The Writers Strike and Dinner with Joss
What a fantastic, exhausting, wonderful weekend!!! I usually don't blog my weekends but this will most definitely be an exception.
I took Spud out of school for Friday and drove Thursday night, through the gorram blizzard to southeastern MA (hey, it only took me 5 hours...through a freakin' blizzard....what am I insane? selfish? I thought about all these things, then decided to go anyway because it was a once in a lifetime chance-well, you can say THAT again).
Made it safely to Fairhaven and to Chica's house where we put both spuds to bed and lit a fire, sipped tea and caught up on things. The wind was fierce, her cottage on the ocean was chilly but our beds were very cozy.
I'm not used to getting up real early (Spud usually lets me sleep til 8am-quite good for a five year old spud, I think) so Friday morning came very early. Chica left with the two spuds to take them to daycare and then off to her work (my spud went to her old daycare of two years ago and had a lovely time seeing people she had not seen in awhile) and I left to meet up with people all just before 8am. After her work and the spuds' daycare, Chica took the two of them to the zoo to see the holiday lights and Santa and then onto a folk concert with the Jethros! But my account of Friday was quite different (read on)...
I met up with TheHey and Yefa and we all drove up to Quincy to take the T into Cambridge together. There we got together with many other fans (tv shows fans in general, Browncoats, Eureka and Daily Show fans to be more specific) at the UU to march in the Writer's Strike, northeast rendition. I met up with a few other New England Browncoats at the UU and gave Dawnsister (good friend and one of the main ones in charge of the event and who tremendously helped Jaime Paglia, the co-creator and writer for the SciFi Channel series, Eureka, throw this region's very successful version of the strike) a few supportive hugs and encouraging pats on the back…letting her know I was at her beck and call; all she had to do was tell me what to do.
First thing was first though: I had just been in the car an hour and on the T after that….oh, to find the restrooms. I went to the front of the church…no luck. I headed to the back of the church and was looking around for them…the one I found was occupied…dammit. I waited…and then, Joss walked by. "Hey" I said (see how all articulate I can be…"smoth"…that's me…not quite smooth). He said hello back and I introduced myself; he introduced himself. I smiled and answered with, "Yeah, I know" (look at me…smoth again, damn smoth). I mentioned I hoped he was doing okay (he was feeling under the weather that day) and we chatted a brief moment before he pointed to the other restroom behind me and told me that that one was open…thanks Joss, you rock….chat later.
Back at the seats we waited to hear the speakers. The Rally started with the City of Cambridge council speakers, went on to include the local teamster's union speakers and then the keynote speakers; Jaime Paglia, co-creator and writer of the SciFi channel's original series, Eureka; Rob Kutner, writer for Jon Stewart and The Daily Show; and Joss Whedon, creator and writer of tons of volumey text stuff including Buffy, Angel and Firefly (sigh). Everyone spoke eloquently on the subject of the Writers Strike. The WGA (Writers Guild of America) is asking for fair deal shares on new media markets (by fair, I mean they are asking for less then 3%....let me repeat….LESS then 3% of internet revenue that has been generated by their own shows). This is important and will trickle down to SAG (the actor's union) and other Hollywood unions as well because we all know how the internet is becoming a prime source to show material. Sooo, to help support the WGA and to let the Hollywood moguls know that you value our writers, go to www.Fans4Writers.com and let them know you don't want them to write before it's right!!
After the indoor Rally, we all took our signs and hit the streets of Cambridge. We marched through Harvard Square to the Harvard Lampoon Building and marched around it yelling to the traffic and to the passerbys. We carried signs, we chanted, we goaded people to honk horns, we even had a marching band drummer and megaphones. Approximately 250 of us chanted "What do we Want? A Fair Deal; When do we want it? Now" and "We Write, Their Wrong". Someone passing out freebies from the WGA heard me yell and said, "You have a loud voice, here" and handed me a bullhorn…cooool. It was glorious! *grin*
Afterwards, we all marched together to Central Square and to a local gamestore, Pandemonium Books, where Joss, Jaime and Rob sat down to sign whatever was put before them, to give out whatever photo ops were asked of them and to chat with their peeps. It was a gamestore owner's wet dream….and I couldn't blame them. The energy was great, the lines were long but went smoothly and the guests were awesome.
