thirtysomething...

And why did it take me this long to listen to these guys?


Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism





If I remember correctly Passenger Seat was played on an episode of Californication...


Me Likes.

The Writers Guild of America Strike is driving me crazy. For the past few days it has really been the only topic running through my brain. Last night I started working on this piece in my head and when I woke up it was my first thought. WGA WGA WGA... I don't know why yet, maybe by the end of this piece I'll know, but it has consumed me.

This morning I found an open letter on the Variety WGA Strike Blog from "an anonymous crew member" that comes close to how I feel.

A TV show is not created solely by writers. There is no denying the importance of their creative process, as well as the impact of a truly great script. However, these scripts would never make it to air if crews of people were not dedicated to making it happen...people who put in 15-20 hour days on stage or on grueling locations. These are the people who miss out on time with their families to finish a picture. These are the people who are still devoted to these shows and trying to work right now. These are the people who get paid a small fraction of what the writers do and are going to be unemployed for months during the holidays and beyond in result of this conflict. They have not gotten to make a choice in this matter, yet are somehow being continuously punished.

the full letter

The author goes on to say that he/she is neither on the writers' side nor the studios' side. The author feels for the below the line crew.

That is pretty much how I feel.

Why do I feel that way? Well, you see, in another life I was the infamous Best Boy/Grip/sometimes camera assistant. I was one of the Below The Line Crew.

When one part of the giant circle of motion picture production breaks down, the whole thing falls apart. You NEED a Crew to get everything in place. You NEED a Director (with a vision) to tell the story. You NEED a Producer to find all those people and get them to work together. You NEED Actors to give life to the story. And you MUST HAVE Writers to give us a purpose for being stuck on a plane full of venomous snakes. Take out any of those essential people and the whole plane crashes.

I have NO argument with the WGA demanding residuals from internet distribution. When The Wife and I were living in England, that was the only way we could keep up-to-date on our favorite US shows. We subscribed to their respective series on iTunes Music Store. We didn't download "free" Bit-Torrent versions of the shows. We paid for them. The nice thing about paying those shows is that the iTMS downloads have no commercials. Which on broadcast TV is how those shows make money, and in return pay residuals to the creative members of the production. The new NBC Hulu site will air shows for free, but with advertisements. So, even though the consumer doesn't pay outright for entertaining TV, the studio is still making money off the writers and not kicking any back to the "Team".

A new form of distributing your work is created and you aren't getting revenue from that aspect, where's the equality in that? I for one hope the writers get what they are entitled to and this strike ends soon because even though the Below The Line Crew isn't technically on strike, they are by default or will be in the not so distant future.

This strike may only boil down to 4 cents on the dollar, but in the long run it is worth so much more to a considerable larger group of hard working people.

Think these rims would be too heavy to autocross with?



Too bad there's no Silver 73 to place bets on...

via: TechEBlog

And it's a shame really, because you guys can't read what I'm thinking about most of the time. I literally do it all day, every day. I'm constantly writing commentary or extra dialogue to things going on around me. Usually at work. And most of it is quite sarcastic.

But the bad part is, those stories never make it home with me to be typed out to share with you lot. I'd love to be able to sit down and write them down while I'm at work, but 1. There's no time. 2. I'd probably get fired for sitting around and writing stories all day long. and 3. If I was writing all day long, I'd never have any interaction with customers & life in general to comment on. So you see my predicament?

My boss does it occasionally. Sitting down and writing a small bit. Not for a blog though, she's working on a book of sorts. Crazy stuff customers ask or say. Like asking for "Scream Wire" or wanting to know "Where's yer corkin at?" The latter one really gets me. Number One: It is behind the "at". Numero Duo: The word you're looking for is CAULKING not CORKIN. And C: Look around, the caulk is to your right. NO. Your other right.

And it all leads to THIS STORY, which if you actually know me, you've seen & heard me tell.

My absolute favorite customer story is one that I didn't witness. It actually happened to me. A woman (sorry ladies...) came in asking for an air conditioner filter. 24 inches by 12 inches, or something rectangular like that. I say OK, we've got that. Walk down to the AC filter aisle, grab a 12x24 filter and walk out holding it like this:



I walk up to the counter and she's got this scowl on her face, "No, that's NOT what I asked for. I ASKED for a 24 by 12 filter."

Ok. No Problem.

So I rotate the filter (right infront of her) so it is oriented like this:



"NO. THAT'S NOT RIGHT!"

I walk BACK to the filter aisle. Stand there with the SAME FILTER for about 30 seconds (she can't see me) and walk back out carrying THE SAME FILTER!! "Well, I had to search a bit for it, but we have ONE left!!"



"PERFECT! That's the one I wanted"