May 26, 2012: News of note and a mailbag!

13 acts done and only three to go on the miniseries front!  More or less.  I’m taking the rest of the day off to check out Vancouver OTHER night market.  Hopefully, this one will offer less than a half dozen variations of curly hurricane fries.

Some news of note:

Our friend Tara announces an exciting new mystery writing project: *Sparkle Sparkle*.  What could it be?

My fries are too angry!  For the inspired chef looking for something different: Season Your Food With Salt From Real Human Tears

Mama Mia! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/2…eese-production

I’ve often said that, of all the possible deaths out there, the way I least want to go would be in some fashion that lands me in the News of the Weird section of the internet or as some fodder for late night comedians.  To wit: Man dies while getting lap dance at strip club « News and Views …  And this: Farmer, 2 sons drown in manure pit…  While not a unique death, we can nevertheless file this one under “as bad”: Man Loses His Penis to a Flesh-Eating Bacteria After Failed Penile Implant Surgery

No time for second thoughts, grandma.  You’re jumping out of this plane!  WATCH: 80-Year-Old Nearly Falls Out Of Harness While Skydiving  In retrospect, maybe you were right about the whole “second thoughts” thing.

Place your bets on who will be the new DC Comics gay superhero!  http://www.paddypower.com/bet/novelty-bets/comic-specials?ev_oc_grp_ids=689080.  I’ll take Guy Gardner at 14-1.

I saw this on South Park the other day and it pretty much sums up my opinion of a lot of the film and television being produced today.  Not for the easily (and even not so easily) offended: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/388737/rated-arg-for-pirates

You know what?  Screw the night market.  I’m waiting for these guys to open: http://www.luckysdoughnuts.com/

AND the mailbag:

Randomness writes: “Speaking about writers for your mini series Joe, I was kinda hoping to see the name Brad Wright on something new on TV, any plans to hire him for your writing team Joe? I actually would love to see him writing more Science fiction stuff.”

Answer: The miniseries we’re presently working on is a freelance gig.  It’s a four hour event and, once we’ve completed work on the script, we’ll be moving on.  The Dark Matter miniseries, on the other hand, would be something we would want to produce as well as write – but, at this point, it’s just a pitch supported by a four-issue comic book and series overview.  If we’re fortunate enough to get the green light, then Paul and I would certainly be looking to tap the most talented writer-producers we know to help us – coincidentally, the same bunch we worked with on Stargate.  If they’re available and, of course, interested, we’d love to work with Brad, Rob, Carl, Martin, and Alan again.

Speaking of Brad, he’s got a number of SF projects in the works.  I’ll keep my ear to the ground for you…

Randomness also writes: “Secondly, watching any anime lately Joe?”

Answer: Akemi and I are working our way through Gintama.  We’re 132 episodes into its 250+ episode run.  The last anime series I watched independent of Akemi was Deadman Wonderland.  Meh.  Before Deadman Wonderland, I very much enjoyed Steins Gate.

Bolt Bait writes: “Joe, when you do a mailbag, do you ever answer questions from past blog entries or only the one directly previous to the one where you are answering questions?  In other words, if I’m really curious about something, should I post once or should I post every day until you get tired of seeing my question and finally break down and answer it?”

Answer: You should post again – especially if I give you the heads up that I’ll be doing a mailbag.  Prior to doing a mailbag, I’ll usually check out the past 3-5 days’ worth of questions.  Be persistent!

majorsal writes: “can you use your super hero/villain powers and make MGM green-light the stargate combo movie?”

Answer: Wish I could.

dasndanger writes: “Joey, I’m pretty sure you’ve had Vosges chocolate, and I know you’ve done the bacon thing, but back when you last tried the chocobacon bar, was it available in dark chocolate?”

Answer: I’ve tried both the milk and dark chocolate versions.  While good, I much prefer the truffle version I used to get for my chocolate parties.  When it comes to the Vosges bars, I’m partial to the Habana (milk chocolate and plantain).  I also love their peanut butter bonbons.

JeffW writes: “I guess my mailbag question would be, if you could only visit one on a trip, which restaurant would you recommend? Diva at the Met, or Fat Dragon? Or someplace else altogether?”

Answer: Hmmm.  That’s a tough one.  I suppose it depends on your food preferences and budget. Lately, I’ve become a big fan of Gastown’s L’Abbatoir.  Quercia is always great for Italian but you have to book in advance.  For more casual fare, might I suggest Peaceful Restaurant on West Broadcast (corner of Cambie) or La Tacqueria for some awesome tacos.

Lee writes: “I’d like to know your thoughts on SyFy canceling Sanctuary? I tend to agree with most people on Facebook with Stargate and Sanctuary gone I will not have any reason to watch SyFy once Eureka wraps this season.”

Answer: I never watched Sanctuary.  I can only weigh in insofar as I knew a lot of the people who worked on the show and, on that personal level, I feel badly for them.  After years of working on a show, your co-workers become like family.  During my time on Stargate, I spent more time with my fellow writer-producers than I did with my own wife and I’m sure it was no different on Sanctuary.

Ponytail writes: “1. Joe can you say anything more regarding what your horror script is about, except that it is a horror script?”

Answer: Not yet but, once I finish work on this miniseries, I’ll be jumping on the rewrite so that I can hopefully get it out before summer’s end.  I’ll tell you more about it in the coming months.

“2. What did you finally decide two open doors and the alarm going off was?”

Answer: I decided to go with “forgot to lock the back door”.  ”Lulu playing a practical joke” was a close second.

shaneac1 writes: “Question can you give a hint as to the network the SF mini series might be airing. Also have you any thoughts on new yomato series (space battleship yomato 2199) chapter 1 was just realease on DVD/blu ray today.”

Answer: I don’t know whether a North American sale has been made yet.

Patricia Stewart-Bertrand writes: “A question I would like to ask you is, do you ever use your dreams as fodder for your writing? Edgar Allan Poe was known to take advantage of the trips he’d experience from taking drugs to create his macabre stories. Where do you get your ideas?”

Answer: On the rare occasions I can remember my dreams, they are usually so weird that the defy use in any sensible narrative.  My ideas usually come from discussions with friends or spring from other completely different notions.  Occasionally, they’ll come about as a result of my misconstruing the direction of a t.v. show I am watching or a book I am reading – I’ll think to myself “What a great idea!” only to realize that’s not the direction they’re going at all.

llyes writes: “Hey Joe, what did you think of house’s series finale?
personally i was a little confused”

Answer: Hey, I’m still trying to figure out how the police were able to lift House’s fingerprints from some tickets that had been flushed down a toilet in the last episode.  The last episode did leave a bunch of questions unanswered, questions like: “How did House end up in that burning building with the patient?  How did the fire start?  How did House know the exact moment Wilson was delivering his eulogy so that he could send the “shut up” text message?”  And, the biggest question of all: “How the heck did House switch the hospital dental records and fake his own death?”  He wouldn’t have had a chance to do it after the fire which suggests he already had the plan in place before he went to the warehouse.  Meaning the patient was already dead?  And if that was House’s plan all along, why was most of the episode dedicated to his deciding whether or not to save himself and live – especially since living meant helping to make Wilson’s last few months all the more  meaningful.  The latter would have been a huge issue and, since a lot of the discussion was a physical manifestation of his internal debate, the fact that it was never mentioned felt like a huge cheat.

profmadmax writes: “Joe any chance of getting Michael Shanks to drop by the blog? Looking forward to seeing Saving Hope on NBC here!”

Answer: Why, yes.  I’ll drop him a text once I’ve finished work on the miniseries.