Not Just A Hat Rack

Container House

I had lunch with a developer who is using 35 shipping containers to build a 7-story condo complex in downtown SLC. The containers have little value after being shipped full of Chinese goods to America - we don't export enough to use them, the Asians don't want them back empty, so they are piling up by the millions. See City Center Lofts here.

Each container is 8' wide, 9.5' high and 40' long. They are designed to stack nine high and withstand turbulent seas, which apparently, makes them earthquake-safe if you happen to build a seven-layer condo out of them in the middle of a fault zone like Salt Lake. All the strength is in the corners and frame, so you can cut out the side panels and doors and voila, you have industrial strength legos that you can live in.

Many come with teak wood floors (I am not making this up), but the developer plans to pour concrete for pipes that will circulate radiant heat in his super eco-friendly complex. He has multiple deposits and a waiting list of 40 for the seven units, although he hasn't revealed pricing yet. He figures he'll either make a mint or go bankrupt. "Just breaking even doesn't seem like an option to first-time condo developers," he said.

By the way, the containers are being retrofitted out-of-state as we speak and will be shipped to Utah in February. By April, he says, the condos will be ready to inhabit.

Here's more on the architect, Adam Kalkin:

Here's to Earth Day: Go plant tomatoes

Great article from noted food journalist/conservationist Michael Pollan from the New York Times. It's long, but worth the read.

On another note, I had the chance at work to edit a letter from the former Beijing bureau chief of the New York Times, Christopher Wren. Talk about daunting! Would you edit the writing of a 30-year NYT veteran writer?

Anyways, read on:

Why Bother?

No Joke - What does this paragraph refer to?

It is also a colossal symbolic failure with national and international import. At a time when the United States is losing a global argument about freedom and democracy, when China and countries along the Persian Gulf are proving to an attentive developing world that top-down leadership is the best and most efficient route to prosperity, the capital of the so-called free world built a monument to its national pastime that gets a C-plus.

More tomorrow.

Old Fashioned Hero

Lance Armstrong, a true contemporary American hero in my opinion, stopped by Utah on Wednesday to help Jon Huntsman Sr. announce that the Huntsman Cancer Institute was doubling in size.

Huntsman responded to a personal battle with cancer years ago by plunging an estimated $500 million of his own money to build the HCI, which now stands tall above Salt Lake City on the University of Utah campus. Its quickly emerging as one of the leading research and care facilities in the United States and is something Utahans can and should be proud of. Now that it has been "blessed" by Armstrong, a cancer survivor who has used his bully pulpit with Nike to lead a nationwide movement to bring attention to the need to cure cancer, I expect it to rise to even greater prominence. Kudos to Lance and former Utah governor.

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Speaking of raising money to fight cancer, Mrs. 'Hat Rack and I have raised about $2,000 to date as we march towards a May date with the Ogden Marathon. We'll be at the symbolic halfway mark in training when we toe the starting line at this weekend's Canyonlands Half Marathon in Moab. Support a great cause by making a donation here. We thank you!

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It's only Arena Football but...
The Blaze cut their kicker after he missed a field goal in the first game of the season. The move splashed ice-cold water on the career of a player who had been a mainstay of the franchise and relocated his family to SLC. Oh wait... it's Arena Football. Who cares?

Welcome Nephew & Presidential Politics

Welcome Josiah Robert D.!

Between yesterday afternoon when I video-skyped (have I invented a word?) with my sister Susan (a shrieking, goofy experience when you give four children and two dogs the opportunity to video-conference call) and tonight when we chatted again, she delivered a healthy, quiet, curious baby boy. Who may or may not be named Josiah. He might be Ethan Robert D. instead. Either way, Robert is my middle name, both his grandfathers' names and his oldest cousin's name. I guess it runs officially runs in the family?

You'd never know from either call that she had delivered a baby in between. She was confident, exuberant, glowingly optimistic, excited and mellow all at once. Susan - I'm proud of you! I think Ethan or Josiah will be a great choice, considering when I wrestled the news out of my parents earlier today, they were under the impression the baby's name would be either Josiah, Ezekiel or Ethria. What can I say, they played the role of nervously excited grandparents for the eighth time and, appropriately, the experience of receiving such joyous news hasn't worn off.

So my nephew (I now have three to go with four nieces) checked in at 6' 6" (that's six pounds, six ounces, not 6-foot-6), 20 1/2 inches with adorable brown hair and a had hardly said a peep. Sounds like his uncle Steve. Everything went so smoothly that before you know it, Susan and I were discussing politics.

With the Texas primary still to be contested, a quick exit poll of the Pastorino-Johnston clans indicates that the presidency is still too close to be called.

