bulletproofheeb

That may sound a little melodramatic, but it's not far off from what's going on right now.  Gillian Gibbons is a school teacher.  Rather, she was.  Gibbons, a British teacher, was teaching at a private school in Sudan.  She got a class teddy bear and thought it would be a good idea to let the kids name it.  The process involved the kids taking it home.  The children were to keep a diary about the experience.  After the class had all had the bear they would vote on a name.  And that's where the trouble began.

The children voted on the name Muhammad, a beloved (and very common) name.  Well, the government stepped in because they felt this was insulting to Islam.

Now, I know that Islam is not a violent religion and that all the main religions (except the staunchly pacifist ones) do call for some degree of violence in their texts.  Most mainstream elements of religion tend to shy away from that in this day and age.  But then you have a government, in the name of Islam, call for a punishment.  By the way, the maximum penalty she was up for was 6 months in prison and 40 lashes.  40 lashes in the 21st century.  Sudan, do you not think that you're using your religion as a crutch?  The kids named it Muhammad.

1. THE KIDS NAMED IT, NOT THE TEACHER
2. They named it that out of love.  Isn't that the whole point of revering a prophet and naming things after him?
3. Muhammad is one of the most common names in Sudan.  Are they going to charge every dick weed names Muhammad for the same crime?

Well, as it turns out the teacher has been found guilty.  Don't worry.  She was "only" sentenced to 15 days in prison, followed by deportation.  The government claims that she should be thankful for such a light sentence.

In the meantime, there are protesters in Sudan calling for her to be killed as an example of no tolerance.

I'm not even sure what to make of this.  We can all see that this is flat out wrong, but what about the bigger picture for Islam?  Sudan is already on shaky ground.  They're not helping Darfur as fast as anyone wants and at the same time they do things like this and complain about the west being anti-Islam.  Maybe the west is really just anti-extremism (let's not talk about Republicans and Christians right now) and with examples like this to point to have a hard time discerning a difference.  I know that this isn't what the majority of Muslim people want, but it's an officially sanctioned and incredibly vocal example of extremist-Islam.  It doesn't even seem religious at this point, but more like a cultural divide.  For naming a bear something?  Honestly, it's hard to draw a parallel to this.  Technically, as a Jew, it would be like me calling for the death of anyone who uses the terms "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" as they are a bastardization of a very holy word to me and my religion.  Do you see many Jews attacking Jehovah's Whitenesses?  If so, please post it on youtube.

In the end there are a few ways to look at this and none of them looks good.  One is that this is simply a human rights violation.  For Sudan that's pretty par for the course.  Another is that this is an overreaction by the government and it's a political screw-up.  The thing is, that one leads to the third way to see this, and that's as a fundamentalist attack.  Which it is.  An innocent act demanding a swift, religious based reaction free of any tolerance is damn near the definition of extremist fanaticism.

As for how this should stand in the general world theater?  That's hard.  It's bad, I'm sure the world will agree with that.  I'm just afraid that people will see this and think "BAD MUSLIMS".  Really, I think the country is near being a write off at this point.  But then Bush will want to invade...  I just hope that Gillian Gibbons is deported back to the UK without incident and can pick up her life from there.

NY Times on the radio just announced that they are moving Ms. Gibbons to a secret location due to the protesters calling for her death./



On a similar note, it looks like the Turkish publishers who printed the Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion may face criminal charges of "inciting hatred and enmity".  Right, because crazy religious people don't incite irrational hatred, academic literate athiests do.

After multiple overnight discussions the strike has been settled for the next 5 year contract term.  So why don't I really feel like a lot has been accomplished?

Finding out what the strike has been about hasn't been the easiest thing in the world.  Maybe it's because the TV strike has to do with writers who are better with words, but the stagehands haven't done anything to explain their side.  From what I've gathered it seems that the producers wanted to make some cuts in their current contracts and replace those cuts with new amendments and the stage hands wanted none of that.

• Producers didn't have the ability to choose how many stagehands were assigned to a production (either for the whole thing or for set-up.  that's been unclear).  This led to many producers paying for stagehands that had nothing to do.  For days at a time.
• The producers wanted to have the ability to choose the number of stagehands and in exchange for hiring less (READ: amount actually needed) they would give all of the workers a raise.

