Doctor Who - Partners in Crime

Its been a while since I last reported in, so I’ll have to make up for some lost time. But, in that, I can only start from today.

7/10 - Growing up Baby Fat



The return of Donna Noble from “The Runaway Bride” might have a lot of viewers vexed at our yelling comedian Catherine Tate bitching her way through an entire season, but this first episode shows a new (and yet old) dynamic entering into the new Doctor Who. However, Donna is a changed (somewhat) woman from when we last saw her and she’s looking for the Doctor. It is rather funny, then, that they spend half of the episode just missing each other. When they do meet, it might be the funniest moment in the history of the new series.

It is a light comedy about an alien breeding farm masquerading as a diet pill manufacturer. The Adipose are breeding a new generation out of the fat from human bodies. That all sounds pretty grim, but the “monsters” are so cute that this becomes very silly most of the time. In fact, it is a bit more like the children’s show “The Sarah Jane Adventures” (specifically the pilot “Invasion of the Bane”) than proper Doctor Who. It is only at the end that a good punch in the stomach of the coming season’s dark path.



Donna, in a classic comedy bit at the end, makes it very clear that, unlike Rose and Martha, she is not love with the Doctor and … at last … Doctor Who returns to total reset.

2007 – The Year in Film

Unlike last time, I’ll just stick to what I saw or have seen.

Jan

Smokin’ Aces (4/10)



Well, this was an acceptable waste of two hours. The new caper flick with all the Guy Ritchie cliché freeze frames and the endless countdown of character’s who’s fates become intertwined. I think my favorite part was when Ben Afflect died … but, hey, that’s just me. Oh, and “a straight-to-DVD prequel has been announced” according to wikipedia, so … there’s something.

Feb

Hannibal Rising (4/10) – This was, for all intents and purposes, the same movie as “Batman Begins” … except that Batman was fighting crime and not a psychotic cannible. It gave you some idea of how a person like Lector could have developed and sometimes even made you like him all the more. Much like the TV show “Dexter,” it portrays the killer as hero. I liked the film, though it was immediately forgetable. It further suffers from being the 4th (or 5th depending on how pedandic you are) in the Lector series of films.

Ghost Rider (3/10) – Nicolas Cage … Earth to Nicolas Cage … Where are you? Why are you making these big budget turds that seem to endlessly revolve around Los Vegas? Are you stuck in some Elvis time warp? Do you owe money to the mob?

This is a film about an Evil Kenvil type stunt man who becomes a flaming skull with a whip. I would say more, but there really isn’t more to say …

The Number 23 (3/10) – Well, certainly not the worst film of the year. Jim Carrey is very hard to take this seriously and the entire premise tends to hang on one of those trendy “White Noise” ideas (evil numerology), but it was worth a rent. I didn’t hate it and I definitely saw worse movies this year.

March

Black Snake Moan (7/10)



Well, everybody online was freaking out about this and from the poster you can clearly see why. Despite its obvious homage to blacksploitation of the 1970s and still touching interratial nerves everywhere, this film is actually about self-respect and one stranger helping another. It was, in short, much better than anyone expected … including me.

Zodiac (10/10)



Having just spent the weekend with the Director’s Cut DVD and seeing this movie for about the 5th time, I’m going out on a limb to say this is easily the greatest crime/thriller and historical film ever made. With the staggering attention to detail, the unsolved Zodiac killer story unfolds in front of us without all the hoopla of the usual psycho killer qu'est-ce que c'est bloodfest. In fact, all the killings take place within the first 40 minutes of the the almost 3 hour film. As they say in the commentaries, its best to use real facts because, like it or not, truth is stranger than fiction … and you’ll never hear Donovan the same way again.

300 (5/10) – It is hard to describe how I feel about this movie. Gay comes to mind. Cartoonishly gay. (Sarah Silverman famously said “Its called 300 because that’s how gay it was on a scale of 1 to 10”). It wasn’t until South Park parodied it did I realize how truly bizarre it was to lavish so much money and attention to, for all intents and purposes, a true reconstruction of a comic book (not actual history). It is a visual effects film. The plot, the characters, the truth, the legend … all backseat to some CGI Frank Miller masterbation. Worth seeing.

