July 31, 2007

What began as a quick trip to pick up our new French Bulldog, Lulu, turned into a bit of a nightmare for Fondy when the breeder informed her that, although he had accepted a personal check for the down payment, he would not be doing the same for the balance. Rather than head back home and wait for another opportunity, my royally pissed-off and not-to-be-denied wife scoured every Money Mart and bank in Coquitlam until she came up with the money and finally brought Lulu home. And, when she did, the rest of the pack where surprisingly accepting of the new addition. Bubba, who we expected to be the most domineering, was delighted to finally have a friend who could chase him. Maximus, who we expected to be the warmest and most welcoming, was actually somewhat aloof despite Lulu’s persistence in following him around the backyard. Finally, Jelly who, as alpha bitch and pack leader, we suspected would have the hardest time with the newcomer was incredibly nurturing and playful. Lulu took a shine to her almost immediately and, come lights out, crawled into Jelly’s doughnut bed and fell asleep, nestled alongside her.

Day 3 of Kindred I took the cast and crew to Green Timbers, a location shoot that necessitated our ordering in. We went with an old standby, Burgers, Etc., for barbecue chicken salads, pulled pork, and smoked sausage. For dessert, we were treated to something extra special by our extra special guest star/visitor - none other that Chef William Poole of Wen Chocolates in Colorado. It was a milk chocolate genoise with spiced French chocolate buttercream and elements of tofee with a rich chocolate ganache glaze. Incredible! After a tour of the sets, I took Chef Will on a tour of some of Vancouver’s tea and chocolate shops before capping things off with dinner at Tojo’s.

By the way, we watched Marty G.’s producer cut of Be All My Sins Remember’d today. Another great episode. Can’t say enough about the convening of the war council scene. Oh, and in dailies today = the wee turtles!

Today's pics: more Comic Con, Chef Poole's inspired creation, Chef Poole on tour, Lulu.

July 30, 2007

Well, I’m back in the office following a grueling yet very enjoyable weekend in San Diego. Pete Woeste is shooting day two of Kindred I down on Stage 6. Scenes up today: team geared for mission, Sheppard’s update, Lorne delivers the news, parlay, and the situation room.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I received an email from my good friend Ali. To those of you who haven’t been following my online adventures - fed up with the spam solicitations that were inundating my yahoo inbox, I decided to respond to a couple in an attempt to: a) waste their time, b) amuse myself. What started as a simple over-the-top response has, in some cases, turned into a long and involved correspondence. Take the case of the ailing Ali who contacted me from his sickbed in Argentina with an offer of millions of dollars to start up an orphanage in his name. I, or more accurately Aloysius P. Hazzencockle, was only to happy to take him up on it. His latest email arrived this past weekend:

“Dear Hazzencockle,

I got your mail in a second chance,glad your are doing great.could you simply go ahead to give me your imfo's it will enable me get direct down to business with you .I have addopted you as my next of kin to inheret my worth on the need for the less previlaged.I really need to know who you are with your information and who inheret this fund to the knowledge of my medical doctor as the need be .Thanks ,i will be expecting from you .

Ali”

I responded:

“Ali my friend, you sound great for a guy with one foot in the grave! Who knows? Keep it up and you may outlive us all! Ha ha ha! (Seriously though, if you do find yourself in the long tunnel, waste no time and run towards the light. I’ve read reports of lingerers who missed the opportunity and ended up back in their bodies, condemned to live out their miserable existences as circus clowns and Sharon Stone. Imagine the worst. You, in your sickened state, wasting away in a hospital bed, impatiently awaiting death’s icy embrace while, I, halfway across the globe and fit as a fiddle, step onto a crosswalk and am macerated by a speeding rickshaw. Then where would we be? Me, dead. You, almost dead. Your money, unspent. The countless street urchins that may have benefited from the ALI IN THE FAMILY HOME FOR ORPHANS AND ALOYSIUS P. HAZZENCOCKLE never to know the comforts of a warm straw bed or the pleasures of firing a crossbow).

Speaking of the orphan-castle, things are going well following a minor hiccup. Taking a page from the Pharaohs of Egypt, I thought it might be a good idea to entomb the work crew after they were finished so that the secrets of the castle would die with them. Unfortunately, complications arose when I realized that as skilled workers already under contract, they would have to be the ones to do the entombing and, as it turns out, a little known sub-section of a clause in the union agreement forbids self-immurement. The only other option was to hire a second crew to wall up the first crew but with their job complete, I’d be faced with the same problem. In the end, I decided to do away with the headaches of unionized workers altogether and put the orphans to work. They may not be as quick or as capable (sadly, three perished attempting to install my alabaster pool slide), but it feels good to know I have given them direction and a sense of purpose beyond basic survival. By doing this, they are building character. And a castle.

