft under my belt by next week.
Oh yeah, speaking of literary properties, I happened to be downtown this afternoon and decided to meet up with Akemi after her class. And what better meeting place than the local bookstore? I hung around, waited for her, browsed – and, ultimately, couldn’t help myself:
I’m in the mood for a little fiction.
Stop! You’re exhausting me. Glad Bubba is back home and feeling better. It is National Pet Dental Health month if you didn’t know. I have a great video on my blog about brushing your dogs AND CATS (yes cats) teeth:
http://www.aleashabove.com/blog/
Nothing worse than not having an oven and catch the cooking bug. Kind of like not having water and feeling more thirsty than usual.
I understand weird tastes. Jeff decided to cook this chicken dish, and instead of being grateful, what did I do? I took one bite of the chicken and spit it out, claiming how chewy it was and how disgusting it was and this wasn’t organic chicken, was it? Apparently he bought the cheap stuff. I haven’t been eating a lot of animal products lately–trying to get back to raw veggies, nuts and occasional fruit which my body seemed to like the best–but if I’m going to eat it, I insist on organic. Later I had to do damage control and explain I appreciated his effort, and it wasn’t the dish or the way he cooked it, it was the chicken. How dare it be chewy?
Director nomination: Colin Cunningham. Joe, weren’t you at the 2007 Legendary Gathering with when Colin’s suspense /horror short, “Centigrade”, was shown?
If following has been mentioned, please forgive me. Corin Nemec of SG-1 is in a rehab hospital following a terrible accident on a film shoot. (Google “Corin Nemec Belize accident January 2013”.)
Corin is reading and appreciating Twitter messages, @imcorinnemec.
QUOTE
every #tweet I get lifts my spirits, I got the best, most caring & cool #TweetPeeps on the #interweb
END QUOTE
He has a long rehab ahead of him, so don’t hesitate to send your good wishes!
Poor little precious sugar baby Bubba!! Please give him a long hug and big wet kiss on the lips for me. (And I don’t care what he has been eating or licking…just do it!) Tell the little guy no spitting, no housework, only laying around watching TV, no slurping or drinking with a straw, no bending over, or running up the stairs, no brushing your remaining 3 teeth for a couple of days, and don’t eat anything sticky. And most of all, get better fast! We love you little bugger bear!!
G’day
Poor little guy, Bubba not you Joe. Extra squishy hugs for him.
Maybe you should see what Martin Wood is up to these days.
Is your director friend from Toronto, Bruce McDonald available? He’s pretty good with horror. Damn good.
poor dog. would baby food be good for dogs? or maybe buy a baby food grinder/processor thing & make your own?
that’s how i am around used book stores, if i find something i like that is.
speaking of books; how many do you read a week? (where do you find the time to read?) and is your to be read pile fairly big?
Aww Bubba. I hope he feels better. Best wishes to a quick and painless recovery.
And I second Janet’s nomination of Martin Wood. Stargate, Sanctuary… that guy’s good. 😀
Feel better Bubba! I’m still waiting for those scientists to perfect regrowing teeth. The books look interesting but I only buy digital now because I’ve got too many books piling up in the house.
Maybe what you guys need is to make some quick easy comfort food, and to have fun with a toaster oven; they are great for roasting meat and sausage.
Poor Bubba! But at least it was just a few bad teeth, and nothing more.
Poor Akemi! Perhaps with the oven down, Akemi could focus on salads. I love whipping up a quickie salad, my favorite being avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeno, kalamata or Niçoise olives, and cilantro, with a bit of olive oil, lime juice, and just a dash of cumin (this combo also makes an excellent topping for nachos!). Or, speaking of Niçoise olives, how about a nice Salad Niçoise?
Or maybe one of my other favorites, Mediterranean Rice Salad, which is a bed of spinach or arugula and lettuce (or whatever greens you prefer), topped with green pimento-stuffed olives, warm short-grain brown rice, and zucchini sauteed with basil and oregano. The warm rice and zucchini ‘wilt’ the greens a little, making it a pleasantly dense salad. Drizzle, or drench, the whole thing in a dressing made with olive oil, lemon juice (NOT vinegar!), fresh garlic, chervil, marjoram, thyme, tarragon, salt and pepper. I usually use dried herbs for this one, or an Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning mix instead, all depending on what I have on hand. If my herb mix does not contain tarragon I will add that, since I think it adds a nice touch to the flavor. This is a very filling and satisfying salad.
I just realized that all my salads contain olives. To me they make the salad, but if your tastes differ you may want to try something else to give the salad that bit of pizzazz. No idea what that could be, though. (Mr. Das is not an olive fan, not at all, so when I make this stuff it’s usually for me, and me alone. He just has no idea what he’s missing! Well, besides an overdose of sodium, that is. 😛 )
Future mailbag question: How do you remember and/or absorb all that you read? If I read too much I either mix the stories up in my head, or find that I simply can not retain large portions of a tale. Do you actually remember it all, or just the gist of what you’ve read?
(And yes, I’m up late – or early – watching a live rugby match! It’s southern hemi Super Rugby time again, which means early evening naps so I can watch early morning rugby! Woo!)
das
Sadly, Martin Wood’s latest project, Primeval New World has been cancelled by Space Channel here in Canada. There is an opening for a new show, Joe. Maybe get on them right away regarding your projects….
