I was overjoyed to see that a tentative agreement has been reached in the writers' strike and the machine can start up again within the next day or so. It's somewhat ironic that just as Hollywood can go back to work, they (or a large percentage of the industry) won't be able to talk. No, it's not a dreaded airborne 'lergy that's rendered thousands voiceless. Instead it's their cellphones that are down for the count.
Most of Hollywood has switched on to the Blackberry phenomenon, renowned for being the communication device of choice among producers, directors, writers, agents, actors, assistants and - well, anyone who aspires to be any of the aforementioned. Sadly, BB bit the dust today in the US. Not a few, not just in one area, but every single Blackberry device in North America has been reduced to a $500 phone book. Nice.
According to FOXNEWS:
An outage has disconnected BlackBerry smart phones across North America.
AT&T Inc. says the disruption Monday is affecting all wireless carriers.
AT&T first learned about the problem at about 3:30 p.m. EST.
There's no word on the cause or when the problem might be fixed.
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion did not immediately return a phone call.
First there wasn't anything new to talk about for 3 months and now they have got something to say, nobody's listening 'cos they can't get through! I pity the poor assistants and unpaid interns across this town, who were no doubt dumped on from a dizzy height and will continue being abused until the BB service comes back online. Be brave, my friends, be brave.
Luckily I have a "normal" phone, which means I'm not affected by this problem. It also means I'm not a producer, director, agent or assistant and - unless the writers can call each other on their Crackberries and vote to end the strike, I won't be able to call myself an actor much longer, either. So get to it, Blackberry.
Can you hear me now?
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Well of course no ones talkin'. It's a writers guild, hee hee...I guess we can all start passing notes! :) I used to work in the telecommunications industry..what a long and frustrating career that was!! One thing you can always count on, everyday something goes wrong. Technology tends to grow a little faster than the "fixes" can keep up and it only takes a bad box to render thousands of phones useless. Never panic!! Remember what it was like before the cell phone...how did we all survive? :)
ReplyDeleteFor those who the strike is hurting most, usually those not high up on the "entertainment ladder", getting paid measly salaries compared to all the work they really do in a town that is really tough to survive in..my hope is that everything ends quickly and efficiently for you!