Now that the strike is over the times reports that the stagehands are dropping the number of workers for opening set ups and giving raises to the ones who do work.  So we went through over two weeks of dead Broadway for the stagehands to throw a hissy fit and then take what they were essentially offered from the start?  I know that unions are supposed to be great and champion the working man but this is bullshit.  The writers guild is striking to get pay for work they do now and don't get payed for.  The stagehands had a strike to keep getting payed for work they don't do.  Is that ok?  It doesn't seem right to me.  This seems more like a union striking just to get attention and because they're worried they're being called on their shit.

I bet they did get more of a raise after the strike than what was initially offered.  I'm not saying that they took the same exact deal that was offered in the beginning.  But I'm pretty shocked that they broke off talks and then came back and took the same TYPE of deal that was initially offered.  Breaking off talks and striking is for when you don't think you have any common  ground in a deal and need to create some leverage.

So here's what it comes down to.  I support the stagehands.  I know how much they're responsible.  Hell, they stopped Broadway for 2 and a half weeks.  But I just can't bring myself to support their strike.  They go upset because they were pretty much caught stealing free time and panicked when a solid portion of their pay was going to be cut.  But it was stolen time and the cut would come with a raise.  I just can't see the strike as anything more than immature tantrum and trying to keep the status quo, even if the status quo was getting paid regularly for not working.

So my nature assignment for Camera Shy is due this Monday and I realized that I hadn't taken any new pictures for it.  Damn.  So I went out between running arounds on Black Friday and packed a couple of digital cameras.  Well, in total I probably shot for maybe 30 minutes, took about 50 pictures and about half came out really nice.  I was in the zone!  So I'm putting up the main batch here and submitting the applicable ones to Camera Shy.  Hope you guys like them.  And feedback (praise or even criticism) is always welcome.

As for Black Friday itself.  Ugh.  So glad I didn't do any shopping myself that day.  There was fisticuffs at the Toys R' Us here and I heard that there was a small riot at Best Buy.  That's not all that surprising considering that there was about 9 family sized tents set up before closing the day before Thanksgiving.

That is all.

Here we go again...

So this past Saturday I had a lovely evening out in the city.  We went in to see a play (12 Night of the Living Dead) and got there a bit early.  So here's how the night went.


Pre Show
Al and I got in earlier than Jill and Jarod so we walked around to the corner to wait for them.  Well, a homeless guy comes over, asking to raise money for a beer.  I didn't have any cash on me but he proceeds to regaile us with the story of his expulsion from the same place we're seeing the play in a bit.  He goes on to tell us how he was put out by "the art cult" and then apologizes to Allison.  Why am I not assumed to be a part of this cult and she is?  He then drifts to new topics when I tell him a I have no cash and am not willing to use my card.  I am told I am lucky to have a red-head.  This I know.  He says that he has a black woman and "I know, I'm fucked up".  Finally, he says he has a place to stay, it's a warm spot near a bridge.  Can we help him find it.  We point behind him a the giant bridge on Delancy and he says he feels like an idiot.  Then Jill and Jarod show up.  What crappy timing!  They missed it.

Next, dinner!  We headed off in search of easy eats.  It's NYC so the pizza places tend to be good.  We see one down a side street and head towards it.  On the way, without warning, we come across a crowded little front with people milling about.  It looked odd and exclusive so we walked in.  What we beheld astounded us.  It appeared to be a sort of gallery opening.  It's called the MF Gallery, on Rivington street.  The event in question was an underground artist toy show.  Here are some pictures.

They're still coming... Those terrible movies.  Here's the most recent crop.

I just found a link that says the new Eagles album (which is a Wal-Mart exclusive) is being sold at other retailers.  Granted, it does say that many places admit to buying it at Wal-Mart and then reselling it.  I know that means it'll get better sales numbers and cost the purchaser extra at other places, as well as not cut that much into Wal-Mart sales.  If people buy it anywhere else, it was still bought at Wal-Mart.

