Den of the Cyphered Wolf

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Southfield April 29, 2013 Southfield City Council Meeting


City Council Meeting held in Southfield, Michigan on April 29, 2013 at 7:00 pm

Topics Include
  • Permission to apply for a grant to help repair a bridge
  • Proposed changes to the sign ordinance
  • A natural lawn ordinance
 An agenda and related documents can be found here.

Friday, April 26, 2013

My Rhyme Book #3

Okay Miles, they say to write what you see.
time to unleash the ill poet in me.

Get my head inside the game
I see Detroit in the the rain
Lot of folks workin' through the pain
Grindin', Hustlin' hopin' tommorow won't be the same.
Cause the world just has no shame.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The New Network


The more the world of internet content matures the more it starts to look like the world of traditional content

Divorce of Distribution
The primary difference between traditional media and the internet is the separation between distribution mechanisms and content creation mechanisms. Almost all the major newspapers had a printing press, and a delivery outfit, but internet creators rely on ISPs, video and data webhosting platforms. CBS owns it's own radio tower, but do they still have to rely on ATT and Comcast to get web content out there.

In trying to understand new media business models this is a key distinction, yet it is not new.  That is mostly how cable works.

Anyway a lot of good programing is being distributed through Hulu, Netflix, YouTube ect. that they don't produce. They are middlemen, but because they specialize in the distribution of content it creates a democratization that allows individuals and companies whom couldn't afford the equipment or personal to widely distribute their content to be able to.


The New Network
Content became associated with the means over which it was distributed. In the past the network was tied to it's distribution platform. A television channel was just that. A channel signal. Because both the content and distribution where handled by the same people they became linked. But I don't think YouTube produced Online Gamer, no Reckless Tortuga did. And I don't think iTunes produced Tech News Today, no TWIT did.  The same can be said for Zombie Orpheus, Spill.com, Revision 3, College Humor, and Geek and Sundry . There is a divorce between content and distribution.  As online content matures it's no longer as individualistic as it once was. What I mean is that a lot of these shows have actors and budgets. It's not just one person making a web series. The content production is more and more starting to mirror actual studio production models, though on a smaller scale.

Furthermore many of these, "web studios" have associations. There are a group of content producers who work for the Escapist Magazine. There are a group who work for That Guy With the Glasses. The new network, not defined so much by their distribution mechanisms but more so by content producer associations.

And in a way these associations are becoming the new network. And I find it incredibly fascinating.

My Rhyme Book #2

Yo bend an ear and take a look at my rhyme book.
 Let's keep it real while head bobbin' to my next hook.
Tellin' you what I feel while the roof shook.

My Rhyme Book #1

Oh hell, yes we are doing this
Grab your mic and your lyricist
No verse at you gonna miss
Hittin' you like a fist
Boy, you better bring yo' best
Dueling like old west.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Case for Speculative Fiction

You know I've just realized it. Over the past year I've watched some really good genre shows, Durarara, Revolution, Falling Skies, Grimm, Supernatural, Misfits, Being Human, Orphan Black. It strikes me because this time last year I was prepared to give a speech on how we were giving up on Science-Fiction.

I felt that the powers that be had stopped taking it seriously and had fallen into the conceit that speculative fiction was inherently ridiculous. I had seen a lot of shows where it was clear the writters didn't take the premise seriously and just went off the deep end, (Lost Girl). And that's fine if you're writing an over the top comedy, but if you want the audience to hold their suspension of disbelief which with spec-fiction is a must, the characters have to believe their world.

Then there is the other end. The shows that in an attempt to counter the ridiculous factor try to artificially gritty thier worlds up culminating in bad writing.

I've been meaning for a while to write why I like speculative fiction so here goes. The sky is the limit. Boom. That's it. Speculative fiction is the fiction of world building. It is the place where cool ideas get explored because by definition those cool ideas are speculation.

It's the only place where I can see the Grimm Reaper/Headless Horseman and a zombie queen with a katana team up to take on a gang of street toughs. Or a ghost,vampire and werewolf as roomies.


It's the genre where if you can think up a good and entertaining way to write it, it can happen.

Moreover not only is it my preferred type of fiction but on a more literary scale I would argue it needs to exist. It's the place where every idea no matter how batshit it sounds it is on the table and fiction needs that. Otherwise the same ideas get recycled ad infinitum with little to distinguish them.

