Acting against ACTA

ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is ostensibly supposed to cut down on illegal pirating of copyrighted materials. It's full of ridiculous baggage and demands, but the most alarming provision is the "three strikes and you're out" rule, where if someone is accused (not convicted) of three or more acts of copyright infringement, the international body can have that person banned from the internet for life.

That's pretty sick. I don't think I could live without the internet. Admittedly, it'd make me slightly more productive, but a lot more isolated and miserable in the process.

Read more at www.anti-acta.com. The most level-headed report I've read on it was here. He makes it sound a little less dire, but is still rightly concerned about it.

ACTA has been worked on, largely in secret (but with several big leaks), for the past two or three years, and unless people speak up against it on a large scale, it's likely to be completed and signed in the remaining months of 2010.

Here's an amusing video on the subject, by someone who's very good at angry ranting:



This one's less amusing, and a bit calmer:


International protests are planned for Sept 18 and Nov 5.  There's a online petition to Stop ACTA. Annoying letters to various government personages  and media editors probably wouldn't hurt either, if you've got a few minutes to spare to help ensure the internet doesn't go away any time soon.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and Lovecraft

It just crossed my mind how much the Gospel writers have in common with HP Lovecraft...

Howard Phillips Lovecraft		Gospelists
Borrowed heavily from Poe, Machen, Dunsany, Chambers, etc, but cast their work in a different context. Introduced unpronouncible alien Gods that couldn't care less about you, but will still probably devour you one day.		Borrowed heavily from the Old Testament, but cast it in a different context. Introduced a less-hellfire-y "love your neighbors" version of YHWH.
Encouraged other writers to borrow his characters, props, and themes for their own work. Would have been a big fan of the modern concept of "Open Source".		Don't seem to give a damn who uses their characters, or what words they put in his mouth.
Featured main characters typically doomed to go insane, sacrifice themselves, be reanimated, and/or disappear into the Dreamlands.		Featured a main character who sacrificed himself, rose from the dead, and then ascended to a higher plane.
Wrote bleak tales in which mankind was doomed to be destroyed once "The Stars Are Right".		Wrote Revelations.
Preoccupied with genealogy, tracing nearly all his main characters back to Obed Marsh of Innsmouth, and the inbred Whatley clan.		Preoccupied with genealogy, tracing Christ's lineage back to King David through two contradictory paths.
August Derleth took over after Lovecraft's death. Controlling what got published, and adding Elemental trappings to the Mythos that weren't in the original tales, and insisting his interpretation is the correct one. Many fans, however, consider his additions rubbish.		Take your pick: The apostle Paul. The Pope. The First Nicean Council. The King James Version.
Despite the original author's laxness regarding copyright, there's still been some conflict over it amongst later generations. My favorite example involves the first edition of Deities & Demigods, an old D&D Book, which included the Cthulhu Mythos. TSR was sued and asked to remove it by a rival gaming company who claimed to have the exclusive license to Lovecraft's work.		Despite the message of love and acceptance, we still got Witch-burnings, Crusades, The Spanish Inquisition, etc.
Name dropped the Necronomicon, a fictional tome, into nearly every story for verisimilitude across his entire body of work. Later, he was surprised to receive letters from slightly unhinged people who thought it was real, not just some wicked shit he'd dreamed up to make his intertwined stories extra creepy.		??? I'm biting my tongue.

Zombie Debt

Looking at this WikiHow article, it's really hard to muster up the strength of character to not go in and add "Step #1: Don't let Zombies do you any favors." I mean, it's a wiki, after all. I could just... go... so tempting...

How to Deal With Zombie Debt

Collecting old debts - even debts that you aren't legally responsible for - is becoming a very profitable venture. Companies can buy those debts (sometimes referred to as "junk debt") for pennies to the dollar, then go after the people who they think are most likely to pay up. A phone call can turn into badgering, harassment, threats to sue, and other inappropriate (and sometimes illegal) actions. If you ever get a collector asking you to pay up on a debt that's "come back to life", here's how to make sure your rights aren't violated.

As I look at that picture, I can't help but think: "How'd that zombie's head get dunked in gray house paint?"

