They say in Harlan County, there are no neutrals there

[sovay]

Today has been spent uninterestingly. (So far it hasn't snowed and I hate malls.) Yesterday was far superior, albeit colder—I attended the WGA rally in Harvard Square, which was both informative and fun. The speakers included Jaime Paglia (who had put the entire event together, so all kinds of praise to him), Joss Whedon ("We just want a fair deal. And dragons"), and Rob Kutner ("I really don't want to be here. With all due respect to Boston, I want to be in New York—in my office—writing jokes about how Alberto Gonzales was just elected Lawyer of the Year by the American Bar Association!"), and the point was clearly made that the strike is not a matter of self-centered, disconnected artists who want free handouts without the first idea of how the practical world works, as has been represented in the media, but a serious issue of whether writers will receive compensation for the "new media" distribution of their work or whether the studio system will be able to break the union. (That this had to be plainly stated is some indication of the problem already.) From the applause levels and the number of Buffy-, Angel-, and Firefly-related slogans on display, I think most of the crowd had shown up for love of Joss, but since half the point was to combat misinformation and form connections with the fans, it worked. ericmvan and I ran into nihilistic_kid, which was unexpected and awesome. Pandemonium was involved; they hosted a signing afterward. In between, there was a rally around the office of the Harvard Lampoon, where many clever signs were to be seen, although I think my favorite belonged to a grade-school kid ("My Mother Let Me Skip School To Support The WGA") who had invented his own picket-line chant: "I don't know what I've been told / Writers should be paid in gold!" There were megaphones; there was someone with a harmonica and a knowledge of Woody Guthrie; there was a paralegal with a drum. Eric and I tried to make "2.5%" scan to the tune of "Seven-and-a-Half Cents," which was a mixed success at best. ("Four more cents per DVD" had a closer rhythm, but was no longer accurate.) And we finished up the day with a showing of Juno (2007) at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, which I cannot recommend highly enough. The film deserves its own post, which I will try to give it tomorrow. And hopefully not have to shovel immense drifts of snow out of the driveway first . . .

Comments

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Weirdly enough, Ruth and I also went to Juno last night, though at the Harvard Square theatre. It made me very happy in many ways that movies do not usually make me happy-- and we wound up having to go to a showing one showing later than we intended, because the 9 PM show was sold out, and that is a good sign for the box office, I'd say.

I found about the first five minutes of the movie a little too self-consciously quirky, and then her best friend got to "I love Woody Allen!" and I went *gulp snarf* and never quite stopped smiling again.

Not the best film I've seen in theatres this year-- so far that is still Black Snake Moan-- but really damn good and right up there.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

It made me very happy in many ways that movies do not usually make me happy

I love it when that happens. I'm seeing universally good reviews for Juno, and I really like Ellen Page. She was amazing in Hard Candy.

Not the best film I've seen in theatres this year

Have you seen No Country for Old Men? That one's exceptional.

Do you know why Sonya's been ignoring me for the past couple months?

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

and I don't think I *do* know you offline, though I could be wrong

You don't.

I feel that it would be inappropriate for me to answer this question

Ethics.

and that it was inappropriate for you to ask it

Maybe. Sonya seems to get a kick out of it, though. I'll stop if she takes me off her friends list or actually tries to work things out with me. Until she does one of those things, I think I'll just reply to everyone who comments on her journal.

I am replying to this because I wanted to point out that, if Sonya does not answer this question herself, no one else has the right to answer it for her

Hmm. I don't care.

and that trying to bring other people into whatever the situation is is a good way to annoy the other people.

I would imagine so. You have Sonya to thank. I'm glad I can spread her dickishness to the rest of her friends.

I am mildly annoyed,

I've been pissed off for months. She can't spare a glance at my olive branches, yet here I'm still on her friends list. If the only thing I can do to get her to stop sending mixed signals is to royally piss her off, then that's what I'm going to do.

which is why I am attempting to explain why I feel this was inappropriate, instead of preemptively ignoring the question, and you, hereafter.

Well, you're setting a very good example.

I hadn't know Ellen Page had been in much else, actually

She was also in X-Men 3, unfortunately. As much as I like her, I'm still not inspired to see that movie.