Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Explaining how after Jerry Brown hung up the phone his offices conversation continued to be recorded.

I'm using my over 2 decades working with film, video and audio production to figure out how we could hear Jerry Brown obviously hang up the phone, yet not hang up the phone. The obvious answer is the phone just did not quite make it onto the hook, and that is one scenario.

However, there is another scenario to consider. Lets say an aide at a nearby desk dialed the call but uses the speaker phone to hear when the other party picks up the phone, at which point Jerry is signaled to pick up his phone. This is not that unrealistic of a scenario since many times that is what an aides job is, to make calls and connections for the higher ups in the office.

The aide that made the original phone call may have actually kept the speaker phone on after Jerry Brown began speaking because it makes it easier to keep everybody else in the room immediately aware of what Jerry Brown is actually saying during the phone call. It is easier to sit next to a speaker phone situated 20 feet away from Jerry Brown rather than try and listen to Jerry Brown talk directly into the phone from that distance.

Jerry Brown finishes the phone call and actually does hang up, however, the speaker phone at a nearby desk is still on, thereby keeping the line active, causing the answer device to keep recording because it can still detect sounds being uttered.

If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
commercial critiques
by Alessandro Machi at

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Time Warner Voice Mail to Email Commercial, a sign of the times.

Back in the mid 80's, my dad once commented on how disrespectful he thought it was when Malcolm Jamal (a teen actor from the Bill Cosby show at that time) responded to KTLA Christmas day parade co-host (Bob Eubanks) by using Eubank's first name, "Bob" rather than saying "Mr. Eubanks".
My dad felt that all teenagers and younger, including actors, should not be calling adults by their real first name, rather, they should say Mister Eubanks, etc.

Fast forward 25 years and the father in a recent Time Warner television commercial for "voice mail to email" calls his son on the phone and says, "Hey buddy, it's Stan"....

Holy cow! Just four little words to start the conversation and every perceivable rule of parent, son/ daughter etiquette has been imploded! "Hey Buddy"? (neither the son's name or just, son, is used), followed by "It's Stan", (why not, It's dad)?

I have to admit that I had trouble understanding who "Stan" was the first few times I saw the Time Warner voice mail to email commercial. Plus the cutaway shot of the kid is lame. There is no one in the background to show its a party, just sound effects that sound like there is a party going on (another lame arse corporate cheapskate maneuver to "save money" on the commercial by using sound effects and no extras to make it "sound" like there is a party going on. Is this being done so part of the budget can go to executive bonuses and such???).

Time Warner could have hired a bunch of teen extras for a day and given them all a nice experience as an "extra" in a commercial while also paying them. That's why jobs aren't being created in today's economy, everybody is too busy trying to justify their own job by cutting the jobs of others (sound effects of a party rather than showing the party is a perfect example.)

Just sayin.

Anyways, funny how a remembrance from 25 years ago kind of relates to a current television commercial. I wonder if anybody else had trouble understanding that "Stan" is "dad" from the very first time they viewed the Time Warner commercial. Did it make any of you uncomfortable to see Dad not call himself dad, but instead calling himself "Stan" as he spoke to his "buddy" (aka "son")?

One final thing, anybody notice the subtle sexism at play? "Stan" lifts his finger towards his wife as if to say, shhhhhh, I'm speaking. Now, that would be ok IF SHE ACTUALLY HAD SAID SOMETHING IN THE COMMERCIAL!
But she says nothing anywhere in the commercial, which makes that finger wagging suddenly become subtly sexist, as in, women should be seen and not heard.

(Article update January, 15, 2010, 12:20 AM) Just a few minutes ago on the Jay Leno Show, Michael Douglas referred to his dad as "Kurt", and Jay actually stopped the discussion and mentioned that if he had called his dad Angelo when growing up, he would have been smacked!

Jay then went on to mention that it might be a West Coast thing where kids call their dads by their real first name.

Thanks Jay Leno, for backing me up, even though you will probably never read this, ha ha.



If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
commercial critiques
by Alessandro Machi at

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers needs electroshock therapy, he just doesn't know it yet.

Apparently James Harrison can only hit an opposing National Football League player with a force in keeping with the great Ram Bam in the sky, Ramosauras Wrecks. However, unlike Ramosauras Wrecks, James Harrison likes to head butt his opponent when they are looking in some other direction.

Ramosauras Wrecks likes it even better when his intended target is silly enough to jump in the air and try and hold onto a leather ball. James "Ramosauras Wrecks" Harrison was recently fined 75,000 dollars for his helmet to helmet hits and in response, Harrison may decide to retire.

Do you feel a warm rush of empathy for Ramosauras Wrecks? Hey, lets pass a donation plate around and see if we can help pay the 75,000 dollar fine for Ramosauras Wrecks. I kind of do feel sorry for Mr. James Harrison. He just wants to be left alone so he can continue to head butt players who aren't looking his way or are in a vulnerable position and can't protect themselves.

Maybe a compromise can be worked out. The NFL waives the 75,000 fine against Mr. Harrison and instead puts electrodes on his helmet that sends massive voltage after future helmet to helmet hits.

If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
commercial critiques
by Alessandro Machi at

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

If the Rescued Chilean Miners story were made into a Television Series, what exciting plot twist would be added to the story? (warning: spoof alert)

I was just thinking that if the Chilean Miners rescue story were made into a Hollywood television series, there would probably be some plot twist added to make an already larger than life story even larger.
A "Lost" motif be added to the series, think "Lost", only the series would be called "Trapped".
"Trapped" the television series would delve into the minds of the miners and how they ended up mining on that particular mine on that fateful day. The first season proves so successful the network decide to extend the show to a second season and in the season finale, an ironic twist occurs.

