TV

My Marvel Disney+ Show

/ DiggsMcGee / Leave a comment

I’m calling it “Marvel At Us.”

Episode 1

The first episode is a special edition of a clip show, similar to Tosh.0 and other clip shows. This episode is all about superhero clips. A host goes through people’s phone cam footage of super heroes trashing things or getting their butts whooped by the bag guy. It’s all played for humor, just like a real clip show. It is set in the MCU. But to us, the audience of the Disney+ show, we get to see how regular people saw events and interacted with these super heroes outside of the context of the MCU movies. Either way, it will be interesting and fun. Show would be good at CinemaSins…

Episode 2

Another clip show, but more akin to the “Worlds Dummest” series. We would get B-list actors to comment on different video clips, but this time only focused on Tony Stark/Iron Man. The guest stars would make fun of Tony, make jokes about the things that happened, and even have a little segment where the cast “gives advice” to the people in the videos on how to avoid having your stuff smashed by a lunatic in a metal onesie.

Episode 3

This episode begins with a talk show host giving an opening monolog, similar to Conan O’Brien. The monolog focuses on the latest big superhero damage issue.

Then a commercial selling insurance to protect people from loss due to damage by super heroes.

When we come back the show has changed and is now a talk show similar to Ellen. The host has a segment where she has a lawyer/claims adjuster/damage repair professional. She gives him crazy scenarios as if they’re fake and asks what the damage would be and how much that would cost. Then, after some humorous banter he gives his answer. But then the host plays actual footage of a superhero doing that exact thing to someone’s house/car/school/business/etc. They do about 5 rounds of this and then go to commercial.

We then get medical lawyer commercial of the “were you injured by a so-called ‘hero'” genre. Call the number today…

As we return to the show we come into a sketch comedy, similar to Saturday Night Live. They put on a skit where a superhero “saves the day” but while fighting the bad guy he breaks things, damages houses and vehicles, and injures people in different ways. The police show up and take the bad guy. As he’s going to fly off the people around ask him who’s going to pay for and take care of all the damage and injuries? As they (humorously) point these things out the police start to agree with them and the superhero is arrested. The crowd cheers a bit too enthusiastically…

A commercial for ThorGard! A special lightning rod to protect your house or business from Thor’s lightning bolts, should one stray your direction. “Protect your realm from his.”

We return to a stand up comic special. He begins with “before I go…” and then makes some humorous comments and jokes about superheros. He makes some good points and the crowd, busting out laughing, also gives a standing ovation. Smirking he says, “am I right?” Obviously the comic thinks these superheros are mostly jerks, and while they may save some people they ultimately seem to do more harm than good. He finishes with “thats my time, thanks for coming to my first special!” Thunderous applause.

The credits roll as usual for that type of show except its the credits for the Disney+ show. At the end, one more commercial.

“Are you tired of scraping spiderwebs off your car? Paying too much to have them removed from your building? Is your facade being pulled apart, costing you thousands? Try SpiderMonkey!” Its an ad for a compound to spray or wipe onto surfaces to keep Spiderman’s webbing from sticking to it… and as the ad plays we start to back away from a TV screen. A figure gets up from a lounge chair, shakes their head, rubs their neck, huffs, and then quickly walks off screen as if with a purpose. Ad over. Cut to black.

Episode 4

We join the news as yet another incident has occurred, leaving hundreds without power, and many homeless. This comes just weeks after a previous incident which almost leveled an entire city block.

As they pass off to weather we pull back to see a TV from another room in the house, presumably the kitchen. As the weather-man makes a joke about clear skies “unless Thor wants to tour the local pubs”, a person whose face we do not see gets some food packed and drinks some coffee.

We jump to the person reading the news on a tablet device. Two other people are Independently talking about that incident, again involving the damage or carelessness of a superhero.

While at work, in a meeting, a figure flies by the office building, pursued by a spandex clad hero. They exchange some laser blasts and fly through the offices a few floors up. The building is evacuated.

As the person drives home they listen to the radio. A talk show. The three hosts are exchanging views about whether having these super heroes is a good thing… do they invite the villains, or did the villains create the heroes… can local law enforcement really manage such threats… could another multinational organization like SHIELD really be trusted…? As the person pulls into his driveway they are wrapping up the show. He parks, and listens. “We just need to come to terms with the fact that these super powered persons are here to stay and there’s nothing anyone can really do about it.” At that conclusion the person begins to beat on his steering wheel, raging with some pent up anger, and when he’s done he sits his head on the steering wheel and cries.

