Frequent readers of mine might have noticed that TheCinemaSource has been down the past couple of days. It's because of really annoying server memory issues that are too maddening to get into here, but the good news is that we're switching servers entirely very soon - and then not only will we be back up, we'll be running more smoothly.

Normally I would be sitting here directing you to my Spiderwick Chronicles and Jumper reviews (I'm thinking B+ for the former and B- or C+ for the latter), but since that's impossible, we do luckily have new content of another sort. A few days ago me and fellow TheCinemaSource staffer Andrea Tuccillo attended the red carpet premiere of Jumper and nabbed a few quickie interviews. I edited the video footage into a little piece and put it up on our YouTube channel; you can check it out below. Sadly, I'm not in the video at all, because I'm the one holding the camera.



In other news, here are some of the articles I've posted to DailyLOST lately:

Random Initial Thoughts: "The Economist"
Maps of the Island
Spoilers for Tonight's "The Economist"
Breaking News: 5 Additional Episodes to Air!
Showrunners Lindelof and Cuse are back to work!
Whoops, I forgot to tell you last Thursday's ratings.
I Know Who Ben's "Man on the Boat" Is (probable spoilers)
The Writers Guild and Studios Make a Deal! (So Does That Mean We Get a Full Season?)

You'll notice that a few of those articles address the Writers Guild strike being over, which I wasn't able to fully cover on TheCinemaSource this week. (Most writers didn't actually go back to work until Wednesday.) My thoughts on the resolution? In general, it's a very good thing.

Yes, I think the AMPTP was very evil throughout the situation, especially by walking away from the table right before Christmas, enacting force majeur, and hiring spin doctors to help write ridiculously offense press releases. And no, the writers didn't get everything they wanted - no DVD residuals (that was off the table early), no reality and animation jurisdiction, and lower Internet residuals than they were asking for, with a lame 17-day window for "promotional use" on some types.

Then again, they got a much better deal than the AMPTP wanted to give them, certainly, and the strike was the direct result of that. The first real sign that it was working was when the Directors Guild got their own solid deal in part thanks to the leverage the strike provided. The Writers Guild deal improved on that one in some areas; they secured a residual system for Internet streaming and downloading; and they managed to change the payment equation from the "producer's gross" (basically a sum easily manipulated to cheat the writers out of money) to the "distributor's gross" (which is how much money stuff actually makes).

Plus, maybe this way, that production company I sent a screenplay to the day before the strike started will finally get back to me. Yeah, that'll definitely happen.