Supporting the Writers Guild Strike
I'm in full support of the 10-day-old Writers Guild strike, which you can follow by reading their strike blog United Hollywood and television writer Mark Evanier's News From Me blog. There's a lot of money being made in DVD sales and online viewing of TV shows, and writers get bupkiss, as Lost head writer Damon Lindelof explains:
My show, Lost, has been streamed hundreds of millions of times since it was made available on ABC's Web site. The downloads require the viewer to first watch an advertisement, from which the network obviously generates some income. The writers of the episodes get nothing. We're also a hit on iTunes (where shows are sold for $1.99 each). Again, we get nothing. ...
I am angry because I am accused of being greedy by studios that are being greedy. I am angry because my greed is fair and reasonable: if money is made off of my product through the Internet, then I am entitled to a small piece. The studios' greed, on the other hand, is hidden behind cynical, disingenuous claims that they make nothing on the Web -- that the streaming and downloading of our shows is purely "promotional." Seriously?
I sent Evanier an email asking how strike-supporting viewers can help put the screws to producers and force a deal. I won't be happy if this strike ends up killing my soaps, which have been teetering on the brink of doom and would be unlikely to survive if they stopped broadcasting new episodes for any length of time. It would be particularly cruel if General Hospital were cancelled so soon after Kelly Monaco's character bought a hot tub. Evanier's advice: "Don't watch reruns and filler shows. Complain about them." I can do that, no matter how much my TiVo wants me to catch up on Ugly Betty.
One of the only perks of a strike in the entertainment business is that the pickets are entertaining, like this rant by Everybody Hates Chris producer Ali LeRoi and series star Todd Bridges.
"We got kids, man," LeRoi said. "How do you think Todd Bridges ended up on crack? He was broke. We don't want our kids to end up on crack; give us our DVD money."
Credit: The strike photo was taken by NoHoDamon and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
Comments
Screw the writers and screw Hollyweird, their slanted, left wing view of the world creates drooling moHrons who would rather hate America then savage terrorists.....
I say a pox on both their houses and I hope they go out of business....As long as sports stay on the tube, I could care less....
Are you talking about the same America-hating Hollywood folks who created and produced "America: A Tribute To Heroes," the televised benefit that raised over 30 million dollars for the families of the victims of September 11th?
Or maybe you're referring to the America-hating Hollywood folks who organized "The Concert for New York City" which raised over 35 million dollars?
Or "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope" which raised over five million dollars for victims of Hurricane Katrina (which - among the celebrities - included President Bush and President Clinton)?
Or the 50 million dollars raised by those America-hating Hollywood types during "A Concert for Hurricane Relief"?
Or did you mean shitbag Hollywood actor Paul Newman whose Newman's Own products have raised over 200 million dollars for charity?
Or were you referring to that asshole movie actor Jerry Lewis - who's raised over a billion dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association?
Yeah - those Hollywood people are real assholes who fucking loathe America. For sure.
Bourne, get a clue buddy. It's same Hollyweird that made Redacted, and Lions For Lambs, and every other shit movie demonizing the American military for the last 35 years......
Name one movie that glorifes the bravery of Americas fighting men and women produced by Hollyweird 'outside of Mel Gibson'....Name one movie that shows the evil of terrorists like Bin Laden and Zarcahwi produced by Hollyweird since 9/11.....You can't, because there are none.....
You are brainwashed with hate by a lifetime of liberal anti- American propganda.....you don't know any better....
BTW, Everything Newman's Own makes is crap, he should figure out how to make a salad dressing that doesn't taste like spoiled vinegar and spend less time sending money to the 'blind, midgets with cirrhosis
' foundation....
That's it? Seriously? I just have to name a good war movie and I win? Okay... Patton, The Longest Day, The Great Escape, Saving Private Ryan, Stalag 17, Sergeant York and of course Stripes. Yay! I win! Damn, that was easy!
You just proved my point 'Bourne'. After WW II, American soliders became blood thirsty, uneducated killers, whose only goal in life was killing and getting home.....How do I know this?
