199- In Celebration of a Paid Gig

I have a paid gig doing almost creative stuff.  It is probably closer to 10 gigs, pay and creativity levels are still up in the air.  But it is mine, all I have to do now is satisfy the expectations of the customer and my skill/desires for the project.  If you have heard about it specifically then good for you, I may be enlisting your (non-paid) assistance in the future, if you haven't then I'll tell you more about it when its done.

1.  I want my work to be seen by lots of people.  

2.  I want it to be loved, I want it to be hated, I want it to be worthy of time and opinion. 

I am starting to realize that I don't have the talent or resources to do both.

I was reviewing the new youtube layout and I noticed the view count for Management Material.... it's pitiful.  Now even at the time I was making it I knew Management Material was super long and not very pretty to look at, but it had heart and I am so proud of it.  One day I swear I am going to go back and make a really solid 15 minute version of it.  It was relevant too, if anything it was a couple months ahead of its time.  

My new project does not need Management Material, it needs about 80 versions of this and I can barely watch that, let alone make it.  

HamilTEN Gaming- Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days

YouTube!

(I have a very large video project coming up, thought I should do some test stuff just to practice. This is part of that test)

HamilTEN Gaming: Kane and Lynch 2

This is the first of hopefully many installments of hamilTEN gaming, looking at some of the current gaming experiences you can have for under ten dollars. The games in this series will be played until we decide whether it’s worth buying and at what price. We will be taking a look at Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, which was found in a Blockbuster liquidation for 8 dollars.

Kane and Lynch is a third person shooter with online/splitscreen cooperative campaign and a very interesting visual presentation. There are other multiplayer modes but on the Xbox 360 it seemed like other players were nonexistent.

In Kane and Lynch 2 you play as wife beater mullet guy or less interesting dress shirt guy. They swear a lot and are some type of criminals. The story is mostly a criminal on the run type of thing and involves as much generic gore and crude language as the developers can throw at it.

The story and characters are ignorable but the graphics definitely aren’t. Everything is a bit on the generic side but it is coated in tons of digital video filters that make the whole experience look like an episode of cops shot on a cellphone camera. Shockingly the gimmick works and adds a sense of urgency to the shouting and shooting.

The gameplay is a loose gears of war style third person shooter. Things feel imprecise but it seems with the perpetual forward motion that the affect was intended. There is really only one path through every encounter and the answer its always shoot and move forward. Some of the non-shooting mechanics such as reviving a fallen partner are not implemented well and can result in some unnecessary restarts.

For what the game is the sound is well done. Guns and other effects have a meaty and slightly too loud sound which fits the setting and embedded camera person style graphics. Voice acting is competent although the script leans heavily on the 7 words you don’t say on television. The music is random chaos broken up by a random generic 80’s sounding pop song.

Mainly purchased this game due to the price and my interest in the graphical style, both areas the game succeeds with everything else being competent. The competitive multiplayer modes look very interesting, but if no one is around to play them then its not a selling point. The game seems short, I played it for about 3 hours and it seems like I am at least halfway through the campaign.

If you are a fan of third person shooters, split screen coop, or visual gimmicks we recommend this game at the ten dollar price point. Thanks for budget gaming with us, we’ll be saving our pennies until we can tell you about some other bargains soon.

Did you read it? BECAUSE I READ IT.

First watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY

Did you watch that video?

Good because I didn't. As a reasonably active Christian I see around a dozen links to Christian opinions or "analysis" everyday on facebook. They are usually posted, without comment or with a worthless comment like INTERESTING! This is what I think you are saying every time you post a Christian link.

"LOOK AT HOW I LOOKED AT THIS THING"

I don't think you care about what the article says or if I read it. I think you just want me to know that you read something. And maybe you want me to comment or like that you read something. Or maybe you want me to get offended at what you read because I have a different opinion. But then you can go back and say "Oh I just read it and thought it made interesting discussion." And then I would throw up.

