For the same reason, I expect, that I can never finish writing a long-form work, I’ve rethemed the site and did some more tweaking and fiddling with things. The new theme is simple, to the point, and makes the runPHP plugin work right (finally).
If you notice any bugs or unintentional use of the color pink, please use the contact page to inform me.
I don’t watch much television, and it’s not because I’m trying to be an elitist, literary asshole. It’s mostly because I don’t get home in time to watch much TV these days.[1] The writer’s strike, therefore, isn’t really affecting my life. However, as a writer with dreams of publication, royalty checks, film adaptations and other fun things, I’m curious to see what’s going to happen with this.
Really, it’s hard to take the side of the studios when they’re making more money than they have in ages, or suing YouTube for one billion dollars.[2] If online content is worth one billion dollars of lost profits to Viacom, shouldn’t the creators of that content get at least a pittance? Clearly, the studios think not. It’s a classic tactic in discussing copyright and the internet to trot out how downloading movies and TV shows deprives poor, starving artists, actors, writers and stagehands their fair share. They stick this PSA in front of every movie now. Of course, the writers aren’t actually seeing any money from legit downloads of these things. They’re getting less than half a percent of the gross from home video sales. This may have made sense when home video was new and untested, but now it’s big money, and nearly all of it profit.
I’ve never seen any compelling argument for the studios, except for online distribution of media being an untested market. This cries of bullshit, especially with the rapid growth of video-on-demand and streaming through sites like YouTube. People are definitely interested in getting things without physical media. The biggest obstacle there is bandwidth, and it’s quickly becoming less of an issue. Of course, it’s important that we do hear the studio executive’s side of the argument, too. Equal time and all.[3]
Combine the greed of media executives with the growing amount of consolidation in the media arena, and you have a recipe for disaster. What’s likely to happen if this strike doesn’t work is a mass abandonment of the traditional media companies in favor of independent production, Internet distribution, and other means of spreading out entertainment without getting involved with big media. If it does work, writers actually make money from the distribution of their works online, and big media has to settle for 98% of their current profit margins.[4] One way, the studios shoot themselves in the foot. Another way, they survive with only damage to their pride. I’ll be happy with either.
This post marks the start of a new SansPoint. Rather than post about a hodgepodge of random, assorted, and unrelated topics, I’ve decided to focus on something important to me: literature. I’m hoping to have something that’ll inspire me to write on a regular basis, and focus on something that’ll bring people in to read me. Since 2004, I’ve been focusing on studying literature, and I’ve been writing fiction and poetry for a number of years now. This should give me the opportunity to share my love of it with the world. At the very least, however, it’ll be an amusing diversion for a few months.
I’ve got a good bit of things planned: reviews of books—new and old—worth reading, critical essays, and my own fiction and poetry. More could come later: interviews, perhaps? The sky’s the limit. Until then, relax and prepare for a good read in the future.
If you’re looking for some good stuff now, here’s a few links that you may be interested in:
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