Ethan/Josiah's parents are Christian ministers, so it's no surprise they voted for Gov. Mike Huckabee in Washington state. It's been well-documented that the 'Hat Racks voted for Sen. Barack Obama in Utah. Both 'Hat Rack parents split their votes. Gov. Bill Richardson picked up one California vote while Sen. John McCain picked up the other. McCain earned one Arizona vote, where the other vote inexplicably went to Gov. Mitt Romney. Votes from two eligble voters in Illinois have not been recorded yet. The final two eligible votes will be cast next month in Texas. So the voting so far:

Huckabee 2
Obama 2
McCain 2
Richardson 1
Romney 1

More results as they become available.

Sun & Snow

Which of these is Utah... which is Los Angeles?

The power of the Purple (Go Northwestern!) comes to the front lines of the writer's strike... at least none of my friends look like their starving. How many months has it been? Solidarity!

At the other end of the weather spectrum, this from today's paper:

City snowplows have been working around the clock for weeks, and the snow removal budget was busted "quite a while ago," said Pace Erickson, operations manager. Crews are setting records for hauling snow out of Park City - there is no place left in town to pile all the white stuff.

I wasn't making it up. Six more inches forecast for SLC tonight. Where to put the stuff?

Also, click here to see my first column for ussoccerplayers.com... the official mouthpiece for the US Soccer Men's National Team Player's Association. They invited me to write after reading my first two columns for the Salt Lake Tribune. Also on the writing front, the 2008 Fodor's Guide to Yellowstone is in its final edits. Look for it this summer.

Gotta go sleep so I can get up and shovel snow for the seventh time this week in the morning.

What the Hollywood Writers are Facing

Members of the writer's guild received this email posted below a couple days ago... I guess talks aren't going so well. I still think the writers deserve their fair share of internet and other new media revenue, but did you know they get $21,000 for writing first-run :30-minute TV episodes, and $11,600 when the show first airs as a re-run? The studios' most recent offer was $139/episode for one year of reruns on-line. $11,600 to $139? Ouch. Seems like a pretty dramatic rollback to me. But I am not an expert on these things - I'm just a friend of someone working overtime to put more reality-type TV shows on the air in 2008 to fill the massive void.

Patrick Goldstein at the LA Times has a better handle on it, writing today that the studios are attempting to crush the writer's guild to set a precedent for its negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild who will be out of contract next June. So, as I understand it, they starve the writers through the holidays, they get back to work sometime in the Spring, and then everyone is out of work come summer because the actors and studios are at war? Sounds like baseball, which, is referred to in Goldstein's article. Happy Labor Negotiation Reading.

AMPTP BREAKS OFF NEGOTIATIONS
 
 
Today, after three days of discussions, the AMPTP came back to us with a proposal that included a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming of December 3.
 
They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use.  They still insist on the DVD rate for Internet downloads.  
 
They refuse to cover original material made for new media.  
 
This offer was accompanied by an ultimatum:  the AMPTP demands we give up several of our proposals, including Fair Market Value (our protection against vertical integration and self-dealing), animation, reality, and, most crucially, any proposal that uses distributor’s gross as a basis for residuals.  This would require us to concede most of our Internet proposal as a precondition for continued bargaining.  The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video.
 
We received a similar ultimatum through back channels prior to the discussions of November 4.  At that time, we were assured that if we took DVD’s off the table, we would get a fair offer on new media issues.   That offer never materialized.   
 
We reject the idea of an ultimatum.  Although a number of items we have on the table are negotiable, we cannot be forced to bargain with ourselves.  The AMPTP has many proposals on the table that are unacceptable to writers, but we have never delivered ultimatums. 
 
As we prepared our counter-offer, at 6:05 p.m., Nick Counter came and said to us, in the mediator’s presence:  “We are leaving.  When you write us a letter saying you will take all these items off the table, we will reschedule negotiations with you.”   Within minutes, the AMPTP had posted a lengthy statement announcing the breakdown of negotiations.
 
We remain ready and willing to negotiate, no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are, because the stakes are simply too high.  We were prepared to counter their proposal tonight, and when any of them are ready to return to the table, we’re here, ready to make a fair deal.
 
 
John F. Bowman
Chairman, WGA Negotiating Committee
Contract 2007

Comedian Jon Stewart has the holiday spirit, paying dozens of out-of-work staff from his show, which has been shut down by the writer's strike. (Photo: LA Times/Getty Images)

Still on Strike...

Down in Los Angeles, the WGA is still on strike - although talks were to resume today. We've seen stories on writer's cafes hurt by the strike. We read about writers bringing their kids to the picket lines. Every TV critic in America seems to have stood up for the poor LA writers. If this round of negotiations fails, I see no likely outcome other than a protracted strike. It ceases to be a Hollywood "mini series" drama - and morphs into a PBS documentary on labor history with lasting effects on the families of strikers and on the television industry in LA. Maybe this means more support and viewership of public television (the last bastion of television worth watching other than the MLS Direct Kick package?)?

