YSaC, Vol 449: Is THAT where Tom Petty got it?
2009 October 9
breakdowns for sale – $20
breakdowns for sale
have special access to an email account where they are delivered every morning
20/month
email for more info and a sample
Emily sends this, noting “Breakdowns by email! Modern technology is a wonder, isn’t it?”
I’m going to really, really hope that this means you get an .mp3 of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs delivered to your email account every day. Because everything else I’ve thought of is worse.
Thanks, Emily!
My breakdown is coming along quite nicely without any outside help, thank you very much. At least, that’s what the voices keep telling me.
20$!?! I can have a breakdown all on my own, thank you very much. AND I PROMISE you…it is worth FAR more than 20$.
I can have a 1000$ breakdown easy. We’re talking curled up on the floor, pounding on the ground, tears flowing, screams of anguish…it’s a QUALITY breakdown.
Heck, I’d be happy to give away one of mine to an interested party for free…
I’m running a Two-For-One special, with a free side of rampant insomnia if you act now! Operators are standing by anxiously awaiting your call…Well, yeah, they’re all insomniacs. What else are they going to do?
Wow…how green and budget-friendly! Paperless and less than a dollar a day. Sign me up for some of that daily meltdown action!
Aw, you ladies are making me sad this morning. It’s been raining since I got up and now I’m all down. Please cheer up! Please don’t have a breakdown!
So, I had to look up the lyrics to the Tom Petty song, but it appears to be just another song about a guy talking a girl into sleeping with him. Hmmm… so let’s look at the Mariah Carey song… hmmm, it’s a breakup song. Ok, the Jack Johnson song…. appears to be about a train. Let’s see… the Seether song… uh, can’t even tell what the heck that’s all about. Now, here’s Breaking Benjamin doing a version… Ewwww nasty song.
Ok, well, I have no idea what this guy is offering for $20. This has got to be something really special! Now where did I put that “special” credit card????
i’m assuming this person is referring to script/character breakdowns for upcoming auditions.
however. s/he still sucks at craigslist!
Yeah, gotta love when blogs designed to mock things show the ignorance of the people who run them.
You can’t get access to breakdowns as an individual. You can only get them as a manager or agent. Sometimes actors group together and pretend that they are a management company so they can buy them for themselves, but if they get busted, they lose their money the spent on them.
That’s not a bad price. I mean, the person who posted that should be turned in for it, but I really don’t see why the post is funny. A little googling would have cleared it up.
Maybe this is just me, but I think good ads that don’t suck at Craigslist are the ones that are clear on what they’re actually trying to sell and/or do (googling did not help, I just got referred to busted up cars and trucks). So yeah, I do find it YSaC worthy.
OH the HORROR! I am not sure that I can live with the shame of being “ignorant” of the fact that there are people who sit around waiting for e-mails to find out that there is an opening for “a girl with glasses who walks from stage right to stage left without saying anything” on the next episode of “Parks And Recreation”!
I think I am going to have a… breakdown!
That was mean, Emma. You make Tuffy MAD. >:(
I Googled it for the heck of it, and after looking for a minute or so, I didn’t see anything related to acting. So there. :p
*bangs head on desk*
Must…Find…Reset…Button…
Now, now. We are clearly supposed to know everything about everything, and it is shameful that we, the llama-nun web boss and her trusty ostrich sidekick, who have nothing to do with the acting business, did not know this obscure acting business terminology.
just a small and totally off-topic note – i always assumed the side-kick was an Emu, but perhaps that is just an Aussie perspective.
Hey, I knew exactly what it was referring to, and I still found the ad funny. A good ad communicates clearly, and when confusion is caused by lack of clarification (particularly when advertising on a public forum and using a term with a whole ‘nother meaning in it’s more common usage), well, Sparky, we here roundabouts call that “You Suck At Craigslist.” Jargon is no excuse.
Furthermore, how easy would it be for said actors to get busted since they’ll apparently let just anyone infiltrate their group for a measly $20? That’s just bad planning…
Being curious (and not wanting to work this morning) I had to google “Breakdown Services.” Aside from car repair (which I don’t think this is) it seems to be an talent/acting notification of parts available. I’m not so sure Craigslist is where I’d start looking for movie casting calls.
And drmk, thank you SO MUCH for putting Foggy Mountain Breakdown in my head, circa Steve Martin’s banjo.
