Status: Recovering from three days of kidney stones; severe pain and exhaustion
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails
Watching: Football!
Listening to: Nothing at the moment.
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: COSTLY STRIKE
Studios: Writers' losses mount in strike
LOS ANGELES - Hollywood studios said Friday that striking writers have now lost more in salary and benefits than they had hoped to gain by walking off the job.
In the message posted on its Web site and YouTube, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers claimed losses by writers in the eight-week strike have exceeded $151 million.
That's the price tag the Writers Guild of America put on its proposed three-year deal with studios.
"The strike continues because the union's leaders are focused on jurisdictional issues that would expand their own power, at the expense of the new media issues that working writers care most about," the alliance said in a statement.
Compensation for work distributed via the Internet and other digital media has been central to the contract dispute. The guild also has called for unionization of writers working on reality shows and animation.
The union responded by saying the contract proposals by the big studios would cause writers even more economic harm in the future.
"To sidestep this fact, they erroneously claim we are focused on other issues," the guild said in a statement. "The conglomerates are responsible for creating the economic havoc. They should put their energies into making a fair deal with writers rather than issuing misleading statements."
The strike that began Nov. 5 has also been costly for other industry workers. Production has been shut down on dozens of TV shows, with losses for crew members exceeding $250 million, according to the alliance message.
The alliance Web site features a constantly updated ticker with the studios' estimate of writers' losses. The figure is based on West Coast guild data from 2006, the site said.
Talks broke down Dec. 7 after the union rejected an alliance demand that a half-dozen guild proposals be taken off the table, including jurisdiction over reality and animation writers.
While negotiations with the writers union are at a standstill, studios are preparing to begin contract talks with the Directors Guild of America, perhaps next month.
Digital compensation also is expected to be a key issue for directors.
Whether a deal by directors will affect the writers dispute is unclear. The guilds traditionally have followed a practice of pattern bargaining, with one contract considered a template for others.
But the writers guild has said previously that it wishes the directors well, but noted they "do not represent writers. Our strike will end when the companies return to negotiations and make a fair deal with the WGA."
The directors guild has gone on strike only once, for just five minutes in 1987.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
SUNDAY CHAOS.
Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 190.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Football!
Listening to: "Can't Stop the Rock" by Apollo 440
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: THE BEAT GOES ON
Writers' strike ends most U.S. scripted TV work
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Production on all but two of the last few scripted prime-time television shows shooting in Los Angeles ground to a halt on Friday as a crippling strike by Hollywood writers neared the end of its sixth week, an industry group said.
The dwindling production tally reported by the nonprofit FilmL.A. Inc, which handles location permits for the industry, was the latest sign of mounting damage caused by the worst labor confrontation to hit major studios in 20 years.
The cost of the strike in terms of lost TV production spending in Southern California alone has reached about $135 million a week, and idled some 10,000 crew members, according to FilmL.A. President Steve MacDonald.
With work stopped on nearly all the five dozen dramas and comedies normally produced this time of year in the Los Angeles area, and the supply of new episodes rapidly running out, the networks are bracing for a programming upheaval in January.
Viewers, who have seen little change since the strike began, will soon be treated to an onslaught of reality shows and reruns broadcasters plan to use in place of scripted shows halted by the walkout.
That could lead to further ratings woes for the major networks, three of which have already been forced to compensate advertisers with extra commercial time due to a shortfall in viewership at the outset of the current season.
Programming and ad sales for the next TV season are also likely to take a hit as development of "pilot" episodes for new series and networks' annual "upfront" presentations for those shows to advertisers get scaled back or scrapped.
LATE-NIGHT TV MAY RETURN
Even as the outlook for prime time grows more dire, late-night comedy may soon be back in business. Several show hosts, including NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, are expected to return to work early next month, even if the strike is unsettled, after refusing for weeks to cross writers' picket lines, Daily Variety reported on Friday.
NBC declined to comment.
The Writers Guild of America launched its walkout on November 5 after months of contentious negotiations on a new contract covering 10,500 members collapsed. The main sticking point has been disagreement over how writers should be paid when their work is distributed over the Internet.
Talks resumed about two weeks later but broke off in acrimony again last Friday, with no further bargaining sessions scheduled.