The Pitch for The Lesser Of Two Evils

I've got a new idea for a series. It's a little bit West Wing, a little bit The Prisoner, and a touch of Lovecraft. For the moment I'll call it "The Lesser Of Two Evils". I'll make it open-source as well (like The Gods Of Troy), in case any Hollywood producers stumble across this blog. All I ask for is acknowledgement in the credits. Here's the concept in a nutshell:

1st Season: A young idealistic person runs for the big office and against all odds becomes President of the United States. The season starts with the last couple hurdles of his campaign, and he's sworn in mid-season. We see him fight the good fight, a rockin' first 100 days in office. But eventually, he gets worn down and loses his defiant rebel spark. Not just the result of washington politics as usual, but for more sinister reasons. Much like Twin Peaks, the story starts out looking like a mundane drama but eventually pans open to reveal terrible inhuman monstrosities. Lovecraftian demons inhabit the hallowed halls of congress and the white house, and he must battle for the fate of his very soul, as evil can be so seductive. He lies (to congress!), he cheats, he bombs random nations, he sins terribly because the ends justifies the means, or so he tells himself. Plans even cross his desk to fake a terrorist attack upon the US to justify declaring martial law. The last episode of the season ends with him realizing his many mistakes and atoning by sacrificing himself to prevent the veil between worlds ripping open and unleashing the hordes of hell upon a largely unsuspecting populace. He dies a true hero.

2nd Season: Much to the viewer's surprise, we open to a shot of the President who gave his life in the previous season. He's much older now, wiser, more weathered. Somehow he survived his ordeal, and the world doesn't know how close it came to destruction. He's no longer in office. Instead, a close friend and confidant, perhaps his best friend, or even his wife, is running for office, and he's stumping for them on the campaign trail. We expect a similar set-up, as the first episode of the season parallels that of the first of the previous season. But instead, the campaign section just drags on. It never transitions to the white house - this season takes a noneuclidean path, as the same footage gets used again and again with only minor variation. It's like a timeloop has swallowed reality. Eventually, near the end of the Season, we learn it's not really the President we loved from Season One. It's not really the First Lady who stood by his side regardless of the supernatural entities that threatened him, nor the drastic measures he took to fight them. Both have been replaced by bloodthirsty Simulacra, horrible soul-less false-humans, designed to distract and divert the nation from the coming apocalypse. They've been completely co-opted by the very forces they tried to battle in Season 1. This season has no hero, and the ending is just a bitter tragedy.

Problem is, I'm not sure whether this plays better as horror-fiction, or just a documentary.

Artsy and pointless, but kinda pretty

I hope that's okay.



I'm gonna have a carry a tripod with me everywhere now, 'cause that would have been so much cooler if the shots weren't so shaky.

I'm optimistic for once

Reading the wikipedia article quoted below really made me happy and optimistic. I have long believed the existing intelligence agency structures are too insular, too shadowy, and too corrupt for my tastes. As I've said numerous times, I strongly suspect our own government had a participatory hand in 9/11, and any program that shines light on such, or better yet makes it less likely similar attrocities will occur in the future, is something I'd like to salute. I'm very happy to read evidence suggesting they may be opening the doors of the Intelligence Community, even if it's just being opened to greater levels of internal peer-review: this is a step in the right direction.

Here are some explanatory excerpts from Wikipedia on Intellipedia:

Intellipedia is a project of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
...
Intellipedia uses MediaWiki, the same software used by the Wikipedia free-content encyclopedia project.^[1] ODNI officials say that the project will change the culture of the U.S. intelligence community, widely blamed for failing to "connect the dots" before the attacks of September 11, 2001.
...
Intellipedia was at least partially inspired by an essay competition set up by the CIA - later taken over by the DNI - that encouraged any employee at any intelligence agency to submit new ideas to improve information sharing. The first essay selected was by Calvin Andrus
...
Andrus' essay argued that the real power of the Internet had come from the boom in self-publishing, and noted how the open-door policy of Wikipedia allowed it to cover new subjects quickly.
^...
The project was greeted initially with "a lot of resistance," said Wertheimer, because it runs counter to past practice that sought to limit the pooling of information.^[10] He said there are risks in everything that everyone does, "the key is risk management, not risk avoidance." Some encouragement has been necessary to spur contributions from the traditional intelligence community
...
The wiki provides so much flexibility that several offices throughout the community are using it to maintain and transfer knowledge on daily operations and events. Anyone with access to read it has permission to create and edit articles after registering and acquiring an account with Intelink. Since Intellipedia is intended to be a platform for harmonizing the various points of view of the agencies and analysts of the Intelligence Community, Intellipedia does not enforce a neutral point of view policy.^[16] Instead, viewpoints are attributed to the agencies, offices, and individuals participating, with the hope that a consensus view will emerge.
...
Deputy DNI Thomas Fingar made a comparison to eBay, the auction Web site where the reliability of sellers is rated by buyers. He said he hoped Intellipedia would reward analysts whose judgments most often turned out to be correct. Or, he said, "if you are an idiot, we want that made known."

