Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 402

November 16, 2014: Life in Toronto in Pictures!

The return of my bento box breakfast.  Peanut butter oatmeal with cherries and burnt white chocolate for dessert.

My every-chilly girlfriend.

Almost 16-year old Jelly, already in the Christmas spirit.

Jelly sleeps off her walkies.

Akemi’s latest passion = popcorn!

And, apparently, knitting!

Well, at least her ears are warm.

Getting together with the gang for some Sunday football over some wings and nachos: Trevor Finn, Robert C. Cooper, and Alex Levine.

Oh, my.  My Snow Monkeys are about to move on to a 7-4 record, and 2nd place in our Fantasy Football League.  I smell championship!

November 15, 2014: My Top 12 Hong Kong Movie Nite Favorites!

Way back when I was living in Montreal, I would attend something called Hong Kong Movie Nite.  It was a weekly tradition, hosted by my buddy Nigel, that saw us gather at his place for wings, Jamaican takeout, Jack Daniels, occasional cigars, and screenings of some of the most bad-ass and weirdly wonderful offerings from the Hong Kong film industry.  This was before Hollywood discovered John Woo and Jet Li, before Chow Yun-Fat had become a global star, before Quentin Tarantino had “borrowed” elements of Ringo Lam’s City on Fire for his first modest kick at the cinematic bucket, a movie called Reservoir Dogs.  Paul and I would swing by from work and take in double, sometimes triple features with the likes of Supa, Champion, Flipski, and Sushiman – big boys, mostly of Carribbean descent, who were as fun and furious as the movies themselves.

I miss the Movie Nite Crew.  And all those testosterone-fueled action flicks that have, in time, become classics of Asian cinema.

Reflecting back over the countless films we watched, I’d have to say that these were my Top 12 favorites…

12. LOVE ON DELIVERY

This delightfully ludicrous romantic comedy was my introduction to funny man Stephen Chow – who makes several appearances on this list.

11. NAKED KILLER

A gloriously over-the-top entry in the Girls with Guns sub-genre that became an instant cult classic.

10. A BETTER TOMORROW

The movie that made uber-cool Chow Yun-Fat a superstar.

9. RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY

Cartoon ultra-violence reigns supreme in this near future actioner, probably the craziest movie I’ve ever seen.

8. THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR

Romance, tragedy, fantasy, and plenty of swordplay.  A beautiful film.

7. KUNG FU HUSTLE

Nobody mixes action and comedy like Stephen Chow.

6. FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE

And here he takes a turn as the Hong Kong’s 007 in this James Bond spoof with a definitive Asian twist.

5. INFERNAL AFFAIRS

Adapted by Hollywood, practically scene for scene, as the Oscar-winning The Departed.

 

4. FIST OF LEGEND

Jet Li at his bad-ass best.

3. HARDBOILED

One of my very first forays into Asian cinema, this one remains one of my very favorites.  The action sequences are so exquisitely choreographed that my brain was buzzing for hours after our initial screening.

2. SHAOLIN SOCCER

Stephen Chow is at the top of his game here, playing a master of kung-fu who enlists the help of his fellow Shoalin monks to form a soccer team,  one that incorporates martial arts into the beautiful game – with hilarious results.  One of my very favorite comedies ever.

1. THE KILLER

A ruthless assassin attempts to make amends for a past mistake in this cinematic classic.

Tagged: favorite Hong Kong movies, Hong Kong film, Hong Kong movies

November 14, 2014: Tomfoolery and horseplay on set!

It’s all fun and games until an Executive Producer gets hurt.  And that’s what almost happened today when I was visiting set to check in on the construction of our bridge and corridor sets, and the walnut finish customized jacuzzi for my office. As usual, I was accompanied by Executive Producers’ Assistant Alison Hepburn and Story Editor/Script Coordinator Trevor Finn who are always on hand in case of public emergencies (ie. fending off the undead and giving me the opportunity to flee in the event of a zombie attack; double-anchoring me should a tornado set down in the neighbourhood, etc.).  I mean, sure, they’ve got their “official job descriptions”, but my safety and well-being is at the top of their priority list.  So imagine my surprise this afternoon when I was strolling through set and I slipped on a patch of sawdust.  As I felt my feet slide out from underneath me, I fully expected to feel the reassuring/supportive hands of Alison Hepburn at my back, averting certain disaster.  But it turned out I had to avert my own disaster.  No, instead of Alison sweeping in to the rescue, I had to windmill my arms as my right foot streaked forward like I was sliding into second base, capturing my weight on my shaky left foot.  I glanced back to see how close Alison had come to missing me – only to discover she hadn’t kept the requisite two paces behind me.  Instead, I found her thus -

Happily snapping away, totally oblivious to the catastrophe forestalled.  I mean, seriously!  I had to catch myself!  What’s next?  Will I have to hole-punch my own photocopies?  Throw out my own recyclables?  Be expected to chew my own lunch?!!