This is turning into just another way to get into a pissing match over the Internet. You are smarter/closer to God/wiser/hipsterer than I am. See I admit it, and so does everyone else on your friends list. So now that we are on the same page, this is how you can tell me about the Internet.

"Here is a skit from Portlandia about people using how much they read as a way to compete with each other instead of actually enjoy themselves/learn about stuff. It also shows how we latch on to random crap we see over taking in the world we live in on our own. I liked it because it went along with how I feel about 90% of the links that people post on Facebook. The whole show is awesome and it's streaming on Netflix."

A while ago on the blog I went off on how people use their interests as a way to block others out. Don't worry if you didn't read it. That video right above? I really enjoyed it and I'm willing to not only post it but post my opinions about it and what it meant to me. I'm not trying to show you how awesome I am for finding it. I want you to experience it and would love to discuss it with you.

That link at the top of the page? I WATCHED IT BECAUSE ITS ABOUT RELIGION (I didn't actually watch it because its about religion, it was posted context free, and I want to punch the title/creator of the video in the face).

You are a Valuable Member of Our Team- Full Script/Outline/Junkpile

Here it is, a long outline of an idea that has haunted me since high school:

0 - Prologue

1 - Part 1

2- Part 2

3- Part 3

4- Part 4

5- Part 5

6- Epilogue

It was rushed and not as good as it was in my head. And in an effort to get all the plot down in a reasonable time I didn't write a single joke... they were all terrible so you aren't missing anything.

More egregiously I didn't write out any of the hypnotic monotony that comes with working in retail. In 2006 when I started experimenting with making stuff for the Internet, I tried to put some of these retail feelings in video form. This is how it turned out.

I don't talk about this cartoon anymore, so don't ask.

Thanks for reading, or pretending to read.

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Epilogue

Our hero and A died with much media coverage, but little fanfare. Their deaths were spun into larger stories of upheaval and unrest. For some reason the police investigating the incident didn't really know what to do with the smorgasbord of history between the former project manager and our hero, so they offered a plea of vehicular manslaughter and it was accepted. The former project manager enters his correctional facility... not as a hero, but reasonably respected... he enjoys his time in prison.

The media coverage of the event scares away Wal-Mart and any other potential buyers of SS. With general merchandise cleared out and half of the stores empty, the founder worked with his family while on his deathbed to come up with a new strategy for the store. SS would not restock the shelves, they would lease out the empty store space cheaply to small businesses. This plan was not an overnight success but overtime SS became known as an incubator and champion of small businesses. Slowly SS reclaimed it's territory from Wal-Mart and evolved from an irrelevant superstore to a business that supported the community.

This transition included interviewing all employees for a third time and hiring them back in. Those that made the cut were happy to have health insurance and a paycheck that came from the place that they worked, not some worthless middleman of a contractor. SS used this time to clean house of store management, replacing bottom tier college grads with people who knew and cared about their workplace. Service manager was one of the few that turned down the job at SS, having our hero watch the store gave her a chance to think and explore other carer options.

One of those options was the recently vacated project manager position.

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Part 5

Our hero returns to SS 2 days later. His time off from the campaign and the fake job of service manager was the first real time off he's taken in half a decade. He ate, slept, and took hour long bathroom breaks. He had forgotten what it felt like to have nothing on the agenda. That time was over, he had work to do. He approaches the service office, eager to check in with A and track the results of the campaign. He stopped as he entered the door without knocking, the service manager had returned.

H "You came back?"

S "I was just about to say the same thing to you. Saw your customer service clip on the news and felt I should stop in."

H "Yeah it got a little our of hand, but aside from that the cash drawers have balanced and stock is being liquidated at a pretty solid pace."

S "Seems like you had anything over control, I question some of these manual overtime entries but its less fraud than I was expecting considering the circumstances and your history."

H "So I guess I'll take off then, thanks for the letting me mind the store..." (our hero begins to leave)

S "Hey did you take anything out of petty cash for yourself? I planned on paying you for your time."

H "Don't worry about it. I'm good."

