Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 337

October 7, 2016: Toronto Day #1!

So, I’m halfway through this fairly comprehensive rewrite when I get a call from the lovable Robbie David back at the production office who starts off the conversation with: “I just got an email.  You’re not gonna like it.”  And boy, was he right.  Although I understood the sentiment behind the message Robbie received, I really objected to the phrasing.  So much so that I wondered whether the person who drafted the email was drunk when he wrote it because, holy crap dude, you didn’t just burn the bridge, you blew it the hell up.  No call? No personal email?  No polite and respectful inquiry?  THAT’S what you decided to lead with???  It’s particularly galling because I was in your corner.  I had your back!  It probably could’ve worked out!  Instead, I’m looking at an even bigger rewrite on this script – and now, several more.

But the rewrite will have to wait until after this Thanksgiving weekend as mom an sis are in town!

This morning, I swung by my storage locker (aka my office) and loaded the car with everything from winter gear to doggy beds.  The plan is to haul everything back to the apartment and have everything set up nice and neat for Akemi’s arrival.  Well, nice anyway.  Nice-ish.

While I was at the production offices, I met with freshly promoted to Production Manager Brandon Tataryn (former 1st Assistant Director who shares names with the horrible disease that claimed THREE’s beloved Sarah) and Production Designer Ian Brock to discuss our first three episodes.  Apparently, episode 3 may be a little too HUGE.  And Ian’s got a terrific game plan for our second stage which presently houses the Marauder and Ishida cruiser bridge – and soon, much much more!

Dark Matter Production Designer Ian Brock (left) and Production Manager Brandon Tataryn (right).  I missed these guys!

Before picking up mom and sis at the train station, I got in a quick lunch with my favorite on set Supervising Producer Ivon Bartok at my favorite taco joint, Campechano.

Meanwhile, back in Van, Akemi is holding down the fort – and taking care of the dogs.  We can’t risk Lulu trying to jump up on the furniture, or worse, fall off the bed, so I picked up two cages for her – one for downstairs, and one for the bedroom.  Apparently, last night, she was NOT happy to not be on the bed.  And then, at some point this morning, Bubba wandered into the cage and started to cry because he couldn’t find his way out – this despite the fact that the door was wide open.  Brilliant, he aint.  But lovable all the same.

Prisoner 3X36557.

The downstairs set-up.

Out in the rec yard.

Speaking of dogs in bad situations, I’m trying to find a rescue to pull this old guy. He has until noon tomorrow!

October 6, 2016: Travel day, while back on the home front…

Woke up at 7:30 a.m., got to the animal clinic for 9:00 a.m., left with Lulu at 9:30 a.m., got back home and had a quick bite at 10:30 a.m., closed the sale and dropped off the car at 11:15 a.m., left for the airport at 11:45 a.m., flew out at 1:30 p.m.

I’m flying WestJet which, unlike Air Canada, offers internet service (for a fee).  I was planning to sit back and work my way through a backlog of comixology purchases but got distracted by a rewrite and have spent much of the fly working on this second act.  I came up with a great idea for this script last week and, quite frankly, the only thing more exhausting than copious script notes are “great ideas” because they both end up resulting in major changes.  Still, as exhausting as these changes are going to be, when all is said and done they’ll be worth the effort because they’ll shed some interesting light on one crew member’s backstory – and offer up some interesting fodder for future stories.

My girlfriend is awesome.  For many reasons.  But one of the biggest – which I greatly appreciate – is her love for the dogs.  Although she wasn’t a dog person when she first came to Canada, she fast became one, falling in love with the gang: Jelly, Maximus, Bubba, and Lulu.  And she has taken amazingly great care of them – when Maximus got sick, when Jelly struggled in her later years, and now with Lulu as she recovers from surgery.

To keep Lulu comfortable an ensure she not slip and slide, Akemi constructed a chain of dog bed islands throughout the kitchen, then consulted the internet on those rehab exercises.

And then massaging those sore hips.

Our poor girl was extremely lethargic.  She kept drifting off in a sitting position but, whenever she’d fall over onto her bed, she’d sit up with an annoyed snarfle…then slowly drift off again.