I helped out Dawnsister as much as I could (not much but I tried…I wish I could have done more) and I sat and chatted with Jaime through a lot of the signing (he is fantastic, has a great sense of humor and I can't wait to start watching Eureka-I bought the season one dvd today). Hours later, the line was done, our things were all signed and invites were extended: Yeppers, Peeps, I was going to dinner with JOSS! (41 year old fangirl squee here - ok, not pretty, I will stop).
We walked down to a local Chinese restaurant. Some people went ahead to secure a table. I was lucky to walk down with Joss…just he and I, walking together for a few blocks, alone (ok, getting creepy, I will stop…again). We chatted about family, kids (we both have a five year old spud. He also has a three year old as well) and how parenting is not as easy as some make it out to be. Wow, my inner-fangirl settled down, I was talking to a real person, a dad, a husband, a guy who I think probably sounds very much like my wonderful, sarcastic hubby after a difficult one on one with spudkin. Very, very cool.
At the restaurant we had a wonderful time. Between the New England Browncoats who had helped out, the main gamestore people and Joss and Jaime there were 15 of us at two tables that were pushed together. Funny stories were shared by many (PhotoshopGirl got to tell her Pumpkin Pants story to Joss-if you don't know it, you MUST ask her to tell it to you, it is one of the funniest true stories-eva), I got to share Sake with Joss and Jaime (how cool is that. And Sake was spilled *wink to Dawnsister* so it IS officially a Shindig-christened and everything.). Unbeknownst to me, I ordered the same thing that Joss did (General Gau's Chicken) but I ordered mine wimpy and he did not so when I served mine onto a plate with rice and took a bite, as my mouth caught fire, I looked around to see if anyone else had the same thing…sure enough it was Joss. I traded plates with him and when he saw that I had served it out he said 'hey, you served me'. I replied "I am here to serve you" with a sarcastic grin and Jaime piped up with something like 'weeelll', so I told HIM to 'shut up and pass the rice'. They laughed.
At the end of the evening we said our goodbyes and all gave hugs. Joss called our Captain, "Captain" and when Joss says that, you know it to be true and we all finally left the restaurant to go our separate ways.
What a fantastic rally (Dawnsister outdid herself), what a fantastic signing, what a fantastic dinner (Joss and Jaime both rock!). I am still grinning and will be for quite awhile. *one last fangirl sigh* Okay, I'm good.
I took Spud out of school for Friday and drove Thursday night, through the gorram blizzard to southeastern MA (hey, it only took me 5 hours...through a freakin' blizzard....what am I insane? selfish? I thought about all these things, then decided to go anyway because it was a once in a lifetime chance-well, you can say THAT again).
Made it safely to Fairhaven and to Chica's house where we put both spuds to bed and lit a fire, sipped tea and caught up on things. The wind was fierce, her cottage on the ocean was chilly but our beds were very cozy.
I'm not used to getting up real early (Spud usually lets me sleep til 8am-quite good for a five year old spud, I think) so Friday morning came very early. Chica left with the two spuds to take them to daycare and then off to her work (my spud went to her old daycare of two years ago and had a lovely time seeing people she had not seen in awhile) and I left to meet up with people all just before 8am. After her work and the spuds' daycare, Chica took the two of them to the zoo to see the holiday lights and Santa and then onto a folk concert with the Jethros! But my account of Friday was quite different (read on)...
I met up with TheHey and Yefa and we all drove up to Quincy to take the T into Cambridge together. There we got together with many other fans (tv shows fans in general, Browncoats, Eureka and Daily Show fans to be more specific) at the UU to march in the Writer's Strike, northeast rendition. I met up with a few other New England Browncoats at the UU and gave Dawnsister (good friend and one of the main ones in charge of the event and who tremendously helped Jaime Paglia, the co-creator and writer for the SciFi Channel series, Eureka, throw this region's very successful version of the strike) a few supportive hugs and encouraging pats on the back…letting her know I was at her beck and call; all she had to do was tell me what to do.
First thing was first though: I had just been in the car an hour and on the T after that….oh, to find the restrooms. I went to the front of the church…no luck. I headed to the back of the church and was looking around for them…the one I found was occupied…dammit. I waited…and then, Joss walked by. "Hey" I said (see how all articulate I can be…"smoth"…that's me…not quite smooth). He said hello back and I introduced myself; he introduced himself. I smiled and answered with, "Yeah, I know" (look at me…smoth again, damn smoth). I mentioned I hoped he was doing okay (he was feeling under the weather that day) and we chatted a brief moment before he pointed to the other restroom behind me and told me that that one was open…thanks Joss, you rock….chat later.
