Look at you. Still out there. In the cold. The show's in syndication, but you guys are still there. The Zelenka faithful. You inspire me...

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It's been a great year full of ups and downs - and it went by SO fast. And 2010 is just around the corner. Lots to look forward to - the "Beast of Bottomless Lake" is finally ready to roll out the door - after over two years in post. From what I hear it supposed to be awesome. Really looking forward to seeing it. I'll keep you updated. There's a smattering of stage work and some film projects on their way - Remember to keep an eye out for Human Target on Fox sometime in January or so. The episode I'm in is #4 - "Rewind".

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Thanks for your support over the past year - I met a lot of you in various corners of the planet, and I look forward to doing much the same in 2010. I leave you with a little gift - some free avatars of Zelenka for your "snurching". Just click on the present on my website.

Flying the friendly skies

Big plane month. Lots of planes. Real ones and not so real ones.

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Worked last week on a new show debuting on Fox in January called "Human Target". Was good fun. Don't let the oxygen masks fool you, you don't stand a chance aboard Pacific National Airways. (Why do they always put me in glasses?...) After a day of sitting on the plane I drove to the airport and went to sit on a plane. Just to change it up a bit. Flew to Philly, and the whole way the oxygen masks didn't deploy and the plane didn't roll over, so I don't know what was wrong with this flight.

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I found lots of angry robots in Philadelphia shooting their TV sets. Kinda weird. I guess it's a product of the poor economy. It's tough out there for a Boba Fett.

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Beautiful fall colours in a very temperate King of Prussia, PA (not actually Philadelphia). I saw the mammoth mall, didn't venture in, and looked up the origin of the name: King of Prussia. Turned out to be a pub. A town named after a pub, named after a monarch of a former eastern European country. My kinda place.

Anyone going to Philly?...

The auditions are picking up. Hooray. Let me tell you, sucks to be an actor in an economic downturn. You hear everything from "poor DVD sales are to blame" to "The bond market is making the Studios cautious" as reasons for the dearth of auditions. Would that be the James Bond market, I wonder?... It's such a complex math. There really is no way to predict what will come down the pike. It always comes down to the individual - sometimes you book. Sometimes you don't. The more chances there are the better your odds. You just gotta do your thing.

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Speaking of doing things - I got a last minute call to come out to Philadelphia this weekend. Yahoo. I'll be at the Game X thingy thing out there in Philly; where I hear it is always sunny. Looking forward to seeing some of you out there - if you can make it come on out. Looks like a lot of fun.

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I'll leave you with some shots of Hong Kong, I was there on a stopover en route to Perth last week. Awesome place.

Spring in October

Say hello to Connor Trinneer. Judging a cosplay contest. Serious work.


It's funny how something as seemingly constant as, say, seasons - or day and night - or even time can be mercurial when you travel. Crossing the date line is particularly odd. One moment it's Tuesday and the next - oh didn't they tell you - it's Wednesday. Or Monday. Depending on the direction. Time is compressed - a night slips by in a few hours, or elongated - it's three o'clock in the afternoon for five hours. It's just weird. Messes up your head. Shakes your faith in the firma part of terra firma. It's more like terra move around'a lotta.

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It's spring in the extreme south west of Australia. Flowers are blooming and hotter weather is on its way. I spent the night in the Karri forest in Bonarup National Park, just outside of Pemberton, WA a few nights ago. It just ain't the kind of forests I'm used to. Smells different. Different birdsong. Different trees. And then a kangaroo hops by. This is the other Pemberton, the one with the kangaroos and the 50 metre tingle trees. Drive a little further and suddenly your in Devonshire, England, with genteel farmland and rolling hills. This is the harsh outback of Australia? It seems pretty idyllic to me. Refined even. But then drive a little further and come to a park with 30 metre drop offs to the roiling Southern Ocean and signs to watch out for quicksand. Quicksand! Yet another challenge on your daily commute. Can you imagine? -- "Sorry Bob, I'm losing the signal, I'm up to my shoulders now..." Only in Australia.

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Speaking of which, the Best of Both Worlds event in November has been cancelled, but, BUT! there will be another Strargate event in Sydney and Melbourne next March which I'll be going to, with, from what I've heard, a super surprise, never been seen before special stargate guest. So if you missed me in Perth, I'll be back down under in the spring. Er, autumn - I mean.

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Be back soon with more pictures...

Perth!

I'm looking forward to this one -- this just in: hello Aussie fans - any of you in the far, far west? I'll be going to Perth next weekend for the go 3 convention. I can't imagine anywhere further away from, well, anywhere, than Perth. Very much looking forward to it, I just need to remember to bring my official Australian English Interpretation Device along - a smallish device about the size of a key fob - you surreptitiously push the button when you hear: "Aw yia, it'd be chokkers" and within seconds a soft spoken voice translates: "Yes, there's gas in the tank". Very handy to have when renting a car.

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I'll leave you with an interesting fact: many people say that it rains a lot here in Vancouver. Truth is, as demonstrated by the picture, it may be a lot of rain, but it comes all at once.

