So, several months ago, I gathered questions for Playback Supervisor Krista McLean and sent them her way. I didn't hear back for some time and simply assumed the worst: she'd been kidnapped, joined a cult, or was trapped under a refrigerator and desperately in need of help. Thus, I put it out of my mind…
February 9, 2009: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
So during SG-1's final season, I came up with an outline for a time travel episode. And not your typical time-travel episode either. Building on a notion Paul once pitched out, I built a story on the idea of the team triggering an accident with the time-traveling puddle jumper (last scene in Good To Be…
February 8, 2009: Done with The Tudors
Okie dokie. I am hereby DONE with The Tudors. Understand, it has nothing to do with the quality of the show. In fact, Fondy and I enjoyed the first season immensely. And we WERE enjoying the second season - until the second disc in our DVD box set started skipping, jumping, pausing and, eventually, freezing…
February 7, 2009: News and Notes and The Mailbag
Today, I shifted gears to focus on my super, secret project (Okay, yeah, it’s a short story), spending the greater part of the morning going over what I’ve already written, then most of the afternoon finishing up the hotel room scene. Call me crazy but, so far, I’m liking what I’ve got. Of course, it’s…
February 6, 2009: The Secret Vancouver Restaurant List…and The Mailbag
So you’re in Vancouver and wondering where the heck to go for dinner. Well, if you’re an actor guesting on our show, all you have to do is swing by my office and I’ll provide you with a rundown of my favorite local restaurants. From the Japanese hotdog stand serving up Oroshi hotdogs to the…
February 5, 2009: Editor J.J. Adams Answers Your Questions
Hey, zombie-lovers. Check out today's Q&A with none other than J.J. Adams, editor of the goulishly great The Living Dead zombie anthology. Enjoy. And, once you're done, stick around for the mailbag... KellyK writes: “1. How did this collection come about? What made you decide on a zombie anthology?" JJ: Night Shade Books actually pitched zombies to…
February 4, 2009: Celebrity Freak-Out, Book of the Month Club Push, and The Mailbag
By now, most of you have probably heard Christian Bale’s expletive-ridden tirade from the set of Terminator: Salvation, a four minute+ outburst triggered by the Director of Photography stepping into Bale’s line of sight during filming. A lot of you are expressing outrage at the actor’s behavior. Others, seeking to defend him, are quick to…
February 3, 2009: A Preliminary Draft, Childhood Misconceptions, and The Mailbag
Huzzah! I finally have a preliminary draft of the first part of the Stargate: Universe mid-season two-parter. However, it comes in at a robust 57 pages! I’ll spend the next few days trimming it down to a far more manageable 54, then put it out to the rest of the writing department - after which…
February 2, 2009: January’s Top Reads
Pump Six and Other Stories, Paolo Bacigalupi I’ve been a big fan of Paulo Bacigalupi’s work for quite some time and have been sitting on this book for a while now, hoping a paperback edition would be released so that I could make it a Book of the Month Club selection. Well, I finally broke…
February 1, 2009: Dogs, Mailbag, and NFL – I Renounce Thee!
A lot of interesting takes on this whole Blu-ray debate. To upgrade or not to upgrade? That is the question. Well, after reading some of your informed opinions regarding continuing technological developments and the likelihood that tomorrow’s hot, new gadget will be next week’s microfilm, tape deck, or Vin Diesel, I’ve decided to forego any…
January 31, 2009: I’ll take a DVD, an eight-track cassette, and a tincture of laudanum
So here’s something interesting I came across the other day (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDMXKb0oqb34&refer=home). According to the article, fourth quarter shipments of DVD’s fell 32% in the U.S. and Canada: “The drop is the biggest since the industry-funded researcher started keeping track in 1997.” It goes on to blame the consumer shift toward digital media services like iTunes…
January 30, 2009: Jean-Georges Comes to Vancouver
“The hotel restaurants,”my mother once advised me in her thick Italian accent. “They are never good.” I took issue with that statement and tried to come up with an example of a truly great hotel restaurant. The only one to come to mind was Kozue in the Park Hyatt Shinjuku, where, several years ago, my…
January 29, 2009: Author Jeff Vandermeer Sweeps In – Like A Mini-Hurricane!
So, last night I gathered up your questions for Jeff Vandermeer, sent them his way, and settled down to do a bit of work on the script. Less than thirty minutes later, I received a response from Jeff. Well, not just "a" response. ALL the responses. What I assumed to be an acknowledgment of receipt…
January 28, 2009: Actor Mike Dopud Answers Your Questions
Today, I'd like to turn this blog over to a familiar face - stuntman and actor Mike Dopud who has made three memorable appearances in the Stargate franchise (Full Alert's Colonel Chernovshev, Bounty's Odaii Ventrell, and Tracker's Kiryk). So far. He's incredibly talented, a helluva nice guy and, should my SF pilot ever get off…
January 27, 2009: Losing My Wallet And My Mind (In No Particular Order). A Solidarity Sick Day.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of flipping open your wallet to pay for something only to discover an empty space in the slip customarily occupied by your credit card. “Terror” isn’t really the right word for it. It’s more, I think, a feeling of deep foreboding roughly akin to the sensation serial killer victims…