Not quite out of my mind ...
But close to it.
Told a neighbor I'd actually sit with her and do a joint garage sale Saturday morning. Idiot (me, not she)! Had a bunch of things I was collecting to take to Goodwill and a couple boxes of books/dvds to the library to donate. Not enough stuff to do a garage sale myself, and I've frankly given up on running them because they're such a pain in the ass to do, save for a big moving out sale kind of thing in the future. It's just easier to take it all to Goodwill anymore. But she emailed around the neighborhood and was advertising on Craig's List, so I (possibly foolishly) decided to save the stuff to set up with her on Saturday and use that as an excuse to try and get rid of an old bookcase I've wanted to get out of the house for a long time too.
In the meantime, we're having to shift crap around the entire house because we've been informed that one of the nephews on The Spousal Unit's side wants to buy the Maternal-In-Law's house, and is closing on November 15, so the family baby grand that TSU has wanted all his life but that we have ABSOLUTELY NO room for until one of my offspring leaves the nest has to come to us now or he loses it to one of his greedy nieces. So I have to somehow squeeze this monster into my tiny abode before the holidays. It's insane! Maybe I'll leave, and then there will be room.
ezust called me on Monday to catch up, talk fannish stuff, writers' strike, and general whatnot, and caught me tearing the kitchen apart as I was in the middle of making marinara sauce and couldn't find my hand-held can opener anywhere. We don't have an electric one because, foremost, I hate them, they never work right and just get all dirty and gunky; and secondly, I have no counter space anyway. So I'm at the point where I have to add the crushed tomatoes, and no Cuisinart hand-held can opener. *aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh* After spending about 10 minutes making her sorry she ever called in the first place, I end up having to punch holes with a bottle opener, risking slicing my fingers to shreds to get the tomatoes in the pot, after calling TSU and The Girl Child on the cell screaming at them about said missing opener of cans. As soon as The Boy returns home from work later that afternoon (whom I did not call because I knew he wouldn't answer his cell on the job), I find out that HE TOOK THE CAN OPENER the night before to a friend's house, and has it in the back of his car. WHY???? I sometimes hate everyone in my house.
So, see ezust, I wasn't losing my mind, the can opener really was missing. Sorry for the freak out, though. ;)
On the upside, the weather here in The OC Florida is beautiful, finally. It's cool and sunny and dry - though, maybe the dry part we could do without, even though technically it's lovely. Not so good for drought conditions, of course (damn La Nina). Still, I'm loving it. The Spousal Unit, Girl Child, and I all went downtown on Saturday to the Autumn Fiesta in the Park Art Festival, and a more perfect weekend it could not have been for it. Then on Sunday I finally got motivated to get out re-pot a bunch of my plants, and everything looks good and is thriving and healthy. Now I need to pick up two or three new plants to fill a couple of lonely empty pots. Must see what's in season.
As for the TV season apocalypse, and how the whole industry and probable face of network and scripted cable TV will change drastically when all this is over, if it takes as long as I fear it will take - if comments from the AMPTP are any indication - I'm already mentally hunkering down for a long winter's/summer's nap. Question, though - I haven't seen anyone mention cable channels such as TLC, Discovery, History - are those kinds of programs affected at all? I doubt anything on Food Network or HGTV or anything like that falls into the WGA category, so definitely I'll be watching a lot of Giada and Barefoot Contessa and home decorating programs, and that's not a bad thing.
Of course, I have a lot of books to read and dvds to watch (yes, I understand the irony) - both series I've seen and loved and series I haven't watched yet, plus movies. The Spousal Unit is heavy into anime, and if the strike lasts a REALLY LONG TIME, I can always start dipping into that genre - he's been trying to get me hooked for ages. But I'm afraid the longer the strike goes on and drops off the front page news (any day now), the quicker the industry risks alienating an already dwindling audience who, ultimately, don't give a damn what the issues are because it's not their concern or job to care; and like the last time, a large chunk of them (even larger than before) won't be back at all when the rusty wheels start rolling again.
