1. Wow, the Letterman story broke at 6PM, you're putting in some overtime. TVSquad should give you a raise.

P.S. Does anyone know why there is no apostrophe in "Writers Guild of America?" Shouldn't it be "Writers' Guild?"

Posted at 7:17PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Dom

2.
@ Dom

You ask a fair and very debatable question that I've recently heard from others as well. I'm not a grammarian; a fair treatment of this question would be lengthy and comprehensive but let me humbly offer a quick-and-dirty answer:

Firstly, the use of the word "Writers" in the name is descriptive* rather than possessive. The word functions as an adjective rather than a possessive noun. Think of it as a guild that happens to be composed of writers versus writers that own/possess a guild.

Practically every style guide for writing agrees that omitting the apostrophe for proper names of this kind is acceptable and often preferable.

Here's a reference from the venerable Chicago Manual of Style: "…Chicago dispenses with the apostrophe only in proper names…or where there is clearly no possessive meaning." **

Secondly, in conventional usage, regular plural nouns should have no apostrophe when used in names of organisations, as in "Underwriters Laboratories Inc." Singular possessive and irregular plural nouns should have them, though.

Thirdly, there is an aesthetic sensibility. "Apostrophe-less" organisation names have a cleaner appearance and convey a professional gravitas than if they were "cluttered" with unnecessary punctuation.

Of course, some "detail-oriented" individuals like you and me are still bothered by it, perhaps even aesthetically.

Even the feds*** occasionally weigh in on this issue. The United States Department of Veterans**** Affairs officially declares November 11 as "Veterans Day." ****

Far be it for writers to mispunctuate, but how about the "apostrophe-less" Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America?…

__________________________

* attributive case, technically speaking

** CMS 7.27

*** "…the United States government has declared that the attributive (no apostrophe) rather than the possessive case is the official spelling." ~Wikipedia

**** No apostrophe(s).

Posted at 10:17PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Go-Kart

3. Dom - -

Probably because "Screen Writers" is meant to be understood as a plural, not as a possessive.

Posted at 3:21PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Jim Murphy

4. What? No Super-Random-Friday? I'll let it slide because the news stories were a bit random, but not super random like I had expected.

Posted at 7:20PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Aaron

5. Hey, Brigitte

I know that you didn’t show the mugs today but you still have me going on this mug thing.

Yesterday’s video of you clicking the old mug with the new mug was totally blatant. Then the throwing of the marshmallow, which with the clicking sound affects, was an even further attempt to rub the entire mug wish business right in my face. Then I was e-mailed a message from a friend who told me to go back and looked at the December 26th comments. As I hadn’t read any others after I had posted mine.

Now as you know that is where Tom’s comments started. His legal advice, which he continued with on the 27th, got me thinking. So I just finished talking with OJ, as he just lives a few miles south of me. And I asked him if he would help me put together his old legal team.

Well he said that he couldn’t help because they have either passed away or he owed them so much money they won’t work for him anymore. So if I needed any of them I would have to pay off his debt.

Now I’m not quite sure, but I don’t think that the mug is worth the amount OJ owes his former legal team. And Tom only talks like a lawyer as he heard one on TV so he is of no help, although he did make some very valid points.

So you will be hearing from my lawyers. That is if I can find any that will take my case.

Until next time.

Bud

P.S. Hope Penrod is O.K.

__

Posted at 7:20PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Bud

6. That's the spirit, never give up. If it doesn't fit she MUST...y'know...give you the...um...mug

...

Man, I really do suck at this.

Posted at 7:48PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Tom

7. Totally off the subject, I think Bonnie Hunt is hot.

Posted at 7:29PM on Dec 28th 2007 by jaerisk

8. Totally off the subject, I think Bonnie Hunt is hot.

Posted at 7:44PM on Dec 28th 2007 by jaerisk

9. Doesn't sound like Penrod is doing so hot. Should we be on death watch?

Posted at 7:45PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Tristan

10. Things going soft on Bridgette is a major no no.

Posted at 7:54PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Sy

11. I'm worried about Penrod. He's not soft in the spot that hit Brigitte's head so the softness is not from trauma. Maybe it's the ink from the marker, it piosiness to pumpkins.