But what's the point?  Retail exclusives seem to be getting more and more common place.  Target and Wal-Mart sometimes get either a bonus disc with albums or extra special packaging on DVDs.  Why?  What is so great about locking the consumer down to a certain store?  That sort of seems like a way of sneaking monopoly into the retail fray.  What's the point in competing hard when you're the only one allowed to supply?  And right now they tend to sell at a similar price as other stores for the same product type, but what's to stop places from price gouging?  What is stopping Wal-Mart from charging $18 or $20 for the Eagles album?  I mean, they are the only retail supplier.

That hasn't hit me as personally as the Blockbuster/Weinstein deal.  From now on anything produced by the Weinsteins is only supposed to be available to rent from BB.  I'm a die-hard Netflixer so that rubbed me the wrong way.  Now, though, anything by the Weinsteins shows up on Netflix the same release day as everyone else.  I've heard everything from the wholesalers not giving a crap about the contract to Netflix people buying them up in bulk from Sam's Club and Costco.  So once again, what's the point?  Now, to try to keep an edge, BB is offering some titles a few days earlier as an exclusive.  They seem to have accepted that Netflix will not be stopped.  But doesn't that come across as a little immature?  Slightly "so there!"?

Fore once I don't have an answer.  I know why they try to have exclusives.  If this is the only place you can get it then you're gonna get it here!  But now with media being so ubiquitous it feels like making an item hard to get would drive overall sales down and pirating up.  Now that convenience is king inconvenience is no longer as acceptable as it used to be.  Hell, I've downloaded albums I own simply because I'm too lazy to dig through thousands of discs to find it.

Is there anything the consumer can do?  Not really.  Our options aren't as cut back as these exclusive sellers would like.  Is there anything the industry can do?  It looks like they're already doing it.  But the whole concept seems like such a waste of effort and resources.

Since they seemed to do pretty well last time, here they are again!

Recently I’ve been covering the writers strike a lot. Well, here’s some more.

I was really shocked to hear a bout how hard and fast the strike started to affect shows. Also, how it wasn’t daytime TV to suffer first but Heroes. That’s double bad because it was an experimental structure choice and now it’s being punished. It may never recover and the show is going to be a whole lot closer to cancellation. In times of crisis business will go for guaranteed money and that means back to basics, and drop anything that pushes in new directions.

But this isn’t a lament on Heroes. This is an answer to the crisis. No one has seen this coming even though it has just happened in a close market not even a month ago.

This is the same exact thing that the music industry went to. Musicians realized that the only money you need to put out an album is production cost. That has always been manageable. It’s the distribution that necessitates labels. Now that you don’t have to pay for CD pressing and printing or shipping and advertising can be word of mouth with slower build up it’s not a crazy idea to stay indie by choice.

Writers: LISTEN UP! You’re striking against the networks because you need them to make and then distribute the shows. But you don’t need them anymore. All you need is to find funding. Here’s the kicker. You don’t need networks for distribution anymore. There’re channels upon channels that don’t even have a cable station. They’re running on-demand with deals directly with cable companies. And cable companies will become the new networks. They have the money to produce your shows. You need studios but only in the most literal sense, and not with the baggage that comes with a studio deal.

Here’s what I propose. Looking at the shifting and (succeeding?) path of the music industry, take suit! Sign exclusives with producers and not studio CEOs. Get distribution deals with Verizon and Comcast, not NBC and CBS. It’s going to be a rocky change-over but at this moment there is no one more prepared for it than the writers. And no one less prepared than the networks! I’m not saying go through with the deals to the cable companies. But if just a few of you switch over and find life for your shows that way the networks will cave. They will see that it’s soon to be networks vs. cable companies. That’s the new competitive market and the networks should be paying people to tell them this is coming. Instead it’s me and the TV writers shoving the information in the network’s faces for free.

Networks: LISTEN UP! Get your acts together. You used to not pay writers for their work when shows went to cable syndication. Now you do. Currently you shaft them when their work goes to DVD and internet, but that’s the same thing! It’s the new syndication and you guys make a large portion of your profits from that. You’re making 2 whole bundles of mistakes that we’ve already seen.

1. The syndication rip-off act that you’ve since corrected.

2. The same pride before the fall that the record companies were so damn smug about before they realized that their power isn’t in distribution anymore.

So wake up and sign the new deals. Let the writers get money for their writing. Maybe if you’re nice enough to acknowledge the “new syndication” they’ll stick with you when the revolution over the “new network” (cable companies vs. you guys) comes.