Our hero walks away from the service office, for once he did not have a mission. He didn't check in with A but assumed the campaign had a life of its own. He thought about what his next move would be. Maybe he should stay in the city and try to do something while the economy was in the tank and opportunities were available. Maybe he should just get in his car and drive until he couldn't afford it anymore. Maybe he should update his resume and restart the whole corporate job thing.

He takes off his SS work shirt as he walked toward the exit. He hadn't done that since high school, so excited to leave and full of pent up energy from the day cooped up in the store. He would get so excited leaving, maybe he talked to a pretty girl in the check out line, maybe he slipped some racist comment into a customer conversation without anyone catching on, maybe he memorized a credit card number to try when he got home... the type of quasi-opportunities that would fill you with hope for the next hour or so.

A and B spot him as he heads out the door.

B "You out?"

H "It's all yours boys!"

A wanted to fill him in on what had happened since the fight. The cops had been by a couple times, and without anyone pressing charges his former project manager went home; only to see the events of the day had been broadcasted to hundreds of thousands. Upon seeing the video the campaign audience had put two and two together to make five and then spread word to a point where the agency had to distance itself from the project manager as a means of client-preservation.

Former project manager was now not only former in the sense that our hero no longer worked for him, but former in the sense that he was no longer in the position that he defined his life with. People were not returning his calls. He had lied to his wife about the past couple of days but he didn't have the funds to keep up the ruse for long. His nemesis wasn't even in a financial or corporate position for it to be worth retaliation. Looking at himself and his unredeemable reputation and career, he saw no way out. He wasn't like our hero, he couldn't hit the reset button on his life. He had bills to pay and a family to support. He had a boat for God's sake, no one is giving a handout to a guy with a boat. He had a gun for some reason, he thought briefly about using it on himself, maybe somehow making a video of it as a response to the one that had ruined him. But he didn't think he could figure out how to upload the footage after the fact... maybe if he live streamed it...

While working out the details of this terrible idea in his mind, he had driven to SS without realizing it. He wasn't looking for our hero, but instinct took him here. Maybe it was because this is where he used to get his painkillers. Maybe he came here because he found people watching and the sounds of commerce soothing. He pulled in the parking lot without any type of plan. Until he saw our hero.

"It's all your's boys!" Our hero felt a sunbeam as he emerged from the store. Even in the middle of summer, the adjustment from overactive store air-conditioning to natural temperature was a pleasant one. Walking to his car, our hero smiled for the first time in a while... it was a good day.

A Crossover SUV hit our hero and continued to travel with the torso over the hood. It picked up speed and ran directly into a cement column that was supporting the entrance lobby. In slow-motion the former project manager saw our hero's head lurch back from the impact and burst like a watermelon against the sharp edge of the column.

An airbag goes off. The former project manager is not injured but does not seem to realize what happened. He takes a minute to exhale, for what seems like the first time since college... maybe high school. After that brief moment of clarity his car door opens and he is dragged out forcefully. He is smiling for some reason, not related to the death of our hero but just to it finally looking like a good day.

He is thrown to the ground, even in the middle of summer, the adjustment from overactive car air-conditioning to natural temperature was a pleasant one. Former project manager felt like he was in a pleasant dream despite the chaos that was going on around him.

"Oh wow, you are one of our hero's friends"

Somehow both lazily and efficiently, the former project manager pulls out his handgun and shoots A in the head.

B runs over and kicks the former manager in the head making him blackout immediately.

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Part 4

And contact. Our hero had expected some type of response to the campaign that he waged against his former project manager but didn't expect it to be a physical assault and didn't expect it to be mere steps outside the SS entrance. Hero had to ignore his natural response to defend or fight back. The resulting couple of blows hurt, but not in any life threatening way, the project manager was large but did not show any signs of physical training or practice. They were both equally winded.

Not sure what to do next, or how to handle the small crowd of people that had gathered the project manager began to walk away. It was 3PM, the project manager had meant to just swing by the location at lunch to try and get his prescription filled for the second time. It had been a couple days since he's been out but he thought it was just a system error the first time he had turned away. The dull pain in his head combined with the sudden realization where the corporate heckling had come from set him off.

