Backstage

Maggie's Law...

Hmm... Well here in the Garden State, don't get caught in an accident if you're tired... We've got Maggie's Law now, and it allows people to be charged with vehicular homicide if you end up killing someone after you fell asleep while driving...

Is this a good thing?.. My jury is still out on this one folks... Yes, it is certianlly good to be able to punish people that knowingly created a dangerous situation... However, I am a small business owner, and there are times that, yes, I go without sleep for more than 30 hours. (that's the threshhold on Maggie's Law)  Do I get into a veihicle and drive home from those events? You bet I do... You can not simply go out, and fall asleep in your car in most of the places I work. (your options there are get arrested, or get mugged) If I manage to drive away, and pull into a rest stop, they can write you a ticket for staying there for over 2 hours... (and after 30+ hours, 2 hours of nap isn't going to do it even if my alarm clock could wake me up)  Get a hotel room you say?... Ok... That's a possibility at times, but its kinda hard to find a parking garage in the city that will take a 24' truck... (you can read that as impossible... I'd have to drive it away from the location to a lot out on the edge of the city that would take a truck) I have naturally hired a driver at times for the truck, but that's not alway possible... (we're not big enough to have full time staff yet let alone a full time driver)

So am I saying I jump in a veihicle and go off thinking I should be able to get away with falling asleep?.. No, not really... I am concerned however that if the law stays, it will start gaining power and they'll keep lowering the threshhold... (sorta the give an inch and they take a yard deal) CDL drivers are now stuck with 10 hours driving, then 8 hours off... I know several, and they can't make a living doing 10 and 8... They all keep double logs to get around the laws... Personally, I work 20 hour days as a regular part of my life... I don't see that changeing in the future, though I'd prefer to have staff guys that could take some of that load off... Its simply the nature of what my industry is, that causes long days... I have clients with deap pockets, but they will not spring for an extra $500 on top of our regular trucking fee for us to get a professional driver.  I know, I've tried...

Final thought... Yep, its a good law... I hope that they don't start useing it for every accident, and that they keep things realistic... 30 hours is too long to go without sleep and be safe on the roads... 20 hours?... 25 hours?... Where are they going to draw the next line after this thing takes off...

Color Theory Part 1

Boy oh boy… I’ll just bet you’re salivating over this juicy topic… lol… Sorry to bore you, but I read a post over on Mookie’s site and it kinda gave me the creeps thinking that there might be a teacher out there telling students things are so black and white… (ok… I couldn’t resist that one…)

This is really just going to be an introduction… I wouldn’t profess to be an expert, though I work with this medium on a constant basis… It takes a lifetime to really master the subtlety of color, and many never get there…  Now, that said, let me break this down into a couple different areas… Light, and Pigment… Light being what comes from a lamp… (no, not a friggin’ bulb… you use bulbs in your table light, a lamp is a bit broader definition that covers all the different types of light sources we use in theatre… A bulb is a lamp, but a lamp is not necessarily a bulb) Pigment is what is found in paint, dye, stain, or is inherently in some material….

Today, I’m going to do pigment, which in all honesty, I am weaker on as I personally hate painting…

Any good designer is going to pick a color palette to build their show around… Quite often it is 3 colors, and many times those three will be somewhat equally spaced on a color wheel.  You find that to be the case because then the designer has the freedom to convey all of the emotions associated with the various qualities of color… (and yes, you can use color to stimulate emotion, but it is not best done with a heavy hand, often an audience will be amused by a heavy color choice to convey a character, rather than just getting the feeling you want without even knowing why.) There are other times that a designer will pick a very “tight” palette… Tight meaning that the 2 or 3 colors will be very close to each other on the wheel… (red, orange, yellow, or even red, red-orange, orange as an example) A tight palette like that lets the designer convey for example a very consistent setting, where the people are either very in tune with their surroundings, or they are simply part of the surroundings having little life of their own… With a tight palette, you can interject a small amount of a contrasting color, and it will really pop out… Just because you have picked a particular palette, does not mean you are not going to use other colors, the palette simply gives you the base idea…

In pigment, black is the theoretical presence of all the primary pigments.  (it never works out that way no matter how hard you try to mix them in paint)  White would be the absence of all pigment.  This is because pigment is a subtractive process.  The pigments absorb the various wavelengths of light, and only reflect back the color that you see… (In light it is an additive process…)

Some people have tried to associate different colors with absolute emotions.  Honestly, it just doesn’t work… You can play the game now and again if you are doing a melodrama, giving the villain a big red light to step in to while wearing all black (with the obligatory evil guy moustache and minor chord piano music in the background), but that isn’t going to work in the vast majority of shows… In many cases (particularly theatre in the round) the scenic designer has to provide a very neutral setting, neither good nor evil… Warm or cold (emotionally)… Rich or poor… It is left to the costumer then to have to help the characters along. (ok… now I’m really in unfamiliar territory, but the theory is similar) They more than anyone define the look of the character, and therefore the feeling people get when they first see them on stage… Rich/poor is usually pretty easy, and often isn’t subtle at all… Good/evil is usually the hardest to convey without making the characters, caricatures… Warm and cold  can be subtle, or bold, mostly dependant on the palette…  Naturally there are other aspects that one needs to convey, but those are just an example… The important thing to remember here, is that there aren’t any real rules… Yes, you need to consider the “generic” response of people to colors… That doesn’t mean that you have to stick with that, if you can make you choices make sense… Remember, you are trying to communicate to an audience, you aren’t going to be able to sit there and explain what you did.  Sorta like the rule on jokes… If you have to explain it, it doesn’t work…

In Mookie’s post, there is a discussion of where different wood tones are used… (Mookie, if I’m reading that wrong, please tell me, and I’ll update this, and apologize) There really is absolutely no validity to one kind of wood representing an emotion… All manor of wood can be found in any situation… For example, Oak can naturally be made into fine furniture, however, that same wood is used to make shipping palettes and crates… There really isn’t anything inherently happy of funny about pine, nor does black walnut infer darker emotions… What you need to consider is a) time and place (various woods were common on one area or time and rare in another area) b) the use of the wood (obviously, a fine china cabinet made from mahogany, is going to convey something different than the mahogany used as ship planking) c) the overall color quality of the wood (your audience is not going to be able to tell maple from birch on stage from more than 10 feet away, from 20 feet, oak will loose a most of its definition, 30 or 40 feet and pine is just another “wood tone” )(obviously it varies with the theatre, but in many cases you have to design for much farther away than 40 feet, as that may just be your front row of seats)(and yes, some people can see different wood at distance, but that’s because they work with it all the time, carpenters are not your usual audience)

The furball distractions...