Its the next day and we get glimpses of the latest incident from TV, radio, and passers-by. The person gets to his office building to find the elevators are out. The building manager is arguing with a tenant about whether he should get Super Hero Insurance. The person begins to open the door to his floor when he stops. He slowly backs up and walks up the stairs a few more flights. He opens the door to the floor that was damaged yesterday. Some construction workers are going on break. As they do the person walks into the chaos. Personal items and office supplies litter the floor. He finds blood stains on the carpet. He sees a heavy desk turned upside down sitting on some rubble… the rubble has feet… thats a person. He then walks towards the window the two enemies burst through just the day before. He passes the caution tape and steps towards the edge. He looks out across the city. A beautiful sight. He stretches his arms out sideways. He leans forward. Falling to the ground we get the first look at his face – just his mouth. He smiles contently.

“Hey mister!”

With a THWIP and bounce the person comes to a stop just a few yards from the pavement. He is lowered to the ground and in front of him lands Spiderman.

“Hey. Hey mister, are you ok? I saw you fall and I dashed over as quickly as I could- whew that was scary! Are you alright?”

The man is speechless, but thats ok. The crowd of people around him cheer and thank Spiderman on his behalf.

The man raises his hand slowly, reaching for Spiderman’s shoulder. Spiderman suddenly squints and looks over his shoulder as he steps forward.

“Hey mister… are you ok?”

The man pulls back his hand and then extends it as a handshake. Spiderman shakes his hand and people snap photos and take videos.

We watch one of the videos taken by a member of the crowd. Our first shows host chimes in with “and there’s the silver lining folks. A good deed by a friendly neighbor. See ya next time.”

Episode 5

Kids at school are looking at superhero compilations. Some of them are awesome feats of strength and agility. Others are clips of property being destroyed. Theres even some funny clips, mostly of Spiderman being goofy or Thor being clueless.

A teenager points out that these “awesome” videos of Thor shooting lightning, Iron Man flying through a wall, or Hulk smashing things has not only cost people millions of dollars in damages, but it even cost some innocent people their lives. But he’s just a nerd, so no one cares what he thinks.

“Wouldn’t you rather have the super strength to throw a car across the river than the super dorkness to repel girls?”

They all snicker and laugh at his expense.

On the way home he decides to take a detour. He catches the subway to the other side of town just to grab a bite to eat at his favorite shop. Of course, they have the news on. And of course, some hero saved the day, while probably causing tons of damage that no one will have to pay for.

A customer sitting at the counter makes a comment, and another customer chimes in.

“That’s right! Without these brave men doin their part, steppin up, we’d be in worse shape.”

As the teen huffs a snort of derision, he realizes the man at the booth in front of did the same thing… they look at one another, exchanging a glance only understood as “I know exactly what you mean.”

The man and the teen get to talking about how messed up it is we joke and laugh and praise these so-called heroes who destroy and kill all in the name of peace and justice. Then the teen starts talking big numbers. These aren’t off the cuff calculations. He’s memorized statistics the man didn’t know anyone kept track of. The man chimes in that theres nothing they can do, and its infuriating. However, the teen isn’t so sure… theres probably SOMETHING they can do… it just depends on how far they’re willing to go. He begins to layout all the facts they know about all these superheroes. He points out that many of them actually have weaknesses. And as he’s getting ready to delve into a deep, thought out plan his phone rings. It’s his mom. She’s wondering where he is. She sounds mad. So, the teen asks for the man’s phone, then taps his phone to it. Contact information transfers to the man’s phone.

“Keep in touch.”

The next day, the man is headed to work. He stops for a latte before walking into his office building. Just a few days before there was a skirmish and some “hero” crashed into the floor below his. His desk fell through the floor. Hope it didn’t hurt anyone. They’ve been allowed to come back, if they want. But most are working from home.

“Hey, let’s stay away from 22 today, huh?!”

A lady calls out and laughs. The man turns around to see a guy hanging his head walking towards the elevators.

“Going up?”

