“Shoo!”I yelled, waving my arms over my head. “Shoo! SHOO!” They backed up, wide-eyed and fearful, and then, slowly, advanced once again. “Tssss!”I hissed, stamping my foot for added effect. “TSSSS! SHOOO!” The pack held its ground and stared back at me uncertainly then, cautiously, two of them crept forward, sniffing the air for…
August 18, 2008: The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden
A young girl, shunned by her community, is forced to spend her days wandering the grounds of a palace garden. Considered a demon by many on account of the mysterious dark tattooing that covers her eyelids, hers is a lonely existence - until the day she is approached by a curious young boy. Touched by…
August 17, 2008: Upcoming Guests, Pooch Pics, and The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
Hope you’ve all finished up this month’s fantasy book of the month club pick, The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden, because I’ll be weighing in with my thoughts tomorrow. I’ll also be collecting questions for author Catherynne M. Valente who will be dropping by later in the week. This one was a very unique…
August 16, 2008: A Strategic Dinner, Some 25 Cent Porn, and The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
The other day, Marty G. and I took Carl out for dinner in celebration of his birthday, our friendship, and the outside chance that if the show is canceled Carl may be in a position to give us jobs next year. We went to Fuel of course and ordered the Chef’s Five-Course Tasting Menu, carefully…
August 15, 2008: Production Update and The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
Apologies for the tardy post but I spent all day in the darkened catacombs of post-production amidst the trolls, troglodytes, morlocks, and editors. The light from my laptop screen! AIIIEEEEE! IT BURNS!!! I was cutting Remnants which clocked in at an astounding +9.20! Trimming out the first four and a half minutes was no problem;…
August 14, 2008: Author Lois McMaster Bujold Answers Your Questions
When I first started blogging about the numberous books I was reading, fans were quick to offer suggestions for additions to my massive reading pile. A varied list of names were thrown my way, but three in particular came up time and again: Lois, McMaster, and Bujold. Well, finally, I know what all of the hype…
August 13, 2008: Special Guest Blogger Stargate Director of Photography Jim Menard, Your Favorite Ronon Line, and The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
First order of business: Hey, Jason Momoa wants to know your favorite Ronon line. Let's hear 'em. Second order of business: Today, I turn the blog over to Stargate Director of Photography Jim Menard who has been with the show for - well, as long as I can remember. Now I'm sure many of you…
August 12, 2008: Another Yawn Study, Production Update, Let’s Talk Cordelia’s Honor, Mailbag, and The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
A couple of days ago, I reported on a study that found dogs demonstrated empathy by yawning in response to a human yawn. Intrigued, I conducted my own study (titled 0% of dogs sensitive to human yawns - http://josephmallozzi.com/2008/08/09/august-9-2008-are-human-yawns-contagious-to-dogs-lets-find-out-and-the-weird-food-purchase-of-the-day/ ) which concluded that either a) dogs are not empathetic or b) my dogs knew they…
August 11, 2008: Cordelia’s Honor
Finally, a Space Opera that lives up to the title! Ages ago, when I first heard of the sub-genre, I was intrigued by the idea of mixing SF with soap operatic convention. Okay, while I wasn’t exactly expecting Love’s Laser’s Lost, I was looking forward to reading science fiction that focused on real people dealing…
August 10, 2008: Near FTL Travel – Weekends = Temporal Constant! Plus The Weird Food Purchase of the Day!
Science has shown that time slows down as one approaches faster than light velocity and then speeds up on weekends. Seriously, it felt like only hours ago I was jumping out of bed, ready to make the most of my Sunday. Flashforward eight hours and what do I have to show for my efforts? A…
August 9, 2008: Are Human Yawns Contagious to Dogs? Let’s Find Out. And the Weird Food Purchase of the Day.
A study published in the journal Biology Letters this week claims that dogs are highly sensitive to catching human yawns. Of the 29 dogs tested, 72% yawned after observing a human doing so. Apparently, this strongly suggest that they are capable of a rudimentary form of empathy. Interesting. I decided to pursue a parallel study…
August 8, 2008: With Special Guest Blogger Writer/Supervising Producer Alan McCullough
Today, I turn the blog over to Alan McCullough. Some of you will of course recognize Alan for the close to 20 Stargate scripts he’s written to date. Others will recognize him for his boyish good looks that occasionally grace this blog. Still others may recognize him Man in Stall from American Psycho, Bip from…
August 7, 2008: Road Triiiiip! And The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
ROAD TRIIIIIP! This morning, fellow Exec. Producer Carl Binder and I threw caution to the wind, jumped into my Q7, and hit the road. We took an impromptu journey guided only by our spontaneity, our sense of adventure, and the directions to the location of Marty G.’s Brain Storm shoot. As it turned out, however,…
August 6, 2008: Healing Mind Waves, Dr. Jack Daniel’s Restorative Elixir, and The Weird Food Purchase of the Day
Well, I’m still battling this bug and while I am feeling under the weather, I’ve certainly felt worse. In fact, off the top of my head, I can think of six times over the course of my life when I have felt worse. The culprits on those six occasions were, in no specific order: 1)…
August 5, 2008: You’re all monsters! More guest bloggers! And today’s Weird Food Purchase of the Day!
For all those of you wondering - yes, I have switched to a new default random avatar generator at the request of a fellow blog reader. Rather than stick with the boring old mystery individual icon, I elected to go with this one which automatically analyzes a poster’s message, name, and IP address to paint…