My breakdowns have always arrived for free, even before the internet … though they can end up costing you a lot later (credit card comfort shopping, anyone?).
If you think shopping therapy is expensive, you should try the hospital bill for a couple of weeks in the psych ward followed by months of outpatient therapy. Makes a few trips to your favorite department store look like an absolute bargain. But then again, when I have a breakdown, I go all professional on it.
So are the leather couch and shrink included with this $20/month or are those extra?
This is so obviously a service for DJs who want to break it down. New, exciting ways to make that scratchy record noise, and segue seamlessly from Just Dance to A Milli. 20 bucks keeps the party going!
People who Suck at Craigslist, put your hands up!
Breakdowns for $20? They better be fucking gold plated, because I’m pretty fucking awesome at eliciting them in others for free. Hey, how ’bout I sell you some breakdowns at wholesale prices?
Forgiving the fact that I have no idea what this dude is trying to sell, I found this… sentence? phrase?… particularly befuddling.
“have special access to an email account where they are delivered every morning”
So… is he saying that he has special access to these morning delivered breakdowns? He will provide you with special access to this email? It requires that you have special access to an email account? He asssumes you need special access in order to have email?
My brain hurts, I’m going to go take it out and wash it now.
It annoys me in the same way the song ‘Runaround Sue’ does.
Specifically the phrase;
“She took my love and ran around,
with every single guy in town.”
Is it every male who is romantically unattached, a.k.a. single, or every male regardless of relationship status? I have driven people nuts with this and my family automatically changes the station if we are in the car and it starts playing.
I am just like that with “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” by the Police! The line “You know how bad girls get” – is he saying bad girls behave a certain way, or that girls all behave badly? I have wondered for years…
I was singing along in the car the other day and my nephew, who’s twelve, asked me who Nabby Cough was. It made me sad and I felt very old. Ah, for the good old days when a ‘Lolita’ reference meant you were well-read in the classics, not the tabloids.
I recall my dad thinking that Willie Nelson was singing about his woman screwing around with his friends in the song “On the Road Again.” He even said that was why Willie wanted to get back on the road again.
…the life I love is making music with my friends and I can’t wait to get on the road again.
I am so embarrassed that I’m going with Bryan Adams here, but…
“I find it hard to believe. We’re in heaven!”
or
“I find it hard to believe we’re in heaven.”
It occured to me once that using the alternate spelling of the word “sun” radically changes the Elton John/George Michaels song “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”. This is the sort of thing insomniacs think about while normal people are sleeping.
…When David Byrne sings, “This is not my beautiful house,” does he mean, “This house isn’t my house, which is beautiful,” or does he mean, “This beautiful house isn’t mine?”
Maybe it depends on how you feel about living in a shotgun shack… or maybe that part of the song isn’t connected.
With the Elton John song, in addition to changing the word “sun” to “son”, I also change “the” to “your” and imagine he’s having a conversation with a parent. No, I have no idea why, it’s just silly.
Heh…
“Don’t let your son go down on me! PLEASE!”
Or he could be singing about The Son.
How’s that for a mental image? Jesus + Elton + Oral.
Google is your friend.
He has an email account that receives the breakdowns of the tv/film parts that actors can submit for every morning. For $20 a month he will give you the password to that account.
I think that it’s a pretty clear (if not legal) offer.
Maybe not clear to you, as I assume you don’t live in LA or NY, but it’s embarrassing that the person who sent it in didn’t know what it meant.
You are so right. How dare I embarrass myself by not living in NY or LA so I could learn about wonderful career opportunities like this. Think you could condescend to me just a little more while you’re at it?
angry theater hipsters make me sad.
Emma – what’s with the attitude? I live in NYC and had no idea what a breakdown was. You could try and not ACT so rude. Or did you not get the breakdown for that part?
So one person here – you – knew what a random CL ad was for. Bully for you. You win, um, nothing? getting to act superior? and praise for your ability to google? Hooray!
The ad is written using trade-specific slang that non-actors would not necessarily understand, so I do not think Emily should be embarrassed. I’m sure there are plenty of people in NY and LA who would have no idea what the OP was talking about. If I started talking about “topping” most people would think of ice cream, not tobacco.(Topping is removing the flowering tops of tobacco plants, if anyone is interested and I can’t imagine anyone is.)
Actually, what I thought of when you said “topping” had nothing to do with anything edible. It was more about, umm, whips and black leather. I am all ashamed of myself now.