People like Brain DePalma told me so, and he knows because he read the 'Winter Solider' comments of Hanoi John...The Ultimate Swift Boater, who sold every man that ever served in Vietnam down the river....
You're brainwashed and you don't know any better, you only know what you have been indoctrinated to know.....I pity your ignorance....
Brian DePalma thinks the plot of Stripes was "blood thirsty, uneducated killers, whose only goal in life was killing and getting home"? News to me. Still though - funny flick.
Were the post-WWII soldiers in Black Hawk Down "blood thirsty, uneducated killers, whose only goal in life was killing and getting home"? Christ, I hope so, because all I'm trying to do is prove your/Brian DePalma's point.
Keep laughing Bourne, you know I'm right but can't afford to admit it. The simple fact is, Hollyweird has spent decades demonizing the American armed forces, they have made every conflict about 'vietnam'.
They do this for two reasons.
1. They wish they were back in their hippy, pot smoking, draft dodging days (like Bill Clinton did at Cambridge)
2. they have been brainwashed by a lifetime of movies that indoctrinated them into this demented train of thought.
Unlike you, I spent my entire early life on navy/marine bases. I spent 4 years in the Army culiminsting in the 1st gulf conflict.
I know for a fact that the US armed forces are NOT rapist and murders, but the best America has to offer. People who believe in their country and fight for all Americans freedom.
Even Robert Redford and Brian De Palma.
BTW, look at who played the soldiers in Black Hawk Down, almost every one of them was NOT an American. And it was a story about a military and political 'defeat' and botched operation. Not about a US victory.
So first you say I can't name a Hollywood movie where the heroes are American military men. I name several.
So you flip-flop and change your challenge - you say it has to be movie set in post-WWII. I name Stripes, Black Hawk Down.
So you flip-flop and change your challenge again - you say it has to be a conflict we won... or it has to be a movie with an all American cast. (Or both?)
Dude, you're the guy who plays HORSE and after you miss the shot, you say that the rebound was part of your shot. Nobody likes that guy.
Tell you what - you name the post-WWII war that the US won, and then I'll pick the movie where the heroes are American soldiers.
Unless you're willing to accept Stripes, since the heroes are victorious and the actors are mostly American (might be a Canadian in there).
Oh yeah - as a matter of fact, I did spend my entire early life on military bases - I'm an Army brat.
How can I get unbrainwashed like you? I really want to know!
I could care less what you believe, if fact, you only cofirm my thesis.
I don't want to 'prove' anything to you, that is impossible, you are too far gone already.
Both sides are greedy. What's wrong with that? This is just a contract negotiation. Copyright and rights to royalties can be sold or traded in this society, just like you can sell your car. The writers took a risk and did that the last time and regret it now. Now they're negotiating a new contract and they want different terms. They may get them and they may not, just like when you ask your boss for higher salary you may get it or not. There's no great moral issue here. It's just an arms length business negotiation, with all the brinksmanship, hyperbole, and power plays you find in any negotiation.
I am a Republican Army brat who commends those who raise millions for victims of terrorist attacks against our country and natural disasters (whether the philanthropists be ordinary folks or Hollywood actors. I also like war movies where Americans are the heroes. You are right, Rex - I truly am too far gone.
We are talking about two different things Bourne, niether of which is the real subject of this thread.
Hollyweird is stuck in some hatefilled memory of vietnam, just look at the few movies that have came out about the Iraq War and the war on terrorism.
Everyone of them is anti american, and portrays America as the instigator and nemesis.
It's not my opinion, it's fact.
"Brian De Palma wants to stop the war, and he thinks his new movie about an Iraqi girl's rape can help, regardless of the consequences or the rights and privacy of Iraqis. In a Friday August 31 Reuters article, De Palma asserted "The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people. Sky News online picked up the thread that he hoped his film "Redacted" will alert people about "these horrible things things that are happening, this horrible war that I am financing as an American citizen."
De Palma's comments were made Friday, at the Venice Film Festival, after showing the movie that is supposedly based on the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl from Mahmudiya who was then killed and her house set on fire. You know, every day stuff in the military."
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving.
