Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 492

August 5, 2012: Make your own Beef Wellington! Days of Stargate: Atlantis Past! Progeny!

Anybody who has watched Hell’s Kitchen knows that making a perfect Beef Wellington can be tricky.  Well, yesterday, Akemi succeeded in executing the dish to perfection.  What follows are Akemi’s steps to a terrific Beef Wellington (channeling Gordon Ramsay minus the expletives).

Layer out seranno ham slices on a piece of plastic wrap.  Brush on a mushroom duxelle.  Season a piece of tenderloin with salt and pepper, sear, then brush with dijon mustard.

Set the tenderloin down atop the mushroom duxelle.

Then, carefully roll.

Spin and twist and -

Voila!  Pop this in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, roll out your pastry dough and sprinkle with thyme.

Remove the tenderloin from the plastic wrap and place at the center of the rolled dough sheet.

Roll, spin and twist once again.  Pop in the refrigerator for at least fifteen minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove the pastry-encased tenderloin from the plastic, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt, then pop in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Slice.

And serve!

Days of Stargate: Atlantis past continues with our look at -

PROGENY (305)

Finally, we are introduced to the creators of the Hot Zone virus AND answer some long-burning questions like “Why did the Ancient repository of knowledge contain the schematics for a weapon capable of destroying human-form replicators?”.  We are introduced to the Asurans who possess the arrogance of their creators, the Ancients, and a coded disposition for violence.  Clearly, the worst of both worlds.  Carl Binder delivers a script that is tightly plotted, peppered with humor and, in typical Carl fashion, possessed of great character moments. Weir shows off her leadership chops while Rodney demonstrates courage and compassion by offering to “flip” Sheppard for the duty of staying behind to manually trigger the self-destruct.  A seminal episode.

Tagged: Atlantis, Beef Wellington, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis

August 4, 2012: Make your own Beef Wellington! Days of Stargate: Atlantis Past! Progeny!

Anybody who has watched Hell’s Kitchen knows that making a perfect Beef Wellington can be tricky.  Well, yesterday, Akemi succeeded in executing the dish to perfection.  What follows are Akemi’s steps to a terrific Beef Wellington (channeling Gordon Ramsay minus the expletives).

Layer out seranno ham slices on a piece of plastic wrap.  Brush on a mushroom duxelle.  Season a piece of tenderloin with salt and pepper, sear, then brush with dijon mustard.

Set the tenderloin down atop the mushroom duxelle.  

Then, carefully roll.

Spin and twist and -

Voila!  Pop this in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, roll out your pastry dough and sprinkle with thyme.

Remove the tenderloin from the plastic wrap and place at the center of the rolled dough sheet.

Roll, spin and twist once again.  Pop in the refrigerator for at least fifteen minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove the pastry-encased tenderloin from the plastic, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt, then pop in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Slice.

And serve!

Days of Stargate: Atlantis past continues with our look at -

PROGENY (305)

Finally, we are introduced to the creators of the Hot Zone virus AND answer some long-burning questions like “Why did the Ancient repository of knowledge contain the schematics for a weapon capable of destroying human-form replicators?”.  We are introduced to the Asurans who possess the arrogance of their creators, the Ancients, and a coded disposition for violence.  Clearly, the worst of both worlds.  Carl Binder delivers a script that is tightly plotted, peppered with humor and, in typical Carl fashion, possessed of great character moments. Weir shows off her leadership chops while Rodney demonstrates courage and compassion by offering to “flip” Sheppard for the duty of staying behind to manually trigger the self-destruct.  A seminal episode.

Tagged: Atlantis, Beef Wellington, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis

August 4, 2012: Japanese fest, cucumber soft serve, and moscow mules! Days of Stargate Atlantis Past! Sateda!

Hey!  Today, Akemi, Bubba and I checked out the annual Powell Street Festival.  Where were you guys?!!

Akemi and Bubba check out the Powell Street Festival

The spam sushi!  I believe this is an Okinawan thing since Okinawa shares many cultural similarities with Hawaii, spam central.

Akemi helps out a fast-tiring Bubba.

Checking out the Japanese-themed festivities.  We missed the taiko drummers.