While late-night TV took an immediate hit from the strike, work on prime-time series has slowed to a trickle.
By December, no more than 15 scripted shows remained in production, and just five were still being shot at the start of this week, according to FilmL.A., which has monitored the status of the shows through contacts with area production companies and studios, a spokesman said.
One of the last five, the CBS crime series "CSI: Miami," was shut down on Thursday, and two others, the new ABC ensemble drama "Dirty Sexy Money" and ABC's courtroom drama "Boston Legal," were set to wrap production on Friday.
That leaves two other series, both scheduled as midseason replacement shows for ABC, still in production -- "Eli Stone," which is slated to stop next Friday, and "October Road," due to close January 11, said FilmL.A.'s MacDonald.
So far, the movie business has been largely unhindered by the strike, though production on several high-profile films, including a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code," have been postponed.
MacDonald said that overall film production since the strike appears to have actually risen, as measured by the 129 location permits issued by FilmL.A. during the past six weeks, up from 89 issued during the same period a year ago.
He said the increase may be due to a speed-up in some film projects by studios in anticipation of additional labor strife next summer, when the actors' contract is due to expire.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Football!
Listening to: "Can't Stop the Rock" by Apollo 440
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: THE BEAT GOES ON
Writers' strike ends most U.S. scripted TV work
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Production on all but two of the last few scripted prime-time television shows shooting in Los Angeles ground to a halt on Friday as a crippling strike by Hollywood writers neared the end of its sixth week, an industry group said.
The dwindling production tally reported by the nonprofit FilmL.A. Inc, which handles location permits for the industry, was the latest sign of mounting damage caused by the worst labor confrontation to hit major studios in 20 years.
The cost of the strike in terms of lost TV production spending in Southern California alone has reached about $135 million a week, and idled some 10,000 crew members, according to FilmL.A. President Steve MacDonald.
With work stopped on nearly all the five dozen dramas and comedies normally produced this time of year in the Los Angeles area, and the supply of new episodes rapidly running out, the networks are bracing for a programming upheaval in January.
Viewers, who have seen little change since the strike began, will soon be treated to an onslaught of reality shows and reruns broadcasters plan to use in place of scripted shows halted by the walkout.
That could lead to further ratings woes for the major networks, three of which have already been forced to compensate advertisers with extra commercial time due to a shortfall in viewership at the outset of the current season.
Programming and ad sales for the next TV season are also likely to take a hit as development of "pilot" episodes for new series and networks' annual "upfront" presentations for those shows to advertisers get scaled back or scrapped.
LATE-NIGHT TV MAY RETURN
Even as the outlook for prime time grows more dire, late-night comedy may soon be back in business. Several show hosts, including NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, are expected to return to work early next month, even if the strike is unsettled, after refusing for weeks to cross writers' picket lines, Daily Variety reported on Friday.
NBC declined to comment.
The Writers Guild of America launched its walkout on November 5 after months of contentious negotiations on a new contract covering 10,500 members collapsed. The main sticking point has been disagreement over how writers should be paid when their work is distributed over the Internet.
Talks resumed about two weeks later but broke off in acrimony again last Friday, with no further bargaining sessions scheduled.
While late-night TV took an immediate hit from the strike, work on prime-time series has slowed to a trickle.
By December, no more than 15 scripted shows remained in production, and just five were still being shot at the start of this week, according to FilmL.A., which has monitored the status of the shows through contacts with area production companies and studios, a spokesman said.
One of the last five, the CBS crime series "CSI: Miami," was shut down on Thursday, and two others, the new ABC ensemble drama "Dirty Sexy Money" and ABC's courtroom drama "Boston Legal," were set to wrap production on Friday.
That leaves two other series, both scheduled as midseason replacement shows for ABC, still in production -- "Eli Stone," which is slated to stop next Friday, and "October Road," due to close January 11, said FilmL.A.'s MacDonald.
So far, the movie business has been largely unhindered by the strike, though production on several high-profile films, including a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code," have been postponed.
MacDonald said that overall film production since the strike appears to have actually risen, as measured by the 129 location permits issued by FilmL.A. during the past six weeks, up from 89 issued during the same period a year ago.
He said the increase may be due to a speed-up in some film projects by studios in anticipation of additional labor strife next summer, when the actors' contract is due to expire.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
SUNDAY FOLLOW UP
Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 188.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Football!