In-con-ceivable

I haven't posted here in almost two months! How crass. How unbefitting. How un-up-to-the-minute-micro-blogging of me. How horrible it must be to not know what I've been doing.
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So to remedy that I'll do I twitter style update of everything I did from the last post:
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"Clicked Publish Post. Stood up. Went to window. Phone rang. Picked it up. Talked. Put phone down. Ate a cookie. Went out to backyard. Remembered something I forgot to get from inside. Went back inside... Whoa. This could take a while. How much time do you have?...
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Let's hit the high points: I've been writing. A script (yes!) Auditioning - hit and miss - meeting with various people about various things (I'm superstitious - don't like to disclose things until they're set - also helps create sense of mystery) Got stranded in a remote inlet on a non-starting 16 ft boat. Learned to fix outboard engines - sort of (see previous). Translated several scripts, and a few drier than dry academic papers. Built some stairs. Went to L.A. few times. Motorcycle tour of Vancouver island... what else. Oh yeah. Had an audition the other day at the Bridge studios - I tell you it was weird going back there - saw some recognizable faces, but otherwise it's the new deal over there.

Oh yeah. One more thing: I shaved. Sort of.
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Thank you. Thank you very much. Be back soon.

What a swingin' convention

Wasn't that fun...
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Big thank you for all of you who came out to Markham, Ontario last weekend - and Polaris 23. You forded rivers, flew from Ireland, drove via Montreal - endured all sorts of hardships to get there... so kudos to you. Once you knew where it was it was easy to find. Am I right? It was great to see Dave and Kate again, and a lot of fun chatting with them for what seemed an eternity up there...
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Sad news from the Australian newsdesk here at Zelenka Industries - the July convention there has been postponed till November. I think we're just waiting for the Australian continent to drift .004 metres closer to North America in the interim so that it's not so far to go. Or something like that.
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I'm off for some work, be back shortly...

Lost in Narnia

Hey! Long time no blog entry. Where have I been?
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In Narnia, so to speak. In Chemainus actually, which is like Narnia, except for without the fauns. I'm in tech week for our kid's show out here on the island, and it's going swimmingly. Great cast and great prodution team. Remember that SNL short, the Chronicles of Narnia? I keep singing that in my head. Come on out if you're in the neighbourhood. We open July 1st.
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And then it's off to Toronto! Yahoo! Haven't been there in ages. See you at Polaris - or Toronto Trek, or whatsit called, and lo and behold, I've just checked the website and I see that that other guy is going to be there too. Why does he keep following me around?...
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And then, then! it's off to Australia for another spin at Best of Both Worlds. I've always had lots of fun there - looking forward to that one!
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Busy summer! I'll be back with a fresh batch of where in the world pics soon.

Back to Work...

Is it May already? Where has the time gone?...

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I'll tell you where it's gone - to work. A flurry of little jobs came my way this past month, which is nice considering McGillion's got himself a cameo in a recent blockbuster. I gotta keep up!

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I finished a great little short called "Voodoo" courtesy of the Kickstart program and Mark Ratzlaff and Co. Quite fine. Worked with some lovely and talented actresses. Ali Liebert and Camille Sullivan. (above) Lucky me.

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And a commercial. Well kind of a commercial - a PSA even. Those of you in Canada will see it soon enough. Just shot it on Friday. We recommend you don't plan on drowning. Just don't.

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And auditions, of course. Oh and some directing too! That's going to be fun. I'm just prepping my directorial return to the Chemainus stage with the stage adaptation of the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, which I'll be directing later in June. That'll be fun.

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What else - spoke to Joe Mallozzi today - he told me about the Atlantis script and some "chunky" Zelenka scenes coming! So don't despair, ye Atlantis faithful. There's still more Zelenka coming!!

That was fun...

How'd you like my fic?

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I've gotta write more Sheppard/Weir. There's unplumbed passion there. That'll be in my next book. And thanks for the photo, anonymous slovak person...

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Back in Vancouver with several little fun projects brewing. The kettle is finally getting warm. I took a 500 photo "picture movie" of my drive up the I-5 with shots every few minutes, hoping to make a kind of Phillip Glass sense out of all that open country. Not sure it worked.

Astro physicists for hire

Will work for Argand diagrams.

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Saw Mr Hewlett last week. He's doing well. Also in Los Angeles. Getting off an exploding planet is easy, getting out of LA - not so much. 

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Looking forward to Creation con next week in Vancouver. They tell me that I'm going to be in the cabaret on Friday evening. Oh really? ...That should be interesting.

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Speaking of interesting here's a great link if you have a spare hundred minutes and a high speed connection. Those channel Four people have got it going on! Hope they pull out of the financial mess. I hope we all do. Oh and one more: I'm going to see this for sure.

Creation in Vancouver

Quick post, no pictures... oh well here have one - (Hi Chuck and Jerry - remember work?...)

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Looks as though I'll be a last minute addition to the line up at the Creation convention in Vancouver April 3rd (The Friday, I believe) Even though I'm not yet on the website because, well I don't know why. So come on out. I'll see you there. (More on this later, when I have more time...)

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.