But Akemi reports she is finally asleep!

Today’s entry is dedicated to blog regular Drea.  Happy Birthday!

October 6, 2016: Visiting Day!

Oh boy.  I’m trying to arrange for the sale of my car, Lulu’s pick-up, and my Toronto departure tomorrow – and it’s gonna be tight!

After much prodding from Akemi, I’ve decided to sell the car rather than pay insurance on it while it sits in my Vancouver garage during production of Dark Matter’s third season.  Granted, I have no way of knowing, year to year, where I’m going to be working next, but it just doest make sense to hold onto the Q7 – especially since my four-dog days are over…for now.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll downsize to a modest A4.  Or simply rent a car while I await news of my next move.  In any case, if I’m going to off-load it, the time will be a very narrow window between Lulu’s (hopefully) early discharge from the animal hospital and my early afternoon flight to Toronto.

We went to visit my poor gal today and she is looking rough.  I mean –

Stitches and staples to say nothing of the steel implant that currently buttresses her spine.  Going through airport security is going to be all sorts of interesting. I’ve asked the neurosurgeon to write me a doctor’s note explaining Lulu’s deal. He’s also offered me x-rays to take as well.

Apparently, she’s progressing nicely but will be sore for a while as she continues to heal.

Bubba, all dressed up for visiting hours.

When I sat down on the floor beside her, she jumped into my lap.

Pug down!  Rather than leave Bubba behind while we ran our countless errands today, we brought him along – to visit Lulu, to set up the sale of the car, shopping, back to the vet clinic to get instructions on Lulu’s home care.  By 7 pm, the old man was down for the count.

Okay, I think I’ve got it all figured out for tomorrow –

9:00 a.m. – Pick up Lulu from the animal hospital

10:00 a.m. – Finish packing

11:00 a.m. – Drop off the car and close the sale

12:00 a.m. – Catch a cab to the airport

1:30 p.m – Fly out of Vancouver

9:00 p.m – Fly into Toronto

And then on Friday, things get really busy!

October 4, 2016: The Lulu Update!

Well, this was a nerve-wracking day.  I slept fitfully thinking about the surgery and Lulu seemed to sense something was up.  She was atypically needy, snuggling up to me throughout the night and then not wanting to get out of bed this morning.  We dropped her off at 8:30 a.m. and the waited for word.

And waited.

And waited.

She went into surgery a little after noon and, between the soft palette reduction and the spinal micro-procedure, she was in there for most of the day.  I didn’t hear from the surgeon until a little before 7 p.m.  Apparently, it went well.  He had to remove a little soft tissue, but he’s confident it won’t affect her long term recovery. He expects her to be mobile and see some improvement tomorrow and, if all goes well, she should be able to come home in a couple of days (I’m aiming for Thursday morning as I have to get on a flight to Toronto that afternoon).  The main thing is she get a nice, comfortable night’s sleep and continue her steady breathing.  No news is good news tonight and, hopefully, the first all I receive will be around 10 a.m. tomorrow morning with an update.

Bubba seemed lost today all by his lonesome, so we treated him to a little trip to Granville Island.

For my part, I spent much of the day rewriting – another 15 pages today with some surprising backstory elements for one of our beloved crew members.  Oh, I think you’re gonna like it!

Tomorrow is my last full day in Vancouver.  I’ll no doubt spend it packing, rewriting, scrambling and, oh yeah, worrying.

Aw, man.  I just know I’m going to forget something.

P.S. Snow Monkeys fan rejoice!  We eked out our first win of the season and now our record stands at 1-3, in a 4 way tie for last place, but only 1 game out of a playoff spot!

 

October 3, 2016: Dogs!

Well, tomorrow’s the big day for my frenchie, Lulu.  In the morning, she goes in for the surgery that will, hopefully, arrest and maybe even reverse the effects of the spinal issue that has been affecting her hind quarters.  I’ve noticed that she’s having an increasingly trickier time walking.  She’l  drag her back legs,  stumble, and, occasionally, even fall over.  My poor gal.  Hopefully, she makes a speedy recovery – speedy enough that I can pick her up before I head out of town Thursday afternoon.

