Dispatches From The Front

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...of the writers' strike. This is the picket line outside Time Warner HQ in New York. Way in the back, in the porkpie hat, is an old buddy of mine who writes for one of the late night shows. I dropped him a line, figuring, you know, he wouldn't be busy. His report:
42-year-old men shouldn't picket. It's bad for the feet, hips and back. On the plus side, I've caught up with a lot of friends and learned to hate chants. [Profanity deleted.] It's like gym class, with the coach telling you to put some pepper in it.
I asked him what they're striking about (bear in mind I share no political opinions with this individual, though he's a good guy):
The crux of the strike is the internet. The studios are reusing material from TV on the internet and selling ads, but calling it "promotional" and not giving us any residuals. There's a lot of wrinkles on that theme, including the fact that the DVD deal we struck with them 19 years ago is ghastly, but it's mostly about the internet.
I don't have great faith we'll win a lot; I just hope I have a job to go back to when this mishegoss ends.

In the meantime, I'm telling everyone to read books.
Which is what they oughta be doing anyway. As this proves.