No, the problem is that you keep saying "you can't name a movie that..." and then when I do, you avoid the fact that I've just disproved your point. Then you go off on another tangent rather than admit that your thesis doesn't hold water.
Here's another one.
What part of Flight 93 - about the American heroes who sacrificed their own lives to prevent further American deaths - "is anti-American and portrays America as the instigator and nemesis"? Just tell me which part.
I think you are confused, I could care less what you think.
I made a declarative statement, you responded to it.
I am under no obligation to change your mind, nor anwser any of your questions.
My statement is a statement of fact.
Hollyweird demonizes the American soldier, they vietnamize ever conflict and show the US solider as a rapist or murdering thugs.
They do this because John Kerry lied to the world and told the us they were. And for the last 30 years, 90% of every war movie that is about vietnam and now the Iraq war, shows the US as the cause, agressors, and killers.
Yeah, the only problem is that your "statement of fact" has a million holes in it.
Hollywood doesn't demonize the American soldier. Hollywood has made zillions of dollars glamorizing terrorist-fighters. We're up to 3 seasons of 24, where an American terrorist fighter singled-handedly kicks the asses of terrorists. Or do you think Joel Surnow hates America too?
And was Major Dad an anti-military series?
Your thesis - that you desperately want Hollywood to be the bad guys - just isn't true. And since it's so easy to come up with evidence to refute it, it's driving you crazy. In this last post, you went from "every movie" Hollywood makes is anti-soldier to "90%" is about how the US are aggressors." Again, since I've easily shown your theory to be false, you have to try once again to move the goal posts in a desperate attempt to try to save your hopelessly inaccurate theory.
Who are the good guys in Flight 93, Rex? Who are the good guys in Top Gun? Who are the good guys in Black Hawk Down?
Americans, Americans, Americans.
And who are the bad guys? Al Qaida, the Soviets, the Somalis.
See how your whole theory falls apart? Now, I know, you're gonna say "but Brian DePalma said..." But you see, Rex, Brian DePalma isn't the Lord Of Hollywood. He's one director. The dude who directed Mission To Mars. And Femme Fatale. And let's not forget that bomb Bonfire of the Vanities. He's not the president of any Guild, he's not in a leadership position of any kind.
Really, Rex? You're gonna pin your whole "Hollywood hates America" theory on the dude who directed Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" video?
Hollywood doesn't hate the military. And Hollywood doesn't hate America either. You see, Rex, Hollywood isn't an organized entity of any kind. If it were, there wouldn't be this Writers Strike. (Also, I would hope to God that if the entire media were an actual anti-government entity, our government could identify it quicker than a blogger - and then easily root out the problem.)
Hollywood is made up of several thousand assholes who are trying to tell stories - and the studios choose to film a small percentage of those stories. Why do they pick the ones they pick? Is it a political agenda? Nope. Sorry to disappoint, but Sony, Universal, Disney, Paramount, etc. choose which TV shows to green-light and which movies to film based on one thing: will 40 million people pay to see it in the first weekend it's in theaters. That's all they care about.
If they think 40 million people will pay to see Tom Cruise shoot down some MiGs, then they'll make Top Gun. If they think 40 million people will pay to see an animated rat cooking in a French kitchen, they'll film Ratatouie.
If they think millions will tune in to see Kiefer Sutherland torture an Arab to get information about a nuclear bomb, they'll green-light 24. If they think millions will tune in to see Paris Hilton possibly give a blow job to a camp counselor, they'll green-light The Simple Life.
Hollywood's agenda is the most conservative economic agenda of any business in America or the world. Hollywood is fine with having stupid people believe that they make movies/TV shows because they've "got something important to say!" But just like any other business, they're actually motivated by only one thing - money.
If Coca-Cola learned that consumers would buy twice as much Coke if it were in a yellow can, Coke would change colors tomorrow. Hollywood's "agenda" is no more than that - what will millions of people pay to see?
And the answer to that question is "lots of different things." Some shitty political movie with Robert Redford and Tom Cruz in it, some lame animated Bee Movie with Seinfeld, Flight 93, Glory, Pearl Harbor, Knocked Up, Three Kings, Dumb and Dumber, Schindler's List, Spider-man, and so on and so on and so on.