"Why?" Our hero responded loudly in a wobbly tone... the project manager stomped back over kicked him and screamed (mostly to the crowd of people) "because you deserve it." He kicked him again and stormed off. A customer that was recently assisted by our hero in the store approaches:

"Oh my God... are you alright?"

(slowly getting up and surveying his damage) "Yeah I... just need to clean up."

"Do you want me to call 911?"

(our hero drops his voice to an almost whisper) "Would you? I'm going to go change, A inside might have some info on the customer who did this"

Our hero slowly turns toward A on his way out who was waiting in the lobby area. A shuts the camcorder off and displays a thumbs up. Our hero slowly gets in his car and goes to a nearby motel to rest. The assault had woken up our hero out of a daze he had been in for the past couple of days. He hadn't really been sleeping/nor been awake... almost in an autopilot mode fueled by his anger and finally having a target to direct it towards.

A and our hero had discussed the possibility of retaliation from project manager, they didn't expect it to be physical. The customer did end up calling the police, A provided just enough information for them to identify the project manager and gave our hero's old address to the police. They would hopefully pick up the project manager from somewhere embarrassing either work, afterwork drinks, a client meeting or some combination. They would hopefully chase their tails for a day or two on finding our hero.

No mention of the footage was made to the police, while it would probably keep the project manager in custody for a longer period, it would open too many questions going directly to the cops. They will see it on the internet when the rest of the world does. The trick to maintaining interest in a campaign like this is giving people just enough information to write their own stories and come to their own assumptions. Violence, sex or anything that is implied always goes further than when it is shown, because when people have to fill in the blanks they recreate it in their imaginations. That's why the movie is never as good as the book. That's why our hero only partially cared if there was anything legitimate to base this campaign on.

Naming anything can be difficult, if you give it the wrong title no one will be bothered to care; where as if the name resonates then people will sit through anything. A looked through some of the most popular internet videos; rappers, republican primary, celebrity... inspiration is not striking. A titles it "Customer assaults employee at SS (store location information)," due to the project manager being a lot louder and our hero seeming defenseless it seems random, nothing is needed to be edited out. A is unhappy with the title but puts a direct download link in the video description, maybe someone will think of a better title and repost.

A stepped away from the SS manager computer, there was nothing more for him to do until our hero returned. Would he return? Seems like he could do more damage in his disappearance than if he continued the campaign. A decided to mention that now would be a good time to quit next time he saw him. B interrupts his thought on the matter by thrusting a Smartphone in his face.

"Dude you gotta see this video, local news just reported that someone got F'd up in our own parking lot."

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Part 3

Ugh I dont' want to write this anymore.

Our hero enters the office where A has been using flash drive resources to find dirt on his old employer. the following conversation would be broken up by various retail/liquidation shenanigans.

H "did you find anything on the drive?"

A "no, most of the files are half there or corrupted. I tried to tell you that before you left."

H "I was holding out hope there would be something incriminating on there"

A "are you trying to take this place to court or something"

H "not really, I probably would have used it to make myself feel better about not working for him anymore"

A "Well if you are just looking for a reason to hate him, I looked up his name on our system... since everyone's a contractor everyone has access to everything. He's been on a pretty heavy pain killer script, paying for it with cash...."

H "he's got insurance... I don't know if that does anything for my mental state. Can you lose the prescription? maybe make kick him off it for a day or two, til he pays off another doctor to write him a new one."

A "it'll require a field trip the pharmacy but I'll give it a shot. I was trying to find out what kind of dirt that you were looking for so I did a search for ad agency fraud. Top hits were over billing and money laundering."

H ".... seems like money laundering would be hard to prove... probably annoying to prove innocence. maybe we can use that."

A "use it for what"

H "to do some damage. this guy's dirty... I just need something to get people fired up about it. we take whatever contacts we have on the drive; clients, former coworkers, we start some type of campaign to just get people sniffing and assuming the worst."

A "and then what?"