Listening to: Nothing at the moment.
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: WRITERS AFFECTED BY STRIKE
Even if it has to drag on, the WGA cannot capitulate to the industry--and expect to come out better in the long run! I know it hurts to be out of work! I should know: I haven't had a job since 2002. (And living on $520 a month on disability really does suck, but what more can I do?)
But you cannot give in! Suck it up and fight for what you believe in!
Idled Hollywood workers urge more talks (Part 2)
LOS ANGELES - The Hollywood strike is rewriting the holidays for idled workers.
With her income pinched, script supervisor Petra Jorgensen canceled an annual trip to Europe to see relatives. Set decorator Laura Richarz is bypassing pricey malls and fashioning gifts at home — framing photos, sewing a shirt for her niece.
With the holidays under way and the strike entering a sixth week, "It's going to be bleak for a lot of families," said Jorgensen, who's living off her savings.
The two were among hundreds of out-of-work employees and their supporters who marched down Hollywood Boulevard Sunday to call for a resumption of talks to settle the strike, which has sidelined many prime-time and late-night TV shows. Negotiations collapsed Friday between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the sides pointing fingers at each other.
The march Sunday was intended to draw attention to the financial plight of workaday Hollywood — those employees whose jobs depend on ongoing productions, from caterers to set builders to hair stylists. With shows silenced, they too are struggling.
Marchers expressed growing frustration with the on-again, off-again talks, and fingers were pointed at producers and union writers. A central issue has been compensation for new-media distribution of work by guild members.
Pam Elyea, whose Los Angeles company, History for Hire, provides props for TV and movies,
was forced to lay off six employees as expected work evaporated. If the walkout continues, she said, more could follow.
"I'm disappointed in both sides," Elyea said.
The writers guild represents 12,000 members, but not all are on strike. About 2,000 news writers and others are covered under a separate contract.
Studios believe they can hold out for months — a stalemate that could impact the regional economy along with the entertainment industry. Hollywood contributes an estimated $30 billion annually to the Los Angeles County economy.
Diana Valentine, a script supervisor for the FX drama "Nip/Tuck," said she has been off the job since Nov. 21 and her husband is an out-of-work actor. She said both sides need to be talking.
"You cannot come up with a deal if people are walking away from the table," she said. Without a paycheck soon, "I'm going to have to start renting out parts of my house."
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Football!
Listening to: Nothing at the moment.
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: WRITERS AFFECTED BY STRIKE
Even if it has to drag on, the WGA cannot capitulate to the industry--and expect to come out better in the long run! I know it hurts to be out of work! I should know: I haven't had a job since 2002. (And living on $520 a month on disability really does suck, but what more can I do?)
But you cannot give in! Suck it up and fight for what you believe in!
Idled Hollywood workers urge more talks (Part 2)
LOS ANGELES - The Hollywood strike is rewriting the holidays for idled workers.
With her income pinched, script supervisor Petra Jorgensen canceled an annual trip to Europe to see relatives. Set decorator Laura Richarz is bypassing pricey malls and fashioning gifts at home — framing photos, sewing a shirt for her niece.
With the holidays under way and the strike entering a sixth week, "It's going to be bleak for a lot of families," said Jorgensen, who's living off her savings.
The two were among hundreds of out-of-work employees and their supporters who marched down Hollywood Boulevard Sunday to call for a resumption of talks to settle the strike, which has sidelined many prime-time and late-night TV shows. Negotiations collapsed Friday between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the sides pointing fingers at each other.
The march Sunday was intended to draw attention to the financial plight of workaday Hollywood — those employees whose jobs depend on ongoing productions, from caterers to set builders to hair stylists. With shows silenced, they too are struggling.
Marchers expressed growing frustration with the on-again, off-again talks, and fingers were pointed at producers and union writers. A central issue has been compensation for new-media distribution of work by guild members.
Pam Elyea, whose Los Angeles company, History for Hire, provides props for TV and movies,
was forced to lay off six employees as expected work evaporated. If the walkout continues, she said, more could follow.
"I'm disappointed in both sides," Elyea said.
The writers guild represents 12,000 members, but not all are on strike. About 2,000 news writers and others are covered under a separate contract.
