The following is from "Eureka" showrunner Charlie Craig's blog "My Second Strike".

I’m sticking by my prediction of us going back to work sometime the week after next, but I caution that is based on optimism, a trait I have little experience with.

One thing’s for sure: in the scenario I just laid out, the shit’s going to hit the fan faster than anyone realizes. The whole hyphenate thing is

Teri Bolke works below-the-line on The Riches, which is currently on forced hiatus. She'll be contributing to the blog until the AMPTP gets around to negotiating a fair deal, so she can go back to her job.

When I was a kid, my dad used to weave long, involved stories for me. Some were set against music - a battle of ghosts in The Grand Canyon Suite - some were simplifications of the giants of

Me and my husband circa 1998

1. Snow is fun until Christmas but then I am ready for it to melt.
2. I'm looking forward to things slowing down just a wee bit so I can enjoy time with friends and family.
3. Books are the best present ever! (Just in case my family is reading!) ;)
4. One of my favorite old tv shows is M*A*S*H .
5. I'm done with maternity clothes?!? (First thing that came to mind, sorry)

In the coming days, we'll be running pieces on the proposed contract.

We'll include our own takes on what's good and bad, the official "pro" and "con" statements that will be issued by the Guild, and -- we hope -- op-ed pieces submitted to us here by readers.

Feel free to submit your analyses of the deal points and your opinions about the contract to unitedhollywood@gmail.com. We won't be able

Yes, I am aware its Monday but this is too good to wait a whole week.
Several of my blogging friends have signed up at The Sunday Salon and brought it to my attention. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon that reading and sharing bookish thoughts with other book-lovers? Thanks to my blogging friends for pointing me to TSS.

Me and blee - Self Portrait Thursday

UPDATE 1/17/08: The "Simpsons" movie was not WGA covered. References to it being covered have been removed.
Melissa Jo Peltier, DGA and WGA Member, recently posted on a DGA board the following myths and truths about the WGA negotiations with the CEOs. She permitted us to excerpt it here. To see her entire post go here.

Myth #1) "The only sticking points with the WGA are reality and animation."

Quiet Playground
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.comThe new street team for Etsy Printsy is up and running with me doing the first artist interview. Check it out over at the Printsy blog. Printsy Interview : Fustian

Last Thursday and Friday I was finally able to get some printing done, first time since March I believe. It felt very good to be printing again and even better having new prints like these. I was able to use my latest block, but only with this one for now but I know I will be bringing it out again in the future. All of my latest creations will be making their way into my shop in the next week or two. With new pieces in the works this week my shop will stay current for a good long time hopefully. Check it out!

Woohoo, it is Friday! I really did not want to get out of bed this morning. It was super cold. We should have probably put on the heat last night. I also woke up at 2am this morning to go to the bathroom, so I feel like I didn’t sleep very well. The cold weather is making my fibromyalgia act up. I am really achy this morning. How difficult is it to set up a live web cast? I was thinking of web casting my baby shower for friends and relatives that will be unable to attend.

Hollywood with a capital H:

Since I finally got around to setting up Google Analytics to track the visitor stats on the blog, the narcissist in me has had a grand ol' time looking at what folks are reading here and how they're getting here in the first place.

Virtually every newspaper and wire service has a story today about Attorney General Mukasey's letter to Speaker Pelosi yesterday, in which he refuses to permit the U.S. Attorney to refer the Miers and Bolten contempt citations to a federal grand jury. And yet, as far as I can tell, none of the media sources, nor any of the obvious web sites, contains a link to the letter itself. It's not posted on the DOJ website, nor on the Speaker's web sites, nor on the House Judiciary Committee site. [Of course, I haven't checked every possible site. If someone finds it, please let me know, thanks.]

What's up with that? One would have thought that, by now, it would be pretty much de rigueur for web stories to link to the documents that are the subject of their reports. I suspect that the reason this isn't the regular practice has something to do with the notion that if a newspaper gives its readers the actual documents in question, there will be less reason for the readers to rely exclusively on the paper's own account of the news. Still, in a link-crazy culture, it remains surprising that none of the major news outlets or web sites has seen fit to provide the letter.

Booking Through Thursday

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

My book tastes do change every few years or so. I'll go through a chick lit faze or a historical fiction faze. As I get older, I find I'm enjoying the serious literature more than I used to, like Margaret Atwood, for example. In my twenties, I wouldn't have given Margie the time of day. (Do you think anyone calls her Margie?) Too dark, too depressing. Now that I'm older and realize that life isn't all sunshine and lollipops, I can appreciate her a little better. Still, there are times it gets to be too much and I have to reach for something funny.

I used to read a lot of mysteries and romance but I've eased up on that. Blogging has affected my bookshelf. Not only is it bulging with books 'to be read' but there are authors on there I hadn't even heard of before I became a book blogger: Neil Gaiman, Colleen Gleason.

I can't see myself sticking with one style of book forever. I like some variety.

This morning I woke up to NPR on my husbands alarm. The newscaster was informing everyone that Detroiters were loosing their homes at a rate of five times that of the national average and that Michigan had one of the highest unemployment rates. Lovely, just what I want to hear when I wake up in the morning. A friend from Michigan e-mailed me this week to tell me she had just been laid off. She is joining the half a dozen people I know from back home that are without a job. For me January 2009 can't come fast enough, we need change and we need it now!

On to more boring items, my day today is again booked. I had hoped to get the car today and do some shopping but the plumber called and said he could come out today. So he and the pest control guy will be crawling around the house this morning and part of the afternoon. I informed my husband that I desperately needed to get out of the house tonight.