Maybe, just maybe, we as a society will crawl out from under the jackboots one of these days.

Don't Breathe - Or Make Pyramids

The best reason against world government - arguably more immediately relevant than conspiratorial bankers - is that it would be government of the lowest common denominator. Stupidity is undeniable, no matter your stance on conspiracy.
Case in point: Check out this nonsense from Egypt:

Egypt to Copyright Pyramids
by Rayad Abou Awad

CAIRO (AFP) - In a potential blow to themed resorts from Vegas to Tokyo, Egypt is to pass a law requiring payment of royalties whenever its ancient monuments, from the pyramids to the sphinx, are reproduced.
...
"The new law will completely prohibit the duplication of historic Egyptian monuments..."
...
"If the law is passed then it will be applied in all countries of the world so that we can protect our interests," Hawass said.

Attempting to copyright something your ancestors built 5,000+ years ago is pretty ridiculous.

Later this afternoon, I shall be attempting to copyright Oxygen. It's made by plants, which I share a common microbial-soup ancestor with, if you look back far enough. From then on, all modern plants will owe me royalties or be guilty of infringing my process. In addition, if you humans want to breathe oxygen, you'll have to buy it from one of my authorized vendors. If you pirate any oxygen, my lawyers will sue you under international copyright law. I'm lookin' at you, Jake. See you in court!

i F they only had a brain

Last night Sci Fi ran the entirety of their new miniseries, Tin Man, back-to-back-to-back. With commercials it was 6 hours long. The first 4 were a fun frolick. The 5th hour was flawed, but still lovable. The 6th hour left me wishing the power had gone out 4.5 hours into it. Then I could have imagined my own ending that would have been cooler.

WARNING: Significant Spoilers will be in hard-to-read white text. If you haven't seen Tin Man and may still want to, make sure you don't read the white letters. If you've seen the show and want to read my thoughts and insights, either highlight everything below or paste this whole post into a text editor.

Good things: With the exception of the bulleted complaints below, the directing was solid enough. The acting was superior to most of the Sci Fi channel exclusives, and Zooey Deschanel channeled Judy-Garland-in-a-leather-jacket better than I'd have expected. The budget was clearly high, and the special effects were pretty decent (but neither breaktaking nor seamless). The Nazi, steampunk, film noir and western elements were for the most part appropriate and fun additions to the Oz-like setting. The first 4 hours of the spot-the-reference game was quite engaging.

Bad things: Here's some things that bugged me about the show Tin Man:

• Inconsistent Camera Work. Overall, most of the camera work was fairly mundane and predictable, which meant that the few artsy shots really stood out. If used as such for a reason, this would be fine, but instead there was zero meaning to any of the artsy compositions or affects. This is a mostly trivial gripe, but I'll say this: If your film features weird-looking sci-fi guns that are in fact just normal guns, don't use a bullet's point-of-view the very first time they are shot. Especially don't have that bullet POV trace a slightly crooked path through the air, or else the viewer may think you have heat-seeking bullets. I also think it was silly that the fistfight in the ice palace inexplicably used camera work that felt like a drugged-out POV, but the scene where everybody was doing drugs in the nightclub didn't.
• Inconsistent Tone: Most of the time, the film was trying to be a dark and gritty version of the Wizard of Oz. That was admirable. Though it wasn't perfect, to be sure. As horrific as the concept of the Tin Man's torture was, it didn't hold a candle to the sick and disturbing Tin Man backstory of the original novel. Every so often it would suddenly devolve into the campiness of the Judy Garland musical. In particular, the way Glitch would be a total clutz in one scene, then a badass kung fu master in the next, (then back to clutz again later) really didn't resonate for me, even with his brain problems. If you're going to alter the tone and theme of the subject matter, really do so. Flipfloppage and half-committal doesn't aid the artistry of your vision.
• Undermined by Homage: I like Syncretism in my art, so I was okay with the idea of it being a darker version of Wizard of Oz, with elements of Film Noir and Westerns woven in, and a rebels-vs-Nazis plot overlay. When the repeated direct and overt homages started, I thought they were pretty cool. Here's the references I caught: roughly in order of appearance: 2 to Lost, 2 to Return of the Jedi, 1 to Dark City (plus numerous repeated thematic references later), 1 to Casablanca, 1 to Temple of Doom, 1 to Empire Strikes Back, 1 to The Two Towers (could have been Fellowship or Return of the King, hard to say), 1 to Star Wars: A New Hope (and another a couple hours later), 1 to Band of Brothers, 1 to Dark Crystal, 1 to Classic Trek (the Season 3 episode titled "Spock's Brain"). I feel like there were a few I missed, since nearly an hour went by without an homage in episode 3. I was totally digging these, until around the end of the 5th Hour of the show. That's when they revealed that the Wizard of Oz references weren't just a heavy homage or parallel, but rather that the Outer Zone was literally the land of Oz as of 3, 6, or roughly-25 generations post-Dorothy, depending on which of the film's 3 time-indicating references you use (those being eras of the classic film, the original novel, or the witch's "I've been waiting 500 years for this" comment). As a film packed with references and influences, of which Oz was merely the strongest, I really enjoyed it. Once they'd said this actually is Oz, it made the other homages seem out of place. It also made me apply a new level of analysis to everything that had occurred in the past 5 hours. Post-analysis, I just couldn't accept that this was the world of Oz - certain developments had no simple logical path to get where they were, and other cannonical elements of Oz were ignored completely when they should have either been present or been explained away. I was also disappointed by the lack of even a single overt reference to Zardoz, which I think would have cutely brought the postmodern sci-fi referentialism full-circle - a perfect opportunity they sadly failed to capitalize upon.
• Incompletely realized ideas: I'll keep this complaint simple. If you're going to show warpaint-wearing ewok-referencing xenophobic munchkins in the first hour and list them amongst the rebellion's forces, you better have them show up on the rebellion's side at the Death Star battle later. The munchkins are the worst example of this, but there were a few other oddities that either failed to follow through or didn't get enough screen time to make sense. Much of the show felt like an overview, where things were referenced but rarely resolved. Yet since the main plot wrapped and all badguys were defeated, there's no desire to revisit and get the detailed explanations.
  
• The name. Tin Man would be a fine name for a show revolving around said character, but since this was really all about D.G. and Azkadalia, it was a misleading title. They wouldn't have named that story "Glitch" or "RAW" or "Toto", so they shouldn't have named it "Tin Man".
• Trail of bread-crumbs. It felt more like an ongoing RPG campaign than a mini-series plotline. I like RPGs, but this wasn't a well-crafted campaign, it was a fairly linear "A sends you to B who sends you to C who sends you to D" computer-RPG guild-quest kind of thing. The Good Queen's conspiracy also involved too many possible leaks, and too much reliance on chance. They explained that away ala Dark Crystal-style prophetic declarations. They never clearly told us who the prophets were and rather than ancient prophecies, they were clearly made within D.G.'s lifetime.
  
• Sci Fi needs more sponsors. I know this isn't the fault of Tin Man's writers or director, so it's a bit unfair for me to list it here. Just the same, I'd guess there were 150-200 commercials in those 6 hours. Yet there were 3 of them that aired at least 30 times each. Those 3 spots made up at least 40% of the commercials shown. During the first couple hours this was okay, we made dinner and talked about the show, so we weren't paying much attention while the ads were playing. But when it got late around the 4.5 hour mark, Sarah had the good sense to go to bed. This left me alone for the last 1.5 hours, with each of those 3 ads appearing at least 6 times in that span. I tried real hard to ignore them, but this morning I feel somehow strangely compelled to eat chocolate cake while stacking rows of ipod-dominoes on the back of my new pet pony.

