Eclectic Views

    
Oh wait, this segment is definitely written (Chuck Norris jokes, etc),
but in it, Stewart mentions having to make 80s movies references,
because he doesn't have any writers to make more current references:

<http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=147189&title=celeb-endorsements>

Now I'm really confused, isn't Jon Stewart in the WGA?
  

    
Well, there's a settlement, but professional curmudgeon Harlan Ellison
doesn't like it one damn bit.  (Then again, what *does* he like?)

HARLAN ELLISON ON THE WRITERS STRIKE SETTLEMENT

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE:

Creds: got here in 1962, written for just about everybody, won the
Writers Guild Award four times for solo work, sat on the WGAw Board
twice, worked on negotiating committees, and was out on the picket
lines with my NICK COUNTER SLEEPS WITH THE FISHE$$$ sign. You may have
heard my name. I am a Union guy, I am a Guild guy, I am loyal. I
fuckin’ LOVE the Guild.

And I voted NO on accepting this deal.

My reasons are good, and they are plentiful; Patric Verrone will be
saddened by what I am about to say; long-time friends will shake their
heads; but this I say without equivocation…

THEY BEAT US LIKE A YELLOW DOG. IT IS A SHIT DEAL. We finally got a
timorous generation that has never had to strike, to get their asses
out there, and we had to put up with the usual cowardly spineless
babbling horse’s asses who kept mumbling “lessgo bac’ta work” over and
over, as if it would make them one iota a better writer. But after
months on the line, and them finally bouncing that pus-sucking dipthong
Nick Counter, we rushed headlong into a shabby, scabrous, underfed
shovelfulla shit clutched to the affections of toss-in-the-towel summer
soldiers trembling before the Awe of the Alliance.

My Guild did what it did in 1988. It trembled and sold us out. It gave
away the EXACT co-terminus expiration date with SAG for some bullshit
short-line substitute; it got us no more control of our words; it
sneak-abandoned the animator and reality beanfield hands before anyone
even forced it on them; it made nice so no one would think we were
meanies; it let the Alliance play us like the village idiot. The WGAw
folded like a Texaco Road Map from back in the day.

And I am ashamed of this Guild, as I was when Shavelson was the prexy,
and we wasted our efforts and lost out on technology that we had to
strike for THIS time. 17 days of streaming tv!!!????? Geezus, you
bleating wimps, why not just turn over your old granny for gang-rape?

You deserve all the opprobrium you get. While this nutty festschrift
of demented pleasure at being allowed to go back to work in the rice
paddy is filling your cowardly hearts with joy and relief that the
grips and the staff at the Ivy and street sweepers won’t be saying
nasty shit behind your back, remember this:

You are their bitches. They outslugged you, outthought you,
outmaneuvered you; and in the end you ripped off your pants, painted
yer asses blue, and said yes sir, may I have another.

Please excuse my temerity. I’m just a sad old man who has fallen among
Quislings, Turncoats, Hacks and Cowards.

I must go now to whoops. My gorge has become buoyant.

Respectfully, Yr. Pal, Harlan Ellison
  

    

> My gorge has become bouyant

What a great phrase!
  

    

Wow.  Harlan is such a vivid voice.

I was just reading a Salon piece, with varied responses in the Letters:  
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2008/02/15/strike/

Author Marc Norman says "If history is written by the winners, let 
me gloat.." in that piece.  A different take on the matter entirely.  
  

    
Harlan is right.  It's a terrible deal.  After a completely
unnecessary strike that hurt writers before, during and now after.
  

    

sigh... Sorry to hear that it seems that way to you too, (fjlawton).
  

    
I don't know how it would seem to be a good deal to anyone.

Patric Verrone promised the moon (double residuals for DVDs) and lead
everyone out onto a completely unnecessary strike and got…

Nothing.

Worse than nothing.  We completely give up residuals for the internet.
 For the first time in our Guild's history, the studios can replay our
programing for free.  (During a "promotional" period.)  And then can
endlessly pay our programming for a few hundred dollars.

This is a massive give-away to the corporations, who are also now
driving down writers prices thanks to a "new" development model caused
by the strike.  (Not to mention the dozens of writes who lost
development deals and will never get them back.)

Meanwhile, Patric is flirting with running for public office outside
of the Guild.  Nice to see those member paid for concerts and picnics
and photo ops had some pay off.

I'm sure the major corporations Patric assisted with this huge payday
will be happy to donate to him if he wants to run for congress.
  

    
Check out this link which raises a lot of questions about Hollywood
and inside the WGA blogger Nikki Finke.

http://www.observer.com/2008/feisty-nikki-finke-esteemed-hollywood-blogger-sticks-actor-sues-financial-firm

I've always suspected that Nikki Finke was secretly a mouthpiece for
the WGA and the studios, helping spin the myth of the WGA taking a
tough stand on the new contract.  But I never thought she would be
exposed so blatantly.

Her covering up her relationship to lawyer Neville Johnson really
calls into questions her reporting.  Especially her failure to report
on the WILLIAM RICHERT VS. WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA lawsuit.
 
  

    
Ugh.  Blogger journalistic ethics is certain to be a growing area 
of interest.
  

    
Eric Hughes has updated his site with more commentary on the WILLIAM
RICHERT VS. WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA lawsuit about the theft of Foreign
Levies due to writers.  This is really amazing stuff: 

http://www.screenrights.net/invented/cfodep/liesunderoath.php