Posts by rodgerd
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but lynch mob is an easy line that can and is feeding into a growing anti-union theme. I noted Jackson used it twice last night. that ain't helping the big picture
I'd find professed concern about the tone of discussion a bit more convincing if equal effort were expressing concern about calling Jackson a "spoiled brat" or the technical workers "useful idiots" and accusations of scabbery being chucked about.
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I think the plan must have been to drop the boycott bomb
Yes, and one of the more irritating things in the fallout positioning in all this is the claim that the actors "just wanted a chat". Or that unions need to "reserve the right to strike" (which I certainly agree with).
AE took industrial action - the boycott - and most of the conversation appears (from what you've managed to pull together) that they didn't even make significant steps in consulting their own members about what they wanted until after the fact.
(Which, incidentally, is why I'm entirely comfortable describing AE as throwing people under the bus. Back in the heydeys of the unions it was customary for unions in allied trades to consult with one another over industrial action. That sure as hell didn't happen here, did it?)
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But here's one thing I've noticed: people somehow getting the idea that Lucy Lawless is also involved in the Equity action (and cursing her name).
I do remember that Lawless did an interview with, IIRC North and South, that was extrememly hostile to Jackson when both Xena and LotR were active; the gist of it, as I remember, was that she felt Rob Tappert hadn't been given his dues as a great guy for New Zealand, that Jackson was a johnny-come-lately, that she was angry the work being done around Tappert's shows wasn't getting the same level of attention and respect, and so on.
One does wonder if Lawless's advocacy for Tappert and hostility to Jackson at the time has created the impression that Tappert's crowd (Hurst, Ward-Leland, and the various others who've picked up a bit of work through Spartacus, Brisco, Xena, et al) don't like Jackson for whatever reason.
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Someone in the household heard a woman who'd had an extra's role in LOTR (so a full-time actor, huh?) given several minutes on NatRad to extol her total devotion to Sir PJ, *who said "What right has that woman who has a full-time job in Outrageous Fortune to jeopardize, etc, etc....?"
It's hardly unreasonable, if Russell's earlier comments about OF's pay rates are accurate, to ask whether someone pulling down the better part of a quarter million a year (from $48 million in taxpayer subsidies, and counting) is in any position to be throwing rocks at far less well-off technical staff for their concern at being thrown under the bus in a moronic shambles of a campaign where the only 'win' appears to be in the minds of people who want to punish Jackson for having the temerity to be wealthy and successful.
(That Jackson, eh? What has he ever done for us! I mean, apart from the jobs, and the money, and the international recognition, and the tourism, and the skills development, what has Peter Jackson ever done for us, eh?)
A angry mob of technicians march on the union HQ. A bunch of self-centred and self-interested actors want to split from Actors Equity
Technicians who are being shafted by an Australian-run actors campaign. Perhaps the AE could try showing some solidarity with their film-making colleagues. And if Wellington film actors feel that a bunch of well-off Auckland TV actors are incompetant to represent their interests, I fail to see how that reflects poorly on them, rather than on the union.
ACC is going to cover them if they get injured
ACC covers contractors. It's hard to take anything else you say seriously, Brendon, when you don't even appear to understand some fairly fundamental points of self-employment in NZ.
Its also telling that most who think PJ is being unreasonable or greedy dont actually hail from Wellington.
Particularly given the different AE voting rules in Auckland and Wellington. It's rather tempting to draw the conclusion that a bunch of Auckland TV actors, who seem to be the face of AE, are happy to throw the Wellington film industry under the bus to make a point; that would probably impute a greater level of competance and organisation that they have, as Russell notes, shown to date, though.
Also, given the length at which nudity was discussed by AE talking heads, alongside pay rates for international productions, I'm surprised action hasn't been taken against Sparticus. I'd love to see the question put to Ms Ward-Leland.
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The way the first meeting in Wellington was run was a disgrace – while anyone who turned up and called themselves a performer was allowed to vote in Auckland, the rules were changed in Wellington after the vote had begun to exclude non-Equity members.
Incompetance or malice, you decide,
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IIRC, he was using 9/11 as a cheap point scoring exercise about Labour scrapping our fighter jets. Quite what he thought they could have done about the plane, other than shooting it down over a city, was not clear.
Well, given that the top speed of a Skyhawk was only 100 km/h higher than the top speed of a 737, and the Skyhawk would have to scramble from Ohakea to Auckland or Wellington, it seems unlikely it could even do that.
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Ooo, are we all posting our sordid stories about Nat Torkington?
Unfortunately the only sordid story I have about Mr Torkington involves excrement and a plastic bag, rather than parties of note.
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Modesty forbids me from saying anything other than to ask Nat Torkington about the time he walked into my house, demanded to know "How many goats did you have to sacrifice to make this happen?", and then wrote the evening up for Usenet consumption.
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Russell, I was hoping for some views
I would hope Russell has something better to do than treat the corpse of a two year old as a hobby horse on the day the poor kid was found, unlike some of the PA commenters.