Entry 65: "Countdown to E-Day"

Yo!

Please excuse my pride with this, but...

10,000 TOTAL XBOX360 GAMERSCORE ACCOMPLISHED SUNDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!

Before I begin this post, I'd just like to send a special shout-out to all the A.I. computer opponents and of course all those back in ranked Halo 3 Matchmaking who I kinda stepped on to get where I am today. Couldn't have done it without you. ...And your being in the wrong bullet/shell/chainsaw/grenade/laser/hammer-of-dawn radius at EXACTLY the right time. Also, thanks to developer Infinity Ward; those Call of Duty 4 Veteran achievements really do add up...

Still working on that darn "Seriously" achievement in Gears....

Moving on...

As I'm sure you're aware, this month marks exactly one year until the big election to determine who will succeed George W. Bush as the 44th President of the United States. Some of you readers know, as a rule, I try to avoid political topics in this blog, except when there's a really, really big thing happening at the time (a homosexual senator here, a congressional page scandal there... it varies...), but thanks to the timing, I wanted to try to run down the stakes for this election, as best as I, a 20-year-old who barely watches any news that doesn't come from Jon Stewart or Bill Maher, can. I'll just lay down the facts here, cite my sources as usual, and make this as abstract and insulting-joke-free as possible. Remember, unlike the usual stuff, this week's post isn't really meant to be as humorous as it is about information-gathering.

The Republicans

(conservatum-fearmongrum)

Lately, for the "Crimson Crusaders," a.k.a. the Republicans, you can't be taken seriously unless you make Keifer Sutherland look like Fred Rogers in comparison, especially at the debates ("Jack Bauer Justice" ring any bells?). Yet I doubt our good friend J.B. would ever be tapping his foot in an airport bathroom, which he never seems to use in the first place anyway (a bathroom, not his foot), or instant-messaging his way into some congressional page's pants, or almost blowing a friend's face off with an Elmer Fudd-style elephant gun, or something. Karl Rove's long gone, Alberto Gonzales is really gone, and the battle lines have been drawn. Rudy Giuliani, I believe, is still the majority frontrunner in the polls. One could argue it's because he's deliberately trying to appeal to the religious right, and not doing too bad of a job at that. Two weeks ago, he was officially endorsed by Pat "700 Club" Robertson, who claimed 9/11 happened because "God lifted his veil of protection from the United States in response to a progressive secular agenda."

Mike Huckabee's got a laundry list of feather-ruffling issues he's against: gun control, stem cells, abortion, evolution, gay marriage, gay adoption, and amnesty. Duncan Hunter appears to be the poster-candidate for Right-to-Life, what with his introducing and supporting House Resolution 552, which would "implement equal protection . . . for the right to life of each born and preborn human person." Oh, by the way, Hunter's a vocal supporter of the Patriot Act and the Bush Administration's methods of preventing more terrorist attacks. John McCain is extremely against the Bush tax-cuts and socialized medicine, but in favor of getting us off of foreign oil... By getting our power from C. Montgomery Burns. Yes, he's a nuclear candidate. Ron Paul could not possibly be more of a dark-horse underdog candidate on the Red side, simply for being the guy nobody agrees with.

Pretty much, you name it, Ron Paul is against it: The Iraq War Resolution, the proposed Iran War, organizations that undermine U.S. sovereignty (International Criminal Court, the U.N., World Trade Organization,etc.), House Resolution 180, NAFTA & CAFTA, even that clause in the 14th Amendment that triggers automatic citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants because of being born on American soil. He said yes, however, on the Secure Fence Act of 2006 which would turn lower California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas into the ultimate gated community, and as we all know (SARCASM ALERT!), nobody's ever managed to climb over a wall before, so that plan can't possibly fail. Mitt Romney has the child advocate votes, Tom Tancredo has the paleoconservative votes and Fred Thompson has all his Law & Order fans and that red pickup truck so you just know he's in. Dr. Alan Keyes, a late addition to the race (announced in September), was a former U.N. Ambassador during the Reagan years, and former presidential hopeful, twice-over, during '96 and 2000. This guy does, however have a serious battle ahead of him with his opinions on topics like homosexuality and how to do away with income tax, thanks to a certain 2004 interview, in which he called Dick Cheney's daughter Mary a "selfish hedonist." I think he might still be in the race somehow as of this typing....

