Hi! I'm at the con rn, and it's been a lot of "that show I was on in the 90s" and "that character I played" and "that sci-fi franchise". And all the panels I've been to start with the moderators reminding the audience not to ask specific questions about characters and character arcs and what not.

Shatner has been rambling with the same vibes of a grandpa when you ask him how his week has been. It's hilarious and hard to follow and union-rule-obeying.

honestly shatner is probably so happy to not have to talk about star trek lmao

Gentrified food snacks

"The Writers Guild has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.

“We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language,” the guild told members this evening in a release, which came just after sunset and the start of the Yom Kippur holiday that many had seen deadline to wrap up deal after five days of long negotiations...

Despite today’s welcome news, it still will take a few days for the strike to be officially over as the WGA West and WGA East proceed with their ratification process. During the WGA’s last strike in 2007-08, a tentative agreement was reached on the 96th day and it wasn’t over until the 100th...

All attention will now turn to ratifying the WGA deal and getting SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP back to the bargaining table to work out a deal to end the actors’ strike, which has now been going on for 70 days.

Details of the WGA’s tentative agreement haven’t been released yet but will be revealed by the guild in advance of the membership ratification votes. Pay raises and streaming residuals have been key issues for the guild, along with AI and writers room staffing levels."

-via Deadline, September 24, 2023

Samuel L. Jackson said tax billionaires... From an interview with Vulture by Bilge Ebiri

https://www.vulture.com/article/samuel-l-jackson-in-conversation.html

Apparently every day at the Roman Senate was "take your child to work day." I want to see a drama of the Catilinarian orations from the point of view of the 7-year-olds sticking gum on the curia doors and dropping mice down each other's shirts.

From around the age of seven boys began to spend more time with their fathers, accompanying them about the business. At the same stage a girl would watch her mother as she ran the household, overseeing the slaves and, at least in traditional households, weaving clothes for the family. Boys saw their fathers meet and greet other senators, and were permitted to sit outside the open doors of the Senate's meeting place and listen to the debates.

Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus, trans. Teresa Martín Lorenzo

I wish more people talked about Rhaenyra's relationship with Harwin. Like even with what little the show gave us, it was still a lot and it would be wrong to dismiss the impact that Harwin had on her. Nearing her wedding, especially before the time skip, we see Rhaenyra who is still young and, obviously, traumatized by the death of her mother which makes her have disdain for finding a man to marry---primarily because, as she knows even as heir, her freedom as a woman in that society is limited and her worth even more if she herself doesn't produce heirs. It's very understandable for someone whose mother not only died during birth but had to go through countless traumatic labors and failed attempts before then, for someone who possibly heard about what happened in that room during the time of the labor that they would avoid wanting/having kids as much as possible.

And yet, in the next episode which is during the time skip we see that Rhaenyra has, not only, had a successful birth but has had two prior, so she now has a total of three children and all are Harwin's. That itself speaks volumes, even more so when we see her let him hold Joffery because if Harwin was just a way to help her produce heirs since Laenor could not, to me I do not think that she would let him hold her newborn son (especially considering she walked all the way with him [Joffery] to go see Alicent before this). How could the conversation between them about children have gone? Did they necessarily plan for Jace or was it something that just happened? Was Harwin there for her enough in a way for Rhaenyra to want to continue to have children with him? There's so much to unpack from them, and it really makes me sad when some fans don't give this ship its just dues.

whatever the hell is going on here

If you’re late to the party, quiet quitting is a new workplace trend in which employees dial back their commitment to their jobs, renewing an emphasis on work-life balance.

‘Quiet quitting’ gives way to ‘quiet firing’ | KTLA

KTLA’s David Lazarus’s framing of Quiet Quitting here is insulting and misleading. “Quiet Quitting” isn’t dialing back a commitment. It is  what management decided to label workers who do the job they are paid for and nothing more. It is management’s rhetorical response to workers establishing boundaries.