On our way back to the car, we decided to drop by Fat Dragon for take-out dessert.

Cucumber soft serve!  It was light and incredibly refreshing.  All three of us enjoyed a cone.

Ivon texted me “Mules today?”, a reference to the Moscow Mule cocktail we discovered during our trip to Tokyo back in 2010.  I had the ginger beer.  All I needed was the limes.  And, it turns out, the vodka.  I returned home to find an empty bottle of Grey Goose in my liquor cache – compliments, I suspect, of our former house sitter, Lawren.  I popped out to get a bottle and, when I got back, Ivon was already there -

Ivon on lime duty.

Why do I look scared?  I’m sure it’s delicious.

And it was.  The only thing missing was the copper mugs – and, believe me, I’ve been looking.

We retire to the patio.

Jelly joins us.

As does Ivon’s girlfriend, Lulu.

Tomorrow, Ivon joins Akemi and I for a trip to the farmer’s market. See you guys there?

Our trip down Stargate: Atlantis memory lane continues with…

SATEDA (304)

This episode marked Robert Cooper’s second foray into the writing/directing/producing trifecta and it turned out to be a much bigger episode than his opener, Crusade.  Plenty of action, great character moments, and flashbacks to Ronon’s past made this episode a standout among the early season entries.  Jason Momoa was always terrific in his role as Ronon Dex, but it was in episodes like these that we really see him him shine, not only in his onscreen performance but his incredible offscreen preparation and dedication as well.  It was something I was to witness firsthand in later Ronon-centered episodes like Reunion and Broken Ties.

The part of the uber-wraith is played by local Vancouver Dan Payne who also played the part of the fearsome super soldier on Stargate: SG-1.

I have to admit that, whenever we watched the dailies and the wraith with the crazy goggles came onscreen, I would shout: “Wraith free swim!”.

For some reason, the network took issue with this episode and insisted on pushing it to later in the season.  Brad and Robert rightly argued that the episode belonged in the #4 slot since it established certain elements (Ronon’s acceptance of the Atlantis gang as a family unit) that would through later elements.  Finally, after much back and forth, the network relented and the episode did air in the #4 slot.

Thoughts?

Tagged: Atlantis, Sateda, science fiction, scifi television, SF television, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis

August 3, 2012: A Fablelous lunch break! Phone-spinning! Wormhole Riders! Days of Stargate: Atlantis Past! Irresistible!

I’m in the midst of an exhaustingly thorough life/housecleaning. Today, I decided to take a break and grab lunch at Fable Kitchen (in the premises formerly occupied by Refuel, and Fuel before that).  We came in on Dessert Master (and Stargate fan) Curtis Luk working his confectionary magic:

Spinning a web of liquid sugar that, once hardened, will figure into that day’s dessert.

We said our hello’s, grabbed a table, and enjoyed a casual lunch of:

A green herb salad and quinoa salad for Akemi. Bonus points for the use of shiso which is rarely used in anything outside of Japanese dishes.

The chicken salad sandwich and house potato salad for me. The sandwich was great, but the pulled chicken with the tomato jam I had the last time was outstanding!

And, of course, what lunch would be complete without dessert(s):

The chocolate pudding uses five chocolate variations and offers a variety of tasty textural contrasts. I could have had three of these.

Peach Melba with vanilla-raspberry swirl ice cream and that spun sugar we saw earlier. Akemi LOVED this dessert.

And then, it was back to work – into the crawlspace, hefting boxes, looking through old files and financial statements.  To be honest, it’s a pleasant break from all the business-related phone calls of late.

Yesterday, Paul and I were on a call that, as far as we knew going in, was going to be all about on one of our pilot scripts.  Instead, it turned out to be a pitch call.  ”Your agent says you have some other ideas?”we were asked – at which I scrambled to bring up my file on the series ideas Paul and I discussed the other week before launching into my sales pitch.  We’ve got a drama, a procedural, a fantasy series, and an SF offering.  I’ll freely admit that we are better on paper and wanted to say “Why don’t we just wait and you can read the script in a couple of months?” but pitching/spinning is part of the business.