Southfield Police Citizen Observer Crime Bulletin April 15-21, 2013


Editorial: Angry Black Man: The Pit of Tribalism


You know what.  Screw it. I guess I will write that diatribe.

Alright so over the past couple years I've been noticing an exclusionary attitude at city council meetings. It's not quite flat out racism so I don't feel the moral indignation I would if it were you know that.  But it is troubling.  But every so often I do feel myself groan on the inside.  It makes me feel all the weirder knowing that some of the people saying this stuff are of the old guard who did experience real racism. Not the I "think somebody doesn't like me because I'm black" racism the "they will run me out of town on a rail" racism. 

Who the hell am I to call bullshit?

But I feel certain comments about DWBs are forcing my hand. Okay all of that said I am going to make multiple arguments so let me get started.

Racism, Tribalism, and the Other
After much thought what is irking me has somewhat become apparent. My community is starting to become a bit tribalistic in its fear of The Other. 
 
People relate to each other through the lenses of similarity. How much are you like me? And conversely how different from me are you?  It's not racism but it is the thing that causes it and other types of persecution, yet it's also human nature so I don't want to get into the morality of it but it is having effects. 

Cultural and Economic Stagnation
Now to make myself sound like a pompous ass. You know what made Rome, Persia, and New York great.  They incorporated technology, ideas, and cultures from other peoples, leading to something great. 

I might be collegially obligated to venerate the Spartans, but compared to other cultures at the time the Spartans were backwards. They stagnated because of all this Spartan pride crap, which may make for badass movie catch phrases but in terms of cultural, economic, and technological enlightenment fall a wee bit short. 

I keep hearing all this talk of artistic and  economic development, but when people start talking brass tacks it always ends up being "not that kind". And I can understand that from a government sponsorship point of view, but I keep getting the feeling that a good chunk of the community is starting to feel that way in general, and it's leading to push back on anything conceived as different. 

I have this fear that we are starting to stagnate. 

You can't build this because of the unsavory types it will attract. You can't do this because of the unsavory types it will attract.

The Defeatism of Black Social Conservatism


I will grant that in an effort to appease, sometimes blending in is necessary, and I am not telling anybody to mouth off to the cops. But I feel that there is a weird sort of upside down racism implicit in black social conservatism. This idea that rather than embracing aspects of black culture that are Other to the mainstream we should be shunning them makes me feel a wee bit uncomfortable.  

It makes me feel as if we're saying yes, racism is right. Now I get for practical purposes sometimes we have to play that game, but we shouldn't have to. If I want to walk down the street in a hoodie I shouldn't have to fear getting shot at. It's almost as if we've said oh it's fine being black as long as you don't take part in black culture. That is wrong! And I think as a community rather than just going with that we should stand up and say, "No. I like hip hop. No Timberlands are practical streetwear. No. my hair grows up. I was not put on this earth to make white people feel comfortable, but to live my life. "

The Defense of Hip Hop Playlist

In the a recent meeting of city council I was slightly offended by some of the things said about hip hop, rather than write a long diatribe about class stratification and cultural stereotypes even amongst the African American community (punish bad behavior from individuals rather than groups of people, the futility of an exclusionary attitude for any culture or wink wink nudge nudge community, the idea that music hell art should evoke nay provoke an emotional response, the relationship jazz and rap have had over the years yada yada yada) I'm just going to make cool playlist. Here is my Defense of Hip Hop Playlist. To get my general thoughts see my post on black conservatism.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Southfield Regular City Council Meeting April 22, 2013



Regular Southfield City Council meeting held on April 22, 2013 at 7:00 in Southfield, Michigan

Topics Include

  • Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
  • Celebration of the Southfield Christian Boys Basket Ball Teams Championship Tittle
  • The construction of a parking lot for a Buddhist Temple
  • A youth recreational facility at Northland Mall
An agenda and related documents can be found here.

Southfield City Council April 22, 2013 Committee of the Whole Meeting



Committee of the Whole Meeting for the Southfield City Council held in Southfield Michigan at 5:30 pm on April 22, 2013

Topics Include
  • The Smooth Jazz Festival
  • Application for a grant that would help allow for sidewalks in the Southfield Village Estates Neighborhood
An agenda and related documents can be found here

Southfield April 22, 2013 Special City Council Meeting



Special Meeting of the Southfield City Council held in Southfield Michigan on April 22, 2013 at 5:00 pm.

