stuff...

Down Undah.

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:05:10 -0800

Hey Australia! Michael Shanks, Lexa Doig and I are coming for you! If you’re going to be around next week, or can be, make sure to visit us! (click below for info)

--> A DATE WITH DESTINY - Australia Con <--

On a random side-note: when did we all stop caring about other people? I mean, really. When did we all just give up? I could cite a million examples of this in our current society -- discrimination, disputes over the economy, war -- but today I’ll focus on one in particular.

GOING TO THE MOVIES

What. The. HELL. Have we reverted to cavepeople? (SEE: even there I thought of your feelings) Now, anyone who knows me knows that years ago I was cursed by an invisible gypsy to forever wander movie theaters experiencing the worst that humanity has to offer. Most of you have the occasional story here or there about something weird that happened during a movie. To me, it all happens at once, loudly, and with weapons. It’s become borderline ridiculous. Some of my close friends even refuse to see movies with me in fear of catching it.
I’m ridiculous. I’ll admit this. I won’t even shake my popcorn unless there’s an explosion on screen to drown out the noise. I refuse to inconvenience anyone else in the theatre because I want warm corn. I check my cell phone at least 456 times before the movie starts to make sure it is on silent (SILENT. SI-LENT, motherf-ers. Not VIBRATE. It shouldn’t be called “vibrate.” It should be called “make less noise than a ring, but still enough to let everyone around you know that you’re so important you can’t be bothered to obey the rules.”) I would just hate to ruin the experience for anyone else in the theater. For me, a movie is an escape. Life fades away for a short period of time and I can let the movie take me into another world. And your little *clickity clickity* while texting pulls me back into our real world just long enough for me to contemplate if I can snap your neck fast enough to not miss a line of dialogue.
So, on to today’s douchebag. Snotty McGee, as he shall henceforth be named, sat directly behind me in a criminally empty showing of HUGO. After making sure to cough... ON ME... repeatedly while sitting, he finally became one with his chair. Then began the vomit-inducing metronome that was his every 2-minute routine of blowing snot rockets. Like a really rude metronome, he just kept clearing his nose. Not into a tissue, mind you. Not onto his hand. No. That would require forethought. This man just kept airlocking his nose flute into the air. I just kept hoping it would end before the movie began, or I’d have to get up and move from my carefully selected, prime 3D experience-o-vehicle. (To the layman: theater seat.) But before I had a chance to consider my options, I felt a disturbance in the force. Now, for those of you who haven’t EVER EXPERIENCED A MOVIE, all the seats are bolted down and attached. So, like a psychic link, whatever one seat feels, we all feel. My seat shakes with the force of a phlegmy pine tree. I knew this bag of dicks had put his feet up on the chair next to me, but I was not prepared for what I was about to see. In Michael Bay slow-motion, I turn my head to find two, gigantic, furry, BARE FEET next to my face. The man had actually taken off his shoes and socks and placed his gross hobbit feet. next. to. my. head.
How have we come to this, ladies and gentlemen of the interwebs? How have we come to evolve into creatures capable of technological wonder, mapping the human genome, exploring space... and then devolve into slurping, grotesque wildebeests thinking only of ourselves, just because the lights have been dimmed... slightly?
Do me a favor, my friends. Consider others. Spare a millisecond every now and again to think about what you’re doing or saying. Because I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I’m teetering on edge here. And I can’t speak for anyone else, but let me just say this in case you’re tempted to continue in your ways:

I have +10 Sneak, and I have killed Dragons.

Birthday Surprises

Tue, 8 Nov 2011 19:06:31 -0800

So, I decided I should use this blog other than for random updates about my life. Granted, it wasn’t that difficult since I don’t have anything to report officially since the last blog. But no matter. Point being, I figured I should address other issues, thoughts or general meanderings. So, consider this the official launch of BlueBlog 2.0 -- Road Warrior.

BIRTHDAYS.