Shooter (6/10) – I don’t remember this ever being in the theaters, but rented it. Not a bad, if somewhat clichéd film.

Blades of Glory (2/10) – I did remember laughing once in this film, although I can’t for the life of me remember why. Will Ferrell is continuing his streak of great ideas not carried out to their logical conclusion and simply going for the obvious kick in the balls humor that we can all see coming for miles away. There isn’t anything clever here, even in the lowest of low-brow comedy senses. Its just pure not funny.

April

Grindhouse – I can’t rate Grindhouse because I didn’t see the true double feature. I’ve seen the two films, but without all the fake trailers they don’t seem as interesting or credible. The truth is their release as individual films on dvd is probably one of the dumbest moves ever made by a studio. I love Kurt Russell and his performance as Stuntman Mike in “Death Proof” might be my acting pick of the year.

The Hoax (8/10) – If you know anything about Howard Hughes or have seen Orsen Welles’ “F for Fake” then you probably knew this story a bit. Clifford Irving faked an autobiogaphry about recluse Howard Hughes in the 1970s and was famously exposed as a fraud. Richard Gere is actually one of my least favorite actors ever, but he delivers the goods as Irving here, I have to admit.

Disturbia (3/10) – Surprisingly watchable for such a cliché ridden flick.

Fracture (5/10) – Get’s the award for “Film that was most likely developed for Michael Douglas” of the year. Basically, rich old guy kills cheating wife … and almost gets away with it.

Next (3/10) – Again, what is going on with Nic Cage? This psuedo Phillip K Dick style “I can see two minutes into the future” (actually it says it is based on his short story “The Golden Man” and it shows … in a “Paycheck” way, not in a “Blade Runner” way) movie really makes no sense whatsoever … and will only lead you to hate other movies remotely like it.

May

Spider-man 3 – (5/10)



Way too much going on at this point in the spiderman universe and I really don’t care. I never quite caught spidermania and think the second one was the best, but this 3rd one seems to merely pull out all the tricks from one and two. Nothing new here, move along.

28 Weeks Later – (7/10) A very entertaining one time flick. I’ll probably watch this in five years and think, “Hey, I don’t remember any of this” and that’s why it is pretty good. I’m not much for horror flicks, but doomsday scenerios are always fun, especially the end of the world kind. Add to that Robert Carlyle and you have a pretty good reason to watch. This is the sequal to “28 Days Later” not “28 Days” … if you make that mistake, you will be disapointed.

Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End – (6/10)




Well, it is a big story, but gone are those little character moments from the first film replaced by a bloated fantasy story shot so from the hip that the writers literally made it up as they went along.

Or you could believe this insane quote from director Gore Verbinski, "I felt it important that the third film was the end of an era — like in a postmodern western where the railroad comes and the gunfighter is extinct. It seemed that we had an opportunity to take a look at a world where the legitimate has become corrupt and there is no place for honest thieves in that society, so you have darker issues and a little melancholy. The myths are dying. That seemed a great theme with which to complete the trilogy."

Depp is great, but Bloom is, to use one reviewers description “Human Nyquil.”


June

Knocked Up (2/10) – Sorry folks, but I really hated this film. Not funny in any way whatsoever. Pathetic, in fact. From the makers of 40 Year Old Virgin … but it’s clearly missing something …. Oh, I know … the guy who was funny.

Ocean’s Thirteen (7/10) – Oddly enough, considering how much I resist these star-studded nightmares, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It could be the addition of Pacino who’s always great at the stunned lunatic role he’s been playing to perfection for years. It worked, don’t ask me why.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (6/10)



Apart from being a huge apology for the disasterous first FF film and the epic miscasting of … the entire cast, the addition of the Silver Surfer does give an additional edge to the FF that was missing before, but it is still flagging. In fact, how did this sequal get a greenlight in the first place?


June

Evan Almighty (4/10) – Yeah, one good joke in it (the Login’s and Massina gag that no one will get) the rest is just a really expensive bible comedy and an even lamer sequal.

