Unions Urging Actors Not To Work On Hobbit Movie

Slashdot | Unions Urging Actors Not To Work On Hobbit Movie (click through for discussion):

"'Last we heard about The Hobbit, Guillermo Del Toro dropped out, Peter Jackson was unofficially directing and secretly auditioning actors, the movie had yet to be green-lit, and Ian McKellen was getting super-antsy about the whole thing and threatening not to play Gandalf. This shouldn't help the long-gestating movie happen any quicker: Actors guilds including SAG issued actual alerts yesterday against working on any of the Hobbit films, advising their members not to take parts in the non-union production, should they be offered them.'"

I was ready to make some comments, looking forward to a decent discussion, but the comments were full of nonsense like this:
by Planesdragon (210349)

Friend of a Friend<slashdot&castlesteelstone,us> on Sunday September 26, @05:15PM (#33705430) Homepage Journal

nowadays, they're merely another expensive middle-man cost

Unions are paid directly by their membership, or in certain legislated instances, directly by those they represent in contract negotiations.

The only "middle-man" cost to a union is the wages that workers receive when they bargain collectively. To argue that this is an "increased" cost, you need to refute the union's basic premise -- that collective bargaining brings about a "fair" wage.

While you're about it, please include an example where everyone having to haggle for the cost of a head of lettuce is also "fair", please.

That tripe has a score of "4, Insightful" as I write. When someone needs an explanation on how a union body between the workers and their employer is not a middle-man cost, and gets modded up for it, I might as well move on. Same for negotiating the best price for a head of lettuce. We normally do not do it in the way he is probably thinking, having a Sotheby's Auction for each head in front of a mob of shoppers. We "haggle" by taking our shopping business to the places that we like best. Sometimes price is number one, sometimes it is other factors.

Looks like anybody expressing any sort of Libertarian thought, anybody even approaching the idea that the buyer sets the price, is getting a mod smack-down.

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Suki With A Twist: Part One An Alternate Future Now Only $2.99 on Kindle

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Suki novels Sold Out at Plaza News

Plaza News in the Crystal City Underground (see map below) has sold out! They had paperback copies of Suki With A Twist: Part One and Suki I on July 15th 2010.  The Suki With A Twist paperback sold quickly. Not sure when Suki I sold, but it is gone now.

Will check with the lady of the store when she expects new copies to be delivered. If you are in Crystal City, Arlington, VA you can check too!

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John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.
Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Part One (Kindle Edition) Bestseller Rank

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #20,880 in Kindle Store

#53 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Erotica > Lesbian

Suki With A Twist: Part One (Amazon Link)
 
Description


Imagine a future where paid companionship is legal.

Imagine a future where recreational drug use is legal.

Imagine a future where people negotiate their own pay rates for any way they wish to sell their talents and services.

Imagine a future where bill collectors are feared more than the government.

Now imagine the characters from the first Suki Adult Romance Series living in that world. Not quite a Libertarian Utopia, not quite a dystopia either.

Welcome to Suki's new world. Is it real, or is it just a dream?

http://sukiproject.blogspot.com/

http://sukiproject.blogspot.com/p/synopsis-suki-with-twist-part-one.html

Press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb3981134.htm

Suki With A Twist - Part One Synopsis

Suki With A Twist: Part One is an Urban Fantasy Romance, with a hint of Science Fiction set in the early 2030’s Northern Virginia. Both the laws and society have evolved in a more open and libertarian direction than what we are used to today. Recreational drug use and prostitution are open, common, and legal.

The story opens with lavish office party. Jung, is president of the party planning firm and is watching over the operation. China, a beautiful young Asian woman and a Vice-President of the planning firm for the party, is on a date with Dennis Bohannon, the chief partner of the law firm throwing the party and stays obediently at his side.

The true nature of the date becomes apparent in the Presidential Suite of the Ritz. China is a paid date for the boss, commanding the highest rates on the East Coast. Her mother's business is the most expensive full-service firm. The story continues with a detailed view of the night through China's eyes to the next morning, in the “safe suite” where all of the overnight workers change back to their regular look, and we discover that China is the professional name for the main character, Suki.

Suki is troubled, at the age of twenty-four she has never been in a true romantic relationship and that is the root of her problem. She has only worked for her mother, she spends money wildly and she is beginning to hate her job. Through the next chapters the main characters are introduced. Jung has an active, erotic, social life and a hands-on business approach. One of her “pets” is a man that she has visited weekly for several years as his Domme, but he is normally sexually Dominant with others. Patricia and Samantha, a polyamorous married couple, are well known in local Domination & submission social circles, and they try to help Suki straighten herself out. Both have senior professional positions and they also moonlight for Jung's party business as companions like Suki, but only to pay off their house.

Jung knows someone who might be good for her daughter and sets the wheels in motion for them to meet. One little problem, John is a man that Jung has had ongoing Domination encounters with for years. Suki guesses this and agrees to meet him anyway without telling him that she is Jung’s daughter.

John and Suki hit it off immediately, right down to their mutual sexual deviations, and they discover Suki has a natural talent for modeling when John has her stand-in as his car model at an auction on their date to San Francisco. Suki has an opportunity at a new career and relationship, better than a dream, but it also creates severe problems when she returns to Virginia.