I didn’t think anything was going to stick UNTIL we were asked “Anything else?” and I considered, then realized: “Yeah.  We do have one more.” at which point I launched into the pitch for the series we’re developing with Ivon Bartok and Robert Cooper.  To be honest, Rob is A LOT better at pitching than any of us and I would have preferred to defer to him – but he wasn’t on the call.  And I didn’t know if he would be talking to these people anytime soon so I went ahead and made the pitch.  Happily, they ended up liking the idea and asking for any materials we had on the proposed series.  And, double-happily, Rob is in L.A. this week and next and he’s scheduled to meet with them Monday morning.

Speaking of calls, I’ll be doing a phoner with the gang at Wormhole Riders this Sunday night.   I hear the topic of conversation will be fairly open.  Comics books?  Chocolate? The last episode of Master Chef?  I think I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Continuing our trip down Stargate: Atlantis memory lane…

IRRESISTIBLE (303)

One of the great things about working on Stargate was the freedom it gave us when it came to scripting a wide variety of episodes.  For instance, the season opener, No Man’s Land, is a big, splashy visual effects-laden affair that touches on some of the major threads woven over the show’s previous seasons.  The season’s second episode, Misbegotten, also touches on some of these same big arc elements in a story that is more human, character-centered and, ultimately, quite tragic.  The season’s third episode, Irresponsible, switches gears in delivering a lighter, more humorous episode that presents Atlantis under threat from a most unlikely source – a seemingly affable, simple fellow named Lucius Lavin.

In playing the role of Lucius, actor Richard Kind becomes one of a handful of actors who guest-starred in both the series and the original Stargate movie (in which he played the part of an archaeologist).

Eagled-eyed viewers will also notice a familiar face among Lucius’s village admirers – namely Julia Anderson (now Julia Bensons) who would go on to play Lieutenant Vanessa James in Stargate: Universe.

Some memorable bits of dialogue:

LUCIUS: “The sick have been cured, the lame can walk again … well, some still crawl, but they crawl a lot faster than they used to.”

and

LUCIUS: “How do you get your hair to go like that?”

also

SHEPPARD: Well, what about Beckett?

McKAY: Oh, he … now, he can walk on his hands. Did you know that? Yeah, he was showing Lucius just before he left. You should have seen it. He was down on his hands …

- Which was actually a reference to Paul McGillion’s reputed background as a wrestler and his ability to, yes, walk on his hands.  Ask him to show you next at his next con appearance!

And finally:

LUCIUS: Mess hall. Blue jello. Just a little bit of whipped cream.

- Yet another reference to Stargate’s famed blue jello.

I remember that we shot this episode in late April, around the time of my annual chocolate party.  Richard Kind was in the office across the hall, making travel arrangements while I was in my office, making arrangements for incoming chocolate shipments.  He happened by and I invited him to join us that Saturday night at my place.  He ended up having a great time and, even years afterwards, would drop me an email or note about some heavenly dessert place he’d discovered (like Graeter’s in Cincinnnati, OH).  Very nice guy.

Kudos to Carl Binder on the script!

This blog’s resident film critic, Cookie Monster, urges you to join our Supermovie of the Week Club.  Every week, we’ll be screening and discussing a different superhero movie.  We’ve been working our way chronologically through Hollywood’s superbest and superworst and have finally reached 2000 and Monday’s entry, X-Men.  Cookie Monster is confident we’ve turned the corner and that, from here on in, it’s super smoooooooooooth sailing.

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All of Cookie Monster’s past film reviews have been archived here: Film reviews by resident film criti…

Tagged: Atlantis, Comic Books, Comics, Curtis Luk, Irresistible, Richard Kind, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, superhero movies, SuperMovie of the Week Club, Wormhole Riders, X-Men

August 2, 2012: Days of Stargate: Atlantis Past! Misbegotten! Akemi’s cute culinary creations!

