SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher’s Statement on LAW Act Clearing California Senate Judiciary Committee

The working environment in California continues to evolve, especially in the entertainment industry, dominated by self-employed persons, contractors and consultants.

As described by CalMatters, which referred to the entire topic as the entertainment industry snakepit: “In February, Assemblyman Ash Kalra, a San Jose Democrat, introduced Assembly Bill 2926, which in essence would give musicians and actors a way to escape from their seven-year contracts and/or work for others while under contract. The legislation was backed by entertainment industry unions and some well-established entertainers and mirrored similar legislation that had failed in the past. The bill faced tough opposition from recording and movie industry executives, who said it would destroy a system that has been mutually beneficial, and stalled out. Kalra then split it into two gut-and-amend bills, one for the movie industry (Assembly Bill 437) and one for the recording industry (AB 983), both now awaiting action in the Senate’s labor committee.”

Following the LAW Act Clearing California Senate Judiciary Committee, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher released the following statement in relation to the impact on working entertainers in the California:

“The California Senate Judiciary Committee has passed the Let Artists Work (LAW) Act, AB 437, a vital piece of legislation that has been long overdue. This bill will allow actors to work as much as they need without unreasonable restrictions.

“A huge thank you to Assemblymember Ash Kalra for introducing this progressive legislation, to the California Senate Judiciary Committee members for recognizing that actors should be able to enjoy the same freedoms as all other Californians, and to all of the union members and allies who showed their support for California’s entertainment workers! Let’s keep the momentum going.”

Businesses large and small in California should keep an eye on this topic

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, recording artists, singers, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit sagaftra.org and follow @sagaftranews for breaking news from SAG-AFTRA.

Watch the TASTE AWARDS 2022 Television Broadcast on Demand

Now in its 13th year, the annual TASTE AWARDS was televised across the United States in 2022. The annual TASTE AWARDS are the premier awards celebrating the year’s best in Food, Fashion, Health, Travel, and Lifestyle programs in Film, Television, Online & Streaming Video, Podcasts, Radio and Photography.

This star-studded television special was broadcast exclusively on select public television stations nationwide, and is also viewable on the PBS Video on Demand app. Celebrity award presenters for this broadcast include Tyler Florence, Joanne Weir, Darley Newman, Chef Jernard Wells, Michelle Harris, Kim Estes, Lorna Maseko, Nikki Dinki, Andrea Feczko, Danielle Nottingham, Kitchen Chat, Chef JJ Johnson, and more.

WATCH THE AWARDS SHOW VIA THE PBS APP

 

Need to Relax? Watch the Calming Vibes of Live Falcons Nesting

It has been long known that pets can have a very relaxing effect on their owners, and that watching certain animals go about their daily business can be very calming.

If you are in need of a little live distraction and calm, then a great wellness app is literally this livestream YouTube feed of nesting hawks from UC Berkeley’s resident Peregrine Falcons. The feed shows them with eggs, their chicks, meal time, and quite often, nap time.

Not terribly exciting most of the time, but definitely interesting and distracting.

We’re Loving these 3 Red Wines Right Now: Broadside, Vigna Petrussa, and Dough

Wine is intended to be enjoyed, and frankly that’s our main criteria for recommending them. If we enjoy them, then you might too.

Three red wines that we are enjoying right now are very different from each, and from very different regions, but we hope that each will give you the same reaction: Delight.

Our current picks are the Broadside 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles in California, Italy’s Vigna Petrussa Schioppettino di Prepotto, and Oregon’s Dough 2019 Pinot Noir.

Enjoy!

 

Broadside 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles

The Broadside 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is from Paso Robles and the sub AVA of the San Juan Creek and Margarita Ranch. It is made up of 82% Cabernet, 12% Merlot, and 6% Malbec. The wine was aged 18 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, and has a lot of deep jammy flavors that include dark chocolate and cinnamon.

Award-winning winemaker Adam LaZarre has created a hearty Cab, very much what you would expect from the Central Coast. It is perfect for pairing with meats and poultry, or roasted vegetables. Of course, you can pair it with nothing and just enjoy it alone. Which we can recommend.