Remember when birthdays had meaning? It wasn’t that long ago. On your birthday, your parents would send you a surprise gift. Your extended family would call your mobile phone (for those too young to remember: it was like an iPhone but with different symbols printed on it - made-up words like “Motorola” & “Nokia” ...also, the games sucked.) Your friends would hand you cards they thoughtfully picked out after picking up the milk but before hitting the toiletries aisle. And all of this had meaning, because your friends remembered. Your friends cared. It was wonderful. Ah, the good old days.
But now, thanks to the wonders of technology, we no longer need to concern ourselves with silly trivialities like “remembering.” Facebook will tell us. What better way to express to someone how much they mean to us than to casually glance at one of the many, shiny new scrolling boxes on our Facebook page and notice a name - listed amongst somebody we added because we thought we knew them (but were wrong) and that douchebag we went to high school with and only accepted because we didn’t want to look elitist. Now, instead of putting any forethought, effort or care into birthday wishes, we’ve streamlined things. We can simply wait for Facebook to tell us its time to add our name to the 200 others scribbled like modern graffiti on their digital wall (a wall that nobody looks at anymore, by the way... because Facebook tells us what the important updates are at any given time, silly!)
Now don’t worry. You’re not alone in this rampant laziness. I’m right there alongside you. I came to this realization during an innocent chat about a mutual friend’s impending anniversary of pop-out-age. I thought back to the dozens of birthday wishes I’d given mere seconds after feeling Facebook’s friendly nudge tell me it was time. And then I thought about the few I had known about and already planned on contacting, because it had been ingrained in my blood through years of friendship, laughter and guilt (see: the Doomsday equation*). And it hit me. The worst part of all of this. Nobody knew the difference. Did I actually remember? Did I actually burn the mental calories to think about them? And then the temporal floor dropped out from underneath me. I saw the future. The day would arrive when everyone would come to the same realization as me. When everyone would question if the “hapy bday! <3 u!” notification was from their friend of *cough*teen years or via the memory of a social media website designed to connect us all through separation. How can we ever know? Are we able to discern if we’re in someone’s mind or not? Maybe we can’t. Maybe it’s a lost cause. Maybe the only true birthday wishes are the ones given to us in person. From people who took the time to remember it was our birthday, show up on time to our birthday party and smile as if to say “Happy Birthday, buddy.”

Then again: ...there’s this thing called Evite.

*DOOMSDAY EQUATION:
x(f/d) + 10% = y
Where x = “Amount they spent on me last year”
Where f = “frequency of hangage”
Where d = “distance apart”
Where y = “amount required to prolong friendship”

Conventions.

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:29:00 -0700

A special thanks to everyone who made it out to New York Comic Con to say hello. I was a late-addition to the schedule, so I’m sorry if you weren’t aware I was there. I tried to announce it on Twitter and my official FB page as much as possible. Of course, it didn’t help that the NYCC organizers decided not to add me to the website until the day before. Grr. Argh.

Anywho, I hope a lot of you will be able to make it out to “A Date With Destiny” in December. It’ll be Michael Shanks, Lexa Doig and me visiting Australia for a few days. I’d love to see everyone, and would appreciate the people to hang with. I’m hoping to stay later after the con to explore the city, since I didn’t get to very much last year. For info on the con, click the following link:

--> A DATE WITH DESTINY <--

I’m guessing that this is going to be my last convention appearance for a long while. At least that’s how it looks right now. It’s not because I don’t LOVE meeting all of you at these things, because I absolutely do! But I started doing the con circuit as a way to spread the word about the show, meet the fans of the franchise and speak with everyone about their thoughts/concerns in regards to it. I’ve always had fun at them and had a blast hanging with my fellow actor friends and getting to know all of the fans and wonderful people who attend them. But it’s hard to schedule the appearances and still be in the city to pursue other work. Anyway, I’ll always welcome emails/tweets from fans, and would still love to meet any of you when given the chance. It’s always fun to “talk nerd” with everyone. :)
In regards to a lot of questions about the “last Stargate convention” in Vancouver coming up: as far as I know they have not invited any cast from SGU to attend. We go where we’re invited, when we can, when schedules permits. But it’s up to the cons to organize/invite. (So keep that in mind when you’re emailing your favorite actors from any show, be it Firefly, Stargate or Clone Wars, asking why they’re not going to be at a specific con. It is the con itself who arranges for people to appear, not the performer.) I can’t speak for sure, but I’ve heard rumors that the organizers for that specific con don’t think SGU warrants the attention. Maybe that’s the case, maybe not. Not my department. I’m just in I.T. ;) But, I wanted to really thank everyone for always being so kind at conventions, and always being willing to shoot the shit with me. I can be talkative, and it’s always so nice to chat about everything from television to movies to particle physics to video games. I remember you all. Maybe the next show I’m on will be Sci-Fi and I’ll have a whole new reason to come out and bug you! But, regardless, I’ll always be thankful any of you took the time out of your crazy lives to head on down and share a smile with me.

To infinity, and BEYOND!

New York Comic Con - Bound!

Tue, 4 Oct 2011 13:17:02 -0700

Prepare yourself New York, I’m a-coming.

It’s a last-minute addition, but it looks like I’ll be making a brief appearance at the NEW YORK COMIC CON! If you’re in town, or can be, please stop by and say hello. I’d love to meet as many of you as possible. Check out the follow link for times I’ll be attending (for some reason the main website doesn’t have me listed... at the time of this posting, anyway.)

New York CC Schedule (click for info)

I’m looking forward to hanging a bit, though my NY schedule is tight, and hopefully meeting a few of MY faves. And possibly throwing something at Chris Evans to see if he can deflect it. Let me know on Twitter or FB if you’re going to come out. And if you’re not... WHY THE HELL NOT?!?!??!

PS: I might do another contest like the one I did at DragonCon if e enough people attend.

(I thought I should copy/paste my NYCC schedule to make things a little easier for you, so here it is):

DRAGONCON!

Fri, 2 Sep 2011 09:56:01 -0700

Hey all!

I figured it would be easier to meet all of you if you knew where the hell I was. I know, GOOD THINKING, RIGHT? So, here’s my schedule for DragonCon for all your autograph, photo, conversation and stalking needs. Woohoo! Come on by when you can. And let everybody you’ve ever met know this is where to find me so I don’t have to clutter my Twitter feed with all this info. :)

Friday, September 2, 2011
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. -- Photo Session (HILTON 313/314)

3:30 - 5:00 p.m. -- Autographs at the Walk of Fame (HILTON)

5:30 - 6:30 p.m. -- Panel "Supergate: Cast of SGU"
(WESTIN PEACHTREE BALLROOM A-F)

Saturday September 3, 2011:
11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. -- Panel "SGU visit Multiverse"
(WESTIN ATLANTA CDEF)

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. -- Photo Session (HILTON 313/314)

2:45 - 7:00 p.m. -- Autographs at the Walk of Fame (HILTON)

Sunday September 5, 2011:
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. -- Autographs @ Walk of Fame (HILTON)

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. -- Panel "Supergate" (all SG Franchise casts)
(HYATT CENTENNIAL II - III)

4:00 - 4:20 p.m. -- Photos (w/Louis Ferreira) (HILTON 313/314)

4:20 - 4:50 p.m. -- Photo Session (HILTON 313/314)

5:00 - 7:00 p.m. -- Autographs @ Walk of Fame (HILTON)

Monday September 6, 2011:
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. -- Panel "Supergate Q&A"
(WESTIN PEACHTREE BALLROOM A-F)

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. -- Autographs @ Walk of Fame (HILTON)

12:30 - 1:00 p.m. -- Photos (w/Julie McNiven) (HILTON 313/314)