As requested, I sent off the package containing further documentary evidence of my relationship with Akemi.  This package, even bigger than the first one sent, included: three letters from friends, a slew of photos, Christmas cards and mail addressed to us, and several Akemi-centric blog entries including the recent one which offers an overview of our relationship AND 78 supportive comments from you, dear readers. So, thanks again.  Hopefully, we’ll hear positive word back soon.  I’m a little concerned because, according to Akemi’s research, the process may take a couple of more months and the final step will require Akemi sending her passport to Asia – which may well put a wrench in our planned annual Tokyo trip in early November.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to cancel the flights and hotel so either we get this sorted out in time, I eat the cost of the trip, OR I’ll be traveling with Jelly instead.

Jelly, being the worldly pug she is, is absolutely thrilled at the prospect of going to Nihon. She likes her some yakitori!

My back-up back-up travel date, Lulu, is already packed and ready to go.

You may have to check that before boarding.

Akemi is feeling positive and directed said positive energy into some cute culinary creations…

Chocolate mousse and coffee jelly parfait.

A smaller serving for me (because I’m not a coffee guy, jelly or in any other form) along with a couple of peanut butter cup chasers.

Check out the layering.

We hit a couple of the few trucks for lunch the other day.  All good but my favorite is still, surprisingly (or maybe not), Pig on the Street that offers “bacon inspired treats and other rustic chow” like -

This delicious wrap packed with bacon, arugula, and blue cheese that I enjoyed the last time my buddy Jeff was in town.

And, it was while we were checking out the food trucks, that we ran into another friend of ours, Chef Simon -

Simon says “Live long and prosper…ish”.

I’m off to try a recipe for Malaysian Black Pepper Clams.  Wish me luck! In the meantime…

Continuing our trip down Stargate: Atlantis memory lane with the second episode the show’s third season…

MISBEGOTTEN (302)

Do you know what I hate almost as much as driving around looking for parking?  Yes, that’s right – coming up with episode titles.  More of than not, we spend an entire afternoon throwing around ideas before finally settling on some inane placeholder title we can use until somebody can come up with a suitable one.  These situations have given rise to inspired, strangely suitable, wholly unacceptable temporary titles like: Fool’s Goa’uld, The Red Shirt Diaries, Atlantis vs. the Space Dolphins, and Teal’c Interrupted.  In the case of this episode, Paul, who took the lead on the script, went with The Grapes of Wraith until he finally came up with a title he was happy with: Begotten.  And subsequently changed his mind and went with Misbegotten.

Love the premise, how the episode plays out, and the fact that it’s one of those rare occasions where Beckett is front and center in the action. But those wigs!  I had a very hard time taking the dailies seriously whenever those flaxen-haired fellas strolled through the scenes. Granted, some were better than others but more than a few were unintentionally hilarious.

Another production bump I recalled concerned that “steep incline” which the wraith was purported to have taken a tumble down, presumably breaking his neck.  The problem was the location had not steep angled drops and the only incline they had was maybe 45 degrees at best.  In the end, we used a little camera trickery to sell it – but it still wasn’t wholly convincing.

Great moral dilemma at episode’s end when Sheppard and Beckett briefly debate the best course of action as the sensors detect the approach of the hive ship.  As much as it may have seemed morally suspect, I think that Sheppard made the right call.  I’m sure there’ll be those who disagree.

Richard Woolsey visits Atlantis, holding Weir’s fate as Commander of the Atlantis expedition in the balance – and comes through for her, further cementing his redemption in the eyes of longtime viewers.

Finally, actor Chris Heyerdahl changes sides, from the role of the Athosian Halling to that of a wraith – and, eventually, THE wraith we’ll come to know and love as Todd.

Thoughts?

Tagged: Atlantis, food trucks, Misbegotten, science fiction, scifi television, SF television, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, Vancouver Food Trucks

August 1, 2012: Days of Stargate: Atlantis Past! SGA’s Season 3! No Man’s Land! We check out Minami! The Olympics Update!

Our trip down Stargate: Atlantis memory lane continues as we dedicate August to SGA’s third season.  We kick things off with….

