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Well, in short, I support it. (Come on, politically I’m just to the left of Lenin — what did you expect me to say?)

I’m not a guild member myself, as you may have guessed by my astonishing lack of film and TV credits. But as someone who can certainly see himself working in Hollywood at some point during his career, I do have a stake in the outcome of this action. Also, working in digital content distribution — as I have been, off and on, for the last five years — I can tell you right now that this strike is absolutely, 100% necessary. And now is the perfect time.

This is apparently the fourth time the WGA has had to resort to a strike, and those strikes are the reason writers are now fairly compensated for reruns (1957), feature films broadcast on television (1965), and home video sales (1988). This one is about Internet broadcasting and purchased downloads. Right now there are no residual payment models in place for digital sales (iTunes), ad-supported streaming (NBC’s HEROES), or video-on-demand (Vongo). These distribution methods unquestionably represent the future of home entertainment — industry pundits are already heralding the death of physical media in favor of online delivery systems in as little as 10 years — and if the studios (or, more accurately, the corporations who run them) have their way, the men and women who created that entertainment will get nothing. Which is exactly what they’re getting right now.

So, yes. I support the strike wholeheartedly and without reservation. Consider this me honking my horn and raising my fist in support. Or, what the hell, me picking up a sign and joining in.

You tell ‘em, Sally.

[For comprehensive, up-to-the-minute information on the strike, go to UnitedHollywood.com. Also, check out these awesome strike-related essays by Joss Whedon and Brian K Vaughan.]

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Great post from a great blog:

What the fuck is that, you ask? Good question. It’s a box full of shredded money and a padlock (?), all to promote some movie called Mad Money. This morning when I woke up, I didn’t know that Mad Money even existed, and now I do, and it’s kind of the worst feeling ever. Oh, if only I could go back to this morning when this movie didn’t even exist for me. FUCK.

“Thanks for Nothing”

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The sales and download figures for IN RAINBOWS have been released, and (much to the delight of hrumph’ing old-media types), they show that 65% of fans opted not to pay a dime for it.

As someone who works in the digital music world, I’d love to hear some opinions on this. Is a 65% freeloader rate higher or lower than you expected?

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Here’s a nice way to spend the next four minutes of your life.

My good friend Joshua Ellis’s new band Red State Soundsystem (love that name) just released their first track, a fine bit of alt-country fare called “Scatterlings and Refugees”, for free via the band’s website.

I really like this one. Reminds me a bit of Okkervil River’s “Song of Our So-Called Friend” — and that’s definitely meant as a complement.

Give it a listen. Then drop by this post on Josh’s blog and let him know what you thought.

mp3: Red State Soundsystem - Scatterlings and Refugees

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Apparently this is from GOSSIP GIRL, which I’ve never seen, but I figure any show that features an a capella choral rendition of Fergie’s “Glamorous” is probably okay.

mp3: Constance Billard Choir - Glamorous

And while we’re on the subject of ironic Fergie covers (a phenomenon probably deserving of its own dedicated blog somewhere), here’s Alanis Morrissette doing “My Humps”.

Have a good weekend, Internet.

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