Akemi is really attached to Bubba.  I mean REALLY attached.  She wasn’t a dog person before coming to Canada but all that changed when she met my dogs, and Bubba in particular.  The two are inseparable.  She dotes over him – fixing him home made meals, dressing him up, cuddling with him for hours.   And he can’t stand to be without her, wandering desperately about when she’s not around, crying like a baby when she leaves.  On the one hand, it’s really sweet.  On the other hand, I kind of worry.  I mean, Bubba is in great health and hopefully his best years are still ahead of him, but he is 14 and, well, he aint gettin’ any younger.  I keep suggesting we could, maybe, adopt another pug to add to the pack, but Akemi insists that, for now, she’s perfectly content with our twosome.  Hmmmmm.

October 2, 2016: Akemi’s Tokyo Video Diaries! And assorted clips!

Weird Food Purchase of the Day = Bitter Melon Chips!

Osaka home cooked breakfast.  “I wore pants for you guys”.

Hibiya Park, Pizza Seirinkan, J.P. Hevin, pet spa, museums.

The streets of Shinjuku on a holiday weekend.

Tokyo street musicians.

And this one’s for Jodelle!

 

Tagged: Japan

October 1, 2016: Full speed ahead!

Holy crap!  Guys!  Guys!!  It’s October 1st!  Did any of you see this coming?  And if you did, why didn’t you warn me?!  We start prep on Dark Matter in less than two weeks, and start shooting season 3 in less than a couple of months!

Yesterday, I was fielding questions from Production Designer Ian Brock with regard to some of the prospective early concepts and builds (the facility, the superstructure, the drone, and the “clock”) and  today, I started work on what promises to be a very challenging rewrite.  So far so sloooow, but I imagine that once I get past the tricky part, it’ll be smooth sailing – right around the end of the fifth act.

Also today, I did a little interview with Josh and Anna of Geek on Review.  We talked comic books, season 3, and krakens…

September 30, 2016: I mean, come on!

Seriously?

I’m a fairly easy person to get along with.  Pleasant.  Professional.  Respectful.  I chew with my mouth closed.  I make others feels appreciated.  I know a lot of yellers who, unfairly or not, get shit done.  I, on the other hand, am not a yeller – yet get shit done all the same.  Despite the preponderance of successful assholes, I firmly believe you don’t need to be one in order to succeed.  And yet, one of the things successful assholes have going is that people rarely fuck with them.  Oh sure, they are resented, even hated, bad-mouthed for sure, but it’s rare that people attempt to cross them because they know that if they do, things are gonna get ugly and stay ugly for a long, loooong time.  Not so with the nice guy.  Nice guys have an affability that is often misconstrued as weakness, a seemingly inexhaustible patience, an apparent green light to take advantage.  There’s the erroneous assumption that they won’t push back at all the tiny encroachments, the “Hey, I didn’t check with you first but figured you wouldn’t minds”, because they prefer to avoid confrontation.  And, while that may be true, here’s the thing.  It’s a preference.  And there is a point, a critical mass,  beyond which the nice, pleasant, professional, respectful, individual gets fed up and does become confrontational. And I’m not talking a “Let’s sit down and air our grievances” pseudo-therapy session.  I’m talking the suffer-no-fools, brook-no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners confrontation that strips the paint off the walls and makes you wish for the existence of a time machine so that you can go back and kill Hitler, play the winning lottery numbers but, most importantly, reconsider ever pissing off Mr. Nice Guy.

I’m a big fan of Comixology, your one stop shop for over 7500 digital comics.  I love their wide range of titles, their bundle sales, their storehouse of classic stories and single issues otherwise inaccessible to those of modest means.  What I DON’T like about Comixology is the fact that you cannot download your purchases.  You can view them online, but you can’t store them on your laptop to, say, watch on an internet-less flight.  On the other hand…

I just downloaded a bunch of graphic novels from Rebellion in the U.K. and look forward to working my way through some classic Judge Dredd on the 5 hour flight to Toronto (then back to Vancouver, then back to Toronto again).  Any of you fans?  Have some particular storylines you’d like to recommend?