NO MAN’S LAND  (301)

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Or, in this case, at the very least, a most unlikely ally.  I’ve always loved characters that inhabit that grey area between black and white, not quite good yet not quite evil either – colorful, unpredictable, and oh so dangerous.  With the hive ships headed for Earth, Sheppard, McKay, and Ronon have no choice but to thrown in their lot with the mercurial Michael.  Meanwhile, in the midst of a crisis situation, Dr. Weir is recalled to Earth where she faces off against representatives of the I.O.A., proving herself more than a match for her critics.  Instances like these showed Weir at her best – as a civilian commander alternately diplomatic yet determined and unwavering in the face of a challenge.

Throughout the show’s run, those wraith sets were in a constant state of development and improvement.  Compare the cocoons or the walls of the hive ships from early episodes to the versions here – or in much better versions in season 4 and 5.  It wasn’t just textural issues (we needed the ships to look organic rather than plastic) but color and lighting as well that really sold the alien feel.  At this point, I don’t think we were completely happy with what we had.

Guest starring Robert Picardo and Tamlyn Tomita!  Robert reprises his role as Richard Woolsey – and what a long way the character has come since his introduction as a pencil-pushing trouble-maker back on SG-1.  Still, it would be a couple of more years before the character would be fully redeemed, assuming command on the Atlantis expedition in the show’s fifth season and showing a vulnerability and sense of humor that eventually endeared himself to viewers.  Tamlyn, meanwhile, plays the role of Chinese representative Shen Xiaoyi who will put in appearances in a total of four episodes of the franchise, most notably in SGA’s fifth season mind-twister Remnants.

Favorite exchange -

Michael: Good luck.

Sheppard: Thanks, it’ll be a walk in the park. A very scary park, filled with monsters who are trying to kill me.

The other night, we checked out Miniami the sister restaurant to our favorite Japanese sushi spot, Miku.  Some of the photo highlights…

Steve and Jodi came along for the ride.

The Jidori chicken and foie gras gyoza in truffle dashi consomme

The spicy pork gyoza with savoy cabbage, chill oil, soy, and vinegar.

Sushi

Minami’s menu is similar to Miku in many respects with some of the standard favourites (ie. the Aburi Oshi Salmon Sushi pictured above that is nothing short of spectacular in its spicy, peppery, aburi presentation), but it also offers a few unique items all its own (like the outstanding gyozas pictured).  The room is less noisy and brighter than Miku and, for that reason, Akemi actually preferred it.

The desserts were overwhelmingly weighed toward the fruit-heavy so we wrapped things up early and took our show on the road, over to Giovane Cafe for a trio of sweet treats:

Growing up, this is the cake my father would get me every birthday. G’s version is more mousse than cake and, I dare say, an improvement on the original.

The Peanut Butter Hedgehog. I’m a sucker for any peanut butter-themed dessert and this one doesn’t disappoint.

And, of course, my favorite – the chocolate zepole.

We were only two doors down from Bella Gelateria so we figured “Hell, why not?” and headed over for a scoop -

Or four.

Operation Stuff-Your-Face was a resounding success.

A special thank you to Jodi and Steve for helping us attain our lofty goals.

And, of course, Akemi, my culinary wing-gal.

Let’s leave you with a few Olympic-related updates.  In case you missed it:

Badminton Players Kicked Out Of London Olympics For Trying To Lose

NBC Edited Out Women’s Gymnastics Fall To Create Fake Gold Medal Suspense

Olympics 2012: Medal tax is all the thanks US Olympic athletes get

South Korean fencer turns down special medal at the Olympics

Today’s entry is dedicated to blog regular and birthday gal, sis!  Happy Birthday!  And don’t forget to make reservations for us at Au Pied de Cochon and Garde Manger this Christmas!

Tagged: Atlantis, Days of Stargate Past, Minami, No Man's Land, science fiction, scifi television, SF television, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis

July 31, 2012: News of Note!

Hey, when do the Olympics start?

Oh, really?  Well, don’t say anything.  I’m recording them so that I can sit down and watch them in one sitting whenever my schedule clears up.  Maybe later this year or early 2013.