H "the whole advertising industry is a deck of cards, hopefully it'll be enough to knock him down a peg"

A "and you are ok with doing this whole thing based on a lie and your anger."

H "I think I can live with it. Do you want to help?"

A "if you think he deserves it"

More retail shenanigans happen while the boys work on their campaign to stir dissent. They do targeted direct mail, fake investigation inquiries, getting sloppier and sloppier as they go on.

Over the next couple days our hero moves the remaining store merchandise around to encourage purchase and cutoff unused portions of the store. Through eliminating wasted space he has reduced the general merchandise area less than a department's worth of space. Surveying the reduced footprint of reduced price clothing and knick knacks, A understands what the plan is for the store.

A " I know what they are planning for SS"

H "shutting it down?"

A "no, they are slowly clearancing out all of the non-grocery stuff. They've already replaced the union with temp labor. Once the founder dies they are going to sell the chain to Wal-mart.... walmart will move in the existing locations of stores that don't have direct competition. They are keeping grocery going so that people won't look for other options."

H "that seems like a lot of work"

A "easier than actually competing on an honest level"

H "honesty is the hardest policy"

At this point the project manager that fired our hero walks empty handed from the SS pharmacy. Noticing our hero and A, he heads directly towards them.

PM "Can I assume you had something to do with my prescription getting lost"

A "It was lost? I could have sworn I saw that prescription on an email attachment recently."

H "Sir we are trying to manage a liquidation, if you have any concerns about your service today please report them to management or deputy management (show's fake sherif star that he took from the toy department)

PM "Can we talk somewhere private?"

H "Sure"

Our hero leaves the store with PM, it is the first time our hero has been out during daylight since he was fired. Despite the daylight being dimmer than the halogen's inside the store. Our hero squints to take in the natural light, his eyes adjust just in time to see the PM's fist connect with his face.

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Part 2

I haven't given up yet....

Our hero turns to the office computers, hastily closing any programs that were open without saving. Inserting the flash drive that had been plugged into his former boss's computer he began organizing the hodgepodge of documents on the drive. The USB drive started to make a soft noise, our hero flipped a switch on it and it returned to normal.

The story of the drive was a funny one actually, years ago SS was the exclusive reseller of these units which were meant for idiot proof backing up of recent documents and photos. Flip the switch on the back of the USB drive and it would just start backing up recently opened files. The product was cheap and very successful, giving SS an interesting spike in general merchandise sales. Weeks later the product was recalled in a very messy legal suit. Apparently the units were a security risk as they didn't prompt the host computer of what was going on. After learning the details of the recall SS employees would use the returns to play pranks on local businesses.

Despite working at his former employer a couple of years, our hero couldn't really understand the majority of the documents he was opening. Most of the spreadsheets included references to files that weren't available outside of the company network.

A knock at the door interrupts our hero's investigation, it was A and B two former work friends. They were annoyed for a couple of reasons,

1. our hero made no attempt to keep the friendship alive after he left the workplace.

2. our hero had now been given the keys to the store

3. Our hero had shut the time clocks down by closing out of the time manager software.

H "Hey A and B, how've you guys been."

A "How are you here?"

H "I don't know"

B "You shut down the time clocks"

H "Oh, is that a software thing?"

(A helps restart the software and adds hours to the previous week)

A "I'm putting in some overtime for us."

H "So what have you two been up to."

B "You don't care"

H "Pretend I do"

A "I got my MBA, he came out of the closet"

H "Sweet, how's that working out"

A "Not great"

H "Well you want to use that MBA and look over some random business documents?"

(A sits down at computer and looks at folder of files)

A what is this?

H Recently opened documents from a coworkers computer. I'm looking for anything that looks like a discrepancy or just doesn't seem right.... it's random, I'll take anything you get bad juju from.

A I... I don't even know most of this stuff is referencing... you have some recently sent emails in here, some of of the files are corrupted

H Just use what you have, i just need some dirt... anything.

B You ok?

H I'm terrible. Take me for a walk and show me how awful this place has gotten.

