Kirk and I were going through the two publishers’ …
Kirk and I were going through the two publishers’ contracts last night, and we turned up some interesting things in the Locus contract, which is, I was told, their standard contract with a few additions. Some of the things we found were simply unacceptable, and I have called to set up a meeting tonight after work to discuss their position on these issues. It would be bad enough if they are simple oversights; it would make me wonder how much attention they are paying to this project. If they insist on these terms, however, then I doubt there’s any reason why I should go with them, especially as the other publisher’s contract doesn’t seem to have the same problems. This discovery is actually a bit of a relief, since I have been looking for something to break the tie, as it were. Still, their attitude is important, and I will find out more in that department tonight. If I am going to be dealing with these people throughout the publishing process, I need to feel good about working with them.
Fast-typing Woman was at it again this morning when I got to work. I have no idea who she is, but she seems to be typing extremely long e-mails on Hotmail, so either she’s posting to her weblog via email, or she’s annoying people individually. I prefer the mass-market approach myself.
I passed yet another commercial shoot at Warner Village today when I went to lunch. As with all of the previous shoots I’ve seen being filmed there, it involved a thin young women with unlikely white skin and sunglasses, sitting on a bench. Occasionally these ghost-like apparitions move around, walking slowly back and forth, but their expressions are always the same kind of vapid arrogance you’d see on the visage of Ivana Trump, possibly after a lobotomy. I can’t help but wonder what these people are thinking, but then I know what they’re thinking. I work in an office full of people who think the same, unoriginal thoughts, people who think that the same old, tired formula of whispy, emotionless girls wafting around Warner Village=inspiring commercial.
Gah. After such an active weekend, sitting down and doing next to nothing all day is irritating. The other night when I was walking up and down Ba-de Rd. looking at monitors, I would pass the TVBS building, where I used to work. Nowadays, every time I see a film crew, even if they are filming an insipid skincare product commercial, I feel a little stab of nostalgia for my time as a cameraman. Sure, it would suck running around all day in this heat and humidity with a heavy camera and accessories, but at least I felt like I’d done something when I got home at the end of the day.
I’ve been wearing my new helmet the past few days, and I must say that it makes my motorcycle sound a lot better, in that I can’t hear it as much. It actually sounds like it’s operating at a reasonable volume, and the thick padding takes away a great deal of the harshness. If I had enough money I would buy a motorcycle whose engine actually sounded good, but for now I will just have to make do with a helmet to make Gen-dou-yun (¸ò¤æ¶³) at least seem to sound good.