The miners decide to refuse to come up unless several of their demands are met.

The Chilean miners' demands have local, state, and international rammifications.
The local mayor spins the miners demand and blames their delusional state from living underground and breathing the same air for so long. The men's wives and significant others have far ranging reactions (cue the music) to the decision of the miners to boycott being rescued, including outrage, anger, bewilderment, and even relief.

Supporters of the miners immediately begin making protest signs and banners announcing the miners demands. The local banking community supports the delayed rescue because of the outside revenue that is pouring in to the local community on a daily basis. And yet, some of the bankers remain concerned that the miners demands might raise awareness about societal issues that are not profitable to address.

The second season opens with the miners first demand being meet as Britney Spears performs a first in kind performance inside the mine. Britney's first number has her being lowered to the miners via a trapeze as she bellows out, "When I found you".

The second episode of the second season finds Barack Obama speaking to the miners imploring them to not give in until every one of their demands has been met. "Survivor" the television show does a remote from the trapped miners location and pits the men into two groups vying for cavemen supremacy. In a live episode, an international lottery has been set up and after a billion dollars has been raised to fight social injustice, numbered ping pong balls are dropped down the long venting tube and the miners announce the numbers as an international audience of one billion people hold onto their mining lotto tickets.

In the season finale, a paved road now reaches the miners and the miners are escorted out in hybrid limousines to worldwide adoration.

On a serious note, why is it in the United States that when miners are trapped for long periods of time, they die, but in Chile, they live?



If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
commercial critiques
by Alessandro Machi at

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Happy 10-10-10.

So for the next 2 years we get one day of the year with repeating numbers. Happy 10-10-10, Happy 11-11-11, and Happy 12-12-12. I don't recall celebrating 09-09-09 or 08-08-08 or all the way on down the line to 01-01-01.

(Edit update - Oct. 10:10 pm - seriously) And then there are the parents who gave birth to a child at 10:10: am or pm. Does having a child that weighs 110 ounces count as well (that would be 6 pounds, 14 ounces).

If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
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by Alessandro Machi at

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

About all the Thumbnail Images located on the left and right side columns of AlexLOGIC's Blog.

The several dozen images located on the left and right side of this (AlexLOGIC) blog are projects that I, Alessandro Machi, had some involvement in. These projects now span around 25 years, from the time I was just starting college, to the present.

I am actually still missing several dozen images and eventually I hope to find the appropriate thumbnail image for projects that I have participated in but have not written about yet. When you click on an image, it should take you to either a video of the image, or an article that explains the story behind the image.

Besides my own projects and projects that I have worked on for others, I did a LOT of editing on additional projects. I feel the combination of shooting both film, video, and also editing my own projects plus others has given me an amazing foundation of knowledge that I now want to pass on to those who are interested in learning several concepts in a few hours that may have taken me years and tens of thousands of miles of travel to learn.

When my classroom has been rebuilt to my specifications, I will make an annoucement here and elsewhere for those who live in the Los Angeles area and who may want to take these one of a kind classes.

If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
commercial critiques
by Alessandro Machi at

Monday, October 4, 2010

California Political Races, Rating the top political candidates television commercial ads.

Jerry Brown is running the best political commercials among the major political races. Mr. Brown also waited until September to start running his political commercials while Meg Whitman had already spent close to 60 million dollars in television and radio ads.

Whitman's ads are not bad, however she finally gave in and did a look into the camera and talk directly ad after Jerry Brown was able to close the gap via his "look into the camera" and speak commercials.

Cinematically, I don't like the way Whitman looks in her talk into the camera ad. Stylistically lit, once the decision was made to light her the way they did, hair and make-up needed to do a better job of matching how she looks to how she is lit. The left side of Whitman's face disappears into overexposure and it makes her look like she has half of an eyebrow and that her hair is unhealthy thin.

Years ago Jane Harman briefly ran for governor of California and in my opinion they applied way too much make-up to her face. In this instance, Whitman looks "wispy" and washed out. Irrespective of the make-up, it simply looks like the Whitman camp is scrambling to copy Brown's commercial strategy.

Sigh, the race between Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina reminds me of the final scene in Thelma and Louise. Carly and Barbara in the same car driving towards the earth's edge, slapping each other silly with enough half truths and hubris that they probably will miss the "off ramp" entirely and instead keep pounding each other until they run out of gas.

I still can't believe that Barbara Boxer blatantly stitched together three different parts of a Fiorina interview to make it sound like it was one flowing sentence, and kept that commercial on the air for at least one month, possibly two.

Even more beguiling, Fiorina didn't fight back, it was almost as if she was too dense to realize her words had been stitched. But then, to escalate the madness, Fiorina has a commercial where she actually states, "I'll go to Washington and end the arrogance".

Hey, did you all know that I am the humblest person on the planet, but you'll never hear me brag about it. (snark alert)

I'm going to Washington to end the arrogance. In case it is not clear, what type of personality profile does it take to "end the arrogance"? Perhaps the same kind that it takes to say "I'm a humble person", or, "I'm a modest person".

Shall I mention the interminably long pause of Fiorina just staring into the camera in the middle of her commercial, a pause so long that FINALLY they came up with a shorter version and cut down the "arrogance stomper's" stare.

Saddest of all is knowing that Hillary Clinton was robbed of the democratic nomination in 2008. When I compare the current crop of female California political front runners to Hillary Clinton, I think of that huge, cavernous gap from the final scene of Thelma and Louise.


If you are planning on creating or broadcasting a commercial and want an objective, outsiders point of view about your commercial, contact Alessandro Machi about his consulting services at...
info at alexlogic.com
You can also view more
commercial critiques
by Alessandro Machi at

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