Sicko (8/10) – Although I don’t like Michael Moore’s in your face style, he is right about this and watching this rather restrained film will make you open your eyes about the coorporate stranglehold on our medical system (as well as our entire way of life.) Sure, this doesn’t pack quite the news wallop that Ferenheit 9-11 did (something the Drudge’s and Limbaugh’s of the world rejoiced in), but then again, Bush was reelected after that film … so maybe something that seeps in slowly is really the way to go, eh?


July

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (6/10)



Oh, magical wondermental Harry Potter, I do declare Hogwarts is a magical place. I even saw the 3-d ending and found it somewhat a dreary trudge. The magic has worn off. So sorry.

Cashback (8/10) – I loved this film. Sentimental teen comedy about a young man who finds he can’t sleep and can even stop time after a breakup. Starring a lot of people in the British film and TV.

Sunshine (9/10)




A second candidate for movie of the year, though it falls short in several areas. The main problem is you really need to see this film on a huge motion picture screen to get the full vibe. It has all the regalness of 2001, but does fall short of the plot mark. Its scientific short-hand (or bits cut from the film) have annoyed fans of serious sci-fi and the movie is pretty predictable from a plot basis … but it is worth seeing someone do science fiction for real.

Rescue Dawn (7/10) – Glad to see Werner Herzog doing real films again (that Lock Ness thing was so lame) and he’s got a real actor in the form of Christian Bale. A fighter pilot shot down in the early days of the Vietnam, is taken prisoner, forced to eat magots, escapes, watches his buddy get chopped up … hard to say it was enjoyable, but it was good.

The Simpsons Movie (7/10) – I suppose the main problem with the Simpsons movie is that about 23 minutes into it you can’t help but think “Man, when is this episode going to end?” Unlike the South Park movie, the Simpsons simply waited far too long to get around to their cinematic debut. In fact, I can’t remember much about it … a glass dome and Homer on a motorcycle … that’s about it. I laughed, I cried, I paused it frequently …


August

The Bourne Ultimatum (9/10) – Another kick ass Jason Bourne movie, though a little … blue. Its all about color grading, I guess. What works in this Bourne film is that it fills in the little gaps of logic from the second film instead of attempting to just continually string along the concept linearly. Yes, there is the annoying amnesia gimmick and the sad attempt to force a romance into the storyline with the Julia Styles running character, but all in all, this is just another good action spy flick. No one kicks ass with a book like Bourne.

Ball of Fury (3/10) – Barely funny, but funny enough. Basically, if you put James Hong in a film it will be funny …


September

3:10 to Yuma (7/10) – Well, it wasn’t great. It wasn’t terrible either. My main concern with the film is that … frankly, I don’t know why anyone is doing anything. The motivations are all over the board. Wha … why? Who? Good to see the wester crop back up, but since the western is essentially an American artform, it also would have been nice if the two stars were also American. Just a thought.

Shoot ‘Em Up (2/10) – A very tedious film that has very few redeeming characteristics. We’ve seen it all before …

Eastern Promises (6/10) – Frankly, this type of movie really makes me uncomfortable. First, yes, it is good, but it is kind of obscure … Russian mofia and teen slave trading … Not your first choice for a fun night at the flicks. Viggo is … well, always going to be Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, no matter how hard he tries … and he’s trying pretty hard in this one.

Resident Evil: Exctinction (5/10) – for the this genre jumping series, the final “Mad Max” chapter is much better than the “Kirk Fights the Gorn” middle chapter.


October

Michael Clayton (7/10) – An excellent political legal thriller that will confuse the easily confused. The first part of the film is disjointed, but any viewer will know that you’ll get your explanations by the end. While I did like this a lot, it left me with a bit of a hollow feeling … like it didn’t mean much. And, maybe it doesn’t. Movies about lawyers … there has to be a better way to live.

Elizabeth: the Golden Age (6/10) – A sequel to Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett once again does a powerhouse turn as the Virgin Queen … sadly, as it is history, much of the history has been botched in order to create a better “movie” story … while failing to do just that. Let’s face it, why make an historical film if you don’t want to tell the real story?

Control (7/10) – Joy Division singer Ian Curtis is memorialized (again) in this grainy b/w flick that probably captures the feeling of Manchester in the late 70s. The main problem with the film is simple – there is not going to be a good ending. However, still a good movie.