Studios believe they can hold out for months — a stalemate that could impact the regional economy along with the entertainment industry. Hollywood contributes an estimated $30 billion annually to the Los Angeles County economy.
Diana Valentine, a script supervisor for the FX drama "Nip/Tuck," said she has been off the job since Nov. 21 and her husband is an out-of-work actor. She said both sides need to be talking.
"You cannot come up with a deal if people are walking away from the table," she said. Without a paycheck soon, "I'm going to have to start renting out parts of my house."
SUNDAY'S COLD!
Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 188.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Football!
Listening to: Nothing at the moment.
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: TALKS COLLAPSE
Idled Hollywood workers urge end to writers' strike
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of film and television production workers, joined by florists, caterers and dry cleaners, marched through Hollywood on Sunday to urge both sides in the screenwriters strike to settle the 5-week-old stoppage that is crippling businesses linked to the industry.
The "Strike a Deal" march brought together about 500 people who are not on strike themselves but who have been laid off or are losing business because of the strike by about 10,500 members of the Writers Guild Of America (WGA).
"We're not here today to take the side of either party, but rather to make ourselves seen and make ourselves heard and call for both sides to return to the table immediately," said one of the organizers, Christopher Griffin, a line producer for the "Nip/Tuck" TV series.
Dozens of workers from shows where production has stopped including "Ugly Betty," "Desperate Housewives" and "The Office" were joined by representatives from floral, catering and cleaning small businesses that work closely with studios.
The rally and march was intended to "put a face on the thousands of us adversely affected by the current strike" and "to show a united front in calling for responsible and serious negotiations," the organizers said on their blog site.
Studio bosses and the WGA broke off contract talks again on Friday after four days of negotiations ended in acrimony, dashing hopes of a quick settlement of the worst Hollywood labor crisis in two decades.
The writers went on strike on November 5 in a dispute that hinges on how much they should be paid for work used on the Internet. It has halted production on dozens of TV shows as well as several movies and idled thousands of non-writing film and TV workers.
"They are negotiating the what-ifs while we're not even getting work, and while they're on strike the reruns are on and they're getting residuals," said Elizabeth Tompkins, a production controller for the summer 2008 movie "Get Smart."
Griffin called on both sides to try harder to reach an agreement. "Lock yourselves in a room, throw away the key. Stay there until a settlement is reached. All of our lives and our livelihoods hang in the balance," he said.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Football!
Listening to: Nothing at the moment.
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: TALKS COLLAPSE
Idled Hollywood workers urge end to writers' strike
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of film and television production workers, joined by florists, caterers and dry cleaners, marched through Hollywood on Sunday to urge both sides in the screenwriters strike to settle the 5-week-old stoppage that is crippling businesses linked to the industry.
The "Strike a Deal" march brought together about 500 people who are not on strike themselves but who have been laid off or are losing business because of the strike by about 10,500 members of the Writers Guild Of America (WGA).
"We're not here today to take the side of either party, but rather to make ourselves seen and make ourselves heard and call for both sides to return to the table immediately," said one of the organizers, Christopher Griffin, a line producer for the "Nip/Tuck" TV series.
Dozens of workers from shows where production has stopped including "Ugly Betty," "Desperate Housewives" and "The Office" were joined by representatives from floral, catering and cleaning small businesses that work closely with studios.
The rally and march was intended to "put a face on the thousands of us adversely affected by the current strike" and "to show a united front in calling for responsible and serious negotiations," the organizers said on their blog site.
Studio bosses and the WGA broke off contract talks again on Friday after four days of negotiations ended in acrimony, dashing hopes of a quick settlement of the worst Hollywood labor crisis in two decades.
The writers went on strike on November 5 in a dispute that hinges on how much they should be paid for work used on the Internet. It has halted production on dozens of TV shows as well as several movies and idled thousands of non-writing film and TV workers.
"They are negotiating the what-ifs while we're not even getting work, and while they're on strike the reruns are on and they're getting residuals," said Elizabeth Tompkins, a production controller for the summer 2008 movie "Get Smart."
Griffin called on both sides to try harder to reach an agreement. "Lock yourselves in a room, throw away the key. Stay there until a settlement is reached. All of our lives and our livelihoods hang in the balance," he said.