I’ll spare you my biennial Olympic rant and leave you with a link that does a wonderful job of encapsulating why I hate the Olympics so much.  A South Korean fencers years of training are no match for technical glitches and suspect judging: An Olympic Fencer Refuses To Leave The Floor After Getting Screwed www.buzzfeed.comIn the match that would decide who would fence for the gold, Germany’s Britta Heidemann landed a match-clinching touch. But was it in time? South Korea’s Shin A Lam didn’t think so. So …

Ah, the pursuit of excellence.  And tasty, tasty flesh: Greek Olympian says competitor bit her in fight

Which brings to mind: Top 10 Summer Olympic Controversies Throughout History

Yep.  Nothing quite like the celebration of amateur sports…for those lucky enough to get tickets…and actually use them: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/london-2012/9434744/London-2012-Olympics-Empty-seats-on-the-opening-day-prompts-investigation.html

I knew it!  http://en.mercopress.com/2012/07/27/veggie-diet-blamed-for-poor-performance-of-china-s-women-volleyball-team?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

Start planning for the 2014 Games: The 7 Easiest Olympic Events to Win a Medal In

Hmmm.  Interesting: NIELSEN Sued for Allegedly Manipulating TV Ratings…

Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren’t Remakes, Sequels or Prequels  Yes, apparently there ARE some.

Quick Meme: Which SciFi Shows Had the Best Endings?

I bet it smells like that crappy dinner I had in Kits last year: Company unveils first weight-loss fragrance ever

And they keep forgetting to rewind their videos after viewing: Who still uses AOL dial-up Internet service?

Take a moment to help save this dog: BC Provincial Court Kelowna, Regional District of Central Okanagan: Rule against euthanizing innocen www.change.orgThis dog is been kept in inhumane conditions in solitary confinement for 17 months. Diesel is being accused of being aggressive and dangerous….

And this dog and potentially many more: Case of Wicca raises serious concerns about … – SPCA Montréal

My mother’s favorite author, Maeve Binchy, passes: Maeve Binchy, Writer Who Evoked Ireland, Dies at 72.  Last year, blog regular Shirt’n'Tie was kind enough to arrange for my mother to receive a signed copy of one of her books.  Thanks, Paul.

July 30, 2012: The Supermovie of the Week Club Reconvenes! Cookie Monster reviews Mystery Men!

Awesome!  Fantastic!  Amazing!  All words monster use to describe The Mystery Men.  Soundtrack.  Some terrific tunes in dis movie.  Terrific!

On de other hand, words monster use to describe de aktual movie = Meh.  Okay.  And Didn’t-make-monster’s-eyeballs-bleed-so-dere’s-dat.

Movie offer promising premise of second tier superheroes who always being upstaged by top-tier hero, Captain Amazing.  But when Captain Amazing captured by his arch-nemesis, Cassanova Frankenstein, our second tier heroes have to step up and save de day.

Plot pretty linear but problem not so much predictability of story but fakt dat movie not all dat funny.  Dere be a few funny moments but, mostly, Mystery Men made up of lost opportunities and lame gags. Charakters, for de most part, are interesting – even tho deir superpowers aren’t.  But me tink dat de point.

Blue Raja. Hey. He not blue!

Blue Raja have power to trow cutlery wit more or less deadly precision. And also have power to talk like Stewie from Family Guy.  He live at home wit his mom and, in one of movie’s high points, he reveal his secret superhero identity to mom who give him de speshul silverware for his big mission.

Shoveler!

Shoveler just hit people wit shovel.  Me like his superpower best as it someting us regular folks can aspire to.  He have a family who care about him and his superhero job cause lots of friktion wit his wife (note: not de good kind).  Me liked what we see of his home life and nice pay-off wit proud family at end of movie.

Mr. Furious. A.k.a. Mr. Annoying-Douchebag.

Mr. Furious superpower is explosive temper dat never really amount to much.  He played by aktor Ben Stiller who keep his streak alive of being Super Irritating in every movie he ever been in. Congratulashuns to Mr. Stiller.  Dat very hard to do.  On de one hand, he not funny, not a very good aktor, and incredibly annoying.  On de other hand…uh, on de other hand…hmmm, where de other hand?

The Bowler!

The Bowler trow bowling ball (containing skull of dead dad) wit deadly accuracy.

Rounding out de crew is Invisible Boy (who got his powerz becuz nobody notices him and can only turn invisible when no one looking – an idea “borrowed” by de show Misfits), and De Spleen who knock people out wit his fartz (in movie’s lamest running gag).

