As The New York Times reports, Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently solicited input from the British public on what it means to be British.

This request soon morphed into a rumor that the British Government was seeking an official national motto. And that inspired the Times of London to have a contest; readers suggested potential national mottoes, and then voted on their favorites.
As the New York Times explains:

Apologies for some HTML weirdness in the last few entries. I think I’ve got everything worked out now.

Now, if only I can get off my duff and post more often…

For a thoughtful and clear explanation of what residuals are and why writers are willing to strike over them, I refer you to John August’s blog.

If you’d like an excellent explanation of why the Writers Guild of America is on strike, I highly recommend a YouTube video called (a bit melodramatically) Why We Fight. It lays out the issues very clearly.

A friend of mine asked if there’s anything non-writers can do to support the strike. For some excellent answers to that question, take a look at Fans4Writers, a website by… well, by fans. Fans who are for the writers.

From a Times of London article on the most expensive homes in London:

Several owners are apparently competing to build a 4-metre-deep pool – double the maximum depth so far in the capital. One home in north London even has a bespoke chute covered in a special slippery paint, which enables the owner, who loves swimming first thing in the morning, but hates the fuss of dressing, to step out of bed and slide straight into the water a couple of storeys below.

When you work for somebody for six years–especially somebody with a strongly defined public persona–it’s natural that they should linger in your memory. So maybe I’m just imagining it, but…

Does anybody else think that Robert Downey, Jr’s performance in the upcoming Iron Man movie bears an uncanny resemblance to Dennis Miller? Watch the trailer and tell me if you think I’m nuts.

I’ve recently been reading Heroes, by Lucy Hughes-Hallet. If you asked Ms. Hughes-Hallet what she most wants readers to take away from the book, I imagine she’d say “An understanding of the power and danger of hero worship.”
What I’ve taken away from the book, though, is an understanding of the power of beards. Or, actually, of one beard in particular: the beard of El Cid. Here’s what Hughes-Hallett has to say about it:

I recently saw somebody ask, “Who makes more–the top-paid novelists, or the top-paid screenwriters?” I thought that was an interesting question, so I did a little number crunching. Here’s what I found.

But first, a warning: what follows is based on anecdotal data, rather than statistical. And the anecdotal data tends to consist of media estimates of private wealth. If those estimates are off, my conclusions will be way off base.

Now, with that out of the way:

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t plan to register my Cinea DVD player unless I have to. I’ve gotten some e-mail from them telling me that Disney has signed up to use their technology, and that I’ll have to register my Cinea player if I want to watch screening copies of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Shopgirl, and Casanova. I’m very interested in seeing the first two, and I don’t think it’s fair to the filmmakers to let my distaste for the Cinea player stop me from seeing their work. So, I’m going to make a special point of trying to see actual screenings of those two films, thereby freeing me of the need to see them on DVD.
Meanwhile, non-Cinea DVD screeners are starting to arrive. Last week, I’ve gotten Crash and Cinderella Man (both of those were sent to me as a WGA member rather than as a BAFTA member, I think. The Cinderella Man DVD also came with a bound copy of the script). Yesterday brought Corpse Bride, Batman Begins, North Country, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.