Primarily, marily, marily, marily…
Damn it, Barack.
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StarTrek.com is Up For Grabs!
For the past, um… well, I guess… 10 years or so, whenever I’ve gotten bored and found nothing else to do online I’ve often ended up at StarTrek.com. It’s not the best of websites, and definitely is not the most exhaustive Star Trek site on the internet, but since it was the official, network owned site they’d often have breaking news and photos before anybody else.
Well, it turns out those breaking news and photos might have gotten them in trouble.
I thought it was a little odd that a studio-owned site would follow the WGA strike since, you know, it’s pretty much general consensus that the studios are the ones being dicks. Their coverage of “Star Trek Day” at the picket lines was very pro-WGA.
So, it wasn’t really “surprise” as much as “shock” that I felt when I went to StarTrek.com today and read the following message from the web team:
12.14.2007
Goodbye from the STARTREK.COM Team
Sadly, we must report that CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the STARTREK.COM site has been eliminated. Effective immediately.We don’t know the ultimate fate of this site, which has served millions of Star Trek fans for the last thirteen years.
If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com - we hope someone at CBS will read them.
Thank you for your loyal fandom over the years. It has been a pleasure to serve you.
So there you have it.
First the cancellation of Enterprise and then the shutdown of the entire StarTrek.com website–man, Trek isn’t doing too good these days. But with the JJ Abrams’ movie still in production, I’m guessing the studio is taking this opportunity to make www.startrek.com into the site for just that movie. Since it’s a “reboot,” my guess is that they are trying to lure in “the next generation” of fans by erasing the vast Star Trek mythology that’s been established over the past 40 years.
They’ll never come out and say either of these things, though. Saying they fired the creative team because of their pro-WGA stance would make them look like asses, and saying they want to “reboot” Star Trek would make a lot of established fans angry. Instead, they’ll say something like “to better serve your needs, we’ve restructured the often dense and thoroughly comprehensive Star Trek universe in order to offer a better user entertainment soultion.”
Rage… rage against the machine!
UPDATE: Here is a picture of the people who ran the site and who will no doubt be very concerned about how they’ll make it through Christmas (er, sorry, “the holidays.”)
Waaaaait a minute, waitaminute, waitaminute.
This is something I just realized: since when are direct competitors cooperating when it comes to how much they pay their employees? Holy frakkin crap, that just sounds inherently evil.
Imagine Ford, GM, Chrysler, etc, teaming up to decide how much they want to pay their employees! Or Kroger, Walmart, and Meijer having meetings to discuss how much they’re going to pay their grocery baggers! What if the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Washtenaw Community College, and every school in the state met to decide on a fixed wage for their media support staff (that’s me)?
Isn’t that illegal?
It sure sounds illegal.
If NBC wants to pay their writers 100% more than what they’re getting now, can’t they do that? From the sounds of things, the answer is no, because all the other studio heads would have to agree. That makes no sense. If NBC wanted to dominate in ratings for the next 10 years, all they’d have to do is make a deal with the striking writers. Talent would flock to them. Ratings would soar, they’d get tons of ad revenue, and everyone would get rich.
Why aren’t they??
Am I missing something?
I can’t figure this one out. No comic today because I’m lost in my thoughts–what are yours?
*****
Off-topic: Lost, Season 3 DVDs are out today. My mom hinted she got them for me for Christmas, so if that’s the case, my 2 week vacation coming up will be filled with sugar plums, dancing fairies, and tons of Lost.
Another One About the WGA
So nobody but Katy liked the bouncing ball I made, huh? S’allright. Here’s another blog — CUMMINATCHA!
Ronald D. Moore, creator/executive producer/head writer of Battlestar Galactica.
Carlton Cuse, executive producer/head writer of Lost.
The undeniable logic here is that all the writers are asking for is a percentage of the ad revenue: therefore, if the studios really don’t make anything, the writers, by definition, won’t either.
To illustrate this: an article. Since you likely won’t read it, it’s about Google, specifically about how they’ve already proven that ad-revenue can indeed work on the internet. That’s how they make their money, and they are a billion dollar company. It goes on to say that Google could theoretically change the game completely: the writers want a deal, and Google knows how to do it. Google could buy out the ENTIRE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY right now and put the networks right out of business. If the networks claim that the internet is “too new,” then get with a distributor who actually lives in the 21st century.
Battlestar Galactica was supposed to get a final 22 episode season starting in January. Now, only 10 episodes will be shown starting in April. Who knows when the next 10 will air, or, even more depressing, if they’ll even be shot at all.
Heroes is currently filming a different ending to their December episode that will end up being the season finale. The much hyped spin-off, “Heroes: Origins” has been cancelled (this may have more to do with the show sucking this year, though.)
