Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

A tragic story. One that fills me with a deep sadness, not only for the deceased, but for the monkey driver who must now resume his chattering/feces-flinging duties at the local zoo with a heavy heart, forever haunted by the memories of his ill-advised joyride in that Lamborghini. But rather than dwell on that sad…

Uh oh. I’m in big trouble. The elderly Italian couple who lived behind us have found out I actually speak Italian. I was rolling the garbage bin into the garage this morning when Rosa left off her tomato plant inspection to ask me a question - in Italian. Even though we’d only exchanged the briefest…

Major Hollywood Star Attacked by Rabid Turtles?!! Really?! No, not really. I’m just doing a little social experiment here. I’ve noticed that a number of the blogs in WordPress’s daily Top 25 boast inventive, garish, occasionally salacious, tabloid-like headlines clearly designed to lure gullible rubes (such as myself) in search of this week’s Paris Runway…

This wasn’t my first time reading The Blade Itself. I actually read it a little over a year ago at a time when I was blazing through a veritable library of science fiction. I was reading almost exclusively scifi because, well, I didn’t know any better. At the time, my understanding of the fantasy genre…

  I’ve discovered a cure for insomnia! If you’re ever lying wide awake in bed and unable to fall sleep, all you have to do is start thinking about the outline for your upcoming script. I guarantee you’ll be out before the first act break. Amazingly, it seems to work for mid-afternoon naps as well.…

I was awakened at about 5:00 a.m. by the sound of one of my pugs, Maximus, in the throes of a major upchuck. GAK-GAK-GAK! In a flash, I was up and scrambling, motivated by concern, compassion, and the fact that he was on the bed. I scanned my surroundings for the nearest handy barf-catcher -…

“Did you wrap early today?”asked Tim as I grabbed a seat at the bar. “Nope,”I replied, settling in and flipping open the menu. “I’m off for the next four days.” [Note: This weekend, of course, Canada celebrates one of its most important holidays - Lord Emil Froodock Day - a commemoration of one of Canada‘s most…

“Hey, Gero’s about to blow something up!”I was informed. “Five minutes!” I set aside my work, grabbed my camera, and made my way down to the far end of the lot where Marty G. was directing this year’s trio of Superfan Promos. In the pouring rain. I found him umbrella-less and standing by while the…

  Some truly awesome news to kick off today’s blog entry. Authors Jennifer Pelland and Kage Baker have kindly agreed to come by and field your questions and comments as part of our July Book of the Month Club discussions. Kage will join us the week of June 30th when we’ll be discussing In the…

I spent the day working with Mike Banas. “How exciting!”I imagine you saying. “Were you involved in a car chase? A shoot-out? Did you catch the bad guy?” After all, with a name like Mike Banas, you’d assume he’d be a private detective of some sort. (MIKE BANAS, P.I. Starring: Mike Banas as Mike Banas,…

  We spun Marty G.’s latest story idea this morning, going back and forth on various notions as the room argued containment fields, points of science, and hot vs. cold air masses. The thematic shift of his story has turned out to be a good new/bad news situation for me. Good news: HE is now…

Our home phone has become a curio, an anachronism from a bygone era that continues to take up kitchen space more out of sheer habit and a reluctance to part from tradition than for any practical purpose. Anyone worth talking to contacts us on our cell phones. The house phone, meanwhile, serves as a spam…

Given Iron Man’s projected $175 000 000+ domestic two-week take, it’s safe to assume that the superhero genre is alive and well in Hollywood. In fact, just last week, Marvel announced a development slate that includes the following feature film projects: Ant-Man, Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers. Meanwhile, The Punisher and The Hulk are…

  “Hey, wanna go check out a cannon?”Marty G. asked as me I strolled by his office this morning. Would I?! Faced with the unappealing option of resuming work on my beat sheet, I happily took him up on his offer and joined him in heading over to Stage 1 where we wandered amongst the…

  Martin almost had himself a new story today. I say almost because, after spinning out what he felt was a wonderfully exciting idea, Martin returned to his office and, in the process of writing it up, came to the conclusion that, hey, this concept has the potential to go wrong in so many different…