Topics Include
  • The Reconstruction of Evergreen Road 
  • Roundabouts
An agenda and related documents can be found here.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Temptation of Christ (Spoilers Big Buckets O' Spoilers)

Yeah I'm not talking about theology... much. Here but that last post got me to thinking why I like reality warpers in fiction so much. When done wrong they are literal deus ex machinas. See the title. But when done right they can be some of the deepest most introspective characters in fiction. Take the grand daddy of them all, Christ.

For the sake this post and avoiding theological flame wars let's look at the bible as a narrative. I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm not saying it did. If you really want to figure out my thoughts on religion you can just dig deep on this blog. I am talking about the narrative of the gospel.

Christ could have blinked his eventual death out of existence. His war on Rome wouldn't have even been a war. But no. He makes a conscious decision to go up on calvery. It is an interesting moment in the story. He has all this power but chooses not to abuse it.

I love moments like that in fiction. Moments where a character could instantly solve the conflict in the narrative but for a sensible, I repeat sensible, reason chooses not to.  Here are my top character/stories of that.

6. DRRR!: Anri
Okay first off DRRR! is weird. So I am summarizing a bunch of stuff better explained by the anime and novels. SPOILERS Anri is a young girl who has been possessed by a demon sword. Because she was physically and psychologically abused as a child she has trouble feeling the emotion of love, which is actually a good thing because it allows her to suppress the sword which shows it's love by doing what swords do.  Anybody it cuts goes nuts and turns into her zombie slave. Unknown to her the sword has a already cut someone turning them basically into a less emotionally balanced version of herself. Her entire arc is about learning when to just unleash the crazy.

It might sound weird but a crazy demon sword that makes zombies is the least of everyone's problems. Now a knife on the other hand.

It also doesn't hurt that apart from the love thing she is probably the second most sane and emotionally balanced character in the show.


She just wants to be normal but well. DRRR! In this show how sane you are can generally be measured as the inverse of how  actually "normal" you are. In the famous words of Dean Winchester, paraphrased. Humans. Monsters I get. But Humans. Humans will get you every time.


5. Trigun: Vash the Stamped

This is more or less the entire plot. So spoilers. Vash is an alien who or rather one of two genetic apoxes of humanity who crash landed on a desert planet with the remnants of the original. He is old. Due to events that are way better told in the story he becomes a pacifist in basically the space equivalent of the old west despite being the best damn shot in the history of the planet. If he wanted to he could solve literally every problem with sniper revolver shot to the head from 2 miles away. And he doesn't. Even though it causes him and his friends much misery.

Which is the point. There are times when even the audience wants him to shake off the limits of pacifism and just shoot the bastards. Eventually the plot starts to revolve around his evil twin brother trying to force him him to snap and just go on a rampage already by systematically dismantling everything he cares about including humanity.

4. Doctor Who: "The Waters of Mars": The Doctor
There is one rule to enjoying Doctor Who. Don't think about the mechanics of time travel. If you do you'll start to ask the question why doesn't the doctor just fix it. The series has a couple of reasons but they've never been too consistent about it.  Just nod and go along for the ride. "The Waters of Mars" is one of the best episodes where they tackled it.

It starts as basically a good yet normal episode. Doctor lands in strange place, monster starts killing, lots of running... Doctor doesn't save the day. Hmmm. And he goes ballistic until he realizes something. No one is left to call him on bending all of reality to his will.  The other Timelords are dead. He can do whatever the hell he wants. Which leads to him cracking and deciding. Do over. Regardless of how it changes reality. Do over. And then you get to see the results. Which aren't pretty.

The overall point being just you can reshape all of reality to your liking doesn't mean you should.


3. Angel: Illyria 
Illyria is basically an amoral Lisa. All the power. All the brains. And she starts as a villain. Before being contained she was worshiped as a goddess. She is introduced as being a nuke. The end of the world. There is nothing the heroes can really hope to do to stop her. The closest they come is nerfing her a bit but even that only somewhat leaves her nonplussed. They are still out of their league. What really mellows her out is time. Despite being an immortal reality warper worshiped as a goddess, her empire has fallen without her. She sees her own insignificance in the grand scheme of things and it messes with her mind. For her the idea that there are forces in the universe more powerful than her is a new one. Not the heroes mind you. Oh she destroys them. But there are.Time and by extension check out number one.

