Monthly Archives: December 2007

Friday items from fellow Debaclers! No microfiche reader necessary.

(Hey, it’s a random word generator for nouns starting with ‘f’.)

From MyMidnightMuse:
When the Stars Walk Backwards, Chapter 3
When the Stars Walk Backwards, Chapter 4

Two for one this week at Kristine’s!

“He lies.” Bryce looked up, meeting Mac’s gaze. “I used to think computers couldn’t do that, but I know he does, sometimes.”

Mac sighed and leaned forward, setting his water bottle down. “Years ago, when they first had success with these artificial intelligence units, they had some problems. Manufacturing something with a sense of self is asking for trouble, in my opinion. But they didn’t ask me.” Bryce nodded, and set his empty bottle on the step beside him. “We found the records Five was keeping had been heavily encrypted, which goes against everything he was designed for.”

“He always told me his memory was damaged. Was that true?” Bryce’s face took on a determined look. “Did he remember what happened to everyone?”

“We think so.” [more]

Upon Reflection: Literary Doodling, Part 3:

Ed finds a surprisingly relevant entry in an old 1985 journal:

I lit a cigarette in my cupped hands. Underway, smoking at night on deck is forbidden, but we were at anchor with our warning lights glowing. Still, I was quite certain that with each puff of the cigarette my face lit up like a lighthouse beacon, alerting my presence on deck to any ship on the horizon. [more]

Thingymablog: I Can Haz Charlz Dickenz?:

Mary does it again! With pictures! Kitteh Klassiks: A Tail of Two Kitties!

Dis kitteh smart.
Dis kitteh, not so much.

[more]

Castle Debacle: Alternative Media:

Lori has an open discussion about the future of short fiction.

In yesterday’s Guardian, there was a rant about advertising on the back of tube tickets being equated to great underground literature. This got me thinking on an unrelated tangent.

More and more markets are coming forward to present readers with readily available fiction. [more]

Spontaneous Derivation: Crime and Violins, Part 4:
500 words every Friday. Sometimes, that doesn’t seem to be enough.

“Look, I’m no crime-fighting hero,” said Zene. “I just play the damn cello as damn well as I can. You’re going to have to find another sap for the detective bit of the business, Arcady.” [more]

And remember: Fiche for the Future!

From a current press release from the DGA:

Although the DGA has a long history of early negotiations, this year we held off starting our own formal talks with the AMPTP for two months out of respect for our sister guild. Instead, we watched the writers’ negotiations closely while preparing for our turn at bat.

…

Because we want to give the WGA and the AMPTP more time to return to the negotiating table to conclude an agreement, the DGA will not schedule our negotiations to begin until after the New Year, and then, only if an appropriate basis for negotiations can be established. If that’s the case, then the DGA will commence formal talks in the hope that a fresh perspective and the additional pressure we can bring to bear will help force the AMPTP to settle the issues before us in a fair and reasonable manner.

This is a good sign; the DGA and the WGA are, for the moment, in tandem with each other as far as negotiation schedules go.

My secondary character has become the main character and probably will be the main character for the rest of the series. To make things even better, he’s going to be one of those tricky main characters. And he will survive this book when he wouldn’t have before.

Crud.

Well, at least the idea for the series is now on ground so stable I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier.

Still though.

:rips up pages of outline:

United Hollywood: UPDATE: The First Delivery of Pencils2MediaMoguls!

I embedded a slideshow of their Flickr photo set here:

http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=20723153@N06&set_id=72157603434692744&text=
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Enjoy!

At United Hollywood:

The problem is that the other side’s spin is working and some writers are actually buying it. Some writers are saying we ought to take these two issues, animation and reality, off the table.

Now, the last time we were told to take something off in order to make progress, we did and absolutely nothing happened. We took off DVDs – which was a very, very painful give – and we got nothing for it. So we should trust these people now?

But let’s say we did trust them. Let’s say we didn’t mind being bullied. Well, there’s one thing you should know because we know it for sure: Their ultimatum wasn’t about reality and animation. It was an insincere attempt to get us to give away the whole negotiation.

…

Anyone remember the 88 strike? If you weren’t there, trust me, it wasn’t pretty. Management’s friends, lawyers and managers and agents and folks who surely had only our best interest at heart convinced television writers that they shouldn’t fight for revenue for this new fangled video tape thing because it was going to amount to pennies, and anyway, their TV shows were never going to end up on video tape. And so the guild cracked in two, we gave up a fair video and DVD formula we had hard won, and in so doing gave away millions and millions of dollars – screen and TV writers included.

[more]

YouTube – The AMPTP Responds: “The NBC Plan”

YouTube – The AMPTP Responds: “The NBC Plan”

United Hollywood: A Reality Writer Responds to the AMPTP:

Dear AMPTP,

Today, I read on your website, “thousands of people in reality and animation have chosen not to join the WGA.”

This statement is false.

As a writer (aka “Supervising Producer”, the name I’m given to get around having to give me a WGA contract) who has worked in reality television for over three years and who knows many people on the reality circuit, I can tell you that reality writers desperately want to be part of the WGA.

…

We cannot join the guild until we meet the qualifications of the WGA and that means being called a “writer.” Because of this, you refuse to call us “writers.” You give us many other titles like “segment producer,” “consultant,” anything that does not have “writer” in the title. Yet, that’s what we do in reality television. We write.

[more]