P.S. I really enjoyed the Judge Dredd movie.  No, not the crap version starring Sylvester Stallone.  I’m talking about Dredd, the version starring Karl Urban.

P.P.S. Why hasn’t anyone developed a Judge Dredd t.v. series?  Hmmmmm. 

September 29, 2016: The Japan Round-up!

Posting all the pics that didn’t make the blog while I was in Japan…

We visited a “space” exhibit in Ginza.  This paper cut-out display challenged you to discover three contrary cut-outs in the crowd: a child, a woman with an umbrella, and a cat.  I found the woman with the umbrella and think I spotted the kid, but no luck with that cat.

Part of the same exhibit.

Tokyo’s interesting architecture.

Subway warnings.  Watch those kids!  And drunks!

Some of the goodies at Dandelion chocolate in Tokyo.

Me, ready for chocolate-making action.

Ramen stop.

The true 4D experience rumbling, wind, and scent.  I’ll leave it to you to provide the requisite tie-in joke.

Umeda station isn’t named after the plum.

Osaka at night

Osaka during the day.

Akemi just can’t resist.

We spotted quite a few of these circular dead vegetations outside several izakayas.  No idea what they were.

My friend at the farmer’s market – TamaNegiAtama!

Another farmer’s market friend – he of the spicy pepper powder.

Some Osaka shopping.

Avocado tofu – surprisingly good.  As is most of the tofu in Japan compared to what we get in North America.

Osaka fish market where you can just stop, point, and have it raw or cooked.

Selfie-er’s beware!

My take-out meal on the shinkansen.  Heavy on the fried stuff!

Waiting under the giant spider.

Green velour pants in Ginza.

Some…interesting accessories – Ginza.

Chef Masa (Sushisho Masa) is a huge fan of the anime One Piece.  Some of the restaurant’s bathroom decorations.

One of the colorful dishes at Esquisse.

Dessert at Esquisse.

Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto prefecture.  And Akemi.

Fresh fruit convenience machine.  Looks pretty popular.

Doggy bentos.

One of Hiroo’s popular eateries.

More of Tokyo’s interesting architecture.

Interesting window display – Omotesando.

Akemi, thrilled to be at Pizza Seirinkan.

Pina Colada-inspired dessert at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

Akemi watched Angry Birds on the plane and insisted I watch it because the main character reminds her of me.

Scallops at Benoit.

Akemi and I got matching Gudetama t-shirts.   They reflect my current mood.

Tokyo bakeries are insane.

One of the weirdest desserts of the trip.  Ingredients included black truffles, parsley, and dill.  Very interesting – in a horrible horrible way.

Tagged: Japan, Osaka, Tokyo

September 28, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3!

Well, perfect timing!  Guess what hits Netflix on my birthday? That’s right!  Dark Matter season 2, all 13 incredible episodes, from Hyperion-8 to EOS-7, will be available for your viewing pleasure on October 16th.  What better way to spend the special day than by binge-watching the show!

Review your favorite episodes!  Catch up on what you missed!  And prepare for an even crazier, team-focused, action-driven, suspense and surprise-filled third season in which you’ll learn…

The fate of our crew following the destruction of EOS-7.

A shocking revelation about FIVE’s past.

The truth behind White Dwarf Technologies’ prototype project and the mysterious black entity.

A shocking revelation about SIX’s past.

Who traveled over to our reality aboard the alt. Marauder.

A surprising secret FIVE has been keeping from the rest of the crew.

Where Lieutenant Anders’ allegiances lie.

A shocking revelation about TWO’s past.

The whereabouts of Victor and his fellow rebel Androids.

The shocking revelation about THREE’s past that RYO/FOUR was keeping from him in our season finale.

The shocking truth about the Android’s origins.

To name but a select few of the stories we’ve got in the works for you.

Let the guesswork begin!

Tagged: #DarkMatter, Dark Matter