Well here they are... They may start making a regular apperience, if they're up to it... Right now, they're terribly modest and have a bit of stage fright...

Best Intentions... Reprise...

Yep... Another one of the kittens made it up to my porch this morning... I've got a few photos of it, but left the damn USB cable at my office... I'll have them up tommorow some time...

Off to get some things done... Regardless of how cute the little furballs are...

Best Intentions...

I woke up this morning, with such good intentions... I was going to go through my blogroll to see what was out there... I was going to snoop around the other blogs in my ranking range on the Ecosystem... Then I planned to go to work for a bit...

All that went right out the window when I was having my morning cup of coffee... (ok, its a pot... but I was on my first cub... sheesh...) It was a nice morning, so I opened my screen door... That brought out the stray cats I feed... No big deal... I went out, said hello, played with them a bit, and fed them... As I sat back down with my mug, I heard the very distinct sound of a very small kitten... So, out I went, sitting down on my porch to see if I could see the little furball... Sure enough a few minutes later, an adorable little grey and white kitten stumbled up the steps to my porch... So there went my plans for the day... I spent most of the day, sitting out there, slowly getting the kitten to trust me, under the watchfull eye of its mother... Eventually, I had the kitten and one of its older siblings asleep in my lap... (two litters for the mother this summer) I swear, I can't think of anything cuter than a kitten... To give you a sence of size, when I picked it up to get it down from someplace it was scared to jump down from, only 3 fingers fit between its front and back legs... That's 2-1/4"...

I followed the sound of some more kitten cries, and found two more kittens, that were still too small to be able to manage the stairs... They're both white and almost black...  Absolutly adorable... I didn't crawl into the bush to try to play with them, they will come up to my porch when they're ready to...

Unfortunatly, my occupation makes it hard to have a pet... So these cats are as close as I'm going to be able to get untill I can get some kind of predictability in my life... I couldn't be happier that these cats have chosen to spend time with me... Yes, I feed them, so its natural for them to come around a bit... but there are atleast 3 other apartments that feed them as well, and they pretty much live at my place... I guess I'm winning the kitty popularity contest...

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a couple photos of the new arrivals... I brought home the digital camera I have for work, so I'm already getting some shots of the first generation and the mother...

Later...

Did you ever hear?...

It is considered bad luck to whistle while backstage...

The Reason - Back when theatre moved indoors, and scenery started to be flown by rigging, the people that had the most experience with systems like that were sailors.  Well they certianlly did not have nice fancy communication systems like we have now... So apparently, they stuck to what they were used to, which was whistleing to signal different changes in the rigging... If you walked on stage, whistleing happily to yourself, you just might get creamed by some scenery moving in on you because you called the right signal at the wrong time...

Now, there are some people that are so supersticious, that they might just pummel you for whistleing... My, how far we've come...

Be carefull out there...

No Call List

I'm sure you've all heard enough about the FTC's No Call List... Me?... I signed up for that list the day I found out I could... That was about 10 hours after they opened up their web site to take applications... I am a BIG propunent of this idea... a) I get a ton of telemarketing faxes at home that I don't want... It got to the point, that I simply turned off the fax machine... That pisses me off... They cost me money in paper, ink, and now I have to plan when I may need to get a fax at home to turn it back on... b) My voice line is a cell phone... I dropped land line service in my house ages ago for voice, mostly because it was cheaper for the cell, and I'm seldomly home to get a call... I don't need those idiots calling me, burning up my minutes, trying to sell me vinyl siding since I live in an apartment complex... (sometimes I invite them out to give me a quote on the entire complex... I always get a kick out of the return phone call...) c) My phone lines at work are just that... They are there for my clients... They are not installed so some ass can call me to offer me a free vacation if I will only go look at their wonderfull time share opportunity... We do work that is inconvienient to stop in the middle of sometimes, but we always find a way to get to the phone, because we're a service driven company... You don't answer it, and they'll call someone else... I get 10 - 15 calls a day from idiots trying to sell me something... Screw them...

Now... The courts decided that the FTC needed a legislative mandate to go through with the DNC registry... So in one of those rare moments in time when politicians act quickly and act together on something, the house and senete slammed through the mandate, and sent it up to the president... Outstanding!!! (I'm halfway curious who the 5 votes against the bill came from in the House... but I'm too lazy to go look it up... they must really be kooks...)

Well now another court has decided that the FTC is overstepping its bounds because they would be impacting the telemarketers' freedom of speech... I somehow, (and hey, I could be wrong... but I just doubt it) just don't think that the first amendment was written with this spirit... Hell I took the time to go read the actual text of the amendment... I don't see anything in there saying that I would be forced to listen to someone's freedom to speech... Where does this come from?... If the telemarketers want to stand on the corner, and shout at the world, fine... If they want to call people that are willing to listen to them, fine... Why are those of us that don't want to get these damn calls being forced by the judicial branch of the government to have to receive them?... Somebody, please explain to me, why the hell the telemarketers even want to call people like me?... I would think that they would actually benefit from the idea since it would narrow down the field of numbers they would be calling... It would simply remove the people that don't listen, and hang up... or the people like me that will lead them on and on, doing everything I can to mock them, and run up their phone bill... This seems like a win/win idea to me... Yes, it will cost some of the people making the calls their jobs... Guess what, I don't care...

What I really want to know is how much crack these judges are smoking to come up with this crap?... There are more than 50 million people signed up for the list... 750,000 registered in the first day alone... We aren't talking about a minority group that is getting persecuted here folks... I'm not trying to tell people they can't follow their own religion... I'm not even trying to censor anyone... Doesn't something, someplace guarentee my right to live without persecution?... The damn telemarketers are basically doing that... They're hastleing me... Only, its not addressed to me most of the time... its more of the "to whom this may concern" type of hastle... Broad based persecution of people who just want to be left alone...

Ok... I'm done now... (I swear the day I hear that my spam filter on my email is impacting someone's freedom of speech, is the day I go out and start buying ammunition, and road maps to the court building where the decision was made...)

*Update* This pretty much says it all...

