Two doctors and a wraith walk into a bar...

...and the bartender says "what'll it be?..."  and the Wraith goes: "I'll have the tuscan chicken quesadilla with the tabouli salad" and the first doctor says "I'll have the Huevos Rancheros and a coffee" and the second doctor goes "Do you have rye toast?".

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...and that's all of the joke that I can remember. 

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Meet Aaron Craven a recent Wraith Commander and all around television visionary (r), and the unbuttoned and unHINGED Paul McGillion (l), mid crosswalk on Sunset. It's finally stopped snowing in Los Angeles and the sun has come out, so we've been going around the neighbourhood sitting in people's lawn furniture, just to check out, you know, how it feels.

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The Simpsons have a star on the boulevard. All is right.

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Speaking of rye toast, Gehry's Disney Concert Hall  is quite an awesome building. It sits like a burning element in downtown L.A. I didn't go inside, but walked all around it. The sun hits it and it illuminates like a hot ember. Many modern buildings are cool, watery - they flow and soothe, but this building starts fires and browns delivery vans. Very neat. Good metaphor for a philharmonic orchestra.

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Getting Even More Famouser

Hello? Anybody still out there? Yoohoo?....

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It's nice to see some of you guys still keeping up with this irregular little blog - sporadic as it may be. It's a pleasure to have you here. 

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It's pilot season in Los Angeles, which is like the actor's "Incredible Race", a no holds barred fight for the thirty jobs out there. Whew. Better watch out, Leo and Johnny, I'll be in the room too. And I came by zebra. 

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The sun is sure a nice change. Not having seen it since October up in Vancouver, being in L.A. is like coming out of a matinee of a David Lynch film - blinded, confused and warm inside. Hard to describe. (By the way his weather reports are brilliant.)

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Went to rubberneck at the Oscars last night (no I'm not going to put that stupid copyright thingy beside the word) and got as far as the police blockade (above). Apparantly they didn't see my work in Crackerjack 2. Uncultured lugs.

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Spring's coming kids - billions are being spent, the birds will soon return, and short skirts will be making a comeback, I'm told. Something's bound to happen.  

Two more

I'm not done with Ireland yet. I got a couple more pictures...

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The first one is a picture of a typical Irish homestead. Becaue of the balmy weather there is no need for a front door, or even corners, insulation and roof gutters. I couldn' help but wonder where all the rain goes and how the Irish make their toast since I couldn't see any electrical plugs. Very resourceful people. I was lucky they weren't home too.  By the way, the Burren was amazing: I don't think I've ever seen anything 6000 years old.

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The second picture I can't explain; only that I like the trend to wearing blue and red blotches on your nape. I'm going to start doing that.

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Okay enough sillines. Time to be serious: I'm in Los Angeles, a place that tolerates no ridiculous behaviour. I saw the good Paul McGillion last night, he says hi to you all (actually he didn't, I'm just saying that, but I'm sure he would) and we've finally put the finishing touches on our plan to take over the world. More on that later...

Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher, County Clare.

Slea Head and Blasket Island, the very tip of Dingle Peninsula

The Blarney Stone


Drombeg Stone Circle, County Cork

Closing night, Carran's, in Cork City
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On Galway sands they kiss your hands./They kiss your lips at Carney./ But on the Lee they drink strong tea/ and kiss the stone that's Blarney.
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I remember seeing a cheesy postcard or some such with a cartoon representation of a leprechaun kissing a stone labeled Blarney. They were out on a field somewhere and the stone was just that, a rock in a field with grass growing underneath it. Now I knew enough that not all Irish people are four foot nothing and sport ginger beards, green hats and long pipes (actually, on second thought...) but for some reason the idea of the Blarney stone being a boulder in a field somehow stuck in my subconscious.
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Fast forward to last Thursday and my surprise that in order to actually kiss the Blarney stone, you have to lie down on slippery rain soaked ramparts over a hundred feet up at the top of Blarney castle, literally bend over backwards while a rain soaked dude (bloke - chap?) holds you by the waist and basically shoves your face into the castle wall while his buddy takes your picture (ten euros, if you please).
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Reality: one. Preconceptions: zero. And the tower of Pisa is not held up by Greg from Baltimore like in those pictures you always see.
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But Ireland. What to say. It was lovely. Of course. I drove most of the south western peninsulas (the rental car has a handy reminder sticker on the dashboard: Stay Left <--- ) and the weather broke for those three days, so I actually saw the peninsulas Beara, Iveragh and Dingle. I was expecting it to be much colder, but the gulf stream keeps the lucky Irish in a mild and wet winter, where many people have sub-tropical plants in their gardens.
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My thanks to the Warpcon people (Noirin, Karen, Steve, Eoin - did I spell that right?) and their hospitality. It was, like the Guiness, smooth and rich.

Danny Boy

Anyone going to be in Ireland this weekend? Yeah?... I'll see you there! Come on down to Cork and Warpcon ... The first trip of '09 has me jetting across the Atlantic to the emerald isle where my prose writing will get even more purple as I attempt to catch up with the linguistic acrobatics of a nation that has a lot to say. The Celtic Tiger, The Luck of the Irish, and all that Blarney. I'm really looking forward to it.
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Thanks for all your kind words - I wasn't expecting my last post to be so sympathy evoking. And another shout out to the "unwillingly ice bound" Kimmel family. That sounded harrowing.
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Sunny day - blue skies - snow's almost all gone. Hope you guys are keeping warm out there. Talk again soon...

