Why shooting down Drones that go onto "your airspace" is probably a bad idea.

A Drone flys over your backyard and you decide to shoot it down since you correctly believe that the airspace above your yard is yours. How high ownership of airspace above your home is yours I don't know, but some of the airspace height above your yard is yours. Perhaps one could argue if you can see the drone, than its in your airspace.

But before you start shooting at the invading drone ask yourself this question, do you have the legal right to launch bullets from your backyard onto public streets and other people's yards; unless those locations are firing at you, no you do not have the legal right to launch bullets into other air space and eventually land space. Even if you hit a drone with a bullet, the odds are very good that the bullet will still travel at a high rate of speed onto somebody else's property.

The impression that an invading drone gives one the legal right to shoot it down if it invades our own space is only logical if and only if the method used to shoot the drone down DOES NOT leave our own property. 

The next time you envision yourself shooting down a drone that is on your airspace property, pretend the drone is not there and that you are actually shooting off your gun into the air. Then ask yourself if you are not the one that is actually invading other people's spaces who did you no harm, with your bullets 

Be patirent, you can probably look forward to the invention of a street safe drone killer, probably on someone's design table even as I finish this article.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Kulak's Woodshed in North Hollywood California 2014 IndieGoGo Fundraiser.

Please click the image below to learn more about Kulak's Woodshed. You can view the live shows from anywhere in the world via their internet feeds.





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

Super Bowl Consulting

Mayor throws dog poop on neighbors lawn but media ignores mystery woman who appears to gesture for him to do so.

Every time I saw this video during a news broadcast, I kept noticing a mystery woman who seems to be gesturing and directing the mayor just prior to his throwing of the dog poop.

The media NEVER once mentioned anything about the mystery woman. Not only does she gesture to the mayor just before he throws the dog poop, she seems comfortable walking two steps ahead of the mayor, as if he were her pet.

So what's going on? Is the mayor protecting this woman? If yes, why isn't that part of the story? If the mayor was simply doing what this woman told him to do, maybe he's not such a bad guy if not doing it might have prevented a troubling encounter with this woman afterwards for not obeying him.

Doesn't anyone care why the woman appeared to gesture the mayor to throw the poop and then just keeping two steps ahead as is she were walking the mayor like a pet?

Did the media ever discuss who this mystery woman is and what her role is in the mayor's life? Isn't that part of the story?

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

Super Bowl Consulting

The Color Purple Ace Hardware commercial, the ultimate Blue Collar Color Purple Commercial you may ever see.

What makes the Ace Hardware Color Purple commercial rise above the average commercial? 

AlexLOGIC believes that all of those shades of purple probably raised the color IQ of the majority of men out there in 30 seconds or less, and that's probably a good thing.

AlexLOGIC also likes the way the woman rolls her purple, "purrrrpllleee".  

Apparently there are 7 versions of this commercial. I would have liked a couple of medium shots of the group of purples, the left half, then the right half, maybe bumping into each other as the two people  have a discussion about which purple is Mr. Purfect Purple.

In retrospect, this commercial, as brilliantly purplelicious as it is, probably was limited by time because of the free paint offer at the very end. 

If True Value had hired me as a consultant I would have suggested they play up the purple characters just a bit more, (Possibly add a step for the second tier purple guys) add some fun high pitched music undertones in the background, and make a few variations.

How about quickly naming the various purple colors while we see that actual color and then having them walk off, maybe the woman even changes her mind. I am assuming there are other variations of this commercial in which the free paint offer was removed and the purple commercial was allowed to "breathe" more.

Either way, this commercial gets an A for originality, funness and repeat watchability, but possibly only a C for not straying far enough away from the original version when they created the alternate versions. Definitely needs a music/sound effects underscore.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Mike and Molly's "McMillian and Mom" a Morally and Philosophically Barren Episode.

At first it was the use of simple math to rob the elderly of their wealth. "You have a quarter million dollars of home equity in your home and no mortgage but you need 30,000 dollars cash? Sorry, based on your S.S. income, you qualify for nothing". 