Saw 4 (6/10) – Yes, I will watch the Saw movies. I like the idea behind them. Horror movies don’t scare or shock me. Even the fake violence is getting to the point where I’m more interested in how they faked it than actually getting me to gross out. Still, I didn’t see this in the theater.


November

No Country for Old Men (10/10) – while not my favorite of the year, certainly the odds on favorite for the oscar. The Coen Bros. once again defy expectations and linear story telling to give the audience a meditation on psychosis and violence. Like “Zodiac,” this movie is about modern evil. While Zodiac was probably the birth of the modern killer and modern terror, this film is the ultimate extension of that senseless brutality. Ironically, the most modern movie about modern violence is set in very isolated parts of Texas as if evil has finally extended its finger deep into the world we know today. In the end, this might be a bigger film than “Fargo” in the Coen’s lexicon.

I’m Not There (8/10)



Frankly, this movie is really hard to describe. I just know I love it. It is a biography of the “mythological” Bob Dylan in which he is played by no less than six different actors … and actresses. Cate Blanchett is pretty mystifying as the late 60s incarnation, the electric prophet, the Judas of folk. There is nothing weirder than watching Cate do Dylan doing “Ballad of the Thin Man.” But, even with that, I still have to say Richard Gere (what’s going on this year with him) as the mythological retired gunfighter version of Dylan that bookends the piece really took me to a strange place. Is or was Dylan ever really There?


December

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (7/10) – Normally I’d pass on a musical, even one as weird as this, but the combo of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp made that impossible. Admittedly there were bits that I found annoying, but it was just twisted enough to keep me entertained.

The Bucket List (6/10) – Pretty much what you would expect, which isn’t to say it is a bad film … merely a by-the-numbers film about a couple of guys who are going to die trying to do everything they always wanted to do.

Jonathan Creek star Davies bites tramp's ear

Personally, I was upset by the death of Verity Lambert and I do like Alan Davies quite a bit ... however, how drunk do you have to be for this to happen ???


By Richard Edwards
Last Updated: 2:41am GMT 12/12/2007

He is known as a genial comedian who in his many television appearances is often teased for being a vegetarian.

Alan Davies starred alongside Caroline Quentin in the BBC series Jonathan Creek
But when Alan Davies was confronted with an allegedly "aggressive" homeless person after a night out in London, his mild-mannered persona was lost in a moment of Mike Tyson-like madness.

CCTV footage emerged has emerged showing Davies biting the ear of a man in an attack outside a nightclub, sinking his teeth into him for up to 13 seconds and drawing blood before two women and a man pulled him away.

The victim claimed that he was set upon after he called the actor by the name of his most famous character, Jonathan Creek.

Mr McElfatrick, 40, a former shop worker who is trying to get a hostel place, told how the 2am attack happened last week outside the Groucho Club in London's West End.

He said: "His face darkened and he almost spat the words, 'My name's Alan. You know my name - Alan. What's my name? It's Alan'.

"Then he suddenly went for my left ear. It was incredibly painful. I shrieked and my eyes were watering. He hung on and drew blood."

After admitting to a "tussle", Davies, 41, said: "I'm really not normally an aggressive guy, honest."

He added: "I guess this isn't going to look good, is it? The last thing I want is another negative story about 'that obnoxious Jonathan Creek star'. What's this going to say?"

advertisementTold that the tabloid headlines would read something like 'Jonathan Creek bites tramp's ear' he said: "Oh God. I don't mean to laugh but that's funny isn't it? Oh God, what a nightmare."

Davies, 41, a panellist on the BBC's QI show, said he was emotional after giving the eulogy at the funeral of his friend, Jonathan Creek producer Verity Lambert.

"I was very upset and emotional," he told the Daily Mirror. "I had a lot to drink over many hours. Far too much really and a lot more than normal but it was an upsetting day."

Davies claimed the homeless man became aggressive after approaching him, and had abused him with obscenities.

The curly-haired actor said he did not realise the man was homeless and he texted his friend the next morning to find out what happened.

On Davies' official website, two people responded and their opinion was divided.