So how’s about it? Let me watch my shows!

Shit.  So I know that Heroes: Origins was cut because of the strike but this is jaw-dropping bad.  They're filming an alternate ending for the December 3rd episode!  Since they've been filming season two with two story arcs this would cut the season off at the end of arc 1 instead of doing arc 1, Origins, arc 2.  That sucks!  Once again, season two has been a little bit behind season one.  With news like this it may not have a chance to recover.  And the real shitter is that since the strike is opened ended (and happening.. now) by the time it comes back the network may feel the need to move on.

However, I wouldn't go so far as to align with this blog.  He says that we're witnessing the death of television.  That's not true.  While there's going to be a cut in what can be produced and the syndication market is shifting there's still the same demand of TV shows that there always has been.  We want it on a shifting schedule, on demand and in our pockets.  But we want it!  The fact that there is all this freak out over the strike proves that.

Oddly enough, I could easily see an epic and timely movie being written about this.  Perhaps even a non-fiction book.  It would stretch from the studio heads to the panicked fans.  And that sort of drama would certainly make for good television, too.

This is a new series I'll being doing, along with the Heroes caps.  sorry about missing a few, but I just had a bunch of weddings, including my own.  My schedule should be clear for a bit now, though.

Anyway, this series will be dedicated to movies that come out on Netflix that... I really doubt they exist.  They are campy, badly titled, have mind numbing descriptions.  Usually they are about one of the following: horror, vampires, raves, straight to DVD sci-fi, some sort of cheesy "Vs." concept or have ex-bodybuilders in them.  So without further ado, I present the first installment.

We all may be in trouble.  Talks have broken of between studios and the writers union.  And the New York  Times reports that they could strike as early as Friday.  Already we're seeing the fallout of this.  NBC has put off airing Heroes: Origins because, well, who's going to write it?

What's a little unnerving is the fact that this season has so many good new shows and some returns that really need to find a good pace.  

Reaper and Pushing Daisies are coming along great.  But we all know what happens to every show when it takes any sort of break, even just a mid season breather.  Like Heroes in the first season, ratings drop.  A lot.  Journeyman has potential but if it hits a break in airing it won't be able to hold any ratings when/if it comes back.  And what about the new Joss Whedon show?  Even if Fox wants to pick it up after 7 episodes, are they already written?  He may get his first real chance to go sci-fi only to have bad timing kill it instead of the network!

Heroes is a really good show but this season has been a bit lagging.  The end of last season (post break) hit some lows with ratings.  Now Origins is being pushed back.  The show is at a point where, if it catches on, it could last for years and years.  Conversely, if it hits a lot of snags all at once it could very well tank and do incredible damage to NBC, since they've invested so much in it.  Lost is ostensibly in the same position when it comes back on.  It's been hurting with ratings for a bit now and if there's a break in the pacing it's likely a lot of people will simply give up on it.

There's also Scrubs, but it just started up and it's the last season so there's no worry of losing anything there.  But what about my other sit-com, How I Met Your Mother?  It's a sit-com with a story arch that's on a network geared towards an older audience then watches HIMYM.  While it's been pretty solid for a bit this strike could drive a wedge into any cracks a show might have.  And that's not even looking at the tons of other shows out there that I don't even watch/care about.

Why is this happening?  The writers want more money.  Not in a greedy way.  They just want some pay from one of the newest (and most lucrative) markets the studios are using: DVDs and internet distribution, the new syndication.

Since the talks were being held through last night and its union related it's really impossible to find out the actual numbers each side was pushing for payment.  I can't say if the writers are being greedy or not.  But it's a pretty safe bet that most of their demands aren't nuts.  The writers guild is the lowest paid between them, directors and producers.  And now that DVD and internet have come out to be such an important market it makes sense that their terms for payment regarding them gets reevaluated.

Well, I hope it all gets settled soon.  So far I've just gone off about weekly shows.  The first to be hit are the dailies, like soaps, talks shows and things like The Daily Show.  Then regular TV.  Then movies.  Films they probably have a pretty big (quantity, not quality) stockpile of scripts.  Maybe even some shows too.  But our media will start to suffer.  And pretty soon, if they strike.  Lord knows I don't want the Star Wars show the only thing on for the next 20 years.