Finally, thank you for adopting me. You’re like the sickly illiterate father I never had.

Sincerely,

Aloysius P. Hazzencockle

P.S. Great news! I was able to purchase a dozen moat-worthy crocodiles off eBay. They will arrive via UPS as soon as the check clears. Will keep you posted.”

Today’s pics: Snaps from the set, and an old friend drops by to visit.

July 29, 2007

Yesterday’s leisurely afternoon came as a welcome respite following Friday’s hectic schedule. I slept in, read a little more of A Game of Thrones (loving it!), and then met up with my three charming San Diego guides – April, Monique, and Melissa – for a late lunch at Prado’s in Balboa Park. We shared five plates, among them a stand-out crispy calamari tossed in a sweet chili sauce, and seared Kobe beef rolls. We then took the drive back to 5th street where we went to a placed called Sensational Desserts (I think?) where we shared: a divine carrot-crème brulee cake, a macadamia chocolate torte, an ultra-rich tres leches cake, and a pavlova with guava cream. By the time I got back to the hotel at 6:00 p.m., I was wired and not in much of an eating mood, so rather than join the rest of the gang at Rice, I elected to relax in my hotel room and, of course, update my blog.

We all met downstairs in the lobby at 7:00 p.m. and, for a change, I was the only one NOT wearing a jacket. Joe F. had traveled back to L.A. that morning, but Michael Shanks had flown in to join us. We left the W in three limos and arrived at the Sci Fi/Entertainment Weakly Party for 8:00 p.m. We did the requisite red carpet walk, then settled down in a little area where Matt ordered up about a dozen fruity martinis while I snapped shots of our cast running the gauntlet of reporters as the smoke emanating from pool wafted up and over the proceedings.

Last year’s party was great and this year’s was even better. I wasn’t hungry which was too bad because the short rib sliders and ice cream bar (where you could order up your own ice cream creations) looked mighty good. And the turn-out was quite impressive. Beside the talent from the various Sci Fi shows, there were more than a few surprise party-crashers: J.J. Abrams, Robert Downey Jr. who was at Comic Con promoting Iron Man, Liv Tyler, adult film star Jenna Jameson who was accompanied by a tatted-up bruiser, comedian Sara Silverman, Edward Norton, John Favreau, Stan Lee, author Cory Doctorow (check out his hilarious Down And Out In the Magic Kingdom), and Joss Whedon who reconnected with former Firefly/Serenity- present Atlantis star Jewel Staite.

A good time was had by all. I caught up with some people, chatted with entertainment reporter Mary McNamara, thanked the gang at Sci Fi for all of their hard work, then headed back to the hotel for another 50 pages of A Game of Thrones before bed.

This morning, I caught the 12:30 p.m. flight back to Vancouver with Martin Wood. Enroute, we sampled some of the chocolates I got while in San Diego. Michelle of SCB gifted me with two bars – a 100% cocoa and a wild dark chocolate, chili and peppercorn bar that did a terrific job of clearing our sinuses. We also tried the Vosges milk chocolate and green tea bar, a Chuao dark chocolate and almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios, and a spectacular Chuao milk chocolate Early Grey bar that I ended up giving to our air hostess because she loved it so much.

Big week ahead. The in-laws are in town and Chef Will Poole of Wen Chocolates is driving in on Tuesday with a cake for the staff (!!!). We have our production meeting for Kindred II and I look forward to the extra special guest who’ll be putting in an appearance (I refer, of course, to our new French Bulldog Lulu who we’ll be picking up Monday night). Also, I received emails from those ever-so-determined Nigerian scammers James Williams and Ali, so both Cookie Monster and Aloysius P. Hazzencockle will be replying in a timely fashion.

Today's pics: kick-ass calamari, carrot-creme brulee cake, Jewel ready to rock, MGM's Theo Dumont snaps me snapping him, a pre-limo Chris and David, director Martin Wood sporting a killer jacket, the smoking David Hewlett!, and the smoking Amanda Tapping!, Matt keeping a wary eye on John G. Lenic, Sci Fi's gorgeous Kim Volonakis, the red carpet, the press!, the ever-so-suave Matt, the swimming pool is on fire!, Jewel Staite and Morris Chapdelaine, mmmmm sliders, Amanda Tapping and Michael Shanks brave the red carpet together, Gary Jones and Ben Browder regale the press, Ben Browder walks the red carpet, Michael Shanks makes a break for it, Martin Wood and Chris Judge take on both the press and the fog, Brandon Molale and the lovely Kimberly Wolfe, Sci Fi's Patrick Lee with the future Captain Marvel?, bad boy author Cory Doctorow, writer and all around nice guy Rafael Jordan, Claire and I, Mary McNamara checks her camera, Sci Fi's Tony Optican (paisley pants not pictured), Amanda and Damian chow down.