Goofy clients

So, my blogging has been somewhat limited of late, and certianlly not terribly high in the quality marks... Well work went kinda nuts, so that's been consumeing my time... (how inconsiderate of me to get jobs... sheesh...)  At any rate, I was driving back to my shop today from where we were installing some scenery, and my cell rang... The number on the caller ID was familiar, but I couldn't place it, so I assume that it is one of my clients.  Turns out, I'm correct, and it is indeed the guy I've been building a custom deck for.  (no not a deck for his house... go read my post on theatre terms... sheesh...)  Well he doesn't want to talk to me on my cell, so I tell him, no problem, I'll be at my shop in a bit and I'll call him back... Calls indeed follow my return to my shop, and I get this very hesitant question...

"How far are you along on the deck?"

At this point I get that feeling in my stomach where I am about to get screwed in a rather unpleasant way... I reply, "Well honestly, all I have to do is spray a coat of paint on the edge that was sitting on the floor last night, so basically I'm done... Why?"

Him... "Oh.... Um... Hang on a minute would you..."

Me... "Sure" (cue the extreme desire to have several pints of Guinness... RIGHT NOW!!!)

Him... "Well the client has cut the budget... Can we reduce the cost anyway?..."

Me... "Um... The only thing I am building for you is the deck... The deck is done... The only thing you could reduce at this point is to cancel the install and save yourself the cost of my crew for the install..."

Him... "Really?... I mean, its really done?... you don't install it for another week and change..."

Me... (now instulted that he has just accused me of lieing to him) "Yes, as I told you last week, we are extremely busy at the moment, so that's why I needed confirmation last Monday.  As soon as I had the time, I plowed right through your deck so I could move on to other projects.  We actually finished it yesterday, one day ahead of our in-house schedule."

Him... "I see... Well the client has decided that they can now go with a rectangular deck"

Me... "I can certianlly understand your position, but please understand that you ordered a custom deck.  Let me clarify, a VERY custom deck. I have never before needed an elliptical deck for any event... I do not forsee needing this deck again... Therefor as a single use deck, I am going to throw this unit out after your event.  The lids for your deck were cut by a computer that costs me almost as much by the hour as I make in a day sometimes... We have not marked up this unit nearly as much as we may have for some other clients because you are a new contact, and we very much appreciate the opportunity to work with you, however, there really is nothing I can do to reduce your cost at this point apart from not sending you the deck at all, at which point you will still owe me for the actual cost of the deck.  While your client may be "ok" with a rectangular deck, I doubt very highly that they will find no deck acceptable."

Him... "Um... I'm going to have to get back to you in a few minutes..."

Me... "Ok... I'll be here for another 15 minutes, then call me on my cell" (its now 6:30, we close down at 5:00 normally)

7:00

*ring*

Me.. "Hello... Such and such company"

Him... "Hi, its me again..."

Me... "I was just headed to the door, but what can I do for you"

Him... "I hate to beat a dead horse, but is there anything you can give us a break on?..."

Me... "*sigh* There really isn't any slop in the numbers on the deck... I'll tell ya what I will do... I'll give you my stock stairs for nothing, the tool rental for nothing, and the groundrow we made for you for nothing since I built it from fall from another show... But that is absolutly as low as we can go... While I really would like to work with you again in the future, we will not be able to do that if we make absolutly nothing on an event due to comping everything... "

Him... " Ok... if that is all you can due for us, I'll tell the client they have to come up with the money..."

Me..."I'm sorry it has gotten to this point... We do try very hard to work with peoples budgets, but after all, this was approved... 

Him... "I understand... I was just hoping you would be a little more flexable... We have used Thus and Such Scenic in the past, and they were always willing to come down in price..."

Me... "I'm quite familiar with them, and yes, they frequently underbid us on events... They are also now out of business because they could not pay their bills... They were excellent people, and ran their company into the ground for their clients... Unfortunatly, that did not seem to translate into revenue for them.  We will do everything we can to make your event perfect, however we can not take a loss on a project because your client suddenly decided they wanted to spend their money on something else... Please try to make your client understand what an odd unit they ordered in the first place... A rectangular deck from just my stock decks would have cost them half to a third of what they got involved in with an ellipse... "

Him... "Yes, I tried to explain that to them, but untill today, they were absolutly insistant"

Me... "Well perhaps they will learn something from this in the future"

Him... "Oh, I doubt they will... They have been getting away with this for some time from other shops... "

Me... "Have they noticed that their other shops have no all closed?..."

Him... "I doubt that occured to them"

Me... "goofy clients... sheesh..."

Him... "You're telling me... I'll talk to you tommorow... Thanks..."

Me... "Thanks... "

*click*

I swear some of my clients are going to drive me to going gray way prematurely...

Later...

Theatre Vocab 101

I was sitting here, chatting with someone on a messenger service, when they asked me a couple questions about what the heck "stage left" was all about.  So I figure, hell there's a good topic for the day... The goofy language we use backstage...

Stage Left, and Right refer to your left and right as you stand in the middle of the stage, looking out at the audience.

House Left and Right are your left and right when standing in the  audience area, looking onto the stage.

House - The audience area

FOH or Front of House - 1) everything from the audience to the entrance of the theatre. (ticket sales, refreshments, ushers, etc)  2) The area of the house closest to the stage, often refering to the lighting positions in that area.

Back of House - 1) Everything from the stage line back (production, housekeeping)  2) The positions all the way away from the stage in the house area.

Fly, or Flys -  the system that is used to lift scenery and lights up from the stage to the overhead. Operated by a flyman. (or flywoman, though I have never heard anyone use that term even for the women that I've worked with there) Operated from a Flyrail (position where the flys are tied off, or the brakes are set)

Load-Out or Strike - When a show is broken down.

Load-In - When a show is set up.

Upstage - The area of the stage furthest from the audience. (comes from when the stage surface was sloped up as you got further from the audience, to help with visability, now we angle the audience for the same purpose)

Downstage - The area of the stage closest to the audience.

Plaster or Plaster Line - the imaginary line connecting the walls on either side of the stage, behind which the stage "picture frame" stops. (that frame is called a Proscenium Arch)

Center Line - The line that runs perpendicular to the Plaster Line from the mid point of the Plaster Line

Deck - 1) The stage surface  2) a framed platform

Stock Deck - Decks made in common sizes (4'x8', 4'x4', 2'x8', 2'x4', etc) that can be easily joined together to form a larger deck.  Often used by rental companies, or by theatres that need to be able to often build different levels on their existing deck.