A woman who identified herself as Heleen addressed a message to "Alan". It said: "Don't worry about it, it happens to the best of them, and the people that matter to you won't take notice... Love, a Belgian fan."

However, Tara Oliver in France was less forgiving. She wrote: "Don't be so sure that no-one will take notice of it. I think it is absolutely despicable. There are no excuses. If grief made us all violent we'd live in anarchy.

"How can this man of obvious good fortune, be so nasty to someone who has nothing.

"Do something to try to make up for your behaviour Mr Davies, something that resonates, open your eyes up to the world outside of luvvydom, away from privilege and good fortune and do something positive."

Mr Davies' agent said he had nothing more to add.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Wanna Go Backwards

10/10 -

For the newbie and the die hard

I Wanna Go Backwards encompasses expanded editions of three of Hitchcock's best-loved albums, Black Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream of Trains and Eye, along with While Thatcher Mauled Britain Part 1 & 2, a newly compiled two-disc collection of b-sides, outtakes and home demo recordings, many of them previously unreleased. All of the individual albums feature bonus tracks and enhanced liner notes, including Hitchcock's personal reminiscences on Black Snake Diamond Role and While Thatcher Mauled Britain, an extract from a novel in progress on I Often Dream of Trains, and several pieces of original poetry on Eye, along with previously unpublished photos and Hitchcock cartoons.

Robyn Hitchcock is one of rock's most prolific and long-standing artists ... and you've probably never heard of him.

Without recounting his long and prolifc career, Robyn is once again releasing some of his classic (and my favorite) albums into the market place from his new home on Yep Roc Records. I Wanna Go Backwards boasts a stunning array of extras and bonuses, but really does repeat many tracks from "Invisible" and the Rycko bonus discs. There are a few genuine extras and the remastering is very good.

If you've always been curious as to what all the fuss was about, however, this is where to start. Containing my very favorite albums from what was once the flowering underground scene of the 1980's (crushed by Nirvana and the alternative rock format.)

How to describe Robyn's music? From the late 70s, Robyn's previous band the Soft Boys were not well liked amongst their three chords punk contemporaries. They were loud enough and angry enough, but also melodic, complicated, and funny. In 1980, the Soft Boys broke up and Robyn worked on his first solo album. From the Yep Roc press release:


Black Snake Diamond Role continued the Soft Boys' legacy of warped jangle-pop, while introducing the moody, introspective side that Hitchcock would further explore in the years to come. The album introduced such enduring Hitchcock compositions as "The Man Who Invented Himself," "Brenda's Iron Sledge" and "Acid Bird," which are joined on the new edition by eight bonus tracks, most of them outtakes from the original album sessions.

I Often Dream of Trains, originally released in 1984, was a notable departure from Hitchcock's prior work, presenting his kaleidoscopic lyrical imagery and haunting melodic sensibility in spare, mostly acoustic settings that emphasize the material's intimate focus. The album balances the haunting introspection of such ballads as "Cathedral" and "Trams of Old London" with the barbed humor of "Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl" and "Uncorrected Personality Traits." The new edition of I Often Dream of Trains augments the album's original 18 tracks with six bonus numbers.

1990's Eye was something of a sequel to I Often Dream of Trains, with Hitchcock returning to stripped-down solo approach as a low-key respite from the major-label rock albums that he was recording at the time. "I got to record Eye at a time when a lot of people were on my case," explains Hitchcock. "It had nobody else on it and no Alternative Chart expectations. It was luxury, a wide open meadow to kvetch in." Eye remains a fan favorite, thanks to such memorable tunes as "Glass Hotel," "Clean Steve" and "Queen Elvis." The expanded edition adds four bonus tracks to the original album's 17.


He's the Fella, the man who invented himself ...

Stanley Kubrick - Warner Home Video Directors Series

10/10 for style plus several million for good thinking …

Finally, at long last, anamorphic letter-boxed versions of some of the greatest films ever made. Kubrick is such an easy director to say, “Yeah, he’s a genius” and sound like you know something. But, as we all know, he really was a genius and left us some of the best films ever made.