Our hero and B go for a lap around the store. They used to do this whenever customers were light back in the day. Hero would carry a mop and B would randomly squirt the ground with a water bottle to give the impression of work. They awkwardly caught up with each other

B "why'd you leave?"

H "because something better came along"

B "and you are back?"

H "I don't know. something better went away. Why did you stay"

B "I don't know. this isn't all I do you know...and I won't be here for long, this place is on its last legs"

Our hero looks to the half stocked general merchandise shelves, many things are missing from the planogram or outdated.

H "it looks like a dilapidated dollar tree over here. grocery looked ok though... have they announced anything."

B "not yet, the founder is on his deathbed, his kids will probably sell the chain or liquidate when he croaks"

SS has tried many things to stay relevant in the age of Wal-Mart and Amazon. Groceries were always solid, but general merchandise always seemed to be investing in the wrong theme. Seeing that people were price sensitive but wanted big screen tv's an early and costly mistake was SS investing heavily in EDTV's, which were flat screen TV's that didn't run in high definition... they somehow looked worse that customers sets at home. SS sensed a frustration with retail return policies so they implemented "no questions asked" return policy. This policy fostered an economy of enterprising individuals to bring old, used or stolen goods to their local SS and get MSRP in return. SS actually had a winner in a cheap tablet that was reasonably sellable, but during it's public announcement at CES the product manager had an epileptic seizure, fell off the stage and died. The Internet mocked the tablet for killing it's inventor (actually it was a malfunctioning presentation light), dooming the product to a firesale and significant loss for SS.

The stories were now painting the picture of a company that had been repeatedly kicked when it was down, while competitors were free to exploit everyone they do business with. Our hero wondered why he was so apathetic about this.

B " You know our the lines leader isn't coming back right? She's been talking about walking out for a while now, she had some interviews or sugar daddies lined up and has been looking for the right time to bolt."

H "What are we going to do then?"

B "Well I'm going to go take a 3rd paid lunch and then cruising in the frozen food section."

H "Is that where that closeted dad's hang out?"

B "Sure. You should stick around though, if you don't have anything else going on."

As B walks off, leaving Hero to seriously consider leaving SS and never coming back. The store intercom interrupts his escape plans with a page, "Hero please report to the service office, we have found some dirt."

You ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Part 1

It continues...

Our hero pulls into the local superstore SS, he had worked there throughout his late high school and college life. He looked back on his time there with a reasonable amount of pride despite his career there beginning and ending as a cashier.

As he walks in he see's the greeter politely trying to stop another young man exiting the store. The man looked straight a head and moved forward in willful ignorance. Despite only wanting to get some supplies and clear his head, the situation caused him to spring into action. The young man passed him and approached the automatic door. Quickly with almost military precision our hero pulls the young mans pants down causing a number of obviously stolen items to spill out. The young man looks down at the merchandise in shock and then looks back up at our hero before even pulling his pants up. The shock quickly turns to anger but before he could react our hero gives the man a gentle push, causing him to trip over his dropped pants and fall into the breezeway. The man quickly composes himself and begins to confront our hero but then realizes that the rest of the store has stopped and is witnessing the scene. Our hero gives him a quiet wave which indicates that it is time for him to leave. Still surprised by the turn of events the man leaves with the merchandise remaining on the ground.

Our hero begins to pick up the almost-stolen goods and quietly puts them in a shopping basket to return to the guest service desk for restocking. As he picks up the basket the store slowly resumes business and the crowd loses interest. "These need to be returned," our hero tells the service desk attendant as he begins to walk off. "Hero..." a voice calls from inside the office behind the service desk. Our hero approaches, "good morning supermarket service manager" they remembered each other, not really a fond remembrance but better than most professional relationships that took place at the store.

"You just assaulted a SS shopper, that's not how we handle loss prevention in these parts."

"He was an SS stealer and I wouldn't worry he'll be back. I remember him pulling this kind of stuff back when i worked here."

"How long ago was that?"

"I think like 5 years."

"What do you think of the place?"