Flat - A wall, often kept in stock sizes, that can be used as the basis for rooms, or backgrounds.

Ok... that's enough for today... Make sure you study... this will be on your final exam...

Damn... A day Late...

I ran across this while wandering some old bookmarks... Its an excellent comparison between Pirates and Stagehands.

pi-rate (py'-reht) (fr. Lat. pirata, fr. Greek Peirates, fr. Peiran to attempt - more at fear) - N.

Often regarded as barbarous mercenaries, pirates are often found in large sailing ships of the Caribbean, most particularly in the port of Tortuga. Members of a pirate crew generally work on a deck, an area where heavy sails attached to a series of battens are held overhead by a network of carefully-designed rigging.
Pirates are easily recognized by their beards, their numerous battle injuries, and their continual drinking of rum.
Those who think a pirate's life is filled with leisure have never watched them work. A pirate's job requires nerves of steel and split-second timing. There is no margin for error in their work, no going back to correct a mistake; they know a single error on their part can be enough to crash the ship on the rocks. Accordingly, they have spent long years perfecting their skills.
The typical pirate carries one or more deadly weapons at all times, and will not hesitate to use them.
Pirates often begin as tradesmen, such as shipwrights or sailors. They often turn to careers in piracy because of the lure of easy money. Although often well-educated, pirates must serve apprenticeships lasting many years before being able to serve aboard a good ship. In spite of their formidable training and abilities, however, pirates are generally regarded as barbarous, treacherous, loathsome, backbiting, evil, twisted scum.
They take some small measure of pride in this.

For more information about pirates, we recommend reading Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini.

Lumber - Update

As if to prove that lumber prices are nuts, the price of one of my common materials (3/4" AC Fir Plywood) jumpped $5.00 over the weekend.  This stuff has been basically the same price for me for the last 5 years... Now with all the listed items, and I suppose now that I'm in the possible path of Isabelle, the price is getting close to double what it was in the spring....

My clients don't care about raw material price, they just want to pay what they always pay... Damn I hate that attitude from people...

Later...

ELF

Well, over in West Covina, California, the feds arrested a man for the Aug 22 vandalism of a Hummer Dealership.  The vandalism amongst other things was burning of a warehouse, veihicles, and spraypaint on ofther veihicles... The usual garbage like "ELF" "Fat Lazy American" "I (heart) Polution" As most folks out there know, ELF is the Earth Liberation Front... They are a group of idiots that go around burning and vandalising places they feel directly or indirectly destroy the enviroment and the earth... (ok, that's what I understand the wackos to be, I didn't go to their website to verify it) They can't really be considered anything but terrorists in my mind.  I suppose some of what they beleave my have some good in it, but you can not go around destroying places and property to move your political agenda... If I were to start targeting them in the same way, I suspect they'd try twisting around Article 1 somehow and claim freedon of expression and that I was some kind of terrorist going after them... (Personally, I would love to see all these idiots behind bars, particularly with very large, very angry and very lonely cellmates, but I digress)

The thing that always amuses me about their actions is that, yes, they managed to destroy something, good for them.  The problem is that they usually manage to release an awefull lot more pollutants in the process... Burning Hummers are a really good example... As for the structures they burn, they are all pretty much insured I suspect, and that just means they are going to get re-built... useing more lumber... meaning more heavy equipment and trucks kicking out more polutants...

Ok... I just ran over to their website... I was right, they are wackos... If they ever found out how wastefull the entertainment industry is, we'd end up on their list I suspect...

Heres a nice little quote from their FAQ...

The choice to use economic sabotage is a very deliberate and purposeful strategy to target the real underlying threat to life - the quest for profit and power. The ELF does not engage in state sanctioned tactics or those which physically harm people or life in general due to the group's belief that economic sabotage is the best, most direct way to take the profit motive out of destroying the planet.

Lumber

On a lighter note today (well not lighter, just less political I suppose) Lumber prices are going through the roof... I've been watching it climb up all summer to heights I've never seen before...  I never really got into the why's of the rise, since really I don't have much choice about paying for it.  CNN gave me a bit of insite today on this due to Hurricane Isabel tracking toward the US...

There are a few causes right now, and I'll have to make it a point to see if these are in fact what are doing it, but they seem sound at the moment...

• Wet logging season in the south


• Defence Department purchaseing


• Slow economy/cut back inventory


• Houseing boom due to low intrest rates


• fires out west

Well I didn't check the rainfall in the southern states, but I'll take their word for that... I've done a good deal of work in the woods, cutting and skidding trees for firewood and hardwood lumber, and yes, when its wet, its a nightmare.

The Defence Department certianlly has bought a chunk of lumber... The number CNN quotes is 50 million... That's not all that much really in the grand scheme of things... So I'll chalk that up as a minor cause...

The cut back inventories I can attest to... It seemed to me at its worst in the spring, though the summer is slow for me, so I buy less then... I haven't run across so many yards being out of my staple products before... I could get a few sticks of things then and have to wait for a week to get the rest... Usually I call, and the next day everything is there... Now, the thing to keep in mind is that most of what I use is not what you find most commonly in the building industry... We use smaller, lighter, and nicer finish stuff... So when they decide to cut inventory, they ditch my material first as we're a tiny market compared to construction...

CNN claims a record number of houseing starts in July... I'll have to trust them on that as I'm too lazy right now to verify it... I certianlly didn't see that around here, but then there isn't much room left for a big houseing build to happen... Around here there was just a massive number of homes being bought and sold...

The fires out west... Now this I really don't buy into... There are fires out west every year... I do not see a spike every year due to fires... Perhaps a mill or two got burned though I didn't hear about it... That might spike the price a bit...

Perhaps the lumber companies are haveing to pay more in insurance due to the ELF idiots... That would trickle down to me eventually... If that's the case, I hope they just start dropping trees on the Elves... Poetic justace..."ELF killed by tree" (or better yet... "ELF killed by Bush")

This is just wrong...

I found this via a rather random path of link to link browseing...

There is a judge in Chicago, holding a homeless man responsible for not keeping the paperwork on a gun he sold to a police officer 10 years ago... That officer then sold it to another officer... The second officer died at some point... The gun turned up in a multiple murder... They are holding the homeless man on $100,000.00 bond.  Lets just for a moment ignore the fact this guy is homeless and probably isn't dragging around a file cabinet with him... He sold the gun to a cop, who sold it to another cop... The offence of not having the paperwork is a misdemeanor... $100,000.00?... Come on... I can not beleave that this judge can't use just a tad more common sence... It seems that this guy is the only one left alive to go after... This is one of those things where I just sit and shake my head...