2. Supernatural:God
Any story involving Christian theology is going to have to deal with this and the problem of evil for that matter. Why doesn't God just blink all the bad guys to hell? Well that is an ongoing subplot in Supernatural, the second through fifth seasons dealing with the christian apocalypse. Eventually it's slowly revealed that Judgement Day has not been ordained by God and is really just the angels getting bored and suicidal. They have nothing better to do than destroy the garden so they do.  Hell the demons, with one exception aren't going to argue. They live for this kind of thing.  Let's get this shindig off the ground already!

The protagonists however want to stop THE END. Crazy humans and our notions of self preservation. They eventually decide that their best bet at stopping all of this is to call up the boss. See the angels are fatalists. Meaning to them if God really had a problem with their quirky plan to DESTROY THE WORLD, he would have made his reservations known.


I could make a glib joke about this but I'll just say it. God is one of the few entities I actually fear. Not just don't want to piss off because it makes my life easier. Actually piss my pants afraid of his wrath fear. I deal with the my crippling  fear of God with a firm belief of my own insignificance in the grand scale of the universe. Hopefully God has more important stuff to do than bonk me on the head, still I do not want to tick the big man off and in fiction anybody whose willing to throw that dice especially in a universe where it's firmly established he exists is kind of fascinating.

See this is where the problem of evil comes in. Whenever our protaginists have to appeal to the angels to knock it off with the revelation already. They go straight to the classic solution to the problem of evil. Free will. See the angels don't believe they have free will. Hell they barely believe humanity has free will.  Well a few do.


But ultimately that's  why it's so interesting.  We are the x-factor. Everybody knows every teams' playbook accept for ours, and a few defectors here and there. 

We small insignificant mortals are game changers! It's subtly hinted that God actually likes free will so he joins humanity in the form of...Chuck. Who says God is dead?

Chuck. Chuck. How to explain the metatexuality that is Chuck.

Okay. The best way is to just watch his intro episode, season 4 episode 18 "The Monster At The End of The Book".  Basically he sees the future and writes it. The prophet... Chuck. Yeah he's our John of Patmos. Chuck, the revelator.




Why am I spending so much time describing Chuck. Well there is a fan theory that nobody's managed to truely debunk that Chuck is God. See it's always played with how much he can affect what he writes. Unless you know... fate of all mankind, Chuck sits back and just lets things happen naturally but when the going gets tough well Chuck can write whatever ending to the story he wants and it's hinted that's what he does. And then returns to heaven.  "Horror is one thing but it's another to live through bad writing." God is the author of reality. For extra "huh" points he publishes under a portmanteau of two of the series's actual writers.

1. Supernatural: Death
Okay I'm cheating but death is a great character. His reason for not getting involved is simple. You know how I said I hoped I was too insignificant for the powers to be to take interest. Well most problems are too insignificant for Death to take interest. Oh sure, despite himself, he likes the heroes. A little. But he is not going to rearrange the cosmos for them and gets perturbed every time they ask.

Hell the only way to really get him involved is to point out that yes someone is messing with the natural order of things which which is the quickest way to get the anthropomorphism of man's greatest fear's attention, him being the only universal constant and all. Death is a bit of a traditionalist that way. Shit dies. It has to die. That can not change and should not in any way be fucked with! Do so at your own peril. Ask not for whom the bell tolls bitch.

Because if he really got ticked off to he could destroy the world, the heroes only really ring him up in most the dire of circumstances which makes his scenes all the more compelling. The guys are panicking pleading with him to do something and while he may throw them a bone every now and again he mostly reacts as if a really compelling plot is trite. The man has been around since the dawn of time and he has seen everything, worlds being born, worlds being destroyed, the creation of the universe. He is the alpha and omega. A few apes dying is not enough to get him out of  bed other than to you know do his job, which kind of requires an emotional detachment anyway. In other words you're mostly wasting your time bargaining with Death.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

A Quasi-Feminist Reading of Weird Science



Okay for most of today I've been going bonkers about Hackers ideas but if I haven't made it clear enough what sparked that was the possibility of a Weird Science remake. For those of you don't know Weird Science is a 1985 John Hughes movie about two nerds who through the power of technology. (Beat) Go with it. Create the woman of their dreams.