Some are about American's kicking ass. Some are about mistakes America's made. Some are about teenagers trying to get laid on the last week of school. Some are about the Fantastic Four. Some are about a rancher trying to get a gunslinger onto the 3:10 train to Yuma. Some are about Hobbits looking for a ring.
That's all, man. That's all. Sorry to let you down by revealing that there's no organized political agenda.
And to get back to my very first post, I'm not sure what's so "weird" about a bunch of actors and musicians raising billions - billions! - of dollars for victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks. I can't see how that could be viewed as anything as noble. And I'm mystified as how someone such as you could say that kind of grand scale philanthropy is a detestable thing.
You seem to be filled with hate at this nation and have nothing but intolerance for Americans with opnions other than yours. Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable in an environment like Communist China, where there isn't so much dissent.
As for me, whether I can stand the phoniness of Hollywood types, I can still realize that when the most well-off in our nation take the time to help and inspire others to help the least-well-off in our nation... well, that's what this country is all about, and it makes me proud to be an American.
Yea, right.......sure......
Guess you haven't watched many movies lately. 90+% of the garbage out of Hollyweird is anti american, every movie that has a political undertone portrays the goverment as evil, corrupt, and stupid. And those are it's good traits.
Go watch some of the Jason Bourne movies, who is the bad guy? Why lo and behold, it's the evil, stupid, American goverment. Where every plot begins and ends with evil America, and every american that isn't anti american, is a complete fool that Jason Bourne runs circles around. Isn't that nice?
So you have your head in the sand? so fricking what?
You choose to ignore that fact Hollyweird, it's directors, writers, actors, and associated personel, make a mockery out of the counrty that feeds and protects them.
I have as much snearing contempt for morons like Matt Damon and George Clooney as I have for the directors that feed america trash on a daily basis.
Like I said Bourne, you are brainwashed by a lifetime of idiocy and lies, you don't know any better, and you most likely never will.
The main heroes in the most recent Bourne movie ("The Bourne Supremacy") were all CIA agents: Bourne (CIA Agent), Pamela Landy (Deputy Director) and Nikki Parsons (Field logistics Coordinator). The CIA wasn't portrayed as all evil - there were a handful of rogue agents who were the bad guys. And at the end of the movie, those rogue agents had been brought to justice. (Maybe you walked out early?)
Just like how in a movie about TV (like "Network"), there are good people who work at the network and bad people who work at the network.
Or how in "Superman Returns," there are good people who live in Metropolis and bad people who live in Metropolis.
Or how in "3:10 to Yuma" there were good cowboys and bad cowboys.
Or how in any movie there are good people and bad people. Sometimes they even work at the same company. Or the same government agency.
Because in the movies, much like in life, not everyone who works at the same business (or government agency) is all good. You know that not every human working at the CIA is an angel. Some people working in our government are dicks. Not all, not most, but some. Just like there are some dicks who work at the post office. And some dicks who work at the supermarket. And some dicks who work at the dry cleaners. And some dicks who work at the DMV. Not all, not most, but some.
Which brings us back to this: Who are the good guys in Flight 93, Rex? Who are the good guys in Top Gun? Who are the good guys in Black Hawk Down? Why won't you answer these questions?
Because it would prove that Hollywood isn't the Problem. Because you don't truly believe that the dude who directed a Springsteen video... and the actor who was in "Stuck On You"... and the actor who played a sexy doctor on "ER" are the biggest threats to America.
You know that Hollywood actors and directors don't start wars or enslave people. All they do is make talking picture shows. So that you'll buy popcorn. Hollywood is in the business of selling popcorn, Rex. You know that.
And by the way, Clooney was the person who organized "America: A Tribute To Heroes," the televised benefit that raised millions and millions of dollars for the families of the victims of September 11th. You still haven't explained why organizing a telethon to raise money for the victims of Al Qaida is a bad thing.
Hollyweird SHOULD be in the act of selling popcorn Bourne, but in fact, they art in the majic act of selling zeitgeist and popular belief.
The winds of public opinion blow out the ass of Hollyweird and there is no balm that can staunch the fetid stench.