Friday, November 30, 2007
FRIDAY'S CHILL.
Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 187.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Talk show re-runs
Listening to: "One Love" by Prodigy; "Head Like A Hole" by Devo
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: STRIKE CONTINUES
The writer's strike enters its fourth week; and temperatures here are in the low 30s.
Striking screenwriters disparage new studio offer
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Labor negotiators for the major Hollywood studios presented striking screenwriters on Thursday with a new set of proposed pay formulas for digital media, but the writers' union immediately rebuffed the offer as far too stingy.
Breaking their silence after a four-day round of talks conducted under a strict media blackout, the two sides resumed their public relations duel as the studios unveiled what they called a "new economic partnership" and the writers shot it down as a "massive rollback."
The latest offer was disclosed in a brief statement issued by the studios' bargaining entity, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), on the 25th day of a strike by 10,500 film and TV writers.
The Writers Guild of America launched its work stoppage on November 5 after months of rancorous on-and-off negotiations with the studios collapsed, triggering the worst labor crisis to hit Hollywood in nearly 20 years.
The talks have foundered largely on the failure to reach accord on writers' demands for a greater share of revenue for film and TV work distributed over the Internet and wireless devices, such as cell phones.
The new offer presented by the studios, according to the AMPTP, sought to address those issues with "groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media."
"The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year," the statement said.
But the proposal met with a chilly reception from the union, which outlined its objections to the studios' offer in its own point-by-point critique.
For example, the union said the studios had offered a single, fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hourlong TV program when streamed over the Internet, which the WGA said compared with "over $20,000 payable for a network rerun."
The union also faulted the studios' offer for failing to establish a payment scheme for original content created especially for the Internet, and for refusing to go beyond management's initial proposal to pay the same rates for digital downloads as for DVDs.
The guild said its own proposals would cost the film and TV industry $151 million over three years, amounting to a 3 percent increase in writers' earnings annually, while "company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10 percent."
Both sides said they would resume bargaining next Tuesday, and the union said the studios have promised to present additional unspecified proposals at that time.
The latest four-day round of talks marked the first formal negotiations since the strike began.
The screenwriters' walkout has hit the television industry the hardest so far, throwing late-night talk shows into immediate reruns and bringing production to a halt on dozens of prime-time comedies and dramas.
The strike has also forced movie studios to postpone several high-profile big-screen projects, including a planned sequel to the box-office blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code."
The last Hollywood strike was a 1988 walkout by the WGA that lasted 22 weeks and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Talk show re-runs
Listening to: "One Love" by Prodigy; "Head Like A Hole" by Devo
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: STRIKE CONTINUES
The writer's strike enters its fourth week; and temperatures here are in the low 30s.
Striking screenwriters disparage new studio offer
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Labor negotiators for the major Hollywood studios presented striking screenwriters on Thursday with a new set of proposed pay formulas for digital media, but the writers' union immediately rebuffed the offer as far too stingy.
Breaking their silence after a four-day round of talks conducted under a strict media blackout, the two sides resumed their public relations duel as the studios unveiled what they called a "new economic partnership" and the writers shot it down as a "massive rollback."
The latest offer was disclosed in a brief statement issued by the studios' bargaining entity, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), on the 25th day of a strike by 10,500 film and TV writers.
The Writers Guild of America launched its work stoppage on November 5 after months of rancorous on-and-off negotiations with the studios collapsed, triggering the worst labor crisis to hit Hollywood in nearly 20 years.
The talks have foundered largely on the failure to reach accord on writers' demands for a greater share of revenue for film and TV work distributed over the Internet and wireless devices, such as cell phones.
The new offer presented by the studios, according to the AMPTP, sought to address those issues with "groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media."
"The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year," the statement said.
But the proposal met with a chilly reception from the union, which outlined its objections to the studios' offer in its own point-by-point critique.
For example, the union said the studios had offered a single, fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hourlong TV program when streamed over the Internet, which the WGA said compared with "over $20,000 payable for a network rerun."
The union also faulted the studios' offer for failing to establish a payment scheme for original content created especially for the Internet, and for refusing to go beyond management's initial proposal to pay the same rates for digital downloads as for DVDs.