In an earlier blog post I said that done wrong this could be one of the most misogynistic movies ever written but Hughes managed it. Then as I usually do after I say my opinion on the internet. Cough insecurity cough. I searched the web for validation and low and behold. A lot of feminists hate this movie.

And as I often do I now decide to be contrary on the internet.

Before I continue let me say I am a guy. So yeah take that how you will. And furthermore as alluded to I can see how someone could say that Lisa is a magical sex object. My argument comes from the fact that I think she is by far one of the least submissive female characters in film history.

Okay. First let's start with this this. The idea of creating a woman is old. Really old. Like ancient Greek old. A classic tale that gets retold again. And again, and again and again and again is the story of Pygmalion. A dude basically creates a statue it comes to life and they fall in love.

Weird Science is basically that with computers and magic powers in the '80s. My point with all of that is is that if you want to pick apart Weird Science as being anti-feminist you kind of have to look at all those other stories. And for the record oh god have they been.  You can write a doctoral thesis on this type of thing and plenty of research has been done but I'm too lazy for that and come on I want to stick to  contemporary "popular" culture for now. Not story archetypes and cultural psycology bladdy bladdy baddy blah.

So why do I think this movie fits somewhat into feminism. I mean Lisa, our Galetea, is designed to be and somewhat is a sex object. The male gaze follows Kelly LeBrock around like well the male gaze.  Okay I will admit I am in no way qualified to discuss third wave feminism and sex positivity so I'll point you to some literature.

Beyond that why do I feel Lisa is a somewhat feminist protagonist. Because she drives the show. Literally. Gary and Wyatt our two male leads are more or less left on the sideline curled up into tiny balls for the majority of the movie, while she drives almost every major joke or plot point after her creation including a boozed up Anthony Michael Hall who thinks he's black. Yes as black man I will admit that joke is a little racist but damn that voice coming out of that mouth with that cigar is hilarious. He goes from "Lisa I don't think we belong here. " to


Lisa is portrayed as a being that is benevolent, yet completely and totally chaotic. Throughout the entire movie the guys are pretty much going "God oh God what have we done!" Because Lisa does things for the most part on her own terms. Again she does try to help the guys out but it's never portrayed as servitude. Quite the opposite there are times in the movie where she gets downright wrathful even with them. To use less academic references she's basically The Cat In The Hat, but with sex appeal and Wild Turkey. 

And this is what I'm talking about. People always viewed Lisa in the movie and out as being nothing but a flirtatious genie cough bimbo cough, but she's more than that. She is a flirtatious trickster genie. God I love a good trickster.


By the way if my admiration of Lisa's brains hasn't been made clear one of the the reasons why I love the trickster archetype is that they tend to raise the average IQ of any cast by 50 points, partially by skewing the curve and partially by forcing the writers to make other characters smarter just to keep up.
 
Yeah you can make the argument that she's still "serving the boys" here. But well she is probably the most important character, arguably the protagonist and generally you want them to be, "likable". And I know you're saying but Miles you're assigning her a role. My response: It's fiction. Every character has a role. And the role of likeable protagonist would be necessary regardless of her gender, especially considering omnipotence. She's too powerful to make her anymore "self motivated" and make the story work. At that point the boys would have to actively work against her rather than literally hide in a closet. It might make for an interesting story though.


And as I tried to make clear she is smarter than just about any other character in the story. You know, now that I'm thinking of it I kind of do want to see what happens with an evil Lisa. X-files Season 7 Episode 21.



Where was I. Right, Lisa is a good... well benevolent genie. In an almost sisterly manner she wants what's best for the boys, but she's just not going to give it to them on silver platter especially when they aren't far enough along in their character development to really understand what she is giving them is the self confidence to have fun and stand up for themselves. Teach a man to fish yada yada yada. More over her agenda isn't just about the guys. She also really wants to have fun and gets annoyed when the guys won't get over themselves enough to let the good times roll.