But dey face formidable opponents in -

- Cassanova Frankenstein and his lootentants, Tony P. and Tony C., leaders of De Disko Boyz!

Sorry Mystery Men.  You may be heroes of dis movie, but Tony P steal de show.  Check out his awesomeness…

Anyway, Mystery Men crash party Cassanova Frankenstein is hosting in bid to reskue Captain Amazing.  Dey get off to a rough start by accidentally killing Captain Amazing, but finish strong by stopping Cassanova Frankenstein from unleashing his ultimate weapon…De Psyko-Frakulator!

Verdikt: Great potenshul but weak exekution.  Less high points (“You must lash out with every limb, like the octopus who plays the drums.”) den low points (Every scene wit de Spleen, humpy skunk, surprizingly unfunny superhero try-out sekwence).  Ben Stiller consistently terruble. But Eddie Izzard as Mr. P be absolutely fabulous!

Still, like me said – monster’s eyeballs didn’t bleed.

Rating: 6 chocolate chippee cookies.

Tagged: Comic Books, Comics, Cookie Monster, Cookie Monster reviews Mystery Men, Mystery Men, superhero movies, superheroes, SuperMovie of the Week Club

July 29, 2012: Snapshot Sunday! The results of The Greatest Season-Ending Cliffhanger in Stargate History Poll! And lucky winners!

Bubba says: “Come on in! The water’s fine!”

Today, I was up at the crack of dawn – ish, at a little after 9:00 a.m., so that we could pack up up all three dogs and head on over to the beach for the monthly Pugs on the Beach gathering.  Lately, there hasn’t been much of a turnout, but that hasn’t stopped the Jelly, Lulu, and Bubba from enjoying the sun and sand…

Bubba and Lulu.  A romantic walk on the beach.

Lulu was particularly excited today, scrambling up onto every lap in sight, charging up and down the sandy expanse, and even venturing into the water.  A first!

Lulu even inspired Bubba to take the plunge.

Ah, forget it.

As usual, Lulu was the life of the party.  Bubba, her wary sidekick.

While Jelly stuck with routine: hobbling about, barking at the other dogs playing around her, and getting winded a lot.

We brought the dogs home, gave them a quick bath, then headed over to the Kitsilano farmers market.  As is often the case, we were on a mission to locate a food item we’d watched someone prepare on Food Network the previous night.  In this instant, it was zucchini blossoms.  And I’m proud to report we found them!  More on their preparation below.

For brunch, we stopped off at Fable Kitchen where I enjoyed -

The smoked salmon eggs benedict.

The rossti with chive cream

The homemade sausage with tomato jam

And, for dessert, a surprise from the kitchen, delicious home baked cookies

On our way out, we stopped to talk to former Top Chef Canada contestant Curtis Luk, the man behind the restaurant’s outstanding desserts (including the killer lemon pot de creme and assorted macarons), who suggested I check out a recent addition to the dessert menu, chocolate pudding (!), the next time I’m in.  Most definitely.

Akemi does her Ultraman imitation.

We returned home and got right to work – washing, slicing, cooking, seasoning…

Akemi on onion duty.

We didn’t have enough mayo so I ended up making a batch:

One egg, a cup of oil, a teaspoon of dijon, a teaspoon and a half of rice vinegar, and season to taste.

I stuffed the zucchini blossoms with a mixture of crab, mayo, sweet onions, choco-sweet peppers, and zucchini stems, rolled them in olive oil, then baked them for about twenty minutes at 350.

Akemi made a crab mousse (my mother’s recipe), a wonderful corn soup -

I like to add a touch of chili.

And a kohlrabi salad.  I sauteed the leaves with a little garlic.

I spent the rest of the day putting together the package for Immigration Canada – printing up more photos and blog entries, asking more friends to write letters confirming our 2+ year relationship, and even gathering up last year’s Christmas cards that were addressed to both of us.  My trip to L.A. has been pushed – and it’s just as well.  I have a busy week ahead.