Regarding Bud and his quest for Brigitte's coffee mug. People who drink coffee are less likely to commit suicide than people who don’t. I'm not implying that Bud can't live without the mug. But if he's got no mug then he can't drink coffee and then his chances of survival decrease. Just something to think about Brigitte.

PS. Brink back Super Random Friday!

The letters on the left "alt" of my keyboard are disappearing.

Posted at 8:36PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Joe

12. Penrod may be getting a little bit soft in the head, but aren't we all? (nods to Murphy) P-rod is maybe halfway through his post-picking "life" span, so he has quite a long way to go. You might see a little mold, and you won't be able to toss him around (the indignity!) or play airplane with him; you'll just have to accommodate his advancing infirmities. But as you wisely haven't broken the skin, you'll still be able to write on him with a Sharpie marker for quite some time. (Eventually, it might have to be black paint and a brush.) I've had pumpkins from Hallowe'en until early summer, when they got so gross I finally had to bury them. Then a few weeks later, I'd see the little green leaves peeking up through the composted mule manure. Nature, orange in tooth and claw!

On the radio this morning, I heard that yesterday marked the "tipping point" at which the strike has cost the writers more in salary than they stand to gain from the strike. (As if anyone could look into the future to see what that gain might eventually be.) What wasn't reported, of course, was that the networks have lost infinitely more in ad revenue than the pittance it would have cost to give the writers their fair share of the royalties. I haven't seen any stats on the rate of viewer attrition, if any, clearly attributable to the strike. Does the diminishing rate of ad revenue correlate to fewer eyeballs, or merely to the advertisers' knowledge that they have the networks over a barrel?

I hope the writers win this one, I really do--a classic case of labor vs. capital.

Makes me wonder, though, how bad television has to get for folks just to turn it off for good. I suspect we're not even close.
WE

Posted at 10:24PM on Dec 28th 2007 by Wind Energy

13. I very much doubt the studios are losing any money right now and I would guess the strike isn’t hurting them much at all.
Keep in mind that studios aren’t some single entity that can be hurt. They (in a very simplified manner) consist of two groups of people: Studio Executives and Studio Investors.
Studio Executives are still getting the same pay check they always get whether they’re figuring out how to juggle reality shows or original programming. There is the theory that they might get less of a bonus but at the salary level of most studio execs I really don’t think they’re going to sweat a bonus. Moreover the studio itself is still making close to what they were making before because less people are watching across the board which means that advertisers will have to pay more for fewer viewers. Don’t get me wrong, ad rates will go down but not all that much. Beyond that Reality TV costs 10 times less than original programming and repackaged shows (from USA Network or other countries such as England or Canada) cost even less than that. Bottom line is that it’s very unlikely that Studio Execs will be penalized in their bonus because studio revenue isn’t suffering that much.
As for Studio Investors, they aren’t losing either. The sad reality of the world is that the stock market is not tied exclusively to how much money a company makes but instead is tied to how much people think that company will make in the future. In other words the stock of a studio is more likely to fall if they agree to a deal that investors think will cost them money on an ongoing basis (aka the WGA’s proposed deal) than it is if Studios were to lose money in the near term waiting the writers out. So Investors are better off waiting the writers out as well.
Now look at the writers. Now hopefully they have some kind of savings they can live off of but the reality is that, in a competition to see who can last the longest, the writers will lose. The Studios don’t want to but could go on indefinitely if they needed to which is far more than the writers can say. Moreover statistics say the longer a strike goes on the less the public will side with the writers. So the WGA gets less popular by the day while the studios position gets stronger.
Bottom line: both sides of this strike are being too greedy in my opinion but the writers are the only ones being stupid. They can’t win this and every day they go on with the strike they just end up making themselves more miserable while causing virtually no pain to the studio heads or the studio investors.