@ Emma,
I live in NY and have good friends in theatre and film. I did not learn what this “breakdown” is by osmosis, so your logic that people from here should automatically know, even with the assistance of Google, is fallacious. Additionally, Google tailors answers to the user’s cookies and previous search data; I will get different search results at work because the bulk of my searches is corporate/financial/legal. At home I look for literature/fashion/travel/history/sarcky blogs about CL. I can run the same search on both and get different answers. I’ve run the same search as a coworker next to whom I am sitting and gotten different answers to her. If at that computer you regularly do searches on the topic of theatre/film/media/etc. then the likelihood of returned results relating to those topics is considerably higher than for those of us who don’t. Google is your friend? Maybe, if you want friends who will tell you what you want to hear.
That is all, you may return to your bubble of superior smugness.
My friends call me a sarcastic know-it-all smartass(among other, much more colorful things). Google has never done so, so it cannot be my friend.
*Paging Emma to the courtesy counter for her gold star – paging Emma to the courtesy counter for her gold star*
Maybe it’s because I only do stage work in the Midwest, but I wasn’t even aware of the meaning. Is it lonely on your higher plain of existance?
OMG – I have wondered why I found something at the top of the search listings at work, then when I looked it up at home it wasn’t there! I had no idea Google did that! Well, look at that, I learned something on YSaC – and it wasn’t that lame breakdown thing 🙂
Maybe Emma should start her own blog: You suck at Minutia. Her witty repartee will fit right in, she will have a huge, literate following in no time. And little pink unicorns can ride out her butt.
(Can I type butt on the Interwebs?)
All in favor, Google onomatopoeia.
OK, folks, I think we’ve jumped on Emma enough.
Calling off the dogs then…but I can’t vouch for Tuffy. Scorned cats are a force with which to be reckoned. Only JcT can vouch for a grumpy Tuffy.
Oh, sorry! How awful, in trying to point out someone else’s rudeness, I myself transgressed the unwritten law! It will never happen again. 8(
A little catnip and Tuffy was good to go hours ago. Me, I never stay perturbed for more than a few minutes. Plus I have CRS so nothing stays around for very long…
We weren’t trying to be mean to Emma; we just wanted her to be nicer. She seems ok.
This terrific group of commenters has a howling good time every day. But when someone gets attacked, we defend them to the death, don’t we? 🙂
This is the Best Blog On The Web, and you can quote me on that!
Tuffy nailed it. I’m not mad at Emma, I’m not mad at anyone else. I just think a half dozen or so snarks is enough, and then it’s nice to go back to sniping at the original victim. 🙂
I can still adopt the phrase “and little pink unicorns can ride out her butt” though, right?
Shia- Please do, I beg of you.
They’re so popular that Mick Jagger bought 19 of them.
That’s the song that goes through *my* head when I read this.
Technology has come along way. Just the other day my wife told me she got herpies by opening an email!! Now breakdowns can be delivered too? I need to update my virus protetctor.
I guess the next time I’m hungry I can just open my spam folder.
Will that work for vegetarians/vegans too? I mean, it is virtual. It is not as if any animals were harmed in the generation of the spam.
Just relabel the folder ‘tofu’!
I now have a folder on my desktop labled “tofu” It confuses others,which delights me.
I’m still giggling over this.
Oh, casting calls, you say?
And I’m an idiot for not immediately understanding that?
The way I see it, there’s a big difference between breakdowns and , character breakdowns. Because in a category such as ‘other’ where this was posted, you do in fact have to specify things and eliminate ambiguity.
It’s like transformers. Is it the toy or the electrical piece? Big difference and quite diverse customer bases.
This ad makes it sound like some sort of creepy voyeuristic service that distributes tapes of people sobbing on the floor.
I’m sure there’s a separate section already set up on Craiglist for the creepy voyeuristic breakdown service. A mere $10 extra gets you video too.
There is, it’s called “Casual Encounters”.
ba-ZING! 😀 😀 😀
mo-theeeeerrrrrr, I’d rather do it myself!!
There is too much meanness going on in these comments. It makes me sad. 🙁 I’m going to go watch the database fail LIVE video instead. That will cheer me up. Ah, Miffy, I can count on you to make me smile…
Negative Nancy wacked a few people on their heads this morning. Don’t mess with the actors…or they’ll have a mini-breakdown.
Looks like the breakdowns came free after all, hm?