Find it at https://broadsidewine.com/

 

Vigna Petrussa Schioppettino di Prepotto

 

This Italian wine by Vigna Petrussa gets its name from the Italian word “schioppare,” which means to burst, since their description implies that the grapes burst in your mouth when you eat them. Schioppettino is an indigenous and sometimes overlooked grape in the North-Eastern corner of Italy, from the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Fortunately, second generation winemaker Hilde Petrussa has played a key role in the rediscovery and renaissance of this rare heirloom varietal.

We were actually quite surprised by this Italian wine because sometimes we find them to be a bit overly subtle. This Vigna Petrussa vintage does continue the trend of being gentle, but it is also robust enough to really deliver real flavor and nuance, as well as presenting some delightful aromas and fruit. The wine is aged for 36 months in barrels, then for another six months in the bottle. Some reviewers rankings have it has high as 90 points, which is good news.

One interesting part of the story is that Sheila Donahue of VeroVino Craft imports this wine into the United States, and is very supportive of women owned wineries like those of Hilde Petrussa’s Vigna Petrussa. Sheila started in the wine industry as a sommelier but now searches for and imports hidden gems around the world, gaining quite a bit of positive recognition in the process.

Find it at https://www.verovinogusto.com

Dough 2019 Oregon Pinot Noir

 

The winemaker for Dough is Heidi Bridenhagen, who has fermented this 100% Pinot Noir varietal in stainless steel. Oregon of course brings a unique kind of terroir and topography to its wines, often quite different from those in California or Italy. The Dough Pinot Noir is what many would consider to be a classic wine from Oregon with cherry and red fruits, as well as a bit of chocolate. We found it to be a light and casual drinking wine, one which we believe people will quite enjoy, especially during early in the day. That time frame doesn’t mean however that you can’t have it with a nice pasta with garlic butter sauce, or to start off a lovely evening with a friend(s).

Interestingly enough, the vineyard itself proposes that you chill it, which we suppose you might want to do if it’s an extremely hot day, but otherwise, Why?

Wine enthusiast gave it 85 points, but if up to us we would give it 87.

Find it at https://doughwines.com/

 

 

Zavor’s Noir Cookware Collection bring Design and Function to the Kitchen

Zavor recently announced new pieces for their first line of cast aluminum cookware – The Noir Cookware Collection. It gives even more design opportunities for the home kitchen, or as a great gift for the passionate cook.

The Noir line’s pieces are made of cast aluminum, one of the best and most popular materials for cookware. The cast aluminum provides excellent heat conductivity that is better than that of stainless steel and has a lighter weight than cast iron. Zavor’s Noir Cookware Collection sports a black finish with a Whitford Fusion Ti nonstick ceramic coating, and is designed to be both durable and to retain heat while looking quite nice on display or in use.

Despite the name “Noir“, the collection also includes color options. These consist of customizable color selections for the removable and replaceable black pan & skillet handles and silicone pot grips. They can be swapped out for others in colors like red, butternut squash orange, royal blue, purple, sky blue, and mint green.

Says a Zavor spokeperson, “Since one of the more unique features of the cookware is the removable handles, we thought it would add another aesthetic element to offer the handles in colors. It gives user’s an opportunity to match their kitchens, their cooking, the season, or even use them to identify allergy or diet-specific cookware.”

The removable handles allow skillets and pans to be placed in the dishwasher much more comfortably and provide a more compact storage solution. Another benefit is that when the handles are removed, the skillets, pots and pans in this collection are oven safe up to 535°F. From a performance standpoint, the pieces in the collection have interiors coated with a smooth ceramic layer, which helps to make them easy to clean, and a smooth 430 stainless steel base that is compatible with all cooktops ranging from gas to induction.

 

The Noir Cast Aluminum Cookware Collection includes

  • 8” skillet
  • 10” skillet
  • 12” skillet
  • 11” grill pan
  • 4.5 qt sauté pan
  • 6 qt sauté pan
  • 5 qt Dutch oven
  • 7 qt Dutch oven
  • a skillet set with 8” and 10” skillets
  • a skillet set with 10” and 12” skillets
  • a 7 piece cookware set ($229.95) including a 12” skillet, 4.5 qt sauté pan, 5 qt Dutch oven, and 1.5 qt saucepan.

For more about the Zavor Noir Cookware Collection visit: www.zavoramerica.com.