The Democrats

(liberallus-cutandrunnus)

So last November, these guys managed to take over the crucial two-thirds majority to override the perpetual vetoes from George W.'s desk to do what they were basically voted into office, and given the majority, to do: Get our troops the %#$& out of Iraq. One year after Congress gets rebooted, there's still no end in sight. Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton can't seem to stop bickering and counter-attacking each other lately, most notably on healthcare and economy status; also how Hill's plan to literally force everyone to buy healthcare affects those of us middle-classers who aren't exactly Monty Brewsters, and thus don't have room in the budget. Obama, however, isn't exactly the least hypocritical Health-Guy on the ballot himself, once you see he's going to be using similar tactics in his healthplan that exclude some 10-15 million Americans (which, by the way, is according to a Clinton-camp-researched-statistic, so whose numbers do you believe?) by forcing families to pay for the kids' health insurance down the lines of how right now kids' parents have to provide proof of immunization to enroll in school. Full story on that HERE.

Also not helping Obama is the fact that during a campaign run in South Carolina last month, Gospel singer and apparently campaign trail sidekick Donnie McClurkin garnered some religious-leftist sympathy by reminding us all he once had gay "desires and thoughts," (DEAR GOD!) but was finally cured by Jesus (THANK GOD!). Turns out even the Blue candidates aren't above keeping faith out of the campaign. Bill Maher runs it down HERE (you gotta move the clip to the 5:40 mark). There is a surprise candidate in the ranks here in the form of Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio who, while not America's most popular governor statistically, appears to be using the most of his 69% approval rating, ordained Methodist minister background... A-rating from the NRA... and endorsement of Hillary... to slip into the vice-presidential nomination slot. A big-picture politician, Strickland denies that assumption and continues to have his eyes on the frontrunner slot: "regardless of what I say, no one believes me... I think I can move the needle a point or two... Not by being on the ticket, but by continuing to do the best we can for Ohio."

Then there's John Edwards, who despite his constant refusal to put on the boxing gloves and attack his opponents in ads or debates, has pulled significant numbers in seven primaries, including North Carolina (naturally), Virginia (my home-turf), Tennessee and, what's considered the mother-of-all-primary/caucus states, Iowa. He has also decided to keep that $400 haircut. Joe Biden says no to partial-birth abortion and the death penalty, and yes to renewable energy (ethanol, etc.) and the Patriot Act, but not the part about wiretapping. So President Biden will know about all those Chicken Soup for the Soul books you used to read at the library, but does not want to overhear your actual, personal chicken soup recipe over the phone to your cousin who you're coaching to eat healthier. Christopher "That OTHER Kool-Aid Man" Dodd says no to war with Iran, yes to free trade, and HELL NO to drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. Mike Gravel is running for what's called "direct democracy", which when combined with representative democracy can be considered the people's electoral college, except these representatives' votes don't get to override the public's votes.... As Borat I-Can't-Spell-His-Last-Name would say, NICE! Finally... Okay Daily Show and Colbert, we get it! Mrs. Kuchinich is very attractive! A lot of news organizations agree! We get it! Rep. Kucinich, on the other hand, when he's not campaigning for House Resolution 808 and trying to make Jimmy Carter head the Department of Peace, is very much in favor of simply stopping the Iraq war funding, cold-turkey, and peaceful diplomatic relations with Iran.

I'm gonna need a scoreboard. The Republicans are primarily a Bush-plan favoring, offense-minded bunch of faith-based candidates, and the Democrats are a healthcare-minded, bickering, living soap-opera.

Bottom Line: Place your bets.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving... Back again soon.

-D.

Entry 64: "Writer Wrong?"

Yo!

Geez, this really is a monthly blog... Gonna have to do something about that after the hiatus. Oh darn, sorry. Getting ahead of myself. First thing's first. A few posts ago, I mentioned revealing details about the big top-secret media project. Rest assured, this is still real, you're not being punk'd. It turns out I may have jumped the gun a tad on the big public address, since my managers are advising me to hold back on that "rope-cutting" reveal stuff until things are more set in stone, meaning contracts have to be signed. I know, I hate that legal paranoia too, almost as much as I hate having to give the "I take it back, and here's why" speech. I just needed to tell you all I never forgot, and I'm still working on it.

A couple weeks back saw the start of the almost total shutdown of the entertainment industry. Why? Because the WGA...

...the Writers' Guild of America...

...went out on strike because of an outdated and unfair payment agreement...

...against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers...

...and subsequently took all our good TV and movies with them.