Worse still, the byproduct is hours and hours of reality TV, whose writers are lost supporting actors in this made-for-TV script. As ably and nobly written in the LA Times this weekend, writers on America's Next Top SuperModel STRUCK LAST YEAR - with the intention of galvanizing the reality TV writers and sending a lasting message to the networks not to mess with the writers.

The WGA abandoned them. Soon, the networks eliminated their jobs. The "striking" writers were trounced "in the ratings." Then, the WGA plowed forward without the backing of this segment of writers, who created 25% (soon to be much more) of prime time programming. This gives the networks a critical piece of leverage which means this strike will ultimately fail, or be settled on terms far more advantageous to the networks.

That being said, read the editorial ... we now return to our regularly scheduled "nattering nabobs."

And in other Hollywood news today... the Wizard of Oz munchkins got their stars on the walk of fame. Glad the strike didn't affect that.

Bring Your Child to Strike Day!

I kid you not... this is today's message from the head of the Writers Guild of America:

WRITERS ON STRIKE - DAY 8:

BRING YOUR KIDS!
 
We invite all of our WGA members and union supporters to bring their children to walk the picket lines at various locations throughout the Los Angeles area in support of writers on strike against studios and networks that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

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Anyways, it's MLS Cup week - and to be honest, I find that I miss it. (I've attended every Cup except the first one - when Eddie Pope scored in the rain.) MLS Cup is a fantastic celebration for everyone associated with the league for their year's efforts. Plus, DC is the best venue for the Cup - the nation's capital has great hotels, restaurants, pubs, and the final attracts great fans. So I'll have some more thoughts about the Cup this week (far more interesting than the strike), plus insights from special 'Hat Rack correspondents in the nation's capital.

Strike!

What the Writers Guild is telling its members... as of a few days ago. I don't know about you, but I find the dynamics of the whole thing rather interesting. Thanks to the 'Hat Rack's LA correspondent! Scroll down for a snazzy YouTube video from the front lines.

To My Fellow Members,
Here are my thoughts following Day Three of our struggle.
 
We increased Monday's 3,000 person turnout on Tuesday to nearly 3,200.  Wednesday we had over 3,300.  I have tried to visit all the pickets personally but I have still not made it out to ABC Prospect (though I understand the cast of Grey's Anatomy was a newsworthy substitute).  Unless you've been to as many picket sites as I have, you can't appreciate the degree of solidarity we are accomplishing.  Two years ago, we looked for leaders among our membership and now we have a membership of leaders.
 
I want to give special recognition to Tom Johnson, head writer of Talkshow with Spike Feresten.  Tom was hit by an overly aggressive driver at Sunset Gower Studios on Monday and sustained minor injuries that required a trip to the emergency room.  We all owe Tom our respect and admiration for taking a bullet (or at least a fender) for our cause and I know I speak for the entire membership when I offer my personal gratitude.
 
Our membership support is extraordinarily solid.  Over 125 showrunners picketed Wednesday at Disney and an ad featuring some 400 screenwriters (including some of the biggest names in the business) will appear in Thursday’s Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.  Members have come from as far away as Amsterdam to picket and we have received e-mails of encouragement from all over the world including writers in India and Afghanistan. 
 
Closer to home, presidential candidate John Edwards sent us a statement of support and Rev. Jesse Jackson will be walking the picket lines with us at Paramount on Thursday. Encouragement, support, and even refreshments continue to be provided on the picket lines from SAG members while ACTRA (the Canadian actors union) has issued a letter of support.  Talent agencies have also been sending food to the lines and Paradigm picked up the check for lunch for over a hundred showrunners at the Smokehouse in Burbank. 
 
May I also recognize the tremendous pressure the employers have brought to bear on the Teamsters.  We have seen acts of solidarity and we are getting assistance from many Teamsters but it cannot be detailed or it will stop.  We should be grateful for every driver that has the courage and the consciousness to turn his truck around and refuse to cross the line and we should understand that this is an act worthy of the greatest respect.
 
Finally, I'd like to address a concern that, spoken aloud or not, is on the minds of everyone.  We are not currently at the bargaining table and people want to know when we will return.  Before I answer let me remind everyone that it was nearly four months between the time we put our proposals on the table in July and the first time we had a single counter proposal from the AMPTP on new media issues.  The companies sought to get us to bargain against ourselves in that time.  Thanks to the resolve and patience of our negotiation committee, we did not.  The last move made on Sunday was our presentation of a comprehensive package.  It is up to the companies to respond to that package.  When they indicate that they are ready to do so, we will return to the bargaining table as soon as possible.
 
Best,
 
Patric M. Verrone
President, WGA West