Dear Bubba, please feel better soon. Make Joe give you lots of soft treats. Love, Riley, Cody and Gumbo 🙂
7 teeth removed? Poor thing, I bet he’s feeling crappy after that experience, hope he gets better soon.
to get around, Bubba needs to be kitted out like so:
oops – link: http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d23/XXXevilgrinXXX/LOLZ2/e4fb65dae2.jpg
‘Surface Detail’ is amazing Joe. Took me a while to get into (50 pages or so) but once I did it was finished over a long weekend. I’m a sucker for a bit of ‘Culture’ anyway. 🙂
I am glad you can multitask, but it makes me dizzy. All the reading and writing, and doggy dentist, really glad Bubba is better, many hugs for our little guy. Rides in the dog buggy for him. and Akemi, no oven, now is the time to go thru the recipes and get some ready to try when the oven is fixed. Something to look forward to, the planning is fun for me, even if some recipes will never be used again(husb request), hey they looked good on paper. Have a great day!!
Best healing wishes to Bubba.
I can totally see homemade gourmet dog food for your puppers. No oven needed!
it seems that you will work a lot in the next few months!
I 😆 when I read your comment Ponytail! Too funny.
I’m so glad Bubba is feeling better. Did the vet talk to you about brushing his teeth? It’s pretty easy and it might help prevent some of the tooth issues.
JeffW: Did you both get home? How was the trip?
Akemi: Fixing the stove will make you feel better!
Mr. M: Good luck with all the deadlines and reading! I’m not sure how you do it all but…hat’s off to ya!
How about Peter DeLuise to direct? You would of course know plenty of directors, but he’s my favorite.
Glad to hear Bubba’s on the mend. Tough when our animal friends are in pain.
Poor Bubba! As for chewing his food, that sounds like the perfect task for you. As you try to work through writer’s block, you can exercise your jaw muscles and produce the needed shredded food for your nearly toothless buddy.
As for Akemi, declare a one week moratorium on cooking, even if the new oven comes in. Try to select some of the blander/more boring eateries(this is the hard part), then wait as Akemi realizes she can in fact do better than what you are paying for. One good meal and her confidence will be restored.
My dog sitter swears my pooch is scratching one of her ears more than usual. I see no sign of such a problem, but figure I will take her in next week. She is due a couple of update shots anyways, and there is a chance I’ll be coming north of the border with her, so figure it won’t hurt to get her paperwork straight now.(you are safe. Just looking at heading up to Winniped, and/or western Onatario).
Just found out William Shatner is going to be at Shore Leave this year, in Baltimore. Along with some woman named Amanda Tapping…I am really psyched. Since I don’t do Creation Cons, I never though I’d get the chance to see Captain Kirk/Denny Crane in person. And while I’ve seen Ms. Tapping before, she is someone I never get tired of seeing. Hoping they get a few more Stargate associated guests signed up before August. So many things to do, so much to plan…
Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to hearing more positive things about your projects.
@Tam Dixon:
I arrived home safely last night, and even with a flight cancellation, rebooking, and further flight delays, I still managed to make it home with only a 15-minute delay overall. So, not bad! Since I had business meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, Barb flew home Tuesday morning.
I’ll put up some Vancouver pictures later next week; today I’m packing and preparing my truck to take my son and four of his boy scout buddies on a skiing weekend in Wisconsin (his troop is having a skiing weekend and I volunteered to drive).
Have a good weekend everyone!
I think you’d enjoy this.
http://www.wimp.com/climbingstairs/
Doggy Dentures 🙂
Aww, poor Bubba. And poor Akemi! But at least things sounds like they’re smooooth sailing for you!
I would say ANY of the SG directors would be a great fit. Surely you can bring one or more (even better) of them on tap for your show(s).
Ok, one of my pet peeves (pun intended) came up in your phrase “him and Jelly…”. When I was in school back in the Dark Ages, we were told to take out the “and” phrase to see if it made sense. So you, who make your living writing, actually said “him now have roughly half dozen teeth”. Arghhh!
you guys should make pasta at home and blog it
Went to a flea market today and picked up the cutest little kitty keychain, and looked for a pug or a Frenchie for you, Joe, but couldn’t find any. 🙁 So I went on-line and found them! Then I discovered they’re made in Japan, so maybe you’ll find them next time you go overseas. They are adorable!
http://www.handcrafted-leather.com/
das
Hi Joe
Questions for mailbag, perhaps, on the creative process you’ve found works best for you, typically: Do you edit & re-edit in your mind’s eye, tightening & testing and then to fit/cut to page length? Or is it best for you to work primarily, or even in balance, on the page?
I’d reckon the former, especially with so many projects on the go? Does Paul has a different approach (more page-based) and the opposites complement?
Separately…an existing SF franchise…Global already or which side of the pond, or N American border?
Separately, again…I enjoy the long episode runs of N American TV. It partly inspired the episodic serial approach I took to a story of mine – The Eyewitness Protocols. Told it over 8 episodes with a novelistic telling (@20k words each episode) rather than script, but that would be interesting, too, sometime. It’s a cross-genre thriller.
THE EYEWITNESS PROTOCOLS, by PJ Reynolds
Anyway…all those projects on the go – bloody brilliant. Sounds like you’re having a blast. Salut!
Pat