Posted at 12:27PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Tom

14. Wind, Wind, Wind...

Was that use of my name in vain necessary?

Regarding Penrod, I overheard Brigitte muttering under her breath. The time has come and gone to make pie. If he's soft without cooking him, he's probably not good for making pie anymore. (NOTE TO SELF: When Brigitte offers homemade pumpkin, pass.)

Posted at 4:16PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Jim Murphy

15. Ok, you know my request not to mention Paris Hilton again, ever? Let's throw Jessica Simpson into the mix too. :-)

Posted at 12:36AM on Dec 29th 2007 by Lincoln

16. First off...some of you people talk too much about the most boring subjects you can find.(Tom) Second: go outside for a change or start your own blog to get other people to harp on your every word because we are here to watch Brigitte with her comments not yours!! Happy New Year!!
"Hooray for Hard Melons"

Posted at 1:41PM on Dec 29th 2007 by sean jackson

17. This is my fault…we had our whole “teaching Sean to talk to girls” lessons and I completely forgot about it. It’s natural for you to lash out. I understand. I’m there for ya buddy.

So next lesson: when you try to be cool by making a point make sure you take the interests of the girl in to consideration. Now take your comments above, you said…

some of you people talk too much about the most boring subjects you can find.(Tom)

Now I’m hoping what you meant was “some people boringly talk too much about interesting subjects” but assuming you didn’t let’s look at this logically. Brigitte hosts a show…called >>>TV

Posted at 2:48PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Tom

18. Okey dokey, something went wrong with me trying to draw attention to the word TV, so we now rejoin my previous post…already in progress…

Squad Daily. In that show she picks her own topics and she has chosen to talk about the writer’s strike…a lot. So much so that she had a phase where she didn’t talk about the writer’s strike because she felt she was talking about the writer’s strike too much. So maybe…just maybe…she doesn’t find the subject boring.
Again, making fun of my delivery would have been good fun (had you done it well) but saying the topic was boring…not too smooth.

As for talking too much you very much have a point but let’s be honest here…I’m so damn lovable. I honestly don’t even know how I do it. It really boggles the mind. So how could you not want a little more of me in your life? Plus I’m a guy who still programs about 9 hours a day and accordingly types 110 wpm so there’s that.

In all seriousness, if you really are trying to pick a fight with me (or even pick on me) you’re wasting your time. The simple truth is that I’m just in this to have fun. Sure I’ll throw out a serious point here and there (and probably talk too much while I’m doing it) but in the end I’m just bouncing off whatever I think is amusing. Whether that means reacting to what Brigitte says or what other people say it doesn’t really matter. To me this thread is like watching a good TV show with people you like, the comments about the show are going to be half the party and if you ever did manage to get a good one over on me I’d enjoy it as much as you did because that’s part of the fun.

Posted at 2:50PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Tom

19. ooops...I meant homemade pumpkin PIE.

Posted at 4:18PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Jim Murphy

20. @Mr. Murphy Murphy Murphy
Aw man, you've been mizled-I mean misled. I weren't taking your name in vain, I was offering you a little love, in vain. That we're all going a little bit soft in the head seemed like a thing you might say. A tip of the hat, you know? Glad to see you're still looking in on us now and again. (Any macabre comments I've recently made can be attributed to The Season, as reasonable a response to endlessly repeated canned carols as hearing "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey" at 6 am on a Saturday morning putting a teenager into a homicidal rage. Seems entirely logical to me!)

@Tom
Thanks for your cogent analysis of the writers's strike and who gonna beat whom. (I love the Fats Wallers quote, "One nevah knows, do one?") One of the entertaning features of this vlog is that Brigitte seems to attract more than the minimum number of viewers who can string three words together in a straight line. Maybe it's because I'm terminally left-handed, but I almost always read the comments before I watch the show. The show and the comments complement each other--though the commenters compliment Brigitte far more often than Brigitte compliments the commenters. That seems logical, too.
WE

Posted at 5:20PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Wind Energy