But, hey, enough about me.  What of you?  Specifically, those of you who won signed scripts and the security badge of your choice in the Greatest Season-Ending Cliffhanger in Stargate History poll.

There were a little under 800 total votes cast, with one season-ending cliffhanger receiving the lionshare.  The winner with 41% of the vote, more than tripling the 13% garnered by second place Camelot (SG-1, season 9):

Gauntlet (SGU, season 2) !!!

And the winners of the signed scripts and security badges are:

Joan Chem_Is-Try

and

Shane Cossever

Drop me a comment with your email and choice of security badge and I’ll get the ball rolling.

Congrats to the winners and to everyone else – don’t despair!  Plenty more chances to win!  Later this week, we continue our trip down Stargate: Atlantis memory lane as the focus shifts to SGA’s third season.

 

Tagged: Atlantis, Dogs, french bulldogs, pugs, Pugs on the Beach, science fiction, scifi television, SF television, SG-1, SGA, SGU, Stargate, Stargate Universe, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: SG-1, stuffed zucchini blossoms, Universe

July 28, 2012: Hoarders Vancouver: Season 1!

Holy crap do I have a lot of crap!  I mean stuff.  Well, stuff and crap. It’s a fine line.  I spent much of today going through my office, throwing away paperwork I’ll never need again and filing away paperwork I may – just maybe – need some time in the distant future. While skyping with my buddy Alex the other day, he advised me to throw away anything I haven’t used in a year.  Hmmm.  On the surface, it seems like a good rule of thumb.  I mean, I’ve got boxes sitting in my crawlspace that I haven’t opened since I moved into this house – back in 2004!  Still, just because I haven’t needed it in eight years doesn’t necessarily mean I eventually won’t.  Alex was quick to concede the point, recalling a stack of script notes he discovered and subsequently threw out since it was from a project that had moved on without him a year earlier – only to be contacted days later and told they wanted him back and could he resume his work?

Anyway, a few of the things I came across during my late spring/midsummer cleaning:

Oh, I know.  The first thing that crosses your mind is “Stalker Alert!”, but I assure you these aren’t mine.  They were actually left behind by our former Stargate script coordinator (and, before that, former producer’s assistant) Lawren Bancroft-Wilson whose job it was to coordinate the signing of posters, team pics and, evidently, dreamy photos of a young RDA.  Either that or HE’S your stalker!

Now this is kind of interesting.  It’s a brand usage manual put out by the studio back in SG-1′s ninth or tenth season.

Check out all the SG-1 taglines.  How many do you remember?

A list of the aliens SG-1 has encountered over the course of their many off-world missions.  I’m sure there were more.

Vehicles and weapons.  Hey, where’s the pain stick?

Oh.  Here it is!

And the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Sci-Fi Show!

AAAAH!  It’s the bugs from The Scourge!

Hey hey!  Check it out.

I’m Danger Beckett!

Let’s go with Dr. Mallozzi.  Or MacMallozzi.

Heeey.  I remember this script.  I’ll share in more detail when our trip down Stargate: Atlantis memory line takes us to the end of season 5. Oooh, in fact lots of interesting tidbits to discuss around that time.

Sadly, that was more or less it.  No zat guns.  No kino.  No puddle jumper.  Though, in all fairness, I’ve yet to do a thorough search of that crawlspace.

Only hours left to cast your ballot for The Greatest Season-Ending Cliffhanger in Stargate History!

Take Our Poll

Vote now and leave a comment for a chance to win a signed script and official (looking) Stargate security badge.

Use this one to visit the ruins of the Icarus Base, or get into Homeworld Command where you can use the communication stones to check out Destiny and give Eli a break from figuring out how he can get one of the damaged stasis pods working again.

Or use this one to visit Stargate Command and see how the old gang is doing.  Maybe join Sam, Cam, Daniel, Teal’c, and Vala on an off-world adventure.  Say hello to General Landry.  Steal Walter Harriman’s lunch.

Or use this one to gain entrance to Atlantis where you can pitch in with the science team and help get the city back to the Pegasus Galaxy!

Tagged: Atlantis, SG-1, SGA, SGU, Stargate, Stargate Extinction, Stargate Universe, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: SG-1, Universe