First off…let me just say to Spookymuffin that I would dance around like a freak to that Feist song if that were the type of thing I did…which it totally is NOT…seriously, there is no incriminating video of my attempts to recreate that video in my backyard while wearing nothing but a snorkel mask…so don’t even try to find it…

Here’s a version of the song that is, I think, even better than the one on the album…

And to c, I’m not sure where you live, but here in Southern California, as you might imagine, the WGA strike is a pretty big deal since most of the WGA members live and work here (yeah, yeah, New York, calm down). I suppose you could live here and have totally ignored it, but I get the sense that is not the case…In any event, here’s the basics:

The writer’s are looking for two things, essentially. First, an increase in the residuals that they receive on the sell of DVD’s, and some sort of agreement on getting compensation for work produced for “new media.” Let’s take each of those points separately…

Under the current (or I should say, expired) contract whenever a DVD is sold, the writer of that DVD is given .04 dollars. That wasn’t a mistake, on a 20 dollar DVD, the writer gets 4 cents. The WGA would like this increased to the whopping amount of…wait for it…8 cents. A few points on WGA union history…That 4 cents deal was originally “sealed” in the early 80’s. At the time the studios were claiming that is was not possible to know how profitable (or, if at all…PALEASE!) the video market might be, so they convinced the WGA to take 4 cents a video. The WGA consented on the basis that they would take it as an interim deal, and after the video market had a few years to further establish itself, then the video residuals would be re-negotiated. This, of course, never happened. So the WGA took a deal, 20 years ago, they knew was a little bogus, in an effort to help stabilize the video market but never got the deal they wanted, and had been promised would come at some point. I think all sane and rational people can agree that the 4 cents to 8 cents jump is reasonable.

The “new media” thing refers, specifically to the internet. The studios are claiming that (just like with the original video deal) that there is no way to know how successful the internet will be in generating revenue for video content produced or distributed there. Several studio executives, however, have touted (on video, man are they dumb) how much money they have made/will make from internet revenue. Probably the most well known case of this crap came from The Office. A couple of years ago the show produced some 5 minute webisodes during the summer. These were written by the show’s writing staff, acted in by the actors, etc. The writer’s got paid 0 dollars for their work…that’s right, not a single penny, because the studio claimed it was some sort of promotional material, and therefore, they weren’t required to pay the writers for it. Of course, that didn’t stop NBC from force streaming a commercial to anyone who wanted to watch the webisodes in question….

Basically, the WGA is saying, money is being made on internet stuff and we deserve our share as the people WHO WROTE THE SHIT!

And the fact of the matter is we are going to see that, over the next couple of decades, more and more people are going to “consume” their entertainment online. So that, essentially, is the more important issue of the two.

Here’s something that tells it much better than me, and it’s got a great soundtrack (one point, the video states that a song writer gets paid anytime his song is performed…that is not, actually, true…any one can perform any song live, without having to pay a usage fee because congress, in a rare act of sanity, thought it sensible that if you wanted to hear a Barbara Streisand song at your wedding you didn’t need to hire HER to sing it, or pay an exorbitant fee, but could just hire the nearest cover band, but I digress…)

And here’s one on the more specific details surrounding the writers of The Office…

One last point, lest you think WGA members are all money grubbing, as the first video points out, about 1/2 of all guild members are usually unemployed (thus is the nature of the entertainment industry). One point it doesn’t make, however, is that the average salary of a WGA member is in the 35,000 dollar range (that’s including the residuals). There are some who are ridiculously wealthy, yes, but the overwhelming majority are solidly in the middle class.

As my previous post suggested, the book is done, the deadline has been met and I have a very real sense of…nothing. My wife asked how I felt and I couldn’t really respond. Not empty, per say, but not triumphant either. In reality, the book still needs some minor tweaking before it starts going off to agents and publishers all over, but for where it was going, it’s probably all right. That final 20 pages, that I’ve been meaning to get to for 2 1/2 years (hey, get off my back I’ve been in grad school) actually turned out to be 150, but what’re you gonna do? The ending certainly works better, I think, having gone in the direction it did…and I guess, as much as I hate to admit it, deep down…like, REALLY deep down…I’m an optimist…who knew?

And wouldn’t you know it, in this week where I was already sleeping about 2 or 3 hours a night, the kid runs off and develops an allergic reaction to penicillin. Currently, her face resembles a half squished melon, and this morning she could open her eyes about half way. According to the doctor, it can take up to three months for hives to disappear completely…damn does it suck to be 1 1/2! See what you have to look forward to gilgrim and april? Aren’t you so totally psyched!

You know, it’s Friday afternoon. I have the very real possibility of sleeping more than four hours tonight. My books is done and sent off. I’m feeling pretty good.

Until, that is, I head over to The Newswire and find this….

I don’t know if I should cry or laugh?

I said to my wife, last night, if it comes down to McCain and Hillary, then McCain will destroy her. I base this on McCain’s (real or perceived) history as an independent thinking Republican. He can get away with military Hawkishness because of his military history much more than Hillary can in a general election. And given the choice of McCain or Hillary, all the GOP will go McCain out of sheer hatred for the Clintons, and I think he’ll draw more from the independents then she will.

But the point Coulter makes about their positions being so similar is true…

McCain scares the GOP because he does not tow the party line…which is fine, but does the GOP hierarchy even know what the party line is anymore? I mean after Bush jr who the f can tell.

If given the choice of McCain or Hillary, right now, I’d probably lean toward McCain. Even though I hate that after the 2000 election he felt the need to take a hard right, to set up this run at the white house, I can understand it. What I don’t understand is how someone with Hillary’s rhetoric can be the leading candidate for the “liberal” party.

God help us if Obama isn’t the Dems candidate.

Or, the best thing about the current WGA strike…

See them all at speechless

Look, if one candidate could get the backing of the powerful porn lobby, well that’d candidate would have an easy…sticky…march to the white house…

And as an added bonus, there’s a new, special, Super Tuesday poll up for everyone to vote even more today!

Just one more reason to further devote more of your life to us, faithful Normalinauts.

Wednesday is fiction day!

Well, we’ll say that Wednesday is the intended day for fiction. I can’t promise that there won’t come a Wednesday when you don’t get a new episode, but I will try my utmost to keep it a weekly thing.

Now, on this Wednesday, for instance, if you click over there on The Repository, you can read the first installment of The Dawn Lights the Way. Being as this is the prologue, and I had homework to do last night, this is more or less just a teaser, a promo, a trailer, if you will.

Enjoy!