Lost got cut in half, 24 is getting INDEFINITELY postponed... The late-night talk shows are in heavy reruns now... and Saturday Night Live staff is getting cut in half. The effects of the strike are painfully obvious, but the cause is another story. The short story is, the writers want a fair cut from profits made from sales of (*their) ideas over what's considered "new media." Meaning, DVDs, On-Demand services, and ad revenue from online streaming sites like Adult Swim Fix and Motherload. Here's what the strike's Wiki-page has to say:

"Every three years, the Writers Guilds negotiate a new basic contract with the AMPTP by which its members are employed. This contract is called the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). In the 2007 negotiations over the MBA, an impasse was reached, and the WGA membership voted to give its board authorization to call a strike, which it did on Friday, November 2 with the strike beginning the subsequent Monday, November 5, 2007. Among the many proposals from both sides regarding the new contract, there are several key issues of contention including DVD residuals, union jurisdiction over animation and reality programs, and perhaps most importantly, 'new media' such as the Internet."

........We already knew most of this, but here's the good part:

"Currently, the WGA has no arrangement with the companies regarding the use of content online, and two models of Internet distribution are currently being negotiated. The first is 'digital sell-through' (also known as 'Internet sales'). In digital sell-through, the consumer purchases a copy of the program and downloads it to a local storage device for subsequent viewing at their convenience. Examples include movies and television shows purchased through the iTunes Store and Amazon Unbox. In the second model, 'streaming video', the consumer watches a program in real time as it is transmitted to their computer but is usually not saved. Current examples of this model include advertising-supported television programs streamed free to the audience, such as those available at NBC.com, ABC.com, FOX.com, CBS.com and thedailyshow.com.

"In either case, the program may be viewed directly on a computer or it may be viewed on a traditional television via media distribution devices (e.g. Tivo). The convenience of both these technologies lowers the barriers to entry into the digital distribution marketplace making it more accessible to mainstream consumers.

"It is widely expected that new media will eventually supplant both DVD in the home video market and television in the broadcasting market as the primary means for distribution. As in the mid-1980s, the companies have argued that new media represents an unproven and untested market and have asked for additional time for study. However, feeling resentment from the 20-year-old home video deal and unwilling to make similar concessions in a so-called "new market" yet again, WGA members have been adamant that whatever deal they make for new media, it cannot resemble the DVD formula."

Meaning yet again, it all comes down to money. Also yet again, it's become a massive tug-of-war between how much both parties will tussle before either side blinks first. How long the 12,000 writers can survive unemployed versus how long the directors, producers and studios can go without (respectively) scripts to film, projects to... well, produce, and products to promote the crap out of and sell to you and me. Oh, and also versus how long us "commonfolk" not as directly affected by the strike can survive psychologically without knowing how Scrubs ends, because Mr. Lawrence and his friends aren't being paid right!

But wait! Speaking of NBC, the networks aren't completely dead yet! News broke out today that they'll be first to pull off the ultimate contingency plan to keep their viewers despite the looming lack in their tried-and-true scripted programs: Give the "Chocolate Rain" guy a reality talent show. No, seriously. Well, almost. Quarterlife, a web-exclusive series that recently premiered on MySpace, is about to hit NBC's airwaves in January, to fill what would undoubtedly be Journeyman's current timeslot (seriously, does anyone watch that show?). Full rundown on that HERE.

Bottom Line: Money. Can't live with it (very long)... can't live without it (at all). We're in week three of the 2007 Writers' Strike, and still no end in sight. Every day I read obout a different movie or TV show that's about to get cancelled, and I'm still waiting to wake up to the news that this little gem gets canned:

And if you're not aware of that show by now, you've been more on-vacation than me the last several months, which is saying a lot!

One last clarification though, don't get me wrong; for the record, I am on the side of the writers here, as I'm sure most of you out there are, but I read today one post by a message board member on TV.com who posed a frightening theory: That once the lack of a resolution and continued financial losses reach a tipping point, the networks and bigshots will have to move those projects along by (*dramatic reverb music) OUTSOURCING the writing for the very projects most of those WGA guys basically created themselves! Meaning, as that board poster said, [this union will be] the latest in a line of good-intentions-bad-outcomes unions to do to the media industry what they did to the steel, clothing and auto industries: leave a lot of good people looking for work. Not to say that unions generally are bad, obviously. I'm just saying if things continue like this, all the studios seem to care about is that the money's gotta come in from somewhere, and I'm sure it won't be hard for them to find some non-WGA writers who are willing to cross the picket line and finish the job. I've heard about things being "under new management," but that's crazy. Yet *this* close to reality.

...But that's just me.

Oh, by the way, I wanted to mention, out of the ordinary, just for the heck of it... the Pokemon cartoon show, still on the air, had their 500th episode last month. Okay, can you guys [show staff] find a way to end this show already? You've beaten The Simpsons by a hundred shows, just make a good ninety-minute AT MOST finale and let that be it, please?

Happy Thanksgiving, and I've already finished next week's post, so no lateness next Monday. Just don't forget to share the pumpkin pie.

Later.

-D.