Even if that 30,000 dollars would have prevented a calamitous event from occurring, or would have saved the senior a couple hundred dollars in credit card interest rate charges every month, the senior is cast aside as a silly number unworthy of any home liquidity based on a lifetime of responsible living.

Which brings us to Mike and Molly. In episode "McMillian and Mom" which aired April 14, 2014, Carl discovers his mom has been alive all of these years and that she wants to see him before he dies.

The rage that Carl feels towards his grandmother who continued to hide the truth about Carl's mother long after Carl reached adulthood is brushed aside because at least Carl will get to see his mother now.

On the way to Memphis, Carl, Mike and Samuel inadvertently don't pay for 30 dollars worth of snack food and go back to pay rather than paying on the way back from seeing terminally ill mom.

As luck would have it (or make that tv writers with too much time on their hands who should have spent some of that free time getting to know their own moms), it's just not a big deal when that return trip to pay for the snack food causes Carl to miss seeing his mother while she was still alive.

On the way back from missing seeing his mother alive, Mike philosophizes why it's just no big thing that Carl never got to connect with his mother whom he had not seen since he was an infant, and instead Samuel tells a funny story that prompts the three to go visit Elvis.

Who writes this crap? How does it get on the air? This is a first draft script that should have gone through several rewrites before hitting the air.

I find the trivializing of our seniors an alarming event as each passing generation learns to use social media to confine and define their entire world into what they want it to be with no other outside obligations. Which is exactly the message of Mike and Molly "McMillian and Mom", confine and define their entire world into what they want it to be with no other outside obligations, and go visit Elvis instead. 

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

Super Bowl Consulting

What's wrong with the Website Call to Action for the Bell & Howell Torch Lite.

Saw an ad for Bell & Howell Torchlite on television. I wanted to know more from the website, so I checked it out.    

  

Just when I thought I might order a set, I noticed an up sell to the Bell & Howell Torchlite "Deluxe" for an extra 10 dollars for two. I was curious what the up sell to deluxe consisted of, but could not find any info about it.

So I thought I would send an email to customer service asking what the deluxe version had that the regular version did not have. No such option existed. 

Yes, there is an 800 phone number, but most likely that is a fulfillment number that simply takes orders. Is the Torchlite Deluxe version a trade secret they don't want out on the internet? I don't want to be forced to call an 800 number to find out even if the fulfillment phone number representative can explain what the deluxe option is.

If the fulfillment department knows exactly what the deluxe version is, why am I forced to call an 800 number to find out? The act of calling that number will most likely then record my phone number (because it is a "free" 800 call" they get a list of every phone number that calls in) which can then be sold as a "list" to phone sales companies if the company marketing this product wants to.

No thanks.

As a video consultant, I would have advised this company to have a separate website page that highlights what the deluxe model has that the regular model does not, especially since the differrence was not explained on their commercial.

Based on the commercial, another thing I did not like about the Bell  & Howell Torch Lite is that it requires 3 batteries. I would much rather have a built in lithium battery option, maybe that was the deluxe version? Or maybe the deluxe version offers a built in charging unit in case I want to use rechargable batteries? If so, I would have bought it, but not if I am forced to call an 800 number to find out what the deluxe option is.

Products that simply put out a boilerplate "sell only" website, which at the moment of this writing is what I believe this website to be, annoy me no end. Maybe I'll wait and one day see this product in the one-dollar store instead.

There are two other possible oversights that I won't get into at this time. A good consultant will always save a company more money than they are being paid, I am skeptical that the approach being taken by the website is both penny wise, and pound wise as well.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Apotek's Girl with the Hair Subway Train Interactive Video, Clever.

Probably destined to be a huge viral sensation, Apotek's interactive subway station ad.  Watch below.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Taxi 2x18 What Price Bobby - One of the greatest television sit com scenes ever, Susan Sullivan guest stars opposite Jeff Conaway on Taxi.

