Watching CSI

Marg recently did her annual duty for What a Pair benefit at the Orpheus Theater in Los Angelas. What a Pair features celebrity duets and benefits breast cancer research. This is a yearly thing for Marg. One year she even sang with Jorja. You can still support the effort by buying a t-shirt or donating at the What A Pair site. This year she preformed again with Diana Harris,

Eric and Jorja’s PSA is part of the 30 Days for a Million Voices campaign. The US Campaign for Burma unveils a spot every day(usually they are a bit early) and encourages people to sign up and support the Burmese people. Here’s bit about struggle.

The people of the Southeast Asian country of Burma are locked in one of the world’s great freedom struggles. The country’s military rulers, the State Peace and Development Council, have run the country with an iron fist for the past 19 years, after they assumed power from a 26-year socialist dictatorship. In 1988, students, professionals, and others launched a nationwide uprising aimed at bringing an end to authoritarian rule during which millions of people courageously marched on the streets, calling for freedom and democracy.

The military responded by gunning down thousands of demonstrators and imprisoning thousands more in one of Southeast Asia’s most bloody episodes in recent history. The leader of the demonstrations, Min Ko Naing (pronounced Min Ko Nine), has been held behind bars ever since, where approximately 1,400 political prisoners remain. The most recognizable face of Burma, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Daw Aung Sawn Sue Chee), has been in and out of house arrest and prison since 1988. Presently, she is held under house arrest.

You can also show your support by joining Fanista. For the entire month of May, 10% of your purchase will go to support the the campaign.

Melina Kanakaredes is a stunner at last Sunday’s Comedy for a Cure(April, 6). Proceeds from the benefit went the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.

Tuberous sclerosis complex is a genetic condition characterized by lesions of the skin and central nervous system, tumor growth and seizures. The disease affects some people severely, while others are so mildly affected that it often goes undiagnosed. Some people with tuberous sclerosis experience developmental delay, mental retardation and autism. However, there are also many people with tuberous sclerosis living independent, healthy lives who are enjoying challenging professions such as doctors, lawyers, educators and researchers.

This year’s event was headed by Patricia Heaton.

Melina Kanakaredes showed her support at a Stuart House Benefit earlier this month. The benefit featured an “afternoon of shopping, bidding, live music, food and fashionable festivities on Melrose and Robertson outside his (John Varvatos)flagship boutique. “Shop To Show Your Support” will benefit Stuart House, a nationally recognized program of the Rape Treatment Center, serving the special needs of child victims of sexual abuse and their families.”

Stuart House is an “internationally recognized, model program that was created by the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, with support form SHARE, to serve the special needs of sexually abused children.”

Kudso to Melina for supporting this great cause. One hundred percent of the profits went to support the center. If you’d like to donate click HERE.

We all know that Hill Harper is a big Barack Obama supporter but WHAT is he voting for.

WGA(Writers Guild of America) members and studio heads are near a deal that would end the three-month strike. Inside sources say a signed deal may happen by the end of the week. Rumors abound that studios are considering an extended season. That could mean CSI, CSI Miami and CSI:NY would be able to wrap up some pivotal plots. I’m thinking the whole Sara/Grissoms storyline. He asked her to marry him and then she bolts. That certainly needs some more explanation.

On Miami, I’d like to see a bit of more the Horatio/Kyle relationship develop. With Mac’s nemesis being brought down, there isn’t much left hanging on New York though we could be in for some surprises. If they do make a deal by the end of the month, I’d guess that production would could start as early as Monday morning.

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We all know that Hill was an avid Obama supporter but I had no idea(maybe I’d forgotten) that Adam Rodriquez was a supporter as well. The video features a bevy of celebs singing and speaking along with an Obama speech. Interestingly enough, the Obama campaign had nothing to do with the actual creation of the video(got that little tidbit from NPR) though they sure are capitalizing on it now. Adam appears around 1:57 in the video. Hill show up very briefly near the end. Aisha Tyler, who was a lab tech on CSI for a time, first shows up at 1:02 but also follows Adam’s appearance. It’s a pretty cool vid be ye a supporter or not. And who can resist John Legend singing.

Fans are sponsoring a raffle in an ongoing effort to support the WGA. Proceeds from the drawing will benefit the Actor’s Fund.