There is no reasoning with one who refuses to see reality and you, Bourne, refuse such understandings.
Hollyweird has a ingrained hatred of all things American.
When a republican is in power the zeitgeist is evil, for a democrat the zietgeist is bufoonish.
For Hollyweird, that IS all there IS.
You inantely know this, even if you refuse to acknowledge it.
You've convinced me, Rex. Hollywood is evil. I'll never look at Ronald Reagan, Fred Thompson, Charlton Heston or Chuck Norris the same way again.
Rex, you still haven't explained why George Clooney organizing a telethon to raise money for the victims of Al Qaida is a bad thing. Or who the heroes/villians of the movie Flight 93 were.
George Clooney? ahahahahhahahhah......
You know your quill is empty when you start using the clueless one in your examples.
Bourne, you were assistant to the 3rd grip on Hermans Head or something, right? So you are biased, I understand that, and I don't want to be the guy to tell you Santa Claus doesn't really exist.
So keep your fingers crossed and keep clicking your heels, the strike will be over soon and you can get back to watching mindless drivel 24/7.
Rex, you still haven't explained why George Clooney organizing a telethon to raise money for the victims of Al Qaida is a bad thing. Or who the heroes/villians of the movie Flight 93 were.
(it's fun to watch you run!)
Why would I explain anything about Clooney? I have more respect for the scuzz on the bottom of a toilet seat then for Clooney.
But you can be sure it has to do with self promotion and self agrandizment, Clooney thinks that reading a cue card and being informed are one in the same.
If George Clooney is your hero, I suggest you get a chia pet for companionship.
My heroes are the firefighters who died trying to rescue people from the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. Clooney and a whole bunch of other Hollywood actors raised millions for the wives and children of my heroes. Now - you're saying it's bad to raise money for the families of the victims of 9/11?
Rex, you dumbass, don't you get it? They're goading you. Every time you respond, you're giving their website another hit and then they can sell ad space for even MORE money! You're making these assholes rich!
Ahahahahahaha....I don't think Rogers is getting rich of this thread GIP.
And Bourne damn sure isn't gettting any smarter from it.
Cheer up Bourne, another job as third assistant, to the second grip, will come up soon. You will be back to werk and out of your aunts basement in no time.
Plus we all know, fire never melted steeel in human history. It had to be Cheney in the subbasement with the candlestick.
Hee hee! This is so much fun - every time you get trapped, you run! Sorry - I don't know what a "third assistant, to the second grip" is. Whatever that's code for, it still hasn't distracted anyone from the fact that you still can't admit that your position doesn't hold.
If it did, you'd be saying that you like the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans more than Hollywood actors/directors who raise money for their widows.
Oh, yeah - and you must've forgotten to answer the question from before - who are the good guys in Flight 93? Who are the good guys in Top Gun? Who are the good guys in Black Hawk Down? Maybe you'll answer this time (and thus admit that you were wrong before), but I'll bet dollars to donuts that you'll r u n! 'Cause that's what cowards do - they don't admit when they're wrong... they r u n! (Christ, this is easy!)
Rex, I gotta say you are kind of coming off like a douchebag. It's hard to make a case for hating actors who raise money for victims of terrorist attacks, no matter how dumb those actors may be.
Wow, Rex got owned on this thread.
Rex seems deeply invested in the absurd notion that "Hollyweird", as he calls it, is all about hating America. Rex "thinks" that movies like "Lions for Lambs" and "Rendition" are dedicated to infecting the zeitgeist with a self loathing factor for American viewers. Here's sommat fer Rex to chew on.
Art is the mirror we hold up to life.
If you don't like what's in the mirror?
Well, that's life, innit?
Spud would bet dollars to donuts that Rex's personal movie collection include the oft-viewed "Red Dawn" and "Rambo III".
Call it a hunch.
Be Well.
The whole lot of them need to quit whining and go back to work. They aren't fucking coalminers, they sit in an office (or at home) on their asses writing jokes. I would be glad to be able to even cash a paycheck doing something so unproductive and untalented. Once again, quit your bitching and go write more sitcoms.
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