Auction site inquiry - E-Bay is investigating an offer to sell a vial of sperm reputedly donated by Archie Manning while he was a poor freshman at Ole Miss in 1968. Bidding has been increasingly active over the past three weeks and the price jumped by nearly 40% last night as Archie became the first known sire of two Superbowl QBs.Scripting The Soaps Is Hidden Drama of Strike Plagued Daytime - How are the soaps staying on the air during the writer's strike? The Times explains that a handful of union writers are using the "financial core" (aka, I need money to eat) exemption to keep working with the union's blessing, but they are aided and abetted by anyone on the show's staff who can hold a pen - producers, secretaries, the guy driving the catering truck, even, gasp, network executives. Union members suspect the shows are getting some help from real writers, but striker Sandra Weintraub, a veteran soap writer, notes: "With the Internet people don't have to cross a picket line, so we'll never know."
As Good As News is shocked. E-scabs? Not a problem. In fact. where do I sign up. The stunner here is that soap operas actually have writers, who knew?
Seriously, it's not that big a surprise that assistant producers, secretaries and others can plug a writing gap for a while. The staff is riddled with talented people who are there because they want to be involved in a creative industry. Some have been hoping for a break, a chance to work as an actor, writer, assistant director. Writing a soap with this crew is about as tough as putting on a musical with a New York wait staff.
The suspicion that union writers might be secret scabs, working under cover of Internet anonymity raises a lot of issues. If we are talking about regular writers helping out their own show, are they getting paid or working gratis to keep the show alive, keep their friends gainfully employed and preserve their own future? Are they writing scripts or just offering a few notes on the plot lines so the scabs don't wreck the show for years to come?
E-scabs might appear in many situations. A struck employer can now outsource all kinds of work electronically. Any union representing workers who do a "desk" job has to wonder before a strike whether the jobs can be filled, maybe permanently, by a bunch of people sitting in Sioux Falls or Mumbai.
How does a union combat the e-scab? Persuade other unions not to cross its electronic picket line - which has much in common with the invisible fence used to contain pets. If the union representing the soap actors refused to work with scab scripts, production would be shut down.
Key Moments in Giant's NFC Championship Season AND HOW TO WIN THE SUPERBOWL-
Key moment - Coach Coughlin loosens up with training camp bowling night. To win the Superbowl get really loose - hold another bowling night and make the players bowl under assumed names. Who wouldn't get loose when that electronic scorer throws up "Trixie" for Michael Strahan, "Ralphie Boy", for Eli Manning, "Dirty Eddie" for Sean O'Hara and "Plaxico" for Plaxico Burress.
Key moment - Tiki Barber retires, getting rid of one "look at me" Giant, and criticizes Coach Coughlin and former teammate Eli Manning, helping to keep the team in Eli's corner through some tough games. To Win - Let Coughlin interview Tiki, using severe interrogation techniques.
Key moment - Fan favorite Jeremy Shockey goes out with injury, shelving another "look at me" Giant. To Win - Bring Shockey back, after he has seen twenty replays of severe interrogation of Tiki by Coughlin.
Key moment - Coughlin and G-men play to win all night against the Pats and Eli awakens, suddenly making decisions at game speed, making plays when they are there and playing safe when they are not. To win - hey, if As Good As News understood exactly why this happened we would be an NFL quarterback coach.
