The Broadway strike is over!

After multiple overnight discussions the strike has been settled for the next 5 year contract term.  So why don't I really feel like a lot has been accomplished?

Finding out what the strike has been about hasn't been the easiest thing in the world.  Maybe it's because the TV strike has to do with writers who are better with words, but the stagehands haven't done anything to explain their side.  From what I've gathered it seems that the producers wanted to make some cuts in their current contracts and replace those cuts with new amendments and the stage hands wanted none of that.

• Producers didn't have the ability to choose how many stagehands were assigned to a production (either for the whole thing or for set-up.  that's been unclear).  This led to many producers paying for stagehands that had nothing to do.  For days at a time.
• The producers wanted to have the ability to choose the number of stagehands and in exchange for hiring less (READ: amount actually needed) they would give all of the workers a raise.

Now that the strike is over the times reports that the stagehands are dropping the number of workers for opening set ups and giving raises to the ones who do work.  So we went through over two weeks of dead Broadway for the stagehands to throw a hissy fit and then take what they were essentially offered from the start?  I know that unions are supposed to be great and champion the working man but this is bullshit.  The writers guild is striking to get pay for work they do now and don't get payed for.  The stagehands had a strike to keep getting payed for work they don't do.  Is that ok?  It doesn't seem right to me.  This seems more like a union striking just to get attention and because they're worried they're being called on their shit.

I bet they did get more of a raise after the strike than what was initially offered.  I'm not saying that they took the same exact deal that was offered in the beginning.  But I'm pretty shocked that they broke off talks and then came back and took the same TYPE of deal that was initially offered.  Breaking off talks and striking is for when you don't think you have any common  ground in a deal and need to create some leverage.

So here's what it comes down to.  I support the stagehands.  I know how much they're responsible.  Hell, they stopped Broadway for 2 and a half weeks.  But I just can't bring myself to support their strike.  They go upset because they were pretty much caught stealing free time and panicked when a solid portion of their pay was going to be cut.  But it was stolen time and the cut would come with a raise.  I just can't see the strike as anything more than immature tantrum and trying to keep the status quo, even if the status quo was getting paid regularly for not working.

More fall photos.

Here's the rest of the good ones. I'll start with my favourite.

That's it for now.

How I spent my Black Friday.

So yesterday was Black Friday. Oooh, spooky. I actually went out and (between many aggravating errands) shot some pictures. So this post is pretty much a straight photo post. Enjoy.

More photos in a day or two.

My Black Friday was very red.

So yesterday was Black Friday.  Oooh, spooky.  I actually went out and (between many aggravating errands) shot some pictures.  So this post is pretty much a straight photo post.  Enjoy.

 

posting test

Just a test to see if I can post images without a plus account.

A night at the theatre

So this past Saturday I had a lovely evening out in the city.  We went in to see a play (12 Night of the Living Dead) and got there a bit early.  So here's how the night went.


Pre Show
Al and I got in earlier than Jill and Jarod so we walked around to the corner to wait for them.  Well, a homeless guy comes over, asking to raise money for a beer.  I didn't have any cash on me but he proceeds to regaile us with the story of his expulsion from the same place we're seeing the play in a bit.  He goes on to tell us how he was put out by "the art cult" and then apologizes to Allison.  Why am I not assumed to be a part of this cult and she is?  He then drifts to new topics when I tell him a I have no cash and am not willing to use my card.  I am told I am lucky to have a red-head.  This I know.  He says that he has a black woman and "I know, I'm fucked up".  Finally, he says he has a place to stay, it's a warm spot near a bridge.  Can we help him find it.  We point behind him a the giant bridge on Delancy and he says he feels like an idiot.  Then Jill and Jarod show up.  What crappy timing!  They missed it.

Next, dinner!  We headed off in search of easy eats.  It's NYC so the pizza places tend to be good.  We see one down a side street and head towards it.  On the way, without warning, we come across a crowded little front with people milling about.  It looked odd and exclusive so we walked in.  What we beheld astounded us.  It appeared to be a sort of gallery opening.  It's called the MF Gallery, on Rivington street.  The event in question was an underground artist toy show.  Here are some pictures.

Show
Then, the play.  12th Night of the Living Dead was great.  It got a pretty bad review in the times, but it was hilarious.  Ok, maybe as an actual Shakespearean interpretation it was lacking.  Like, the main character (Viola) didn't actually have a single line other than grunting.  But what it lacked in coherent plot it made up for in bloody gore.  It wasn't advertised as such, but the first row (and part of the second where we had been sitting) was a splatter zone.  Fingers, intestines, arms, heaving bosoms and, yes of course, brains were all on the menu.

The reason I can say it's good and the Times can't is that I can see how the infection of blood-lust wasn't the only conversion.  As people changed, their target genre did as well.  The cast all starts out in a Shakespearean performance (and they are great while they're human).  As they devolve into zombies they switch over completely into a zombie movie mode.  Lurching, eating, disemboweling.  This is what their method becomes.  As for the cast that remains human?  They keep in Shakespeare mode.  So there is a bit of an aesthetic clash.  But it's all in good fun.  I works because they zombies are good zombies and the actors are good actors.  Sure, they don't really meet on the same ground anymore, but they function on their own and it's that split in the middle where all the humor lays.

Though it doesn't function on every level as a production it was still well worth seeing.  I'm still a little weirded out that it was the second zombie stage play I saw this year (the other was Evil Dead: The Musical, which is actually a near perfect show).

Post Show
On the way home, on the PATH, a girl threw up on my friend Jarod.  She only got his jacket a bit, but it was all over her hair and hands.  She kept her head down because she was embarrassed, but she looked awful young to be so trashed.  As soon as she vomited and started moaning I turned to Allison and whispered "She's one of the infected." 


So as we're talking about how it's ridiculous how bad people get we come across some more girls trashed out of their mind.  The next few shots are of a girl being carried by two guys she doesn't know (don't worry, her good gal friend is supervising).  They are literally carrying her.  Her feet were dragging.  No motor control.  Sexy, right?  They got to the turnstile and had to rotate through it sideways.  It was so funny.  Then they got to the bottom of the stairs.


After a moment of thinking really hard they just grabbed her under the arms and by the ankles and carried her up.  She made it.

You can see, on the right, her chariot awaits.

Fin.

Holy Heroes screen caps!

Since they seemed to do pretty well last time, here they are again!

Sorry for the large amounts of silence.  I've been busy and when I've been posting it's been elsewhere on the net.  I'll start crossposting so things won't slow down too much here.  Hope you liked this weeks.