The sound of things hitting

The stories – the LA TIMES, the LA WEEKLY and FADE IN (mine) are starting to cause a stir.

The WGA just issued a press statement in regards to what is going on.

In the interest of fairness, here is a link to it.

On the other side of the coin, here is an email the editor of FADE IN received in regards to the story.

I thought your article about the foreign levies scandal at the WGA and DGA was wonderful. But in terms of the unanswered question as to whether this is inefficiency or corruption, I can assure you as someone who served two terms on the Board of Directors of the WGA it is:

Corruption. The Guild has been deliberately stealing as much of this money and has engaged in a huge cover up. That cover up is falling apart now, but the corrupt people remain in charge.

Writers and Directors won't get their money until the people running these Guilds are exposed.

J. F. Lawton

J.F. Lawton is a pretty well respected screenwriter in addition to having been on the board. His most famous writing credit is Pretty Woman.

A little day in my life to keep you entertained.

A couple weeks ago, Marianne and I went out to enjoy a nice cool night in our Hot tub only to discover – cold water. Very cold water.

Flipping the switch to turn it on was followed by heart sinking silence.

A couple days later I was able to determine that the pump that circulates water when it is heating had died - a 160 dollar part.

Thanks to the wonders of Google, I found a warehouse in Arizona selling the pump for $65.00. I called, only to be quickly told by the very friendly woman, that if I was calling about the little pumps on the Internet, they were all sold out.

We talked for a few minutes longer before she told me to wait while she took a look on the shelves. Lo and behold, there was one pump, but it hadn't been sold for a reason. Upon opening the box, she saw the reason. It had no power cord, hence no one wanted it. She opened it up but couldn't figure out where a cord would even go. For them, a useless item collecting dust on a shelf. I asked her if I could buy it and she told me to "make an offer".

"Ten bucks?" I asked, figuring that if it couldn't be salvaged, no harm done.

Done deal… fifteen dollars with shipping.

Today, I wired it up and HA HA, it worked!

Another three dollars and change in plumbing parts, and about forty minutes to put it in, and I'm back in action.

Total cost: $18.61

The Dead Pump… and it was only twenty one years old.