Anyway, I consulted the hidden camera I had placed on set to catch construction personnel taking unauthorized bathroom breaks and came across these snaps:

I mean, honestly.  This is a place of work, not tomfoolery and horseplay.  While they’re running around set, drilling holes in load-bearing hat stands and generally not catching me, fellow Executive Producer Vanessa Piazza and I are hard at work prepping the show and testing the structural integrity of a four can high-rise -

Which may seem like tomfoolery and horseplay but is actual important research for an upcoming episode of the show.

I mean – come on!

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Tagged: Dark Matter

November 13, 2014: C-c-c-c-c-cold!

I woke up this morning and it was snowing.

Snowing!!!

And the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees in a day.

It’s so cold that Akemi refuses to go out.  She has vowed to never leave our apartment until spring.

I feel terribly, for her and for the dogs, especially Lulu and her super-sensitive paws.  As much as it pains me to do so, I think we’re going to have to pick up doggy boots.  Yes, we’ve become THOSE people.

So, hey, we did that live stream Skype audition session the other day and, as expected, it went poorly.  As Trevor pointed out, for an application software that specializes in video chats, Skype video quality is surprisingly…um, what’s the word? Oh, yeah.  Shit.  And I feel “shit” is really too kind a description of the picture and audio quality we had to sit through – this despite upping to unlimited bandwidth. The video was so choppy I felt like  I was playing Mario Bros. on my Commodore 64.  If any of you have stock in Skype, I advise you to sell now.  We ended up switching to FaceTime and things went much more smoothly after that.  So, to break down the pros of each application:

Facetime: Better video and audio quality, easier to use.

Skype: Only one syllable and perhaps easier to pronounce.

Our trusty Story Editor/Script Coordinator/Annoying Noisy Lunch Chewer Trevor Finn alerted me to the following big news story:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/astronomers-discover-planet-identical-to-earth-wit,37437/

Amazing, no?

In other science-related news, I’m sure you’re all aware by now that the Philae probe scored a bullseye landing.  At some point, I suspect, they will trigger the charge that will disport the asteroid’s earth-bound trajectory, saving our planet from certain doom.

November 12, 2014: Akemi popcorn fun!

I’ll be in a casting session for most of the day so, today, I hand things over to Akemi and her very first popcorn-making experience…

Tagged: making popcorn, popcorn

November 11, 2014: Dark Matter prep continues! Ever closer on the casting! We’re scriptwriting machines! The ship is taking shape!

Two down, one to go.  The Toronto and Vancouver second round casting sessions are in the books and only the L.A. session remains.  Be Vanessa and I won’t be able to attend, we’re going to live stream it to the production offices.  Theoretically anyway.  I imagine it’ll be sort of like those interactive video conferences that look so cool in the movies but never quite work out the way you want them to in real life, with participants dropping out, losing audio, losing video, the whole punctuated by the background caterwaul of children or dogs in desperate need of feeding.  Still, we’re going to give it the ole college try (let’s say more Devry than Harvard).  Festivities get underway at noon PST, which means we’ll be watching well into the twilight hours.  Guess we’ll be ordering pizza!

The plan is to have our selects, Top 3 for each of the seven roles, by early next week.  And that’s when the decision-making will get REALLY tough…

Paul delivered his first draft of episode #10, the first part of our late season two-parter.  He promises to have #11 to us before his weekend arrival – which means I’ll be able to do my pass on #12 (already written) have that out by early next week.  Leaving us with…only the grand (season one) finale to write.  Or, rather, finish since I’m already 15 pages in.

Meanwhile, no rest for our awesome construction crew who have been working their little tool belts off -

Right this way, step right up…

On our way to the bridge.

The crew of The Raza = Alison Hepburn and Trevor Finn. 

The bridge in its infancy.

Corridor going one way.