He is ignored. But at least the elevators are working. Well…

CA-KLUNK

SKREEEEeeeee…..

“Well shoot. Guess we’re going to be late for work.”

The man chuckles. But this person does not.

“Where’s a superhero when you need one, am I right?”

And at that this person begins a long rant about how we don’t need superheroes and about how they ruin everything and how he wishes they would all just go away!

“We shouldn’t have to put up with… with… they’re shit!”

The man reaches into his pocket. He pulls out his phone. He brings up his contacts and right there under “new” is that teens information.

“Maybe we don’t have to…”

The teen runs down the stairs with some pizza rolls. He tosses one into his mouth. It’s too hot! He breathes fast to try and cool it off. His mom yells at him, “don’t stay up too late with your ‘inventions.’ I’d like it if you got to school on time for once.”

With a sigh the teen closes his door. He puts on some music and downs an energy drink. After popping a few more pizza rolls his computers all finish booting up. He then runs to his door and locks it. He runs back to one of his computers and brings up camera feeds from inside and around his house. On another computer he runs a program called NORT. He checks his phone. No reception. He sits down at a work bench in the middle of the room. He pulls back a blanket revealing a strange piece of technology inside a wire cage. Part of it glows. Another part makes a humming noise. He slowly removes the metal cage…

“Ok… let’s see how useful you are…”

…

And thats how far I’ve gotten. I started to build a lore too deep that I took it from parody that turns real, into parody that turns real, and then involves specific characters with goals and a motive… wouldn’t it be cool if Marvel bought my idea from me?!

That is, if they haven’t already done this exact thing in the comics already…

-Diggs out

P.S. – I hate when I really get into a story, because I have such a hard time jotting down plots points instead of writing every detail I can think of. Maybe I should write a book. Perhaps about a guy who wants to write a book but it’s so full of information that it starts to run thousands of pages long and that’s without double spacing and…

Time Travel

/ DiggsMcGee / 1 Comment

There’s not really going to be much here about time travel. I was shooting for posting something every month… but I missed January by like a day or two. So I’m technically posting this for January, even though it’s already February.

With that said…

Time travel is impossible. Unless you consider the natural progression through a day, week, year etc. to be traveling forward in time; albeit at a rate of 1x normal time, or normal speed.

Which isn’t very fun.

Sometimes I wish I lived in TV time. Just think:

There’s my house. Here I come walking into my house after after long, hard day at the office. Shenanigans ensue, I’m sure, but at least I got to bypass actually being at work. TV time works like this: the important moments for your character are lived, while the unimportant events, activities, and other moments are simply eluded to. You don’t actually have to waste time experiencing them… of course, I guess you did experience them… because, after all, they have affected you in some way. You come in the house exhausted from working in your office, with your boss and coworkers, with crazy things happening  (which you’ll probably explain to another character later). It has affected you, so maybe you did experience it, just off camera? OK, so, this isn’t perfect. TV time is just a trick, I know.

*sigh*

Movie time is a little bit better in some respects. Going on a long trip? Get on the plane and arrive at your destination minutes later. But unless your plane ride was uneventful, you’d still be affected by that loud snoring guy, or the kid kicking the back of your seat, or the lady who spilled her peanuts everywhere.

Ok, so…

It’s all another trick.

Book time would be horrible. You’d spend hours on sights, sounds, feelings, and thoughts which, in the real world, would take just minutes for your brain to process.

Video game time would be just as bad as TV and movie time. You’d spend an hour or more fighting aliens or assembling blocks only for a quick cut scene before arriving at your next mission. You do all that work and don’t even get a break! That’s actually worse than TV time.

If I had to pick one aspect of time from TV, movies, games, and even books it would be the flashback. Sure, I can reminisce about times long past. I can even be nostalgic with friends and family, and possibly get a different viewpoint or have someone fill in the blanks (now that it’s years later and, hey, you can’t get mad about something that happened years ago. It’s over. Long gone. In the past. No big deal…)

But a flashback is so much more. The characters are actually reliving a certain moment of their lives. Sometimes it’s a moment no one really remembers that well and everyone can piece it back together. It’s better than a lasting memory, a picture, or even a video. Flashbacks would be cool.

But, oh well.