“24″ will likely not be seen at all in 2008. To fill this time, and other primetime slots left open by the strike, FOX will air American Idol (no writers there!) 4 nights in a row, 2 hours each. ::ack::
Reality TV will take over.
I guess the reason I’m into this so much is not because I like TV and am mad my favorite shows are in jeopardy (that’s part of it), but because some small part of me still holds onto the hope that maybe one day I’ll actually write something good that’ll get on TV, and, I’ve been saying for a while that the TV medium is dated, so, this very well might be the turning point where everything changes. (I used to think new TV shows would debut on TV first, and then the rest will be straight-to-DVD. But now, as indicated above, I’m leaning more toward the OnDemand thing merging with the internet.)
At least the possibility of shows hiring scab writers in the interim seems low: many show-runners have refused to go into work until their writers get a fair deal.
Or, they could come to an agreement tomorrow and everything will be fine.
Obama Statement on Writers Guild Strike
“I stand with the writers The Guild’s demand is a test of whether media corporations are going to give writers a fair share of the wealth their work creates or continue concentrating profits in the hands of their executives. I urge the producers to work with the writers so that everyone can get back to work.”
Hillary Clinton Statement On Writers Guild Strike
“I support the Writers Guild’s pursuit of a fair contract that pays them for their work in all mediums. I hope the producers and writers will return to the bargaining table to work out an equitable contract that keeps our entertainment industry strong and recognizes the contributions writers make to the success of the industry.”
Worser Stuff: Conspiracies, Writers Srikes, and Flash
Wow, lots of stuff I wanna talk about. I’d write about each subject individually and give each one the attention and patience it deserves but the fact is I don’t have that patience.
So, here we go:
TOPIC 1: Conspiracy, Theories, and Stuff Adam Believes
Props to my friend Chrissa who posted some compelling videos on her blog:
Is it alarming? Does it scare you? Or are you just laughing? I’m kind of stretched between all three. A few things I believe:
1.) Any kind of world government will never last. One thing I learned in my higher education days was that to have any form of unity, you must be united against (or at least in contrast to) something else. Example: something is white only because there is black. So, unless we make contact with a bunch of other alien civilizations the way the old world made contact with all the other countries on the planet, we aren’t uniting against anybody. And if we do, it will fundamentally fail, civil wars will break out, and “territories” will divide upon themselves naturally. Kind of like how monopolies get broken up into smaller entities.
2.) “Wacko” theories aside, Bush is up to something. You can google this for more info, but I recently read an article about how the administration just passed a directive allowing the president the authority to suspend the constitution. Yup, that’s right. Bush can say, “hey, let’s, uh, get rid of that pesky constitution.” It’s called National Security Presidential Directive 51, or NSPD-51 for those in the know. So, in theory, Bush could totally declare an emergency (or fabricate one) and suspend the 2008 elections, and it would “technically” be 100% legal. Does that scare you?
3.) The North American Union sounds incredible feasible, but I won’t believe the media covers it up. In today’s world of independent “bloggers” and Bill Maher-types, there are just too many voices and I refuse to believe something like this would be voluntarily silenced by everybody. However, the Project for a New American Century was just as eerie, but the only way I know about that is a professor at college whom everyone deemed a “conspiracy theorist.” The thing is, that thing exists.
4.) The do-ability of implanting everyone on Earth with a microchip is small. I could see everyone in a developed country like America getting a chip. But what about the babies born outside the all watchful eye? We forget that half of this planet is home to undeveloped civilizations, where things we take for granted aren’t even heard of. There’s no way “they” could get to everybody.
Thoughts?
Dave, what do you think? Dave, why have we not seen each other except for 2 times since July?
TOPIC 2: The Writers Strike
The bottom line here is the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) vs the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The writers want a little more money for their work, or, more specifically, residuals each time their work airs for future financial security. Naturally, that money has to come from somewhere, and that place is naturally from the people in charge, who also happen to be the people making the decision: the AMPTP (otherwise known as “the suits”).
Far be it from me to form opinions on something I really don’t know if I know much about, but, it seems to me like the AMPTP has more to lose in the long run if they don’t give the writers what they want. Let’s say they drag this thing out and refuse any more money for the writers, thereby keeping the money they have. Sure, they make out great now. But in nine months when no new shows are on, or, worse case scenario, LOST gets pushed back until 2009 (a real threat), nobody will be watching. No viewers = no draw for advertisers = no money for anyone, not even the suits.
Simple logic, right? I think so, anyway. I don’t get it.
The following paragraph is an excerpt from an article about the strike and how it effects Lost:
If the strike extends into the new year, there is a slight chance ABC may opt to hold the eight completed episodes until 2009 (that’s not a typo). Under that scenario, Lost would have 24 original episodes (eight from this season, 16 from next) that could run uninterrupted from January until May — much like a certain Fox drama that features a ticking clock. Says Lost cocreator Carlton Cuse, “Damon (Lindelof) and my concern about running the episodes we will have made is that it will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down. There is a mini cliff-hanger at the end of Episode 8, but it’s like the end of an exciting book chapter; it’s not the end of the novel. Damon and I didn’t write [the ending of Episode 8] differently [with the looming strike in mind]. We wrote it to be the ending of Episode 8.”
