residual babies
Leonard Velvet and Lace from "Crystal Monorail" on
Halloween weekend. You can find more photos here.
Oh man...I wish I had
more discipline to actually write this journal when I
actually have time. I was going to write yesterday
but I just couldn't do it, I just didn't want to get
in front of the computer again.
No matter!
I think that this year will be the year of "Everyone
I Know Is Having A Baby". We are officially at the
point where more of my "couple" friends have/are
having a kid than don't/not. I went to Ruby's first
birthday (or is that second? being born technically
has to count, right? we'll stick with first, because
it is more of a birth-versary, I guess) on Saturday
and it was crazy with kids. And it was fun, I mean, I
really like kids--I am more comfortable, I have to
say, with 3 and up (I can't shop for anyone that ages
in months)--I don't get freaked out by them or
anything like that. Of course, the number one
question both Whit and I get all the time usually
starts with "When" and ends with "one" and it's just
a constantly weird thing to talk about.
What's amazing is this feeling of watching so many of
my friends go and experience this whole thing that I
am not. It cheapens it to say I feel "left out" but
it is just, obviously, one of the most significant
life event that my comrades are gong through right
now, and after being neck to neck in experience with
everyone for so long, it's just odd feeling to watch
this happening as opposed to sharing it.
Whit and I talk about it all the time, of course, and
I am sure we will continue to discuss it for awhile.
Who knows what will happen, but it's just something
that's happening around me and it puts everything
into a different kind of perspective. Like, when
people ask me about what's going on, I just feel
silly talking about my events and stories when
talking to someone who is up 5x a night caring for a
new baby. I know, of course, that I should not feel
that way, but I do sometimes.
So, congratulations to the few people who have told
me that they are pregnant this week (I had two in one
day last week). An congrats to Kate and Joel and Ruby
for making it through a whole year. I had a good time
at the party, seeing all of my friends and their
parents and their kids, generations and generations
all talking and sharing stories, I felt like I was in
the opening credits of some family movie.
Everyone's talking about the WGA strike and I am
already feeling the effects of it. Auditions have
already been slow, and I doubt they are going to
start picking up if this does not get resolved
quickly. I was talking about this on Saturday and was
hoping they would come to some kind of compromise on
the DVD residuals (it was 4 cents per copy, the
writer's wanted up to 8 cents for certain (more
popular) titles) and I was surprised to see they had
dropped that issue altogether, that they were
focusing more on Internet rights, which are going to
be difficult to reconcile, pretty because one of the
biggest challenges for any kind of online content
production/distribution/exhibition play is
monetization. I was hoping they would go 6 cents per
DVD, get a deal for outfits like the iTunes store and
others, and then go back to the tables in 2 years to
see what the marketplace is like for PC and Set-top
box streaming delivery systems. It's a pickle, that's
for sure, but these are the challenges of our time,
the way we deal with video and music is changed
forever; it's an amazing time to be a part of this,
right at this very major and crucial transition.
Still, people need to get paid for their work. I get
really annoyed with folks to pirate movies and all
that...you gotta pay people for their work!
I got an HDTV player on Friday and will be post about
it later this week. I put it through its paces on
Sunday and it was, frankly, awesome. While it is not
the insane upgrade that we saw with VHS to DVD, it is
very significant. And awesome.
Ride the rail!