Soon-to-be published Suki With A Twist: Part Two begins just after Part One ends, with Samantha and Suki preparing to work a small private party.

http://sukiproject.blogspot.com/

http://sukiproject.blogspot.com/p/synopsis-suki-with-twist-part-one.html

Press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb3981134.htm

Product Details

Format: Kindle Edition

File Size: 160 KB

Publisher: SJE Enterprises; 1 edition (March 24, 2010)

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Language: English

ASIN: B003E35ZAK

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #20,880 Paid in Kindle Store


#53 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Erotica > Lesbian

ORDER SUKI SERIES eBOOKS AND PAPERBACKS
Suki Background Suki Series Tech Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection Browse the series on Google: Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun

John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.
Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Strange stuff from Books-A-Million

The other day John said he tried to order his latest from Books-A-Million in DC.  Maybe he was just asking if they could order it. Anyway, they did not have it in their catalog at the counter to order. Here it is in their online collection, both new and used!

Suki Series Background Suki Series Tech Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection Browse the series on Google: Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun
John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.
Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Suki's Street cover picture

I have a picture to begin cover collaboration with Fiona for Suki With A Twist: Suki's Street
 

The plan is to have the buildings on the left extend to the top of the frame. I made sure all of the traffic lights were red, sort of key to the profession Suki is still in during this book. Thinking of using a neon light font for the text. Trying to decide where to put the Suki brand image. Might be embossed on a building or in the sky.

Photo taken with my iPhone from the 2000 block of South Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

 
Suki Series Background Suki Series Tech Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection Browse the series on Google: Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun
John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.
Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Part One paperback now available on Amazon

Suki With A Twist: Part One paperback on Amazon.Com also available on Kindle.

Suki Series Background
Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google:
Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun


John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.

Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Part One now available in Paperback and Kindle

Suki With A Twist: Part One

Paperback $6.69 (that is the direct link to the order page of the printer)

Kindle Edition

Will be filling in more information at the series info page over time.  Have about 1/4 of Part Two written now.

Special thanks to Fiona for helping with this cover!

Suki Series Background
Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google:
Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun


John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.

Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Part One (An Alternate Future)

Just uploaded Suki With A Twist: Part One (An Alternate Future) to Kindle, with one of the base photos for the cover.  Should be available for $4.69 in a couple of days.

Cover artist Fiona is still putting finishing touches on the paperback cover and that will replace the one for Kindle too.

Will post the buy links and paperback links as soon as they are available on the Suki With A Twist series page.

Suki Series Background
Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google:
Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun


John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.

Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Part One, back cover text

Going with this for now:

Imagine a future where paid companionship is legal.




Imagine a future where recreational drug use is legal.



Imagine a future where people negotiate their own pay rates.



Now imagine the characters from the first Suki Adult Romance Series living in that world. Not quite a Libertarian Utopia, not quite a dystopia either.



Welcome to Suki's new world. Is it real, or is it just a dream?

Suki Series Background
Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google:
Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun


John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.

Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist page is up

The first book in the new series is close to publication: Suki With A Twist: Part One

Suki Series Background
Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google:
Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun


John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.

Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Suki With A Twist: Part One

The draft for Suki With A Twist: Part One is with three of my proof readers.  Initial response from one is it is "rough" and needs to be fleshed out.  I need to get more details from her while I make another pass through it and add the corrections another proofreader noticed.

Sounds like this one reads faster.  Both said they couldn't put it down and both are familiar with the other books.  Might hear something from Derek today, for a third opinion.

I had to split this work into two books because of a constraint I gave myself.  The romance readers like their books between 20,000 and 40,000 words.  Even though this is action/adventure/sci-fi, it has a heavy romance theme and the people I know who read a lot of that like my stories too.

So, when I was approaching 35,000 words I noticed there was no way this story would be finished before 40,000.  I modified the outline and continued the story until I reached the limit, then re-worked the end of "Part One" and the beginning of "Part Two."

Part one does have the right elements, in my opinion, to be a complete story, just not the whole story of a relationship.  When "Part Two" is complete, the reader will have the whole story of the relationship between John and Suki.

The term "With A Twist" is in the title as both a description and a warning.  This set of two books is a departure from the origonal series, more like a bizarro paralell story.  The same core characters are present, but some are in different lines of work than they were in the original Suki series.  I tried to keep them all with the same personalities, reacting the same way to things as they would have reacted in the main series, but they are in much different situations.  Also, I set the beginning of the story about one year earlier than Suki I.  The only clues I left for that are the ages of John and Suki.

As soon as I read the fan fiction that Suki and Sarah wrote, I embraced it as part of the main series and I continue using their gadgetry in the Suki With A Twist books. Update: ISBN is 1451551827 and EAN-13 is 9781451551822 have just been assigned to this book.

Will start working on Suki VI, or whatever I name the next book of the main Suki series, after I get these two finished and available in paperback.

Suki Series Background
Suki Series Tech
Order the paperback edition of Suki V: The Collection
Browse the series on Google:
Suki I, Suki II, Suki III, Suki IV, Suki V
Fan Fiction: John and Suki: Vacation Fun



John and Suki's news and comment area, from a Libertarian perspective.

Copyright 2009, 2010, SJE Enterprises, all rights reserved.