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm all for going after criminals... They should serve their time... However, there is the concept of the "spirit of the law"... Somehow I don't think that prosecuteing this guy was what they had in mind... Perhaps if he had been the only owner before the shootings, I might consider this to be more realistic... But since it went from him to not one, but two cops before the problem, and neither of them registered it...

Well that's all... I'm just disgusted...

9/11

Its two years today... The skyline still doesn't look right to me after all this time... It probably never will again...

Two years ago, I woke up, just in time for the radio to give the first report that a plane had hit the tower... There were no real details at that point, and being very tired, I thought "damn... how does some idiot manage to not avoid hitting the tower"... We lived in county without major terrorism issues then, so why would I consider that... So I got up to get ready to go to work, and turned on the TV to catch what I could before I had to run out the door... After a quick shower, I noticed there was footage of the burning tower on the tube, so I kinda stopped to watch for a moment, and right then, the second plane hit... I remember the anchor asking the co-anchor if that had been something from the first tower... To me it was obviously another plane, but then I was looking at a 32" TV, not a little prompt monitor they had... I instantly thought, "shit... fucking terrorists...".  Right on the heals of that thought was, "damn, I better get my ass in gear, its going to be a bitch getting around the city now"... I was, that day, scheduled to work on a changeover at the 26th street armory for fashion week... It never occured to me that a) they would close down the city access, b) that the towers would come down, c) the 26th st armory is an air defence armory and would be like kicking over an ant hill, d) life in the US had just changed forever...

So off I went... I was in my truck listening to the radio reports, stuck in traffic on the NJ turnpike... You could see the smoke from my apartment in central Jersey, and I could see the towers clearly from my place in the traffic... I wasn't stareing at them, just kinda glanceing at them when traffic stopped... In one of those glances, I saw the first tower come down... It didn't seem real... From the distance, there was no noise, just the slow motion disappearance and the cloud... My mind had still not registered the reality of all this... I took the time then to call my employeer for the day to give them a heads up I was going to be late, because traffic was a mess... Not long later, the radio said that the tunnels were closed... Perhaps they'd been closed before then, but I hadn't caught it... Then the second tower went down... I hadn't moved much more than a mile or two, so I had a good view again... There we all sat in our cars, trying to get to our little bit of the rat race... But every single person was in shock I think... The police had closed all the exits from the Turnpike, so we all had to just keep crawling north... The first exit open was Intersate 80, and only westbound... Theat was fine for me, my parents live up in that area... That's where I headed untill the traffic eased out and I could get back to my apartment...  Half my family had just flown over to England... So my father and I just sat there watching the TV, and replay after replay of the horrors... Eventually, I decided to give it a shot getting home... I took the western route that is longer, but would not suffer from the number of people that had gathered along the sides of the roads where you could see the skyline and the cloud...

I was fortunatle that day in that I didn't know anyone there very well... There were a couple people I had met in passing that were working up in Windows on the World... There was another person I found out months later that had grown up two doors down from me... There were a couple people I vaguely knew that lived down in that area of the city... They were fine... The two from Windows, and my former neighbor, were not...

The places I had been working that week got turned into other things... We were setting up the fashion shows for fall market week... There was a tent on one of the peirs that apparently got taken over for the EMT's and triage... The 26th st armory naturally went back to being an armory, as well as a shelter from what I was told... There were tents further up town that I was told were going to be used as a morgue... I didn't get into town for months after 9/11 so I'm not sure those stories are true... That's just what the people that had hired me told me at some point...  I know that all the equipment was basically trapped in the tents and armory for some time untill techs could get in there and get it down...

I'm not sure I've ever really resolved everything I felt that day... The horror... The anger... The sorrow... The fear... I do know, that for the most part, yes, the NY/NJ area took a hell of a hit emotionally, but living through that hell brought out the best in people... I do not want to think about the few people that refused to be human then... The manager at Starbucks that wanted to charge the EMT's and Firefighters for bottled water... (after hearing that I never set foot in a Starbucks again) I prefer to think back to people opening their places to help others, people donating just about everything and anything including their time to help...  I think back to the attitude that "yes... it hurts... but damn it, we're going to get through this, and not live in fear"... 

I still can see the images of the day clearly when I want to... They will live with me untill I die I suspect...

Down Time (sorta)

Well here I sit... Middle of the day... With absolutly nothing to do because all my clients have decided to just sit around and think about their events rather than approve anything for me to get working on.  As such, I get to do some surfing, and housekeeping around here... I noticed my header up top was getting messed up on my machine here when "collide" got forced down a line due to screen width... Hopefully it will work ok as it is now... (I hope you're not stuck reading this on a machine that has to insert a break in the header now... If you are you have my sympathies...)

Since either Blog-City was down the other night, or my server was haveing an issue with them, I got to run around and check out some blogs I hadn't yet.  Of course, I don't have the addresses here since I'm at work (not like I couldn't go home... but I've got DSL here and dial up at home) so I can't put them up on the roll, or for that matter even go take another look at them... They will get listed tonight though... (assumeing naturally that I can get into the admin pages again tonight...)

Through my dialogue with Jennifer when I picked sides in the war, I am now the "Minister of Those in the Dark"... That works on so many levels for me, its just silly... lol... Now to figure out where to put that tag on my header...

As promised... I will not be adding some long boring tirade today on the plight of stagehands... (oh... you probably should worry though... there's one formulating itself in the back of my mind... and if one of my clients doesn't give me a go ahead soon, it may slip out do to mass boredom...)

'nuff said...

Monopoly Money

Ok... What's up with the soon to be released peach colored $20's?... Does anyone out there think that this is going to actually stop counterfiters?... Somehow I think not... Computers are pretty damn good at color matching now... and if you want to be a real good counterfitter and use printing plates, the computer controled milling and engraving equipment available is pretty impressive...
The other thought is this... Personally I happen to like green money... Had I not grown up in the US, that wouldn't matter to me... Since I did, money is just green to me... I've been here and there outside the states, and the money is always very pretty, but I really don't care if money is pretty... I want it to all be the same size, and I want it all green... Hell I'm not even crazy about the gold colored $1 coins... They look way too much like arcade tokens from when I was younger... (do they still have arcade tokens?... I'm waiting for the machines to start taking credit cards soon considering the cost of playing one of the games now) (and no... I'm not that old... geesh... )

fraud continued....