Back at the seats we waited to hear the speakers. The Rally started with the City of Cambridge council speakers, went on to include the local teamster's union speakers and then the keynote speakers; Jaime Paglia, co-creator and writer of the SciFi channel's original series, Eureka; Rob Kutner, writer for Jon Stewart and The Daily Show; and Joss Whedon, creator and writer of tons of volumey text stuff including Buffy, Angel and Firefly (sigh). Everyone spoke eloquently on the subject of the Writers Strike. The WGA (Writers Guild of America) is asking for fair deal shares on new media markets (by fair, I mean they are asking for less then 3%....let me repeat….LESS then 3% of internet revenue that has been generated by their own shows). This is important and will trickle down to SAG (the actor's union) and other Hollywood unions as well because we all know how the internet is becoming a prime source to show material. Sooo, to help support the WGA and to let the Hollywood moguls know that you value our writers, go to www.Fans4Writers.com and let them know you don't want them to write before it's right!!
After the indoor Rally, we all took our signs and hit the streets of Cambridge. We marched through Harvard Square to the Harvard Lampoon Building and marched around it yelling to the traffic and to the passerbys. We carried signs, we chanted, we goaded people to honk horns, we even had a marching band drummer and megaphones. Approximately 250 of us chanted "What do we Want? A Fair Deal; When do we want it? Now" and "We Write, Their Wrong". Someone passing out freebies from the WGA heard me yell and said, "You have a loud voice, here" and handed me a bullhorn…cooool. It was glorious! *grin*
Afterwards, we all marched together to Central Square and to a local gamestore, Pandemonium Books, where Joss, Jaime and Rob sat down to sign whatever was put before them, to give out whatever photo ops were asked of them and to chat with their peeps. It was a gamestore owner's wet dream….and I couldn't blame them. The energy was great, the lines were long but went smoothly and the guests were awesome.
I helped out Dawnsister as much as I could (not much but I tried…I wish I could have done more) and I sat and chatted with Jaime through a lot of the signing (he is fantastic, has a great sense of humor and I can't wait to start watching Eureka-I bought the season one dvd today). Hours later, the line was done, our things were all signed and invites were extended: Yeppers, Peeps, I was going to dinner with JOSS! (41 year old fangirl squee here - ok, not pretty, I will stop).
We walked down to a local Chinese restaurant. Some people went ahead to secure a table. I was lucky to walk down with Joss…just he and I, walking together for a few blocks, alone (ok, getting creepy, I will stop…again). We chatted about family, kids (we both have a five year old spud. He also has a three year old as well) and how parenting is not as easy as some make it out to be. Wow, my inner-fangirl settled down, I was talking to a real person, a dad, a husband, a guy who I think probably sounds very much like my wonderful, sarcastic hubby after a difficult one on one with spudkin. Very, very cool.
At the restaurant we had a wonderful time. Between the New England Browncoats who had helped out, the main gamestore people and Joss and Jaime there were 15 of us at two tables that were pushed together. Funny stories were shared by many (PhotoshopGirl got to tell her Pumpkin Pants story to Joss-if you don't know it, you MUST ask her to tell it to you, it is one of the funniest true stories-eva), I got to share Sake with Joss and Jaime (how cool is that. And Sake was spilled *wink to Dawnsister* so it IS officially a Shindig-christened and everything.). Unbeknownst to me, I ordered the same thing that Joss did (General Gau's Chicken) but I ordered mine wimpy and he did not so when I served mine onto a plate with rice and took a bite, as my mouth caught fire, I looked around to see if anyone else had the same thing…sure enough it was Joss. I traded plates with him and when he saw that I had served it out he said 'hey, you served me'. I replied "I am here to serve you" with a sarcastic grin and Jaime piped up with something like 'weeelll', so I told HIM to 'shut up and pass the rice'. They laughed.
At the end of the evening we said our goodbyes and all gave hugs. Joss called our Captain, "Captain" and when Joss says that, you know it to be true and we all finally left the restaurant to go our separate ways.
What a fantastic rally (Dawnsister outdid herself), what a fantastic signing, what a fantastic dinner (Joss and Jaime both rock!). I am still grinning and will be for quite awhile. *one last fangirl sigh* Okay, I'm good.