If you want to help, drop the suits a line here and tell them what’s up.
The human attention span is a feeble thing. Putting a 13 week hiatus in the middle of Lost’s third season almost killed it. Having an 18 month break will be the equivalent of it getting canceled. We’ve waited 3 years for some kind of payoff and if it gets canceled, well, I can’t see any writer devoting their talent to a medium that doesn’t take them seriously. The end result = no good progrums on the TV. End of TV, beginning of… new TV? No more scheduled programs, just on-demand.
WORSER CARE SCENARIO: They hire new writers. That would be like attempting to switch bus drivers doing 80 down the highway.
Thoughts?
TOPIC 3: Flash
I attended a Flash class today. U of M (my employer) offers classes on various pieces of software for employees. So I got to leave for a few hours today and learn the basics of Flash. The end result? I made a video. How sweet.
Bye for now, suckers!
Are you smarter than a fifth of U.S. Americans?
Incase you haven’t seen, watch this…
Miss South Carolina Teen
Pundits are having a field day dogpiling on poor Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen. Asked in competition, “One fifth of Americans can’t locate the United States on a world map; why do you think that is?” her response was rambling and literally incoherent, with non-sequitor observations about Iraq and South Africa. She has since said she froze. Genuine freezing might have been preferable; saying nothing would have been better than what she did say.
I refuse to make fun of her. Personally–and I’m completely serious here–I’m wondering if she didn’t have a sort of mini-stroke brought on by the stress of the moment. It makes sense to me. People who have had strokes sometimes find themselves unable to say the words they’re thinking; instead random words are tossed out. Circumstances such as those that she found herself in would be enough to burst a blood vessel in anyone’s head. They probably did dry runs with her about assorted world topics and her synapses just started spitting out fragments of those replies.
Second, I don’t think that a country that has tolerated seven years of a president so characterized by malaprops that entire 365-day calendars are devoted to them–a president whose town-hall meeting questions are carefully vetted before they’re spoken–gets to laugh too hard at a scared teenager who had a tough question sprung on her. Caitlin Upton has to do her own damage control; she doesn’t have a press secretary to face reporters the next day after a session of babbling incoherence and say, “Okay, what she MEANT to say was…”
And it WAS a tough question, because in thirty seconds she had to try and come up with an answer that was fundamentally upbeat and positive because, hey, that’s what beauty pagents are all about. If someone asked me that question and I had to come up with an off-the-cuff response, it would be this…
“One fifth? I’m surprised it’s that low. On the quiz show “Power of Ten” it was recently revealed that twenty-five percent of surveyed Americans believed that the inventor of the diesel engine was Vin Diesel. The fact is that obesity is not the number one health problem in this country, it’s stupidity. A lot of Americans are stupid. Bone dry stupid. Stupid as a box of rocks. They were born stupid, they were stupid in school, and they became stupid grown-ups. And there’s enough of them out there to have a considerable impact on this country, because morons are running for high office and morons are voting for them and putting them in there. Americans are oblivious to the rest of the world, and if that were not the case, then maybe our leaders might have listened when the rest of the world said, ‘Stay the hell out of Iraq, you morons.’ Many Americans have a fundamental arrogance that stems from a basic lack of intellectual curiosity. They don’t read. They don’t learn. They don’t think. They tune out with television or computer games or Ipods and obsess about what Lindsay or Britney or whatever other troubled pop tart is up to rather than caring about things that really matter.
Our educational system needs to be overhauled beyond the test-centric mandates of No Child Left Behind. If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and he will feed himself for ever. Students need to be taught HOW to think, not WHAT to think. More money needs to be spent on programs for kids who are already gifted so that those gifts can be fully realized and brought to fruition. We need to remember that the arts enrich a civilization; that science and scientific thinking is not the enemy; that it is more important to care for poor people over here than blow up poor people in other countries.
The fact that one fifth of Americans can’t find the country on the map pales beside the likelihood that one fifth of Americans probably couldn’t find their own asses with both hands and a flashlight. And that stupidity is going to continue to be a hallmark of our country until we work together to remedy the situation from the top down.”
Not an easy thing to sound upbeat about in thirty seconds, is it.
My condolences to Ms. Upton. Now…she needs to strive to be part of the solution, rather than be dismissed as part of the problem.
PAD
Here she is on Good Morning America (which happens to be owned by the same company that owns the pagent…. hmm… I wonder if that’s just a coincidence?)
heh heh…
heh heh hA…
HA HA hA hA hA…