---Warning--- Continuation of long winded pretty boring rant

Part 2…

Ok, so here’s how the freelance stagehand world goes around. The vast majority of people out there that need to utilize the services of stagehands, do not need them all the time. The industry is very much a feast and famine type deal… As a company, you may have nothing going on one day, and multiple events going on the next. So what that means is you need a great deal of flexibility in the size of your staff. Some companies handle it by working with the local stagehands union, (that’s IATSE incidentally) others use non-union labor companies, and still others maintain a list of freelance stagehands. My beef with the industry is primarily with the last case.

Ok, so you need people, and you start going through your list. You manage to get enough of them to say yes, they can be there, that you fill your call out. These people show up at the appointed time, on the appointed day, and do what you need them to do. They then go home. (or more likely to a bar to blow off a little steam after a typically frustrating day)

As the employer, you then look at the time sheets, figure out what you owe them, and when your next pay period comes around, you send them a check… (that’s the ideal… lots of these companies don’t pay until they’ve been paid… sometimes as much as 120 days out)

There are a few items right there that scream out that these freelancers are not Independent Contractors.

You are giving them specific dates and times and location for the work to be done.

You are in general providing them with paperwork on how you want things set up, and run.

You are paying them based on either an hourly rate, or in many cases a daily rate based on a 10 hour minimum. (the minimums vary company to company, but that was the one that I did and still do use when I freelance)

Right there, there’s enough to say hey, these people are employees…

But wait… There’s more…

Virtually none of these people carries their own liability or workers comp insurance…. These people are not working based on a written contract (under most cases) so they stand no real chance of losing money. These people do not have to provide their own tools and equipment. (again, that one comes and goes… I take a lot of gear with me when I freelance… mostly because what companies will provide you with is crap) Also, though these people are essentially temps, they are an essential part of the company in question’s operating method.

Ok, you say, great… The freelancers should be employees… Who cares?... Shouldn’t they be making this case themselves?...

Well yes… I’d prefer that all the freelancers out there getting the 1099’s would get together, and decide to not accept it anymore… Unfortunately, the market is so competitive, that many of them are willing to take the 1099 in return for getting more work. Well it works, I know, since I used to do it… The problem comes later at tax time, in terms of the financial aspect… That’s a choice I suppose is theirs to make… However many of them do not know they end up having to pay a lot more to the government than if they were employees since the company would be contributing their part to the taxes… Ok… So these people don’t have a clue… Let them suffer?... No thanks… Not my style…

The industry is a dangerous one… We work some insane hours, and the pay isn’t great most of the time, so lots of people double book events back to back just to be able to survive financially…. Problem is, that tends to lead to people getting hurt now and again… If they’re on 1099, they’re screwed since there isn’t any workers comp. Many of the companies do get around that by telling the freelancers that if they get hurt, then they will go back and put them on payroll for that day, so they can collect the insurance… Hello… Doesn’t that seem just a tad sleazy?..

As an employer, what does it save you to screw these people?... Well you do not have to pay in to the taxes like you would for a normal employee. Workers Comp insurance is billed based on what your payroll is. If you have everyone on 1099, you have no payroll… Your insurance is almost nothing… Paying people is much faster as there are no hassles of figuring out what people owe, and sending that off to the government, so you save on accounting costs. (you still have to track the money, but it is a TON easier)

Ok… Go do something about it, instead of bitching?... I do… Everyone that works for me is getting paid properly… I make damn sure they understand the differences between the two methods… I make a point of rotating people new to the industry or the area through my shop, not only to develop my freelance list better, but to make sure they too understand the deal… I’m not the only one… There are a number of other reputable companies that play the game by the rules all the time too… It’s the companies that don’t that are the problem, as well as the universities that keep turning out technicians without telling the kids anything about reality… I can’t blame the union for any of this as there are certainly no union jobs that are 1099… It might be nice if they could find a way to get out there more and try to spread the word about this issue, without it feeling like everyone should be joining up… The union simply is not for everyone… The arts breeds people that are very independent… They just need a little help getting a clue…

Ok… This is me getting off my soapbox… I’m going to put it away for a little while... I promise...

Just a little bit of fraud...

--- Warning --- Another Long Rant

Well here we go again… As indicated in an earlier post, I’m going to blog on a little bit of fraud in the entertainment industry… The paying of technicians on 1099’s rather than W-2’s… Before I go off on what makes this so wrong (not to mention illegal) let me just explain the difference between the two for anyone who may not be familiar with these little government forms.

The W-2/W-4 combination is used to report earnings for an employee to the government for tax purposes. That includes your income tax, unemployment, disability, and other contributions you are required to pay. Most of you out there get a W2 for what you do.

The 1099 form I am referring to in this case is the 1099-Misc. There are a large number of 1099’s that apply to everything from interest on money, to inheritances things, to the one I’m talking about. The 1099-Misc is used in this case to pay people as Independent Contractors. That basically means that you are acting as your own company, without going so far as to need to file under a Schedule-C heading. Confused yet?... Ok, think of it this way. If you gave some kid $50 a week to mow your lawn, you could file that as a 1099-Misc, as the kid is acting as a company at that point. The kid would then be responsible for making sure that income was listed on his tax return. (lets just ignore that the example was a kid, and assume that its an adult for the moment to make it easier)

Now, naturally the IRS has a set of rules that governs how payments are classified. If there was one page that explained it all, I’d simply link it… Alas, this is the IRS and there are several… Just hang in there with me, and we’ll get through this… It really does come down to some very simple rules, so I will go through those… If you want to read the tax code, be my guest.

The following is an excerpt from IRS Publication 15a, which covers the differences and classifications of employees and independent contractors. And I had to re-type this, so if there’s a typo, it very well may be mine… damn PDF is in two columns so I can’t cut and paste) There are other guides from the IRS, but this is the best one I’ve found.

To determine if an individual is an employee or an independent contractor under common law, the relationship of the worker and the business must be examined. All evidence of control and independence must be considered in any employee-independent contractor determination, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and the degree of independence must be considered.

Ok, that seems logical if long winded. They then go on into the description of what that evidence needs to be concerned with.