How the fuck is doing the job you are paid for and nothing more “quitting”, quietly or not? It’s literally showing up to do the work you are paid to do, and then living your life when you are not on the clock.

The expectation from overpaid management that employees who are already underpaid should take their work home, sacrifice their quality of life, and give EVEN MORE than what their employers are already taking from them is outrageous.

Showing up for work and doing the job you are paid to do, then going home to live your life while you keep the two things separate is NOT “quiet quitting” it’s literally “going to work”.

If management wants workers to do more work, then fucking PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES FOR IT.

If he wasn’t clear, David Lazarus REALLY unloads his inner Boomer privilege:

“Going the extra mile at the office was once viewed as a positive, not a sign of giving too much to employers.“

“That’s not to say you should kill yourself for your job. That’s never a good idea. But thinking you can just coast through your work day making a bare-bones effort — trust me, you’ll be noticed.”

What? What the fuck? Doing ONLY THE JOB THEY ARE PAYING YOU FOR is just coasting through your workday?

Oh fuck you, and fuck everyone who simps for management.

I fought for my labor rights this week. In case you were wondering, amid the SAG and WGA strikes, non-fiction (reality, documentary, etc) is still running because it’s Non- Union and we, especially the people at the bottom, are constantly getting taken advantage of.

All of the reality tv shows you love? The crews on those shows have no Union to protect them. And the Execs can do whatever the hell they want. State labor laws are the only things that protect us and they still manage to bend the rules to their favor.

Fingers crossed that non-fiction entertainment will unionize soon, but literally everyone (including scripted unions) is making it difficult.

Me as a Trek actor at a con during the strike: "The show about a stellar odyssey I may or may not have been in back in the 90s was one of the best parts of my career. I'm having trouble remembering the name of the show or even my character right now, but it was pretty big. Big enough that the writers and actors could be compensated better, at least."

flawless!!!

WE WON!!!! FOR SURE THIS TIME!!!!!

RIGHT HERE!!!! LOOK!!!! IT WAS RELEASED ONLY FIVE HOURS AGO!!! THEY VOTED AND AGREED!!!! WE WON!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

// mpreg , pregnancy

There’s something intensely hilarious and fitting about imagining a Wei Wuxian who, as Wei Wuxian does, finds a way to get himself pregnant, only to act like a Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley farmer and go about business as usual. Pregnant Wei Wuxian out in the fields tending to his crops as if nothing was different.

I hope this is ok but what are your thoughts on this post about the strike? https://www.tumblr.com/cardassiangoodreads/722760134055559168/some-of-you-might-remember-a-couple-of-years-ago

I think it's a good reminder that the studios will definitely try to portray striking actors as greedy, when the entertainment corporations are the ones who regularly engage in borderline illegal accounting practices and look to screw creatives every chance they get. They'd much rather smear the WGA and SAG-AFTRA than negotiate in good faith.

Via crewstoriesia

Striking Back

This week's comic was largely inspired by Disney CEO Bob Iger's comments on the writers' strike during a lengthy interview on CNBC last week. He absolutely stepped in it when the subject of the WGA came up, calling the strike "very disturbing" and "very disruptive."

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hi there! as an industry [film/tv] professional, i have to say, it's insane things have lasted this long. at any point, the AMPTP could have decided to negotiate with us in a good faith position, and yet they've decided that is not a prudent business choice. it's put hundreds of thousands of below the line people like me in the place of "is living in LA worth it?" because so many of us need to scrape together the barest amount of money to sustain ourselves here. i'm lucky, i have an SO who loves me enough to let me stay here even though i haven't had rent money in four months, but not every one of us is as lucky. the entertainment industry is hemorrhaging, and i doubt all of us will survive this. but never forget, our real enemies are the over payed CEOs on the top of our corporate ladders. they refuse to give us a fair share, they refuse to even negotiate what looks like a fair share. these people are not your friends. when they die, we will all be better off. none of the guilds wanted this. it is entirely on the laps of the greedy mother fucking pieces of shit who cornered us into this. and I hope they die soon.