The guild said its own proposals would cost the film and TV industry $151 million over three years, amounting to a 3 percent increase in writers' earnings annually, while "company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10 percent."
Both sides said they would resume bargaining next Tuesday, and the union said the studios have promised to present additional unspecified proposals at that time.
The latest four-day round of talks marked the first formal negotiations since the strike began.
The screenwriters' walkout has hit the television industry the hardest so far, throwing late-night talk shows into immediate reruns and bringing production to a halt on dozens of prime-time comedies and dramas.
The strike has also forced movie studios to postpone several high-profile big-screen projects, including a planned sequel to the box-office blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code."
The last Hollywood strike was a 1988 walkout by the WGA that lasted 22 weeks and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.
Monday, November 19, 2007
MONDAY TREAT.
Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 185.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Evening Magazine
Listening to: "Love Removal Machine"; "She Sells Sanctuary" by Rare Cult
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: A SECOND DRAWING OF EMILY ROSE JORDAN
This is another pic of Emily done by Mykia awhile back. I was meaning to post this last month, but things just got so fragging nuts with all my appointments and unscheduled doctor visits! (This is what happens when you have another bout of kidney stones.)
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Evening Magazine
Listening to: "Love Removal Machine"; "She Sells Sanctuary" by Rare Cult
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: A SECOND DRAWING OF EMILY ROSE JORDAN
This is another pic of Emily done by Mykia awhile back. I was meaning to post this last month, but things just got so fragging nuts with all my appointments and unscheduled doctor visits! (This is what happens when you have another bout of kidney stones.)
MONDAY TRIPPIN'.
Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 185.
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
Watching: Evening News
Listening to: "Halcyon" by Chicane
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
TOPIC: READING LESS AND LESS?
Government study: Americans reading less
NEW YORK - The latest National Endowment for the Arts report draws on a variety of sources, public and private, and essentially reaches one conclusion: Americans are reading less.
The 99-page study, "To Read or Not to Read," is being released Monday as a follow-up to a 2004 NEA survey, "Reading at Risk," that found an increasing number of adult Americans were not even reading one book a year.
"To Read or Not to Read" gathers an array of government, academic and foundation data on everything from how many 9-year-olds read every day for "fun" (54 percent) to the percentage of high school graduates deemed by employers as "deficient" in writing in English (72 percent).
"I've done a lot of work in statistics in my career, and I've never seen a situation where so much data was pulled from so many places and absolutely everything is so consistent," NEA chairman Dana Gioia said.
Among the findings:
• In 2002, only 52 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24, the college years, read a book voluntarily, down from 59 percent in 1992.
• Money spent on books, adjusted for inflation, dropped 14 percent from 1985 to 2005 and has fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s.
• The number of adults with bachelor's degrees and "proficient in reading prose" dropped from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003.
Some news is good, notably among 9-year-olds, whose reading comprehension scores have soared since the early 1990s.
But at the same time, the number of 17-year-olds who "never or hardly ever" read for pleasure has doubled, to 19 percent, and their comprehension scores have fallen.
"I think there's been an enormous investment in teaching kids to read in elementary school," Gioia said. "Kids are doing better at 9, and at 11. At 13, they're doing no worse, but then you see this catastrophic falloff. ... If kids are put into this electronic culture without any counterbalancing efforts, they will stop reading."
Publishers and booksellers have noted that teen fiction is a rapidly expanding category in an otherwise flat market, but the NEA's director of research, Sunil Iyengar, wondered how much of that growth has been caused by the "Harry Potter" books, the last of which came out in July.
"It's great that millions of kids are reading these long, intricate novels, but reading one such book every 18 months doesn't make up for daily reading," Gioia said.
Doug Whiteman, president of the Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA), said sales of teen books were the strongest part of his business. But he added that a couple of factors could explain why scores were dropping: Adults are also buying the "Potter" books, thus making the teen market seem bigger on paper, and some sales are for non-English language books.
"There are so many nuances," Whiteman said. "Reading scores don't necessarily have any relevance to today's sales."
The head of Simon & Schuster's children's publishing division, Rick Richter, saw another reason why sales could rise even as scores go down: A growing gap between those who read and those who don't. Richter considers it "very possible" that the market is driven by a relatively small number of young people who buy large numbers of books. Test scores, meanwhile, are lowered by the larger population of teens who don't read.