Last night was our second to last hypnobirthing class. It went really well. I wish we had gotten the opportunity to get to know the other couples in the class better. Last night we realized that of us five, Dan and I would be parents first. We promised to e-mail the instructor our birth story for the class to know how everything had worked out.

The rest of this week I will be busy trying to complete the latest grant. Fun stuff I assure you : )

Baby this week: 17th week (16 weeks 5 days)

Did We Just Witness a Twitter Marriage Proposal?
Originally uploaded by emilychang I definitely agree with Loic Le Meur re where I want my content centralised : "The challenge for Friendfeed and the like is that while I really like all my services gathered in one place, I would rather that these would be centralized on my blog instead of a third party service. Yes you can cross post or add badges, but it's not really like a center feed in your blog. What I like about my blog is that it is my space, I own it, I can customize it and change it, I do not depend on anybody.."

The tree is gone. It's as if Christmas never happened. I often feel a bit of a let down after Christmas, but this year is different. Maybe it's because it seemed to have come earlier this year. Maybe it was because we had snow. Whatever it was I'm looking forward to the new year. January is like a fresh blanket of snow. No footprints. There's so much possibility. You just want to run out and make your mark. I can see why New Year's resolutions are so appealing.

I'm having a quiet Sunday but there's lots of busy bloggers out there today:

-Nymeth is celebrating and giving books away.

-Justine Picardie is guest blogging tomorrow at Dovegreyreading. Remember, she wrote that Daphne DuMaurier novel? I'm staring at the mailbox waiting for my copy.

-Aquatique has a really interesting post about breaking up over books. Check it out.

And myself, I'm reading Hawaii and Mansfield Park today. Plus, DA-TA-DADA, I opened my own Esty shop here. I only have 2 items now but plan to add more throughout the week. I'm pretty excited out it.

Have a great Sunday!

Due to somehow being flagged as a "spam blog," we have been locked out of UH.com all day and have thus been unable to post about all the breaking news going on.

However, we're back up and running (we think). Much more to come over the next couple of hours!

This has been a busy weekend and I have had little time for reading or blogging. However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that The Sleepy Reader has moved. It can now be found at either of the following URLs:
http://www.thesleepyreader.net   orhttp://readingtoolate.net
I hope to be back in the normal swing of things in the next week with a couple of new book reviews.
Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!

Kookiejar started this and then it spread like Chicken Pox in a Daycare. I had to do it too!

Here's what you do:
Set your Mp3 player on shuffle and write the title of the first song that comes up as an answer to each question no matter how stupid it sounds...(savvy? Here we go.)

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?" YOU SAY?
1234 (Feist) That's how long you got until the sheet hits the fan, dawg.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Tom Sawyer (Rush) Though my mind is not for rent, don't put me down as arrogant.

Booking Through Thursday

Last week we talked about the books you liked best from 2007. So this week, what with it being a new year, and all, we’re looking forward….

What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008? Something new being published this year? Something you got as a gift for the holidays? Anything in particular that you’re planning to read in 2008 that you’re looking forward to? A classic, or maybe a best-seller from 2007 that you’re waiting to appear in paperback?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Last night, I popped a new, refilled ink cartridge into my printer to find it wouldn't work. I called the Walgreen's technical service number on the cartridge and was greeted with a thick, but delightful female British accent. I began by explaining my problem, telling the lady my printer type, etc. but was soundly cut off with "Just a minute, love, I'll ask the questions." And then she proceeded to ask my name, address, telephone and email address. I could hardly keep laughing as I dutifully answered her questions before she told me that a technical services person would call me back shortly.

They didn't call back last night, and hadn't as of early this morning. Nevertheless, it was an interesting example of bad service that left me with a smile on my face. She was entertaining and I didn't expect to get a good answer anyway. I guess that's what happens when you go in with low expectations.

Purple Locks
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Here's an important message for all of Professor Thom's Trivia Night regulars.

We will have changes to the nights we will be doing it because of Celtics going to the NBA Finals. Trivia Night will be happening this Tuesday night, June 3rd, at the normal time of 9 PM.

But the week after that, we will be moving our Trivia Night back to Wednesday, June 11th at 8:30 PM, due to the fact that Game 3 of the NBA Finals will be happening the previous Tuesday night.

Now, stay with me, this might sound complicated. The week after that, we will be having a special Monday night edition of Trivia, on June 16th at 8:30 PM, if the NBA Finals does not conclude by Sunday, June 15th (that is Game 5). Game 6 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for Tuesday night, June 17th. (Unfortunately, I can't be at Thom's that Wednesday due to a prior commitment.) If the finals have finished by that Sunday, we will have the normal Tuesday night edition at the normal time.

Yes, that's why I haven't been posting lately. I just haven't had much time to be on the computer (and I've been too worn out do much more than catch up on email when I have snuck onto the computer at home). The trial I'm on should be done by next Thursday so things should get back to normal at the end of next week.

November 2-4

Today, January 13th, marks the fifth anniversary of this blog, which began in January 2003. Although Balkinization started as a solo effort, it soon became a group blog, with a group of writers I think are second to none in the legal blogosphere. I am grateful to all of the wonderful people who have contributed to the blog over the years, as well as our many regular readers and commenters, who have helped created an intellectual community. In the past five years, we have had over 3 million visitors, and 4.5 million page views.

Blogging as a medium can be used for many different kinds of writing. Most blogging still remains highly personal, with only a small part of the blogosphere devoted to politics, and an even smaller part devoted to law.