Time travel isn’t possible. In all actuality, time isn’t even really a thing. Sure, Einstein called it the “fabric of space-time,” but that was just a way to visualize gravity’s effect on localized objects from different reference points as related to the apparent passage of time for those objects. 

😉

OK then. Time for me to go. I’ve got one of those long days coming up. My theme song isn’t playing yet, so it seems like I won’t be able to skip to my return home for the day.

Peace!

-Diggs out

P.S. – I like science and I watch a lot of science videos on YouTube… but can anyone tell me if I was remotely close about the Einstein stuff. I think I am, but I could be wrong. After all, I’m no scientist.

Megaupload Goes Down – Pirates Weep

/ DiggsMcGee / Leave a comment

Megaupload Shutdown: Should RapidShare and Dropbox Worry? – Slashdot.

I’m sure you’ve all heard. Megaupload has been shut down. I’m not going to lie: I have visited Megaupload to watch a movie or TV show in the past. Yes, that movie was still in the theater. I could begin talking about how dificult it is to get access to content these days, when content seems like it should be available instantly everywhere. I could say this is what made me google search current movies and wind up on Megaupload. I could criticize movie studios for keeping their content so tight in their grasp that it’s nearly impossible for people like me to get access to it in a legal way. I should talk about how movie studios need to get with the digital program and realize the Internet ain’t so bad.

Instead, I’m going to take the side of the MPAA and RIAA… to an extent.

First, an analogy: If you make a chair, it is one of a kind. You sell it and make some money. Then, you make another chair. You could devise a system for making that chair over and over, thus making a lot of chairs and more money. But no matter how hard other people try, they cannot copy your chair precisely. This makes it seemingly obvious when someone tries to copy your chair. Even so, people are stupid. They see your chair and love it, but walk away because of the price tag. Then, they come across a chair which looks like your chair and costs much less. They have, of course, been decieved. You have been robbed of business and income. However, there are ways around this: they just claim you don’t own the rights to “the chair,” nor do you own the rights to colors, chair legs and arms, the “seat,” not to mention they’re not calling their chairs your chairs – consumers are just assuming they might be the same (or same type of) chair. Even so, there still is no way for a consumer to buy the chair, duplicate it, and then make money off of it. Not to mention – who has the time to duplicate chairs!

A chair is a physical object. Computer data, however, is not physical. You could type a story on a computer and then print it out, thus having a physical copy. But you can’t do that with software. Sure, you could print out the code which makes up your software, but that’s going to be a lot of paper and it won’t resemble the actual program. Then there is music and videos. Even though you can hear and see music and videos, they’re not as physical as they used to be. Movies used to be burned onto film reels. Music used to be etched into vinyl records. Now, it’s just 1’s and 0’s on hard drives and streaming across the Internet. It’s much more difficult to keep track of data floating around the web than it is to keep track of a film reel. To copy a film reel, you need a projector, two sided sceen, dark room, transfer film, developing material, and at least 2 hours time plus the amount of time it takes to develop the film. Needless to say, it would take a long time to copy a film reel, and you’d probably know who is making the copies and where they’re going. To copy a DVD, you stick it in your computer, open your DVD copy software, click on the copy button, and voila! You can also rip the video off the DVD as a file which just sits on your computer. That file can be shared with friends, uploaded to websites and file sharing networks. Once this file hits the web it gets indexed, downloaded, re-uploaded, and scattered all over the Internet. Needless to say, it becomes nearly impossible to track down every copy of this file.

Unlike the chair which is difficult to reproduce, a movie file doesn’t have to be reproduced. Simply downloading the file creates a copy. You can then create as many copies as you want without losing quality in the copy or the original. Like the chair, however, if a movie studio sells that DVD or a downloadable video file to you they get money. If you then give that file away, you are essentially robbing the movie studio of income from every copy which results from your initial copying. Those people could have bought movie tickets or purchased the DVD or digital download, but instead (thanks to you) they get it for free.

This is not the same thing as buying a DVD and having friends over for a movie night. Neither the MPAA nor RIAA expect that you will purchase a song or movie and only play it on the computer where you bought it and wear headphones so no one else can “steal” a listen. However, they rightfully expect you to legitimately and legally obtain a copy of the movie or song. A production company makes a movie, they sell the movie, and in many cases they pay all others involved based on how well the movie does. When you hear a gaffer or props master complain about piracy “robbing them” they are partially correct.

