December 27, 2010: Things I've Learned! News of Note! And some mailbag!

Things I have learned in the past month that will serve me well as I head into the New Year:

My passmo Tokyo subway pass will not unlock the door of my hotel room no matter how determined I may be.

The Moscow Mule is the greatest cocktail ever (Where have you been all my life?)!

The heart knows no reason.  And neither, evidently, do some fans.

Regardless of what your friend says, eating multiple Seven Eleven eclairs when you're drunk is not cool.

The most annoying thing anyone can say = "I don't care who wins.  I just hope it's a good game."

A $14 strawberry isn't worth $14.

Chocolate milkshake maple syrup = Awesome!

Some news of note:

Superheronovels.com has declared Masked "the best book of 2010″: http://superheronovels.com/2010/12/25/the-best-of-2010-and-a-peek-at-2011/

Meanwhile, ace editor Lou Anders has set up a dedicated Facebook page for Masked here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Masked/176626789023021?v=app_2373072738#!/pages/Masked/176626789023021?v=wall

Bookfinder's annual list of The Top 100 Sought After Out Of Print Books.  http://www.bookfinder.com/books/bookfinder_report_2010/.  Titles include Ben Bova's The Star Conquerors, Ray Bradbury's Dark Carnival, and Stephen King's My Pretty Pony.

The science of chocolate.  Researchers have sequenced the chocolate tree genome: http://io9.com/5718464/newly-sequenced-chocolate-genome-reveals-the-secrets-of-better-candy?skyline=true&s=i

How awesome.  Guy quits job, makes a living suing spammers: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101226/D9KBQRMG0.html

Cracked.com offers up 7 Shockingly Dark Origins of Lovable Children's Characters: 7 Shockingly Dark Origins of Lovable Children's Characters.

Today's blog entry is dedicated to regulars Randomness and MaggieMayDay

Mailbag:

Alex writes: "While it will no doubt irritate certain fans to see SGU get a movie before Atlantis or SG-1, I feel it needs it more than those two. Do you think there is a stronger chance of that happening because the sets are still up for SGU?"

Answer: That's certainly one of the reasons.

AJM writes: "Should things move in a positive direction SGU wise, then would the SG1 and Atlantis movies atleast be considered again?"

Answer: At present, the focus is on SGU and SGU alone.  If things should move in a positive direction, then I'm sure that, down the line, we'd be open to a host of other options.

Dan writes: "That said, though I still got my fingers crossed for SGU to be saved (and am looking forward to more news about your comic book) is it safe to assume you'll continue blogging regardless of SGU's fate?"

Answer: Yep, I'll still be here.

Joe "JBud" Jackson writes: "Of all time, what was your favorite Stargate episode?"

Answer: August 15, 2010: MY Top 10 Favorite Stargate Episodes

Shadow Step writes: "So Atlantis was canceled because of bad ratings? I thought it was because you (the collective you) didn't want to make two series at the same time?"

Answer: Who's "you"? The entire Atlantis team (Paul, Carl, Martin, Alan, and I) were prepared and perfectly willing to produce a sixth season, whether it was alone or simultaneous with SGU.

rev1059 writes: "Will there be a point that if the movies don't look like they will see the light of day that the scripts will be put into book form."

Answer: Ideally, I'd love to see the script eventually go into production and a movie made.  Failing that, it would be nice to at least get the story out there either as a novel or graphic novel.

cheri writes: "It's been said that SGU and SGA have different fan bases so why does the (hopefully) temporary cancellation of SGU have any bearing on Extinction going into production?"

Answer: "It's been said" by certain Atlantis fans that didn't enjoy Universe (fair enough), but most don't make the distinction between an SGA and an SGU. The franchise is the franchise. Also, the two shows do not have different fan bases. Many fans who watched the first two Stargate incarnations watched the last one as well.

ooryl2 writes: "My question would be, if, Thor forbid, the worst happens and you exhaust all available options to no avail, would you, BW, and the other PTB's consider at least publishing a press release, blog post, etc with a summary of what was the remaining planned SGU story?"

Answer: This would be a question for Brad and Robert.