"A divide like that is really a cause for concern," Richter said.
The report emphasizes the social benefits of reading: "Literary readers" are more likely to exercise, visit art museums, keep up with current events, vote in presidential elections and perform volunteer work.
"This should explode the notion that reading is somehow a passive activity," Gioia said. "Reading creates people who are more active by any measure. ... People who don't read, who spend more of their time watching TV or on the Internet, playing video games, seem to be significantly more passive."
Gioia called the decline in reading "perhaps the most important socio-economic issue in the United States," and called for changes "in the way we're educating kids, especially in high school and college. We need to reconnect reading with pleasure and enlightenment."
"'To Read or Not to Read' suggests we are losing the majority of the new generation," Gioia said. "The majority of young Americans will not realize their individual, economic or social potential."
Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.
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TOPIC: READING LESS AND LESS?
Government study: Americans reading less
NEW YORK - The latest National Endowment for the Arts report draws on a variety of sources, public and private, and essentially reaches one conclusion: Americans are reading less.
The 99-page study, "To Read or Not to Read," is being released Monday as a follow-up to a 2004 NEA survey, "Reading at Risk," that found an increasing number of adult Americans were not even reading one book a year.
"To Read or Not to Read" gathers an array of government, academic and foundation data on everything from how many 9-year-olds read every day for "fun" (54 percent) to the percentage of high school graduates deemed by employers as "deficient" in writing in English (72 percent).
"I've done a lot of work in statistics in my career, and I've never seen a situation where so much data was pulled from so many places and absolutely everything is so consistent," NEA chairman Dana Gioia said.
Among the findings:
• In 2002, only 52 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24, the college years, read a book voluntarily, down from 59 percent in 1992.
• Money spent on books, adjusted for inflation, dropped 14 percent from 1985 to 2005 and has fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s.
• The number of adults with bachelor's degrees and "proficient in reading prose" dropped from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003.
Some news is good, notably among 9-year-olds, whose reading comprehension scores have soared since the early 1990s.
But at the same time, the number of 17-year-olds who "never or hardly ever" read for pleasure has doubled, to 19 percent, and their comprehension scores have fallen.
"I think there's been an enormous investment in teaching kids to read in elementary school," Gioia said. "Kids are doing better at 9, and at 11. At 13, they're doing no worse, but then you see this catastrophic falloff. ... If kids are put into this electronic culture without any counterbalancing efforts, they will stop reading."
Publishers and booksellers have noted that teen fiction is a rapidly expanding category in an otherwise flat market, but the NEA's director of research, Sunil Iyengar, wondered how much of that growth has been caused by the "Harry Potter" books, the last of which came out in July.
"It's great that millions of kids are reading these long, intricate novels, but reading one such book every 18 months doesn't make up for daily reading," Gioia said.
Doug Whiteman, president of the Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA), said sales of teen books were the strongest part of his business. But he added that a couple of factors could explain why scores were dropping: Adults are also buying the "Potter" books, thus making the teen market seem bigger on paper, and some sales are for non-English language books.
"There are so many nuances," Whiteman said. "Reading scores don't necessarily have any relevance to today's sales."
The head of Simon & Schuster's children's publishing division, Rick Richter, saw another reason why sales could rise even as scores go down: A growing gap between those who read and those who don't. Richter considers it "very possible" that the market is driven by a relatively small number of young people who buy large numbers of books. Test scores, meanwhile, are lowered by the larger population of teens who don't read.
"A divide like that is really a cause for concern," Richter said.
The report emphasizes the social benefits of reading: "Literary readers" are more likely to exercise, visit art museums, keep up with current events, vote in presidential elections and perform volunteer work.
"This should explode the notion that reading is somehow a passive activity," Gioia said. "Reading creates people who are more active by any measure. ... People who don't read, who spend more of their time watching TV or on the Internet, playing video games, seem to be significantly more passive."
Gioia called the decline in reading "perhaps the most important socio-economic issue in the United States," and called for changes "in the way we're educating kids, especially in high school and college. We need to reconnect reading with pleasure and enlightenment."
"'To Read or Not to Read' suggests we are losing the majority of the new generation," Gioia said. "The majority of young Americans will not realize their individual, economic or social potential."
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