Every argument people usually make to support their habit of obtaining free copies of digital content is flawed from the ground up and utterly rediculous.

  • “These greedy studio executives who already make millions of dollars just want more money.” – greedy or not, of course they want their money. They are creating a product and selling it. Anyone who works to obtain or spread movies without paying for them is guilty of theft.
  • “Music and Movies become popular when people share them.” – Sure, I buy a song, play it for my friends, they like it, and they begin listening to that band. It’s all great until the support of that band begins to lead nowhere. If the band isn’t making money because people are pirating their music they will eventually be dropped by the recording studio. Either that, or they just won’t be making any money off their music.
  • “I bought the DVD. I own it. I have every right to rip the movie off of it to play on my computer, Xbox, home network, phone or iPod.” – partially true, but mostly still false. You do not own the movie just because you bought the DVD. Under the DMCA you have the right to produce a backup copy of your digital media in case your original is lost or stolen. But you still don’t have the right to distribute copies of copyrighted material.
  • “I’m not making any money.” – well, you don’t have to be making money. If you robbed a bank and gave all the money away, you’re still guilty of robbing the bank. Likewise, even though you don’t sell a copy which is uploaded to the Internet, you are still guilty of giving away content which you don’t own the copyright to – content which the copyright holders are trying to sell.
  • “Who is it hurting?” – specifically? I don’t have enough space to write out all the names. Let’s just say you are hurting the people who work on these movies, music, programs, and other digital media. You also end up hurting yourself. Piracy is what makes movie and record studios nervous about streaming across the Internet, supporting DVR’s, using new medium formats (DVD, BluRay…), and striking deals with distribution companies. It’s what makes the studios force DRM into their content, in the hopes their content will be copy-proof. Piracy also forces groups like the RIAA and MPAA to support the drastic and seemingly unconstitutional measures laid out in legislation such as SOPA and PIPA; legislation which could harm legitimate webites and the security of information on the Internet.
  • “People don’t want to pay for movies and music.” – Too bad. It’s like saying you’re not going to pay for food but the farmers must continue to grow it, chefs must continue to cook it, and waiters must continue to serve it. That’s just stupid. Songs cost no more than $2, with movies ranging from $3 to $7 in a downloadable format. Loosen the purse strings.
  • “Fine, I’ll pay for it when the price goes down.” – well, guess what: the price ain’t going down when the studios believe they are losing money to pirating. Once everyone begins purchasing the content and the studios begin making lots of money, only then will they have the incentive to lower the prices so they can sell more. Then again, they might keep prices high because people are buying the content anyway. That’s just business.
  • “I could really use the software, and make good use of it. However, I can’t afford it. So, I can’t buy it to learn it so I can use it to make money to pay for it. What do you expect me to do?” – become affiliated with a school. There are many programs out there like Photoshop, Microsoft Office, and Adobe After Effects which you can get at discounted prices (or even free in some cases) just for being affiliated with an educational institution. Become a faculty member or just take a non-credit class. Then, you’ll at least be able to use the schools computer labs even if you can’t get your own copy of the software. You could also budget your money better…
  • “I don’t pay for television or the radio. Why do I have to pay for the music and TV shows?” – maybe you don’t pay for radio stations, but someone does. First, you have a company which purchases the station equipment and pays all the fees associated with broadcasting; including paying for the rights to play the music and TV shows you like. Then, radio and television stations are loaded with advertisements. Those advertisements are what pay the employees of the station. The more popular the station, or current programming, the more advertisers have to pay, and the more money the station brings in. You don’t pay for TV and radio, but someone does.
  • “But, it’s out there on the web…” – so what? pedofilia is on the web as well, but it’s still illegal. Just because it’s out there doesn’t mean it’s ok to look at, download, or redistribute. The people who uplaoded it might not understand what they’re really doing. They might understand exactly what they’re and simply don’t are about breaking the law. Make up your own mind. If the cpyright holder didn’t uploaded to the website, it is there illegally.

There are other arguments, but they are all based on the same thing: greed. People want things for free and they take it for free if they can. They also don’t feel like something they can’t hold is real. If it’s not real, you can’t steal it. The bottom line is “if it doesn;t belong to you, you don’t have any rights to it at all.”