"It's gotten worse, a lot worse... they are saying the whole chain is going out of business."

"They say a lot of things.... would you like to come back?"

"I don't think I could be a cashier again"

"...You wouldn't be a cashier. We don't have cashiers anymore. We are all consultants now."

"Consultants from the liquidators.... so this place is going out of business."

"I don't know.... groceries are still coming in... we are being told that they are just adjusting somethings organizationally."

"Sure"

"Whatever they are doing, I feel like its time for me to look at some other jobs. I think you should babysit the store for me."

"You couldn't hire me if you wanted to"

"I don't want to hire you, just have you babysit the customer service for a while while I figure some stuff out. A couple days."

"I didn't come here looking for a job"

"It's 11:36 and you look like you've been crying. I think you are looking for something. Just cover the rest of the day for me and we'll talk about sticking around later tonight."

"This is nuts, no one is going to listen to me."

"People here still talk about you 5 years after you quit...."

"I wasn't even that good at working here!"

"I agree, let's inform the cattle that there's a new sheriff in town."

(supermarket service manager grabs the telephone on her desk and hits a series of numbers to use the intercom system).

"Attention SS team members and guests. Please welcome our returning friend HERO as he begins his first day as interim service manager."

(eyes of cashiers and employees of the area turn to the office)

"I'll be back at 7, have fun."

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- Prologue

I want to write and produce more in 2012. I think I should start by writing some overviews of ideas that have been bouncing around in my head for way to long. I am going to start by hopefully summarizing my longest gestating idea. This thing started when I was in high school and has had the plot changed about 30 times, so it sucks. But for once I'm going to get it all out of my system.

YOU ARE A VALUABLE MEMBER OF OUR TEAM

Idea's age: 2000-Present

Idea life span: started as a heist film of an armored truck that picked up at my previous retail workplace. In college it was a Clerks style coming of age while not really doing anything story. Since I was fired from my first job it was "Crash-in a dying superstore"with media being the straw man instead of racism.

Prologue

This idea starts with our hero having his final morning at an ad agency. It is 8AM or so and the office is beautiful but foreboding as not many people have arrived yet. Our hero works on various spreadsheets before wiping his eyes and getting up for a quick drink. Making small talk with another early arriving coworker it is clear that our hero understands that something is going to happen. As he arrives to his desk he see's a project manager and HR person waiting for him at his cube. They guide him into the PM office, in the office he is given his termination notice. Dialogue is covered up by music or internal monologue of the hero. PM leaves to inform the rest of the department/start his day. In filling out final paperwork our hero knocks over a cup of pencils which he forces himself to pick up despite the HR person telling him it is fine. He uses this awkwardness to stick a usb in the PM's desk, he removes it in a couple moments after he finishes the pencils and his paperwork.

He walks solemnly with the HR person past his cube where his things were hastily placed in a cardboard box. He heads toward the exit with his box as members of his department are heading into an adjacent conference room. The coworker from earlier notices him and calls our hero to join them. Our hero gives a slight head shake and the coworker sees the box in his hands. The coworker looks at the conference room and realizes the meeting is going to be about our hero's termination.

Our hero walks towards the door, seeing the beautiful ad and media material lining the walls of the agency. As he walks past the signs they slowly dissolve from branded material to a red [X] that you see when an image doesn't load on a website. In a move that startles the HR person our hero shakes her hand before exiting on the elevator.

On the silent drive home billboards and businesses also transition to [X]. He arrives at his apartment, with a reserved despair across his face. He looks at his things, the life that he once had, he looks down at the USB key in his hand, the logo on it slowly dissolves into the [X]. With this change he grips the USB key with a newly found determination. The action then speeds up to time lapse/fast forward as he breaks down all of his belongings packs them in his car (leaving a lot of stuff on the curb) and floors it out of the parking lot.

For twenty-some odd years our hero has existed, but starting today he was on a mission to destroy. Speeding out of his former parking lot with vengeance on his mind. But before he could move forward with his plan... or his plan to have a plan, he had to go to buy some stuff.