In summary: While I enjoyed the first 4 hours a lot, the last 1/3rd of the miniseries mostly ruined all the good stuff that went before it. Maybe this wouldn't have been a problem if I'd waited till it comes out on Netflix: Spared of the painful commercial breaks in which to analyze the holes, I may have been able to keep my disbelief suspended. What started out a rich and complex tapestry turns instead to be a threadbare and derivative patchwork quilt.

The pitch for Gods of Troy

The events of my life do not seem to be leading to me becoming a major television writer or producer, so I've decided it's safe for me to talk about this idea I've been nurturing for a while. If you are a major television producer, and you'd like to buy my idea, I can be reached via email at my account name (here) at yahoo. :) But really, feel free to use this idea. All I ask is credit for the structural concept and notification that you're doing something with it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. The pictures below are all, to the best of my knowledge, copyright-free.

---

Gods of Troy is a TV series I would love to see. (I'm tempted to write it, since I've got the time on my hands, ...but lets face it, a professional writer would probably do a better job. This is an idea that deserves to be done better than I have the resources to accomplish.)

It would cover the totality of Trojan War myths in 3 seasons. (And I prefer a name like Gods of Illium, or even The Gods of Troad, but I'll concede that the first name I listed is more likely to draw in viewers. Trojan Gods is right out, despite the branding opportunities. *snicker*).

Every major Troy-related myth shows up in the show. This isn't just the Illiad, it's all of the "history" of the Trojan war. Kypria, Illiad, Athiopis, Illiopersis, Odyssey, Telegony, Aeneid, etc.

(Since I've talked about Wilken's before, I should mention this show is in the traditional Greco-inspired mythic setting. It's not about the Celts. The only Wilken's nod would be in making it clear that the Achaeans and Trojans share a common culture and gods.)

The show would be authentic, artsy, and very detailed, in those ways not unlike HBO's Rome. However, in this show, the myths would be reality, or at least have some level of truth, so various creatures and magicks would be shown, and the Gods would play a part. Historically accuracy would be important in as far as costumes, props, and the sort of ways that Peter Jackson's LOTR was "historically" accurate. We show the cultures and the customs accurately and in-depth, but favor myth and drama over exacting realism.

The Gods would be major players. But we'd avoid the cheesy "guy floating in the clouds" and "aged Zeus playing chess with little statues of the heroes" metaphors that were done to death in early films. We want a new angle that sets the show apart. So, the gods are omnipresent, all-pervasive and inscrutable.

The Gods would be shown in every scene. Not every shot, mind you, but their quiet presence would be shown somewhere in every scene. Every act of Heroism or Hubris would have at least one God or Goddess observing it. Unless a character does something to make the gods abandon them, in which case their absence should stand out - so we make the gods a constant presence before that.

The gods are mute. They maneuver against each other, they support various factions, but they do so without spoken words. They stand quietly in shots, observing and silently guiding the action. They kill for their own reasons, which we have to infer from context and action. Despite the major plot points being well-known, this is still a show that requires you to think.

Most mortal characters cannot see them. They do not know if the gods favor them or plan their destruction, but the viewer knows from the Gods silent emoting. Most of the characters must take it on faith. When Aries storms the battlefield, slaughtering soldiers, we learn that a mortal can see the divine in the moment when that God strikes them down.

Near the end of the 3rd season, when Athena appears before Odysseus as a small child, we see the mortal babe walking about lightly and aimlessly. We see Athena come up behind the child. Athena rests a hand on her shoulder, and the child straightens. The child speaks with the voice of the actress playing Athena.

Every episode follows a handful of characters, and the God or Goddess who dictates that portion of their lives and interactions. For the sake of artistic iconography, I'd be tempted to make each episode from the point of view of 2 mortals and 1 divine, but I think that method would sometimes break down. What's important is that the cast be ensemble, with various people getting the spotlight in different episodes. No mortal character appears in every single episode, but a few Gods might.

The stories feature not only established myths, but also new subplots derived from analysis of those myths from the modern lens. For example, if King Priam had 50 sons, what are the implications and impact of that upon Hector and Paris? If Heracles alone had sacked Troy a generation ago, what does this do to the mindset of the Trojans? Exploring such issues allows us to fill out the length of the season, reference lost poems of antiquity, and provide some unexpected turns.