Rather than typing out all of 15a (it is 58 pages), let me give you the English version of the next part.

They break out the evidence into three categories. Behavioral Control, Financial Control, and Type of Relationship.

Behavioral Control is concerned with determining if the employer has the right to dictate how the end result is to be achieved.

· When and where to do the work

· What tools and equipment to use

· What workers to hire or to assist with the work

· Where to purchase supplies and services

· What work is to be done by what individual

· What order or sequence to follow

· Will the employer provide training

Financial Control… Well that’s kinda self explanatory right?

· To what extent does the person have unreimbursed expenses

· The extent of the workers investment

· The extent to which the worker makes services available to the relevant market

· How the business pays the worker (aka wage, salary, dayrate, etc)

· The extent to which the worker can realize a profit or loss

Type of Relationship

· Written contracts describing the relationship the parties intend to create.

· Whether the business provides the worker with benefits (insurance, vacation, sick pay, etc)

· The permanency of the relationship

· The extent to which the services are a key aspect of the regular business of the company.

Ok… That’s what we get to deal with to make the determination.

Since I had no bloody idea this was going to get so long, I’m going to break here, and do part two later, where I will try to explain how the industry works. After that, then it will be obvious why these people are actually employees and not independent contractors…

I guess this means I'm picking sides...

Haveing been around just long enough to have a few readers now... (you are reading this right?... I hope you're not all wrong numbers...) I'm going to throw in with the Axis of Evil Naughty... (hey, Jennifer was the first visitor here... how could I not lean that way from the start...)

Hmmm... This is like some little bitty city state picking sides in a war... It could only help people find out I exist, and won't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things... Oh well... My motivations are a bit more than simple greed though...

Later...

I almost managed to disconnect...

Ok... I was just about to hang up my connection, when I said to myself, "self... go take a look at cnn and see what the mass media news has to offer today..."

So what I find is, naturally an article on the California recall circus... The title was something about immigration, so I thought, hey, it might lead to some insight on my post on the whole drivers licence deal...  Happily, yes, it does mention it again, amongst a couple other bills regarding immigration in Cali... (I still can't figure out why I care so much since I'm over here on the east coast... but I digress)

It naturaly did not clear up a thing... It did however provide me with a quote to illustrate just how screwed up the idea is...

Mr. Davis according to CNN spouted the following... "He supported 187, and he has said that one of his first acts as governor, which he will not get a chance to do, would be to repeal the legislation I just signed granting drivers licenses to hard-working immigrants that pay taxes in our society. So that is not the way to recognize the contribution immigrants are making to our society" This was in relation to Arnold and his stance on another bill... However, go back and read the part I'm highlighting in green...  Notice anything wrong here?... That bill was for granting ILLEGAL immigrants licences... Somehow I just don't think that people trying to avoid the INS is going to go out of their way to pay their taxes... We're not talking about the immigrants that are here with their green card, or on a visa for some reason... Say ti with me now folks... ILLEGAL!!!!

I repeat, I'm not anti-immigration... I know quite a few illegal immigrants... They happen to work for a landscape company where I know a few folks... They are absolutly some of the hardest working guys I've ever seen... But I still don't think they should be getting licences, or have access to any kind of public services since THEY DON"T PAY TAXES!... Personally I hate paying my taxes, but I make damn sure I do... As an owner of a small business, I make damn sure the people that work for me get paid on the level, and send off their withholding to the government too... Its a pain... It cuts into the money I could make by paying them either cash, or on the "independant contractor" 1099 system... However... It is the law... Untill they change it, that's the way people should play the game...

(oooooo... now there's a topic I'm going to sink my teeth into in the next couple days... I'll just bet you can't wait for that one... lol...)

Later...

Ok... I'm confused...

I know... I'm non-political right?... But I have a question...

I ran across a link to this in another blog I unfortunatly forgot to record the address to... (yea, I know... Bad me... bad me...) It talks about the California Legislature passing a bill (it hasn't been signed by the govener yet) that would enable ILLEGAL immigrants to obtain a drivers licence... Ok... so I'm a tad confused on that... How the hell does it make sence to have a state give these people a drivers licence when they are really fugitives from the immigration department... I've got no problems with people that want to come here, and live here in peace, but is it asking so much that they go through the process propperly?.. We're talking about people that have slipped over the border here... No, I don't think they're all terrorists... But with a licence, you can go just about anyplace, and do anything... Hell I know that's all they asked me for when I got on a plane last time...

Someone please... make some sence of this for me... I'm going to read it again in the morning and hopefully, I missed something... (you know... like its April 1st or something)

 Update: Ok, I've re-read the article now... I even had a whole pot of coffee this morning, so I know I'm awake... I still don't understand the rational behind this... I guess I'll add it to the list of reasons I'll never understand the culture out on the west coast. (nothing wrong with them... I just don't seem to be able to understand their thought process)

The problem with live theatre... (warning, long rant)

For some time now, I’ve had this chip on my shoulder over the current situation of theatre as I see it around my area. So be warned, I am not going to go and back up what I say here with facts and figures as I don’t have any… But see if it doesn’t make sense anyway. (hey wait, that’d make it logical right?... no wonder the arts can’t seem to grasp this… but I digress…)

The first thing that really bothers me is that the theatre industry has priced itself out of reach of most people who might want to go often. Anyone can afford to go see a show once in a while, but footing the bill for a season gets ugly… Why would we do that you ask? (I use we only because I work in the industry, not because I have any control over any of this) Well there are a couple things that really drive up the price. First, there are companies out there that charge the royalties for the shows. Then the money they collect goes to them and the playwright/composer (hopefully), and many of the “popular” shows are very pricy to be allowed to perform. Do I begrudge people their money for writeing the shows?... Hell no… They earned it as much as anyone, but it is one of the ugly costs out there…

Another reason they have to charge so much is that there are a number of artistic directors (aka the artistic head of a theatre organization as opposed to the financial head) that make an outrageous amount of money, as well as getting other perks. What perks?... Well there’s the obligatory “expense account”, some of them have expensive housing deals with the theatre, some of them get a company provided car as well. (and no, we’re not talking about a three year old Ford Escort… I’m talking BMW, Mercedes, Lexus level cars.) (oh, and by the way, the whole salary of the artistic director issue is one I could go off on for one long horrible rant, but I’m going to try to be good and move on to the next issue in my mind)

