July 20, 2011: Voting Irregularities (Just sayin')! Bubba's Beach Bod! Transporter Production Update! Mailbag!

So today I found out that I was nominated for a Constellation Award in the category of "Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television in 2010″.  Also today, I found out that I ended up losing the award two weeks ago to these guys -

Teddy Wilson and Ajay Fry, hosts of the uber-awesome Innerspace on Canada's Space channel.  Now don't get me wrong.  I love the show and think these guys do a great job.  I just feel the need to voice my concerns regarding some purported voting irregularities.  Specifically, the fact that a cross-reference of the registered voters revealed many of them apparently sat in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1911 and 1912.  The voting list also seemed to include all of last season's contestants on Master Chef Australia, several Presidential pets (among them George Washington's staghound Sweet Lips, Benjamin Harrison's opossums Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection, and William Howard Taft's cow Mooly Wooly), and three of the four members of the Banana Splits (Snork was curiously absent).  In addition there were rumors of armed Teddy and Ajay supporters roaming the streets on election day, intimidating voters and, in the case of one unfortunate Robert J. Sawyer supporter, forcing him to eat his own peach-colored crocs.

Anyway, forget I mentioned it.

So, this is interesting.  My crazy work schedule, poor eating habits, and lack of exercise are taking a toll on me physically.  But the dogs, it would seem, have benefited from the move.  Check out the following Before and After pics of Bubba…

Portly Bubba in Vancouver then

Lean and Mean Bubba in Toronto now

Wow!  Those three-a-day walkies have paid off!  Bubba's ready for swimsuit season!

Today = meetings, meetings, meetings!  And our weekly summit/conference call.  Gotta say, I'm usually fairly patient individual and it takes a lot to get me to go off, but I WILL lose it the next time "someone" asks me to deliver a script update and then continually cuts me off while I'm trying to deliver said update or while I'm trying to make others aware of the challenges we're facing (ie. the fact that I'm juggling six simultaneous script rewrites or the fact that Alexander worked through the night, staying at the office until 7:30 this morning and only going home to shower before returning for an early morning meeting).  I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that if it happens again three weeks from now while I'm prepping those two monster episodes, there's gonna be some fireworks!

After leaving my last meeting of the day, I noticed Alex and Trevor enjoying some soft serve.  WTF?  Apparently, the ice cream truck had stopped by.  And Alex hadn't bothered to get me any.  WTF?!!! 

Look at him – so smug.

Spoke to the lovely Carl Binder today.  He is finishing work on my dream project and will soon be free to lend us some much-needed writing/producing support. But, alas, not until early August – well past the time I'll have had to produce 12 Hours and rethink/rewrite/reconfigure Sharks and Payback.  And well past my nervous breakdown.

Finally – my crazy idea got nixed because – well, it was crazy.  And no.  It didn't involve night shoots or amphetamines.  Think crazier!

Today's blog is dedicated to Das and PBMom.

Also, Kymm.  My answer is black!

Mailbag:

archersangel writes: "stargate was probably twice as much work because of the special effects & stuff, but Mr. M wasn't a show runner so he didn't have to be involved with so much."

Answer: Correction.  Mr. M WAS a show runner and Stargate was a comparatively smoother production mainly due to the fact that Paul and I joined the franchise in its fourth season after Brad and Robert had turned the production into a well-oiled machine.  Well-oiled machines don't get built overnight!

Randomness writes: "Syfy had no choice but to cancel SGU…"

Answer: No choice?  Really?  Was someone holding their family members hostage?

Sarah writes: "Is it possible extinction will be in production next year?"

Answer: Sorry.  Most unlikely.

Debra writes: " Is there any truth to the comments that a year after the cancellation of star gate the network regretted it, tried to revive but was too late?"

Answer: Nope.

Debra also writes: "Or that Shanks leaving allowed a "fresh" start on SyFy and probably was why it got renewed."

Answer: Absolutely not.

Thornyrose writes: "It should be some consolation that once you have a season or two under your belts, things will get smoother and smoother."

Answer: Season two?  Is the production moving to Vancouver?  What've you heard?!!