You could win Season Seven DVDs signed by David Rambo and Naren Shankar, a CSI cap signed by Marg Helgenberger and George Eads or a brand new Sony Cybershot DSCW55 7.2MP Digital Camera in Blue signed by David Rambo which was used to take pictures of the picketing.

Here’s how you enter:

1. For every $1 you donate via the Paypal button below, you get one raffle entry…for example $5 gets you 5 entries, $3 gets you 3.

2. When you send your Paypal please include a note designating which item you are entering for, otherwise your chances will be distributed equally.

3. The drawing will close on December 23rd at Midnight Pacific Standard time. The winners will be announced on December 24th. (This could be a nice last minute Christmas gift to yourself)

4. It doesn’t matter where you live, the raffle is open to anyone who wants to participate.

5. All money raised will be donated to the Actor’s Fund from YTDaW in David Rambo’s name.

The Actors Fund is a nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund is a safety net, providing programs and services for those who are in need, crisis or transition. They offer social services, health care services, employment and training and housing. (See what you learn being a CSI fan. I’d heard of the Actors Fund but had no idea what they did.)

Special thanks to daphne dnagerlove for putting this together. 

Paypal Link

csi, csi new york, csi:new york, marge helgenberger, george eads, david rambo, Naren Shankar, csi miami, Actors Fund, WGA, strike

CSI and Criminal Minds fans have united to support the WGA strike. Here’s how it works:

1. Find a pencil somewhere in your house. It does not have to be new. Break the tip off. For our slogan to make sense, your pencil should not have a point, so don’t sharpen it.
2. Write “You, like these pencils, are missing the point.” below to a piece of paper.
3. Put the pencil and the paper in an envelope, address it to:

Les Moonves
CBS
51 W 52nd St, Suite 35
New York, NY 10019-6119

4. Put a first class stamp on the envelope.
5. Drop it in in the mail.

CSI fans have checked with the post office and you can send a pencil via first class mail as long as it’s not sharpened. If you’ve followed the directions the pencil’s shouldn’t be. I wonder if Les is tired of us yet?

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csi, csi:ny, csi miami, csi new york, criminal minds, wga, strike, cbs, Les Moonves

Charity Folks Online Auctions is currently auctioning off a CSI set visit that will benefit Southern California’s American Civil Liberties Union. In addition to spending some time on set, the winner will get to meet our very own Marg . Marg was instrumental in making this auction happen. She and hubby Alan Rosenberg(current president of the Screen Actor’s Guild) have long been supporters of the SoCal’s ACLU. In 2004, the organization presented the couple with the Torch of Liberty Award for their support.

Current bidding is at at $1,500. The winner is responsible for their own transportation and accommodations. The visit will take place at a mutually agreed upon time.

Marg and Alan also support cancer center at Jennie Edmunson Hospital, Penny Lane, the Lili Claire/UNLV Life Skills Center, Huckleberry Fund for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Diving for Life, International Gay & Lesbian SCUBA Jamboree and The Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.

Thanks to the wonderful Margie for the tip.

marg helgenberger, aclu, csi

Gary Sinise received a 2008 Inspire Award Monday from American Association of Retired Persons. Gary was honored for his work to provide school supplies for Iraqi children.

Gary co-founded Operation Iraqi Children which has made sure that 200,000 Iraqi children have adequate school supplies. “There are millions of average people like you and me over there just trying to make a living and send their kids to school, ” Gary said about the organization.

Other honorees were: Caroline Kennedy (Community Service Advocate), Gladys Knight (Champion for Diabetes Research), Barbara Morgan (Courageous Educator), Liviu Librescu (Virginia Tech Hero), Helen Thomas (Trailblazing Journalist), Cynthia Kenyon (Pioneer in Longevity Research), Ed Boyer (Founder of Air Transportation Aid), Roslyn Hill (Leader of Neighborhood Revitalization), and Pete Garcia (Affordable Housing Advocate).

Gary recently received a a Career Achievement Award from the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Note: Gary is pictured above with Nancy Grahm, deputy editor AARP the Magazine and Barbara Walters.

gary sinise, aarp, csi, csi:ny, csi new york

The Writer’s Guild and studio bosses have been in talks for about four days. We haven’t heard much because both agreed not to talk to the media. Well the silence is broken and it’s not looking good for us fans.