"Hey did you notice how I saved the world last Friday night?

I should put that on my resume. "Saved the World. Jan 09/09" Did you notice that? The idea for the thingy? You know... "Enemy at the Gate" ..?
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That was, as I understand (and sometimes I don't understand much) the last and final episode of Stargate Atlantis last Friday night.
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Bummer. Totally. I don't know how else to put it. --Too bad it's over. It was a great ride. I loved that job.
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My last day on the Atlantis set was Sept 09 2008 - the last scene with the good Dr Woolsey in "Enemy at The Gate" - the idea for the thingy scene - what was it again?...Wormhole Hyperdrive . I think...
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At any rate - I want to thank the Producers for a great gig, the Writers for some terrific and memorable scenes, my other Cast mates for their integrity and talent - it really was great working with you, and to a production team that isn't just the best in the world as the old cliche goes, but instead is, without a doubt, the best in two galaxies. At' se zas někdy potkáme...
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That's a picture of me and a goat. Because pictures are necessary in a blog.

Merry Arctic Inflow

Snow. And again. I've not seen this much in this city for over a dozen years at least. And it's not about to go anywhere. It's going to stay piled up right on top of my car, and then freeze, and then compress with the salt and turn into a sedentary layer of white limestone betraying to future civic paeleontologists the location of that 1/2 inch copper hose coupling I dropped today and could not find anywhere. Burst outdoor piping. Don't ask.

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I've heard the meteorologists down south repeat the phrase "arctic air coming down from Canada" when this kind of weather blows in. We don't have no 'Canada' to blame up here. Instead the weatherpeople use the ominous "arctic inflow" to describe weather that's meant for Edmonton but somehow ends up getting lost and howls down the coast. And let me tell you "arctic inflow" ain't no appliance manufacturer. It's nasty cold. Above is a picture of the inflow inflowing - on a recent crossing of Hotham sound. That's cold you can see. 

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But it will soon be Christmas. And that's good. So let me take this chance to wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and a healthy, happy, prosperous New Year.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Boom de yada boom de yada

I love the mountains too. Isn't that a great commercial?...

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Well here we are. December. If you're tucked into this corner of the world December looks and feels much like that first picture: wet and gloomy. Great weather to make a movie..

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I've been filming an MOW - movie of the week - in Maple Ridge for the past few weeks. I play the main baddie, a CEO with the heart of a crouton. Now how did they ever come up with a charcter like that?! I get to make life difficult for our herione, Shannen Doherty by kidnapping her boyfriend. Muhahahaha... ohp - have I given away too much already? Anyway, watch for it, coming soon to a cable channel (I'm guessing) near you. It's called "Resistance". 

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The dressing rooms (above) have got much nicer wallpaper than we had on Atlantis. See. Change IS good.

Cherry Hill/NYC

Whoosh. That's how fast it goes. Four days. WHOOSH. Like the November wind. Four days on the eastcoast. Everything's much closer together and there's lots of trains everywhere. You can get around pretty fast. Relatively. -Exept maybe Brooklyn on a Saturday night. 

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Cherry Hill was terrific, it was great to meet those of you I had a chance to talk to. I did't really see much of Philly, it was all about New York this time aroud. Went to the MOMA, saw Chekhov's "The Seagull" on Broadway with Kristin Scott Thomas, Stellan Skarsgaard, and Mackenzie Crook the guy from the English version of the Office. It was good - just good, unfortunately - it needed a lot more of that slavic despair and humour - a tough thing to get for most Chekhov productions I've seen in the west. Hey - everybody's a critic, right? 

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Thanks for all your comments and wishes. Be back soon...

Here comes Philly!

Almost election day down there isn't it?... go VOTE!!!
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It's also almost Philadelphia time! Finally I'm coming out to the east coast! See you all in just a few days! ...And speaking of Jason Momoa and Gary Jones: here's two pics from the last few days of shooting. Poor Jason and that horrible wolverine incident. I hope his ass gets better...

Boo!

Two wheels are better than one

You guys are the best. Really. Your posts, emails and support are very encouraging as we wrap up production on our fifth and final season of SG:A. I mean how many people during these tough economic times have a group with placards and guitars show up to protest the end of your job? You don't know how much I appreciate your support, because I don't say it enough: so thanks. Thanks for your posts and emails, your pictures, poems and ahem, imaginations. You're wonderful.
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Now with a bit of free time on my hands, I pulled out the map and revisited something I've wanted to do since I was nine. I've always wanted to explore the thousands of kilometres of logging roads in the mountains up the coast from Vancouver. There's so many compelling places on the map that are simply empty of anything except a dotted line indicating a hiking trail or deactivated logging road. "I wonder what's there..."
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I spent three days a few weeks ago on my motorbike in the hills above Jervis Inlet. The weather was glorious and the bears were cooperative - opting to leave the trail when they heard me approaching. A good thing too, because they've been loading up on calories for the winter and 20 pounds of blackberries makes for an ursine sugar rush I don't want to witness.
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A week later, I was back on the mean streets, this time in L.A. and without the benefit of an internal combustion engine. I opted to do most of my biking at Venice beach - but you don't actually go anywhere except up and down the boardwalk. And I had people to meet, things to do, places to go. Besides, the wildlife was scaring me.
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Los Angeles, auditions, and peddle as fast as you can. That's the best way to evade the bear.