This is an interesting article, and even more interesting comments from people who work within the industry and not. After reading through all that, I am more convinced than ever, even though I do think there is likely merit to arguments on both sides, that one of the ultimate goals of the AMPTP is to bust the unions. Given the fact that they seem to be more than prepared to stay the course of a strike lasting anywhere from 9-24 months (one statement of time I've seen made from that side), and add to that the development and standing production deals that are already being canceled, it really does sound like the AMPTP is using this as an excuse to clean house and, as one poster put it, reboot a sagging industry. In fact, honestly, it sounds to me that by striking, the WGA may be playing right into the AMPTP's hands - doing exactly what they wanted the WGA to do. Because if and when both sides eventually go back to the table, not all these writers will have jobs - they may have contracts, but a lot of them will be out of work anyway.
One reason is what this reporter says here, like how many of the new programs that haven't found their footing are going to be canceled now. I wonder if any (or how many) existing (not new) programs may get the ax too?
Anyway, I'm guessing any new program that didn't get a full season pick-up before the strike started is a goner, and anything that was given a full season will probably be saved for the next season - whenever the hell that may be. Looking at the new programs I watch and judging the ones that haven't been given full season pick-ups, I think the two I'll be most unhappy to see get canned will be Dirty Sexy Money and Chuck. Both were really getting good too. *sob*
At least Kring admitted his mistakes with HEROES season two, though the last episode finally started picking up again. Still, I haven't completely given up on this show, haven't totally hated everything - I think it still has a lot of potential. And I'm glad, relieved in fact, that the showrunner recognizes his misstep and was ready to jump in and fix it. That's a refreshing attitude. Unfortunately, he's not going to get the time to really do the series justice this season. If he's intending to get rid of some or most of the new characters, I hope at the very least he's going to keep Kristen Bell's character around. She's one of the only newbies I'm interested in seeing more of, and considering she's only been on screen for a sum total of about 45 seconds, I'd like to get a lot more than that. Dump the Wonder Twins, please, and Anders' character better get a whole fuck lot more interesting IMMEDIATELY or he can go too. The only other newbie I've liked is Monica. She can stay. West may die many horrible, gruesome deaths, please, but I don't think there's any fan who will disagree on that score.
Possibly no new LOST until 2009 now. *groan* That one's going to cut deep - it's going to leave a mark. :(
Told a neighbor I'd actually sit with her and do a joint garage sale Saturday morning. Idiot (me, not she)! Had a bunch of things I was collecting to take to Goodwill and a couple boxes of books/dvds to the library to donate. Not enough stuff to do a garage sale myself, and I've frankly given up on running them because they're such a pain in the ass to do, save for a big moving out sale kind of thing in the future. It's just easier to take it all to Goodwill anymore. But she emailed around the neighborhood and was advertising on Craig's List, so I (possibly foolishly) decided to save the stuff to set up with her on Saturday and use that as an excuse to try and get rid of an old bookcase I've wanted to get out of the house for a long time too.
In the meantime, we're having to shift crap around the entire house because we've been informed that one of the nephews on The Spousal Unit's side wants to buy the Maternal-In-Law's house, and is closing on November 15, so the family baby grand that TSU has wanted all his life but that we have ABSOLUTELY NO room for until one of my offspring leaves the nest has to come to us now or he loses it to one of his greedy nieces. So I have to somehow squeeze this monster into my tiny abode before the holidays. It's insane! Maybe I'll leave, and then there will be room.
ezust called me on Monday to catch up, talk fannish stuff, writers' strike, and general whatnot, and caught me tearing the kitchen apart as I was in the middle of making marinara sauce and couldn't find my hand-held can opener anywhere. We don't have an electric one because, foremost, I hate them, they never work right and just get all dirty and gunky; and secondly, I have no counter space anyway. So I'm at the point where I have to add the crushed tomatoes, and no Cuisinart hand-held can opener. *aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh* After spending about 10 minutes making her sorry she ever called in the first place, I end up having to punch holes with a bottle opener, risking slicing my fingers to shreds to get the tomatoes in the pot, after calling TSU and The Girl Child on the cell screaming at them about said missing opener of cans. As soon as The Boy returns home from work later that afternoon (whom I did not call because I knew he wouldn't answer his cell on the job), I find out that HE TOOK THE CAN OPENER the night before to a friend's house, and has it in the back of his car. WHY???? I sometimes hate everyone in my house.