I find it hard to go off on the technicians for raising the price of tickets through their salaries. It really isn’t the case in most places, as the technicians get paid little more than an insult. (hey, I’ve been there, done that, and couldn’t even afford the damn t-shirt) However, there are some places that, yes, the salaries of tech staff is part of the problem. Mostly, I see that in some of the unionized theatres. Am I anti-union?... Nope, I’ve had my union card for as long as I was eligible. However there are people that get paid nice fat salaries for working on a show when they actually just show up, sign in and leave to go work on another event. That’s because the contract was negotiated for X number of union stagehands, and the show may require only X – 1 or 2 folks. So those individuals get to go out and double dip. It is a major contributor in some cases folks. (can you say Broadway?... )

You need another reason to raise the ticket price?... ok… There’s no lack of them… How about the fact that the NEA and so many state arts funding programs have been cut back to the bone. Don’t believe it?... Ok.. Here in lovely New Jersey, our governor tried to not only cut arts funding, this peach of a human being tried to eliminate 100% of arts funding. (we’re not just talking theatre funding… theatre, museums, school art programs, funding to state supported concerts, you name it…) Yes, we got that stopped before it went through, but we got only a fraction of what it was the year before, and that was really low.

The trend in many directors/designers mind seems to be these ultra real sets, or sets that are mechanized, or enough lights for a rock concert. They are trying to compete against the movies, TV, and concerts. Guess what, we don’t need to. Theatre has been around for centuries, and it still works in a way that the other mediums can’t. Somehow the people in charge don’t seem to think that. It is sad to see them loose the faith in the true art of theatre. All that crazy scenery, lighting and special effects is wildly expensive when you try to do it in a live situation over and over. Movies and TV, can just say cut and re-shoot if it doesn’t work. For theatre, it has to work the first time, every time with almost no time for maintenance. (you find me another industry that requires that, that doesn’t have some kind of backup in place… theatre can barely afford one system, let alone a backup system)

Ok, so those are the reasons I see prices keep going up that are hard to change. Here’s another reason that would require a change in the culture of the theatre community to help. (yea, that’s going to happen) The arts community has gotten so stuck on itself that it thinks that it is more important to produce some ethereal concept of “art” that they seem to have forgotten that theatre requires an audience. Am I sitting here saying I don’t think art is important?... No, not at all… However, I really am more concerned with entertaining people. If you can manage to do that, then the people will figure out how to afford to come to your shows. I know countless theatre folks (actors, directors, techs) that feel that doing a musical is simply trash. Guess what, those “trash musicals” sell tickets. They fill houses time after time. Why do they do that?... Well hell, they aren’t depressing… They’re fun… They pretty much all have a happy ending… Everyone kinda knows the songs… They also seem to move along, so even a 3 hour musical doesn’t get boring like many of the longer plays.

So is that the answer?, every theatre just does old musicals?.. Of course not, as that would mean the world of theatre got stagnant. It is important to do new works, old works, unknown works, etc… Unfortunately I see theatre after theatre crying the blues because of dwindling attendance, while they keep putting on these bizarre shows that don’t make any sense to me, and I have not only the script to study, but also the director, and at times the playwright to explain it to me. They refuse to do something that will draw people in. They’re all looking for the next big hit show, and running themselves into the ground by ignoring what is established to work. Sure, if they fill the theatre with all the artsy types in the community once or twice, they may have a great audience for that show. Unfortunately, shows run in many cases for 3 weeks, 8 shows a week.

My great solution to the problem?

Stop overpaying the few folks that are out there really screwing the orginazations.

Take that cash, and throw it at the dirt poor techs that can’t afford to live.

Stop trying to compete with the movies and TV, and accept it as theatre.

Do some shows that people actually like to bring in some revenue.

Don’t plan the season budget around grant money since it keeps getting cut after you’ve gone and spent the money in advance based on last years numbers.

Can’t do much about royalties really, but it’d be nice if they’d get relaxed just a bit.

Ok… If you made it this far, I’m proud of ya! Now… Get off your computer, and go find a theatre, buy a ticket, and go see something more powerful than most movies could hope for. Thanks for listening to my vent…

Me?

hmmm... Well here goes...

Why blog?

Well why not blog?... where else can you go, vent (AKA state your opinion in a heated manor), blow off your stress, and actually have someone come read it?.. Hell try that at a bar, and people give you a real nice big personal space...

Well actually, I was just curious where it would go if I started it... We'll see...

Who am I?

Well I'm your average guy... Late twenties, early thirties... I work in the entertainment industry. Mostly on scenery, lighting, rigging. Occasionally on sound, video, and even spend some time behind a sewing machine when needed... I am slowly developing a taste for fine woodworking as opposed to the often quick and dirty method we deal with in the arts... I live someplace in New Jersey. (that's the east coast of the US if you happen to be from elsewhere)(and no, I do not have that "Jersey accent" that the world thinks we all have) Anyone that actually knew me, would figure out who I was just from reading how I write, and what I write about. So what ya get here, is me... the raw version... Enjoy it, or hate it, its not to likely to change...

Where do I stand on the current military actions of the US?

Honestly, I happen to hate war, death, and destruction. (if you don't, then go away, I don't want you here) However, I absolutly stand behind the armed forces and the great people filling their ranks. I'd prefer that they could all be home with their families, unfortunatly, that doesn't seem to be possible right now. Hopefully they can do their job, and get home soon... But don't ever expect to see me yelling for their recall to the states because the press is screaming "morass".

Where do stand on terrorisim?

Fuck the terrorists. And I make no distinction between domestic ones, and foreign ones... Scum is scum... I'd like to think that we as human beings are intelligent enough to deal with differences peacefully... I've got no problem with anyone that wants to live their life in peace. Personally I don't care if your religion is so freaky that part of it involves feeding kittens to snakes, as long as it doesn't impact me personally, and you don't get in my face telling me I'm wrong because I don't beleave in it... (that goes for everyone... don't come knocking on my door to talk religion... period) (damn... now there's a digression...)

How about politics?

I do what I can to avoid politics too... That's not quite as easy as ducking other topics...

What's the deal with that freaky kittens and snakes statement?

Cats are my favorite pets, and I am constantly creaped out by snakes... I figured throw the worst possible combination together, and it'd be a good analogy...

There you have it... Me in a nutshell... Or is it me - a nut?... Ehhh... Does it really matter? I'd be suprised if you made it this far to debate it...

More another time perhaps...