The problem is these films are all so deep and open to interpretation that I cannot in all objectivity review them adequately. I’ll just give you my thoughts this time around.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – What is astonishing about this film (and really, what isn’t) to me this last time round was the massive scale of the story. The obelisk (or teaching device) for the primitives in the opening dawn of time sequence is shadowing the human race to the point of contact. In this viewing, I felt that Dave had to pass the test of defeating the machine Hal in order to evolve into the next stage (the starchild.) Bowman in that sense is playing a character who is the most evolved human on the planet.

Of course, every time I watch this film I think different things. The pity now is that the first space shots tend to a look a little 2-d and the styles seem a bit stuck in the mid-60s, while the later Jupiter sequences look as if they could have been shot yesterday. The models have more depth and the fact that everything in the Discovery looks brand new.


A Clockwork Orange (1971) – As Malcolm McDowell himself says, there are some roles that an actor was born to play (that is Alex.) He is perfection itself in this role.

Of course, everyone knows this is a pretty controversial film. It is difficult to watch, but funny at the same time. I noticed this about 20 years ago the first time I saw it. I wondered why these scenes of horrible rape and violence seemed so funny … and that was the first time I realized that film could manipulate your feelings subconsciously. If Alex wasn’t doing “Singing in the Rain” while commiting what has to be one of the most horrendous acts ever depicted on screen, you would never watch it. Then, in the later half of the film, when justice is being served, in a reversal, Kubrick uses music make us feel bad for Alex. Alex the rapist, murderer, and theif.

This is a film more about what film can do to you then it is about the subject of teen violence. This must have been its intent because when Clockwork copycat style violence started erupting in England, Kubrick pulled the film from release. Clearly he'd created a monster.


The Shining (1980) – "Here's Johnny!"

Jack! Very few times in the history of Kubrick’s films do his lead actors seem to overtake his virtuosity. Jack Nicholson really goes way over the top in this and creates his most amazing movie role (which is saying a lot.) I don’t like horror movies. They don’t scare me; they don’t do anything to me. But, there are a few exceptions – mainly this and Psycho. Sort of the same idea – madness. Jack tears this movie to shreds just like that bathroom door.

Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers (oh, Scatman!) are brilliant as well, but ... frankly, it is close to impossible to take your eyes off Nicholson.


Full Metal Jacket (1987) – I will admit that Full Metal Jacket did very little for me back when it was first out. I saw it because it was a Kubrick film, but I was in the middle of the “Platoon” Vs. “Apocalypse Now” argument (me coming down firmly on AN as the better film) and having yet another Vietnam movie come out just didn’t sit well with me. Add to that the obvious fact that it was shot in England and no where near the tropics, and you have a tough one to get through.

Upon this second viewing, I was pretty stunned by how good it actually was. The two “episode” feeling you get between the Paris Island basic training sequence and the subsequent “all hell is breaking loose” Vietnam was pretty shocking. Not being in the military, I was surprised at how loose these guys were after basic. You would have thought they’d be wound really tight. But, war is hell, I guess.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) – I hate to dismiss this out of hand, but I do really feel this is a terrible film. Probably because Cruise and Kidman seem to dominate the thing so totally, that I find it hard to see the hand of Kubrick in it at all. Add to that the completely ludicrous middle section (the gothic sex orgy), excessive though not sexy nudity, and the murkiness of the character’s actions and you get something mildly uninteresting. I did give it my full attention this time through, but still felt it was far and away Kubrick’s worst film.

This is an excellent box set. Everything looks incredible and, for the fan, the bonus features are well worth the extra time.

Time-Crash

Just a couple of pics from Friday's "Time-Crash" ... and this does look pretty funny. Just look at Peter Davison's face!

No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace.

"No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace."
"No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace."
"No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace."
"No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace."

OK, first of all ... this is the dumbest slogan ever. And, these people are supposed to be writers!

I'm not sure how I feel (or not feel) about the writer's strike. Hollywood is a club (you have to a member of the unions to work, but work to be a member ...) that I really hate it. The industry is run by giant corporations instead of artistically minded individuals.