Yeah sure she'll do what they want but only too a point. The third act is almost entirely about them realizing that her "obedience" is mostly just polite cooperation. When she decides enough with the cajoling and meek suggestion the audience sees all of it was mostly just an illusion for the sake of civility. She's going to do what she wants guys' wishes be damned and the best they can hope for is to ride the wave rather than be drowned by it.

See, Lisa is a reality warper. Every weird thing that happens in this movie with the exception of her creation and the "sequel" so to speak happens because she willed it. EVERY WEIRD THING. I don't want to spoil the climax but keep that in mind.  Most of it ties in to her two primary goals. Having fun and getting the two other leads to grow a pair.

Remake Projector: Hackers

Okay so I heard that they were remaking Wierd Science. I'm not the type of guy to shouts, "Hey remakes are awful. Why fix it if it aint broke," but I do have a few apprehensions. This movie is in a class of what I call spiritual period pieces. By that I mean what makes the movie endearing and not god awful are the traits it has because of time in which it was made. On paper the plot could be the most misogynistic piece of shit ever, but John Hughes managed to catch lighting in a bottle and make it empowering to a generation of nerds. Oingo Boingo and Kelly LeBrock didn't hurt. I doubt it could be done again.



But you know a movie screaming to be remade. Hackers. I love that movie. Or rather the first half of that movie. It is bad though. And moreover dated. Not dated in the cool nostalgic aww  yeah  "let's break out the glow sticks way" (This movie introduced me to The Prodigy to this day one of my favorite music acts). Dated in the "I can't believe we actually thought like that" way.


So how would I remake it.

Set it in Grad School Instead of High School
This fixes so many of the movies problems. Some of the characters come off as spoiled teenaged because in the movie that's what they are. Kate's mom is rich and lets Kate do whatever the hell she wants.  I get that the attitude is suppose to be somewhat nerdy wish fulfillment, but when you stop and think about it, Dade and Kate are kind of assholes. Most of the other characters are mostly likable but these are our two leads. I think aging them up would allow for them to have moments where the positively insane amounts of freedom they have kind of make sense, and could at the same time reveal more character depth.

Furthermore it was always nuts to me that these kids who only started programing maybe three years ago could outwit a million dollar megacorp that probably has guys who have been at since the old push card days.

Setting the story in grad school would allow the characters the experience and equipment to do the mega awesome stuff the plot calls for, rather than waving your hands and saying computers. Which leads to.

Realistic Computing
One of the reasons why I think a remake of this movie could be poignant is because cyber war is now a thing. We know the kinds of things someone wanting to disrupt a nation or business' computers would target.  And that stuff could be really interesting.  What Plague was trying to do in original really didn't matter. The plot wasn't about how the heroes are going to stop cyber terrorism. That wasn't the point. The point was look how cool they look while stopping terrorism. I think however that yeah. A movie about white hats is a plot worth exploring.  Especially after the South Korean thing.



The Plot
Okay. After thinking about it I want to take the bear bones of the plot and make it work. Here I go go. Dade Murphy has recently begun his post graduate research at a well respected technical University in Washington DC. An accident in the lab causes the university's computers to go hey wire resulting in not only Dade's expulsion from the program, but the university's decision to temporally suspend operations of the computer science research lab entirely.

This causes a rift between him and his former friends who are left in the learch. When major cyber attacks begin to occur they however see it as an opportunity to get the Computer Science program reinstated by getting the government to use it as a technical consultant in discovering the source of the attacks.

(Yeah this is where I said, "Screw it. I'm just going to write it" so I'm stopping soon.)

Because of Dade's actions and a wariness of hackers in general the government distrusts the protagonists, but because of the university's reputation believes that they are one the closest and best qualified research institutions available for this type of work.

While some but not all of his old friends are begrudgingly on speaking terms with him, it's clear he's not getting anywhere near that school again. As a result the guys behind the cyber attacks approach him to be a mole.

Hackers Remake Screenplay Start

Yeah so a while back I started writing a blog post about how Hackers needs a remake way more than Weird Science. And thought, "You know what? Screw it. If I'm going to do this I might as well do it right, damn it." This is mostly just a start to keep me from forgetting some of the ideas I had in my head.




Hackers (Remake)
By Greg Miles


INT. KATE'S APRTMENT
In a dark room a woman, KATE LIBBY in her late 20'or early 30's s is talking on a cell phone while drinking coffee occasionally glancing at a computer screen. She has short hair. Apart from her computer the only other light in her room is a lava lamp. On a shelf in the back in the room there is a small fish bowl with a goldfish.

