Pbmom's Blog

“Girls who like Cinderella have nightmare marriage.  Statistics show.  It’s data!”

– Akemi today, on our walk back home from lunch.

I guess it makes sense.

Today also saw us visit the post office so that Akemi could sense her dad a chocolate shipment.  Apparently, his stock is running low.

Of course no overseas shipment would be complete without the appropriate cartoon commentary that the post office employee must take great pains to avoid covering with the appropriate stamps.

“Hey, it’s a french bulldog!”I said.

“It’s not a french bulldog,”Akemi informed me, clearly disappointed.  “It’s a rabbit.”

Upon closer scrutiny, yes, of course.  A rabbit.

I couldn’t help but take a picture of this.  It would seem certain customers are obsessive ringers.

Hey, spoke to the gang at SyFy this week and the plan is to target April for the big Dark Matter roll-out.  So, in a couple of weeks…

From now on, whenever someone requests a photo of me to accompany an interview or some newspaper article (“Local Producer Unwittingly Consumes Ornamental Headdress”) THIS is the one they’re getting.  Akemi snapped it during today’s EPK (Electronic Press Kit) Day.  Director T.J. Scott, his photographer, and the gang from SyFy were on hand to photograph and interview the actors, the sets, and Jay Firestone and me in the ramp up to the Dark Matter summer season premiere!

Overseeing the action on the day was Executive Producer Vanessa Piazza who drew assists from VFX Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson (drafted for monitor duty on the gallery shoot) and Consulting Producer Ivon Bartok (who helped with both the Q and A portions of the Q&A sessions).

Joining me on this rare Saturday foray into work was Akemi who – finally! – got to see the sets in person.  And she loved them, snapping innumerable…

Today marked the final day of Amanda Tapping’s directing gig on Dark Matter episode #104 (pictured above with 1st Assistant Director Brandon Tataryn).

We’re going to miss her.  And not just because she treated the cast and crew to a mobile coffee, tea, and hot chocolate stand!

Meanwhile, Assistant Production Coordinator Travis Lowry celebrated his birthday in fine style today with streamers and balloons and a Steel Magnolias-themed cake (featuring him and the ladies).  Pictured above, the birthday boy takes a break from the festivities to pose for an Executive Producer mandated birthday photo.  Note the look in his eyes, a mixture of excitement, delight, and pure terror.

While Travis was celebrating his birthday on Earth, the rest of the production was on Shaofu 2 for our last day on the space station!

I’m going to miss this place.  After a terrific six days in its atmospherically controlled environs, we…

“Hey!”said one of the set P.A.’s.  “There’s a homeless woman eating a sandwich at the craft service table!”

While other crew members angled to get a look at our unexpected guest, I alone approached, drawn by a mixture of pity and sadness.  She looked so frail, her hair disheveled, bony fingers clutching what was probably the last solid meal she’d enjoyed in days and, as I drew close, she seemed to start, pulling the food possessively close to her chest, and she stared up at me, her eyes a myriad of conflicting emotions: fear, contempt, despair, and defiance.  She was in such a lamentable state that I immediately reached for my wallet, prepared to give her whatever cash I had on hand.

It was then, upon closer scrutiny, that I realized the homeless woman wasn’t eating a sandwich.  She was nibbling a banana scone.  And she wasn’t a homeless woman…

Shooting in Hamilton today and it’s been c-c-c-cold!  Although it could be colder I suppose.  The problem with shooting in these warehouses is that it’s actually chillier indoors.  The last time we were here for a location scout, we encountered a delay and, instead of sticking around, we elected to wait outside…where it was warmer!

Back in Vancouver, whenever we shot on location, there would be big signs with the production’s name and arrows pointing the way.  Plenty of them.  Not so here. This morning, I encountered a single sign, a little smaller than a sandwich board, with the name of the production followed by an occasional parking cone.  Well, not so occasional.  I drove ten minutes up a winding roadway with absolutely no indication that I was traveling the right way before deciding “This can’t be right!” and turning back.  As it turned out, I WAS right.

I think we’re…

The six-person crew of a derelict spaceship awakens from stasis in the farthest reaches of space. Their memories wiped clean, they have no recollection of who they are or how they go on board. The only clue to their identities is a cargo bay full of weaponry and a destination: a remote mining colony that is about to become a war zone. With no idea whose side they are on, they face a deadly decision. Will these amnesiacs turn their backs on history, or will their pasts catch up with them?

My twelve years on Stargate served to confirm something I already knew, and a fact that most fans have known for quite some time: A clever hook may lead viewers to check out a new show, but it’s the characters that will keep them coming back.  I know, I know.  It seems pretty obvious, but to most buyers, it’s all…

So now that it’s official, I can finally talk about my new show, Dark Matter, and my plans for the series and this blog in the lead-up to season premiere (sometime in 2015).  As most of you know, while I was working on Stargate this blog offered fans a peak at the inner workings of the production, with posts of everything from concept art to behind the scene videos and, of course, Q&A’s with the many talented individuals who helped produce it.  Well, I’d like to offer fans and prospective viewers the same opportunity with Dark Matter – with the added bonus that we’ll all be on this journey together.  From prep through production to finished episode,  this blog will offer you spoiler-free insights into the evolution of the production, something usually reserved for after-the-fact special features.  I want you all invested in the series from the very beginning and…

Big news!  I’m not crazy after all –

http://tvline.com/2014/10/15/syfy-acquires-dark-matter-graphic-novel-adaptation/

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2014/10/stargate-producers-bring-dark-matter-to-syfy/

So I DIDN’T imagine the whole thing.  Unless, of course, this is also part of my elaborate, ongoing hallucination and those url’s actually link to the live cam of a cat hotel in Cornwall.

But, just in case, I’d like to thank a few of the people who got us where we are today: poised to go into production on a glorious 13-episode SF series…

First and foremost, Jay Firestone of Prodigy Pictures who worked tirelessly for months (and months and months!) relentlessly pursuing (I suspect he’s really a T-1000) and piecing together the various deals that made Dark Matter, the t.v. series, a reality.  If not for all of Jay’s determined hard work, none of this would have been possible and I would have had to find something else to blog about today.

Next, Keith Goldberg at Dark Horse…

Ice Bucket Challenge Donations Top $100 Million in 30 Days compared to $2.8 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 29).

Mary looked at me like I was crazy when I told her that I wanted her to dump a bucket of icy water over my head.
“You might gasp and breathe in water and choke,” she warned. But after a few days of prodding she finally agreed to play her roll in the Ice Bucket Challenge. I was hoping that the ice cold water being poured over my head would cause me to jump out of my chair and run, like my Australian friend, Phil, but (SPOILER ALERT) unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Seventeen years ago, almost a year after being diagnosed with this horrible disease known as ALS, I was asked by MDA to participate in the local portion of the Labor Day…