Anyway, the complete article from the NY Times is below:

HERE

November 5, 2007
Screenwriters Picket as Strike Begins
By DAVID CARR and MICHAEL CIEPLY
Hollywood writers moved to the picket lines this morning, as last-minute negotiations between the writers’ unions and producers failed to avert a strike over payments from producers for so-called new media, among other issues.

About 75 members of Writers Guild East set up a picket at Rockefeller Center, just above the fabled ice rink. Picketers chanted: “No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace.”

Many of the writers said that they expected to be out of work for a while. The tourists and office workers who walked by rarely stopped at the curious sight of writers holding signs that read, “On Strike.” For a time, the pickets chants were drowned out by the roar of the crowd that was assembled for the “Today” show across 49th Street.

All of the trappings of a union protest were there — signs, chanting workers, an inflatable rat, and a discarded bag of wrappers and cups from Dunkin Donuts. The rat was borrowed from Local 79, an AFL-CIO laborers’ union, and commuted in from Queens.

But instead of hard hats and work boots, the people on the pickets had arty glasses and fancy scarves.

“A lot of the public probably feels like we are brats,” said Sarah Durken, a writer for children’s programs. “We are not hospital workers and firefighters, we know that — the world is going to keep turning. But I think everyone understands that the issue of corporate greed versus the needs of workers and their families.”

More than 12,000 movie and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East walked out today, after three months of acrimonious negotiations proved fruitless. It is the first industrywide strike by writers since 1988; that strike lasted five months and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.

The sides have been at odds over, among other things, writers’ demands for a large increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD, and for a bigger share of the revenue from such work delivered over the Internet.

A federal mediator, who joined the talks last week, asked the sides to continue talking in a Sunday session, but neither a deal nor an agreement to keep talking was reached.

Writers in Los Angeles have also begun picketing more than a dozen studios and production sites in four-hour shifts, one beginning at 9 a.m. Pacific time, the other at 1 p.m.

Back in Manhattan, Charlotte, a small but surprisingly loud dog, barked in unison with the picketers’ chants.

“She’s mad because they didn’t have a shirt in her size,” said J. R. Havlan, a writer for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” “She’s really angry that there has not been an agreement, but she is having a little trouble understanding the issues.”

She’s not the only one. No one, including the people at the bargaining table, is precisely sure what is being argued about, because many of the digital forms of entertainment at issue are in their nascent state.

“I can barely switch on a computer, but we all know what is at stake here, said Amy Sherman-Palladino, a writer who is working on a “Jezebel James,” her new Fox series with Parker Posey, and was the co-creator of “Gilmore Girls.” “We are taking a stand for the next 20 years, and what we do now is going to define the new business model going forward.”

Just then, the chant switched to “No money, no funny,” a reminder that many of the people on the picket line on New York make their living writing for the various talk/comedy shows.

Ms. Sherman-Palladino continued, “I was telling my husband” — Daniel Pallidino, her writing partner on the new Fox show and on “Gilmore Girls,” and a fellow picketer — “that we need some new and better chants, but he reminded me: ‘No writing. None.’ ”

Jonathan Bines, a writer for the “The Jimmy Kimmel Show,” felt that the producer’s unwillingness to compensate for digital use of their work defied logic.

“I’m surprised we are out here.” Mr. Bines said. “I thought the producers would come in with some ridiculously low-ball offer on a percentage of new media and that we’d take it and it would be over. But they have offered us nothing.”

On Sunday, the union dropped a demand for increased compensation for DVD sales, with the expectation that it would create some movement around the digital issue, but no counteroffer was forthcoming, and the strike commenced at 12:01 a.m. today.

At either end of the picket line in Manhattan, newly underemployed writers handed out leaflets that said: “We are the Writer’s Guild. We write your favorite sitcoms, dramas, late night shows, soap operas, movies and more. We work hard to bring you our best in entertainment.”

As with anyone who is trying to handout leaflets to New Yorkers in full stride, it was very slow going. Tourists look down from a passing Gray Line tour bus wondering what all the fuss was about.

“Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you,” said Andrew Smith, who writes for “The View.” “It’s hard for the public to understand. Writers going on strike sounds like shepherds staging a walkout or something. The general public has no understanding of the issues that we are facing, but we are here because the producers will take as much as they can unless writers stand up for themselves.”