Is This Man the Devil?

NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly" plans to resume taping tomorrow, according to Reuters. A spokeswoman says Daly wants to "support his staffers" while becoming the first late-night TV talk show host to cross the WGA picket line. Good luck getting A-list guests - or any guests at all - to come on the show.

Meanwhile, a WGA insider in L.A. tells American/Mexican that he thinks an agreement over "basic guidelines" has been made (in a meeting between the Guild and the CEO's for Disney and Fox) and that there is "room for optimism." An inked deal could still take a month to produce, but what better Christmas stocking stuffer for TV viewers? Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily reported similar insider-speak yesterday.

Left Speechless

United Hollywood's "Speechless" campaign, first promoted here Wednesday, is now online but the results so far are mixed. Videos featuring "A-list Screen Actors Guild talent" like Sean Penn, Nicolette Sheridan and Eva Longoria, and Harvey Keitel all disappoint. Making matters worse, the videos take too long to upload and play out in a choppy manner. Up to five people are listed as part of the creative team that envisioned the videos. It appears the world really does need writers, but also directors, editors and (shudder) producers to say yea or nay to an idea. The only compelling one up to this point - Sunday afternoon - is by Andre 3000, pictured above. Still eagerly awaiting Tina Fey's video, but if she can't write, then how good can it really be?

WGA Talks Turkey

As the long holiday weekend gets underway, the WGA says it will head back to the negotiating table on Monday. Until a new contract is signed, the Guild is encouraging fans of specific network shows to send a pencil to the AMPTP or to TV studios in support of writers and their craft. Tomorrow, Sean Penn, Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette and other actors begin starring in the "Speechless" campaign broadcast exclusively on the Internet.

Going West

Broadway's still dark, but who cares. Ode to the Man Who Kneels, now playing at the Performing Garage on Wooster Street, is written, directed and composed by Richard Maxwell. The musical is just the latest sign that the western genre is alive and well in American theater and film. Like 3:10 to Yuma (2007) - one of several recent examples - the familiar western themes are touched upon - impending death, bleak landscapes, lawlessness, and drought (of several kinds). But what sets "Ode" apart are the catchy songs. One in particular - maybe titled "Endure" - leaves one feeling oddly hopeful and humming along. Here's Ben Brantley's NY Times review.


Theatergoer beware. Maxwell has a cult following of sorts and based on last night's performance, the squeezed-in crowd can be annoying. Watch out for adult twins dressed exactly alike, sleeping and wheezing older couples and cackling young ladies. If this means you, take a moment to brush up on your theater etiquette.

A Fistful of Pennies

Told with (Frank) Capra-like conviction and stylistically modeled after his famous World War II “promotional” film of the same name, Why We Fight covers the issues behind the WGA strike. Viewers get a glimpse of how television studios haven’t and still don’t properly compensate writers for their work, the details of which are explained in a straightforward and effective manner.

Though the delivery of this information could be interpreted as propagandistic, one-sided, and perhaps misleading, there is no denying that a four-cent increase is not too much to ask. Sometimes a strike is the only way to get anyone’s attention, and that means ours, too.

Psychodrama Meets Sugar

On Tuesday, October 30, 2007, composer Melissa Grey held a preview screening of her work, Psychodrama, an experiment of sound, narrative, perception, and investigation of horror film score at Sugar Bar/Lounge in NYC's Tribeca. Over a hundred guests gathered -- some in Hitchcock inspired Halloween costumes -- to watch the well-known shower sequence in his 1960 film Psycho, set to the eerie but contemplative sounds of Grey's sonic compositions.

Many audience members believed the sequence -- pulled directly from the film and left intact -- was actually re-edited by Grey to accompany her scores, when, in fact, viewer perception is slightly thwarted when watching this popular scene to a score that registers reactions at different moments than the original score by Bernard Herrmann.

While this work is not a criticism of Herrmann's brilliant score, it intends to play with the manner in which we read film and sound as viewers/listeners. It deliberately works with and against our expectations, both those formed through having previously viewed this film, in some cases multiple times, and as long-time audiences of other horror films.

Variations No. 9 and 11 were featured from a total of thirteen variations, which will be performed by a live chamber orchestra in winter 2008 in NYC.