So, see ezust, I wasn't losing my mind, the can opener really was missing. Sorry for the freak out, though. ;)
On the upside, the weather here in The OC Florida is beautiful, finally. It's cool and sunny and dry - though, maybe the dry part we could do without, even though technically it's lovely. Not so good for drought conditions, of course (damn La Nina). Still, I'm loving it. The Spousal Unit, Girl Child, and I all went downtown on Saturday to the Autumn Fiesta in the Park Art Festival, and a more perfect weekend it could not have been for it. Then on Sunday I finally got motivated to get out re-pot a bunch of my plants, and everything looks good and is thriving and healthy. Now I need to pick up two or three new plants to fill a couple of lonely empty pots. Must see what's in season.
As for the TV season apocalypse, and how the whole industry and probable face of network and scripted cable TV will change drastically when all this is over, if it takes as long as I fear it will take - if comments from the AMPTP are any indication - I'm already mentally hunkering down for a long winter's/summer's nap. Question, though - I haven't seen anyone mention cable channels such as TLC, Discovery, History - are those kinds of programs affected at all? I doubt anything on Food Network or HGTV or anything like that falls into the WGA category, so definitely I'll be watching a lot of Giada and Barefoot Contessa and home decorating programs, and that's not a bad thing.
Of course, I have a lot of books to read and dvds to watch (yes, I understand the irony) - both series I've seen and loved and series I haven't watched yet, plus movies. The Spousal Unit is heavy into anime, and if the strike lasts a REALLY LONG TIME, I can always start dipping into that genre - he's been trying to get me hooked for ages. But I'm afraid the longer the strike goes on and drops off the front page news (any day now), the quicker the industry risks alienating an already dwindling audience who, ultimately, don't give a damn what the issues are because it's not their concern or job to care; and like the last time, a large chunk of them (even larger than before) won't be back at all when the rusty wheels start rolling again.
This is an interesting article, and even more interesting comments from people who work within the industry and not. After reading through all that, I am more convinced than ever, even though I do think there is likely merit to arguments on both sides, that one of the ultimate goals of the AMPTP is to bust the unions. Given the fact that they seem to be more than prepared to stay the course of a strike lasting anywhere from 9-24 months (one statement of time I've seen made from that side), and add to that the development and standing production deals that are already being canceled, it really does sound like the AMPTP is using this as an excuse to clean house and, as one poster put it, reboot a sagging industry. In fact, honestly, it sounds to me that by striking, the WGA may be playing right into the AMPTP's hands - doing exactly what they wanted the WGA to do. Because if and when both sides eventually go back to the table, not all these writers will have jobs - they may have contracts, but a lot of them will be out of work anyway.
One reason is what this reporter says here, like how many of the new programs that haven't found their footing are going to be canceled now. I wonder if any (or how many) existing (not new) programs may get the ax too?
Anyway, I'm guessing any new program that didn't get a full season pick-up before the strike started is a goner, and anything that was given a full season will probably be saved for the next season - whenever the hell that may be. Looking at the new programs I watch and judging the ones that haven't been given full season pick-ups, I think the two I'll be most unhappy to see get canned will be Dirty Sexy Money and Chuck. Both were really getting good too. *sob*
At least Kring admitted his mistakes with HEROES season two, though the last episode finally started picking up again. Still, I haven't completely given up on this show, haven't totally hated everything - I think it still has a lot of potential. And I'm glad, relieved in fact, that the showrunner recognizes his misstep and was ready to jump in and fix it. That's a refreshing attitude. Unfortunately, he's not going to get the time to really do the series justice this season. If he's intending to get rid of some or most of the new characters, I hope at the very least he's going to keep Kristen Bell's character around. She's one of the only newbies I'm interested in seeing more of, and considering she's only been on screen for a sum total of about 45 seconds, I'd like to get a lot more than that. Dump the Wonder Twins, please, and Anders' character better get a whole fuck lot more interesting IMMEDIATELY or he can go too. The only other newbie I've liked is Monica. She can stay. West may die many horrible, gruesome deaths, please, but I don't think there's any fan who will disagree on that score.
Possibly no new LOST until 2009 now. *groan* That one's going to cut deep - it's going to leave a mark. :(