Archive for November, 2009
Going naked
…in two ways. One is for art for Mardi Gras. Spencer Tunick is organising another mass nude installation as part of next year’s Mardi Gras exhibition. Titled The Base, you’ll have to be in it.
The other way is way more startling. We’re cutting off our home phone line and living off our mobiles. The home line is hardly used anyway, except for the internet, but with naked dsl home line rental is just a waste. The concept is easy but nobody advised us how traumatic it would be to cut off a facility that has always been around. It’s like not having running water or a fridge. I’ll be nervous till the new wire is put in and I can get online again easily.
NSW info night on social security changes for same-sex couples
The NSW Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL), funded by a generous grant from the City of Sydney, is running sessions to increase public awareness of reforms to federal and state laws in relation to same-sex relationships and parental recognition. Their next information session, on social security, is to be held this coming Monday the 30th of November .
Monday 30th November 6.30pm: Social Security
Surry Hills Neighbourhood Community Centre, 405 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Monday 7th December 6.30pm: Parenting
Glebe Town Hall, 160 St Johns Road, Glebe NSW 2037
RSVP for the nights you wish to attend via email: glrl@glrl.org.auwww.glrl.org.au or phone: 9571 5501. For further fact sheets on the reforms, please visit our website
Roasted
Yesterday, temps in Sydney reached above 41 C. I’m still recovering. Imagine heat coming at you from every direction – dry heat, not the wet kind, that feels like you’re in an oven. The wind was very hot as it blew in from the desert and surrounding stonework gleefully bounced it doubly back at us. Thankfully, a cool change has arrived, but Summer will be here strongly from next week. Tip: never stay in a zinc or brick building when it’s that hot.
Queer superheroes
Spandex (does that say it all or what?), created by Martin Eden, is a comic graphic book series featuring all gay (and a couple of trannies) superheroes.
He’s fleshing out his characters and invites comments. [via LOTL]
For more queer comix, check out Prism Comics.
Still about the boyz
Women and minorities still earn less than white, male writers in the film and tv industry in the US.
The 2009 Hollywood Writers Report is the sixth in a series of reports released by the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) examining employment and earnings trends for writers in the Hollywood industry. These reports have highlighted three groups of writers — women, minorities, and older writers – who traditionally have been underemployed in the industry. The reports have documented the employment experiences of these study groups relative to their male, white, and younger counterparts in order to identify any patterns that suggest either progress or retreat on the industry diversity front. Using the reports as a diagnostic tool, the WGAW seeks to collaborate with the industry in efforts to increase the employment opportunities of all writers.
The 2009 report serves as a two-year follow-up to its predecessor, the 2007 Hollywood Writers Report. While it focuses primarily on hiring and earnings patterns for the latest two-year period not covered in the previous report (i.e., 2006 and 2007), it also includes updated analyses of data extending back to 2003, as well as data for select years imported from previous reports. Prior reports provide summary data on trends going back to 1982.
Link: http://www.wga.org/subpage_whoweare.aspx?id=922
Check out the comparison graphs in the Executive Summary, and clear cut analysi such as this:
White males continue to dominate in both the film and television sectors. Women remain stuck at 28 percent of television employment and 18 percent of film employment. The minority share of film employment has been frozen at 6 percent since 1999, while the group’s share of television employment actually declined to 9 percent since the last report.
and
Since 2005 — the final year analyzed in the 2007 Hollywood Writers Report – women writers’ share of overall employment has remained unchanged at 25 percent.
and
White Males Continue to Dominate in Overall Earnings; Minority Earnings
Approach Those for Women Minority writers earned $87,652 in 2007, compared to $90,686 for women and $112,500 for white males. The $24,848 gap between minority earnings and white male earnings in
2007 represents nearly a $14,000 reduction in the $38,490 gap evident in 2005, the last year covered in the previous report. Meanwhile, the overall earnings gap between minority writers and women writers closed to its smallest point in 2007 ($3,034), which improved upon a much wider gap in 2005 ($12,868). Nonetheless, the overall earnings of white male writers significantly outpaced those of the other groups throughout the study period, reflecting the continuing dominance of white males in the industry…
[via Defamer]