Gods of Troy follows chronological order, more-or-less, but is not a slave to it. Episodes generally espouse a linear chronology, but just because we've seen something that happens in year 9 of the war doesn't mean we can't backtrack for the next episode. This is particularly important because otherwise Odysseus would have too much screen-time in the last half of the last season. Again, this isn't Homer, it's Homer plus all the rest of Trojan Myth.

In my next post I'll detail a brief season synopsis / episode guide.

The Pitch for Camera Man

The idea is a series of short films. Super short, like 20 seconds to 3 minutes each. They tell the tale of a superhero named Camera Man. He has one super power for certain - that being the camera in his bellybutton. Anything else you want to add is fair game.

Think short super-hero stories, but filmed from the point of view of the camera in the Hero's belly. Each film would be one or two quick riffs on the superhero genre, filmed from this weird (almost dutch) angle. You'd save on special effects by never having to show the hero himself, and being able to simulate powers just at the edges of the camera's vision. People hundreds of miles apart could make chapters, since we'd never see the hero's face. But you would have to be careful when filming around reflective surfaces.

I have a lot of ideas about this. Gimmicks that could be done. I'll type some up in the comments so that those who'd rather be entertained can skip them till they see a film. Those who want to do the entertaining can read the comments and add their own Camera Man ideas.

But I've got no camera - so I'm putting this out there. Anyone can film a chapter in the adventures of Camera Man. If you do, please mention Rolfe Bergstrom and repeated expletives in your credits. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

(We'll also need a catchy Camera Man theme tune that could be posted here for future film-makers to use in their Camera Man episodes. Anyone reading got musical talents? I know "What Silence" does. A superhero theme might be outside your established genres, but what is art without challenges?)

Movie ramble

The following is a ramble, as opposed to a rant. A rant involves anger, and I'm just not feeling high-strung today. Feigning rage on Nomiblog took it all out of me for this week. It's kind of a lengthy ramble, and if you're looking to be entertained, just skip it and go to the earlier post about Antoine Delaartiste, or skim this article and click on the links...

I was reading Brendan Riley's blog and specifically his post about Open Source, the Movie! and it triggered something. But likely that'll be another post. Here's the context of the thought process that led to it....

My buddy Jake has sworn off clone movies and Pizza Face Death. (Sorry, no PFD link available)

I used to make various improv movies. But my camera's non-functional and way out of date.

And I gave up on impromptu movies in Albuquerque after a really disappointing Pizza Face Death birthday party. Like 4 people showed up to drop off presents and leave, saying "I don't want to be on camera". That's after 25 to 30 people had been given printed invitations saying "Don't bring presents. Being in a Pizza Face Death film will be your gift to me. I'll even feed you for your efforts." So I stopped trying.

I'll agree with Jake about clones. They and bondage have been done to death, then done to undeath, staked, done again, beheaded, then on the third day back from the grave and done again. I enjoy the old films, but there was precious little design space left in that concept. (Though Jake could still make me happy by digitizing the third film and sticking it on youTube. And Audie requested the second one. Hint, hint.)

But I still love Pizza Face Death, and hope to make another one some day. I think X would be great in one. The man learned how to tell a joke somewhere, and I bet he's got lots more cool things rattling around in that head of his. Maybe make a PFD at the 20 year reunion? X? Brad? Daved? Can I get your support here?

Jake had one really good point against PFD, though. When you're searching youTube or Google and you see 2 films that match your search criteria, do you watch the 30-MINUTE film (like most of the PFDs) or do you watch the 1 minute 15 second film that's listed next to it? Seeing as how I still haven't watched Tasha's episode of that Star Trek spin-off, I have to concede his point. (I've got a weekly movie group, maybe I'll watch it with them next week)

When I'm just looking to kill a couple minutes, I grab the laptop. When I want to watch something longer, I pull out my DVD player & TV. So, assuming Jake and I aren't alone in that pattern, it seems anything I make will have to be a lot shorter. 'Cause it's just cooler if people out there are actually watching your films. Either way, I gotta get the camera fixed, or buy a new one, before I can do anything.

While I like Brendan's idea of the Open Source movie, I don't think I have the skills to coordinate such a project. I'd take a shot at scripting a scene or two, though. Maybe filming something when my camera situation improves.

And it was with all that in my mind that I hit upon the pitch for Camera Man.