While this is her home she also has a small room in the back that she uses to house the server of her small internet start up. She's taking a semester break from her graduate studies. She has a part time job but has created an internet startup mostly as a way to keep her mind busy.

//I probably should put more thought into what it does but it's completely irrelevant to the plot and as I think about it if I had a good idea I wouldn't be writing about it. Mine my own my precious.

KATE LIBBY
You know I think I'm going to pack it in.

(Pause, for the other end of the conversation.)

KATE LIBBY (Cont'D)
I had my fun but this is getting boring
 and that was always the plan anyway.
I just needed a break in the real world for a while.
 I won't sell it but I will close it.
Maybe I'll restart it later or something.

(Kate hangs up and puts her cell phone on her desk taking a last swig of coffee before diverting her attention to a computer monitor. The audience sees a shot of her face aglow as she realizes what she is seeing.)

Cut to

Ext. A BAGEL SHOP

//Okay so I'm writing this before breakfast and am a bit hungry.

Sitting beneath an umbrella on a sidewalk is a man in a leather jacket working on a laptop DADE MURPHY, talking to another man with rose colored sun glasses, MUNICK BLANKENSHIP also known as MANNY also known as CEREAL KILLER both in their mid to late 20's.


MUNICK BLANKENSHIP(MANNY)
(Cutting a bagel)Dade What are you doing?

DADE MURPHY
Hacking a server.

MANNY
What the hell man!
You're going to get caught.

DADE
I am not going to get caught.
Plus all these assholes need to be taught a lesson.

MANNY
Oh not this again.
Just let it go bro.

DADE
No. Look I get it most people are morons and I can forgive that. But these companies
 just leave the keys in the
ignition. This 'ill learn 'em. (beat)Da Fuck

MANNY
Let me guess. The key's just got taken
out of the ignition. You gonna eat that?
(Manny points to Dade's egg and bacon sandwich.)

DADE
You know what? Screw it.

//Dade didn't actually get any information on the server, but he's an asshole soo...

Cut To
INT. KATE'S APARTMENT

KATE is frantically shutting down her server having realized that she has been hacked. While she is very focused it is also very apparent that she is pissed as all hell. She was going to abandon the project anyway and still is but this takes all of that off of her terms. Before she was leaving because she was getting bored now she just doesn't want to have to deal with this shit.

There is a quick close up on her cell phone as a text message pops up from a Crash Override who unbeknownst to her is Dade Murphy.
TEXT
You really need to up your game.

She puts the cell phone down as she considers just letting it go, but she is to angry for that. She starts to type on her phone but stops for a second.

She rummages around her room for an old prepaid cell phone with texting that she has.

//Okay I know it's a contrivance but work with me here. Let's just say she has a couple because she likes tinkering and leave it at that.

You can see a close up on the phone which includes her thumbs as she types

TEXT (FROM KATE)
You have tread on my domain
and now you must suffer.

TEXT (FROM DADE)
Mess with the best get destroyed like the rest.

TEXT (FROM KATE)
Fuck Off

TEXT (FROM DADE)
You know there is a way out off this for you.
I won't publish what I got off your server if you shut it down.

TEXT (FROM KATE)
Godddamn it! Fine.
TRACKING SHOT FROM KATE'S
 SERVER ROOM TO HER FRONT DOOR AREA

Kate mostly agrees because she was going to shut down the server anyway. After unplugging the server, she grabs a jacket and a motorcycle helmet off of a shelf by her apartment door.

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE KATE"S APARTMENT
I want a close up of her locking the door. With the last shot before opening credits being on the doorknob.
//Okay I know she should go to the cops but that creates a whole lot of plot holes for what I have planned so no. Let's just say she doesn't want to deal with that and angrily lets it go.

Cut to Opening Credits
Cue Orbital. While the credits roll I want a surreal animation detailing the history of numbers and computers. The key word being surreal. It is being set to Orbital. 

Edit: You know on second thought I think I want to set the opening to "In For the Kill" The Danger's Ocean Mix. Then again maybe the Let's Get Ravey Mix. Let's break out the glowsticks.

Facebook Comments

Note: These Comments are from all across this blog.