Fiction Stranger Than Truth

Just a few days ago, I was commenting on the terrible web design of the official website of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which has since added a cretinous ticker of dollars whizzing by in "What the Strike is Costing Writers."

Now Virtualpolitik pal and quiz show virtuoso John Aboud and partner Michael Colton have created a pretty funny parody send-up at amptp.com.

We are heartbroken to report that despite our best efforts, including sending them a muffin basket, making them a mix CD, and standing outside their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs, our talks with the WGA have broken down. Quite frankly, we're puzzled as to why this happened. We talked about it all the way home – after we walked into their hotel room, slapped our list of demands on the table and abruptly left the negotiating session – and none of us could figure out what went wrong.

While we're not going to point fingers or assign blame, we do feel justified in saying that they are entirely at fault.

Of couse, some are arguing that the strike could actually be good for the presidential election, since voters will be exposed to fewer attack ads by front runners if they are tuning out of prime time and more news programs substituting for fictional fare if they do keep the TV on. Thus, Internet campaigning may prove to be even more important in the 2008 race. See "Six reasons the Hollywood strike could change the 2008 election" for more.