And the other.

Hey!  We’re on instagram!  http://instagram.com/dark_mattertv

And facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darkmatterseries

And twitter:  https://twitter.com/dark_matterTV

Tell your friends!

Tagged: Dark Matter, science fiction, Science Fiction Television, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television

November 10, 2014:

It seems I spoke to soon.  It certainly looked like my Snow Monkeys were certain to go down in defeat to Ivon Bartok’s team, The Running Dead.  But then the Green Bay Packers took the field and, 100+ fantasy points later, my Snow Monkeys came roaring back to win the weekend!

And so while, technically, Ivon WAS in breach of the non-compete clause in his contract by virtue of the fact that he was, in fact, VERY competitive this weekend in fantasy football league play, he ultimately wasn’t competitive enough to beat me and so…

Boop bop meep!

Daniel Day-Lewis is out and Ivon is back in!

Second round call-backs today in Toronto and Vancouver, L.A. on Wednesday.  We draw ever closer to our final cast.  And you’ll be the first to know!

Meanwhile, Akemi seems to be making the most of her time here in Toronto…

And finding a creative outlet in feeding the dogs…

Tagged: Dark Matter

November 9, 2014: Seeking actor/actress with own robot suit!

Well, no sooner do I make the grand announcement, letting the world know that my good friend Ivon Bartok had won the role of The Android on my new series, Dark Matter, than I have to recast the role – this the result of Ivon contravening the strict non-compete clause in his contract.  The provision actually has nothing to do with our actors getting jobs on other shows but specifically prohibits them from being competitive against me in my fantasy football league. This weekend, Ivon and his team, The Running Dead, were in breach of contract when they beat my Snow Monkeys, dropping them to .500.

As a result, we’re recasting the role of The Android.  Although acting ability is important, preference will be given to candidates who already have their own robot costume since the production already blew its Android wardrobe budget on Ivon’s outfit -

Beep meep boop!

Which he apparently took home with him along with the lemon squares from tomorrow’s catered lunch and Roxanne, one of our set PA’s.

Since word got out that we were recasting the role, we’ve had many great performers throw their (spring-loaded boots and motorized) hats into the ring:

Mandy Patinkin!

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Annette Benning!

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Javier Bardem!

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Anne Hathaway!

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Daniel Day-Lewis!

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Morgan Freeman!

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Dame Judi Dench!

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So many great possibilities.  And the actors to go with them!

Tagged: Dark Matter

November 8, 2014: Dark Matter casting!

I’m very close to losing my voice.  That’s what fifty phone conversation over two days gets you – fifty being the number of actors who took me up on my offer to get on the phone with them to discuss their character, the show, what we responded to in their first audition, and  most importantly, help put these new scenes in context in advance of their second round auditions.  BIG casting week on the horizon!

But, of course, one role has already been filled!  The part of The Android on Dark Matter will be played by my long-time buddy Ivon Bartok who you may remember from such roles as Blinky Cadet in the Stargate: SG-1 episode “Prodigy”.

“Did you say TEN dimensions?”

 

Anyway, here he is at Friday’s costume fitting…

“Meep bop meep!”

He’s sort of a cross between R2D2, Oscar the Grouch, and raver Gazoo.

Well, if you weren’t excited about the show before, I’m sure you are now with this HUGE casting announcement!

Tagged: Dark Matter

November 7, 2014: Outrage! The behind-the-scene pic they don’t want you to see! Dogs!

THIS is an outrage!  Look at this picture.  That’s powdered sugar on my shirt.  And how, pray tell, did it get on my shirt?  It got there because the sfogliatelle (Italian pastry) I was having for breakfast exploded when I bit into it, raining its dusted coating onto my lap and shirt front.  And who’s fault was that?!  Correct!  Alison and Trevor’s!  Had they had the foresight to blow the excess powdered sugar off my Italian pastry for me, this never would have happened.

I mean, seriously!  Do you think Shonda Rhimes puts up with this crap?

At part of my continuing efforts to offer you unique behind-the-scenes insights denied fans of other shows, I proudly present Wednesday’s Dark Matter lunch menu which included bean salad, stuffed supremes, and pies & cookies.

Back on the home front, Bubba is settling in nicely.  Just like Vancouver.  Different laundry basket, but same idea.

Lulu does her imitation of an anaconda swallowing a skunk.

Me and Jelly, hanging out.