Earlier today, the studios offered writers a new proposal which they called a “New Economic Partnership” that would allow writers some sort of share in new media like iTunes and CBS’ Innertube.

The Writers Guild blasted the proposal in a letter to it’s members saying that it wasn’t fair.

In a letter to members, however, the two guilds[WGA West and East] blasted the proposal as inadequate. They said, for instance, that it would pay only $250 for a year’s re-use of an hour-long program streamed on the Web, in contrast to the $20,000 currently paid for a network re-run. They also said the new proposal did not change the company’s proposed payments for downloaded films and shows. The guilds also said the companies refused to grant them jurisdiction over original content produced for the Internet.

Over the next few weeks, the WGA will decide on a longer, more sustained strike or if WGA members will return to work without a contract. If they do return to work without the contract, writers may walk out again in June when the Screen Actor’s Guild could join them.

WGA, Writer’s Guild of America, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI NY, CSI New York

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William Petersen and his pets are featured on the 2008 Animal Rescue Foundation Calendar.

The full-color calendar measures 12 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ and is sponsored by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company. All proceeds will go to support the foundation. Photographs in the calendar feature each star with one or more animals. In Billy’s case, I believe the picture features all his pets.

The 2008 Calendar includes the furry family members of Carlos Santana, Dwayne Wade and Nicolette Sheridan.

You can snag your copy for $15 at the ARF website. Unfortunately the the cost of shipping prohibits shipping beyond the 50 states.

This isn’t Billy’s first time helping out animal rescue effort. He and his Gina attended a Playboy mansion Animal Rescue event this summer.

william petersen, gil grissom, csi, animal rescue foundation, animals

The fabulous Chadini has put together a great script for those who want to support the WGA and possibly help end this strike. Now that I actually have a script, I’m going to make the call.

The phone number for Les Moonves is: 1-212-975-4545

Ok, you have the number and you are ready to call.
The conversation will most likely look something like this:

The Conversation

Assistant to LM: “Les Moonves Office”

You: “Hi. My name is Mary Smith and I am calling from New York, New York.”

And you can just give your first name. Don’t panic. There is no master list that I know of. They are most likely ticking off demographic information – 5 women from Ohio, 2 men from California, etc.

Assistant: ” Uh huh”

You: ” I am a loyal viewer of CSI Las Vegas (and any other CSIs) and I wanted to let you know that I am asking that Mr. Moonves and the other executives come to an agreement with Writers Guild of America and end the WGA strike. The writers are only asking for their fair share of the profits. Also, I wanted to let you know that during the course of the WGA strike, I will not be watching any programs on the internet or watching any replacement programming, nor will I be downloading any episodes, whether through the CBS site or anything else.

Think about an anecdote that will help you seem more like a person and not just a blip on a chart to add here. “My daughter and I look forward to watching CSI every week together.” That sort of thing. Mention that you have now started to watch Without A Trace after the crossover episode. It helps you seem real. Don’t make stuff up, but add things to make it more personal.

Assistant: ” Thank you for your comment.”

You: ” Thank you.”

Here’s are some other things to keep in mind:

•  The person that answers the phone is not going to fight with you.
•  Don’t throw around empty threats like, “I’ll never watch CSI again.”
• Again.  Be nice.

csi, les moonves, cbs, wga, writer’s strike

CSI cast members all seem good natured about the strike. Many have even joined the picket line.

Gary Sinise chatted with writers as they picketed a CSI:NY shoot in downtown Los Angeles. “Pretty soon, we will all be out of a job,” Sinise told Writers Guild Assocation. members who peppered him with applause and thank-yous.

William Petersen, who picketed with writers, contended that most actors support the writers in their bid for better compensation. “There isn’t an actor I talk to who doesn’t feel what the writers are going through.”
(You can also see Gary Dourdan talking about the strike in the video below)

Online Videos by Veoh.comMarg Helgenberger has walked the picket line on several occasions and had this to say at the onset of the strike: “I’m glad to be standing alongside these people. If there was ever a time in history to stand up, this is it. This is where you draw the line in the sand.”

Writers and studio execs are scheduled try again on Friday. Let’s hope it all works out.

gary sinise, marg helgenberger, william petersen, gary dourdan