The Jeff Conaway / Susan Sullivan final scene from the Taxi Episode "What Price, Bobby?", has to be one of the most memorable sit com scenes ever filmed. 

The entire episode is terrific, but this final scene just scores a knock out. Congrats to all who made this scene happen, Mr. Conaway probably never got the fame this one scene alone should have brought him.  I apologize but for some reason blogger won't allow me to display the video from the 16 minute mark to the end, however if you click the link I think it will start at the 16 minute mark.

http://youtu.be/8nTbiSXC-zY?t=16m

Please consider signing the Debt Neutrality Petition by by clicking here.

Kate Upton One Ups em in Zero Gravity G-Spot Video.

In case you ever get a chance to go up in a zero gravity plane with Kate Upton, a couple of suggestions. Less people for starters.

Second, so we can all appreciate Kate's Flight of the Condors (so to speak), why not affix some video cameras with suction cups to the airplane fuselage so that they remain perfectly in sync with the background during Kate's flight of fancy.

There's something else they could have done which would have been hilarious but that one is gonna cost someone before it is revealed, 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

Super Bowl Consulting

NBC 2014 Olympic Women's Downhill Features Poor Camera Positioning.

(update Feb. 16, 2014), Was watching the next female downhill race, the Giant Slalom and noticed the announcer raving over the moving overhead wide shot. Sure, it's a cool, DISTANT shot, how about a split screen where we see that shot and also see a close-up shot of THE LEANS. What a shame, these women were shortchanged first by a course that still had some way too tight turns, 7 of the first 8 skiers did not finish the course, then they were shortchanged by lack of closer, eye level shots of them making their leans as they come towards camera from above eye level to eye level. The below eye level shots towards us SUCK.)

I was just now watching the NBC 2014 Olympics women's downhill race and within seconds realized something was wrong.

I Had no expectation of finding something wrong nor looking to find something wrong, but having well over 20 years of camera and editing experience, I did find something.

Capturing the drama of downhill racing is less likely when the camera lingers too long on high and wide camera angles that linger too long on the backside of the downhill racers. 

Capturing downhill drama means seeing the downhill action come towards us. We need to see the dramatic angle defying racer leans that keep both the racer upright while gaining speed at the same time, and we need to see it coming towards us. Whether we see the leans or not, downhill racers are doing them, so why not see them?

Dare I ask "If a downhill racer does gravity defying leans but the camera does not show them, did they make a sound?" 

But the camera coverage was wanting in other ways as well. Even when we did see the women skiers coming towards us, the camera angles were almost always higher than the downhill action they were capturing, and this is claustrophobically unacceptable.

I understand the difficulty in posting cameras along a downhill mountain race course that is 1.69 mile long, however, the skiers are giving it there all, why isn't the camera coverage?

Was the poor camera coverage caused by the last minute manipulation of the course because it was discovered to be too fast and too dangerous by the first skiers to try the course?

No matter how hard an athlete tries, or how well they perform, if the camera is not fairly capturing their efforts, it does tend to mute the sound of their performance.

If it had been for a first ever first place tie, the buzz surrounding the downhill would most likely have been minimal specifically because of the questionable camera positioning along the course.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

MLB approves revolutionary padded pitching caps for 2014 spring training. Padded Pitching Caps still considered a work in progress.

Congratulations to MLB for introducing padded pitching caps to help protect pitchers from line drives that could on a rare occurrence hit them in the head.

If AlexLOGIC had been consulted with, AlexLOGIC would have suggested creating a truly disposable pitching cap that is thrown away after each contact with a baseball. Since the average pitcher may experience one contact every several seasons, a disposable cap makes a ton of sense. 

A disposable baseball cap would presumably allow the overall weight to be reduced from a non disposable padded pitching cap. If a disposable cap means less overall weight increase that probably also means it won't generate as much heat as a non disposable pitching cap would while the pitcher is on the mound.

I could see using collapsable accordion designed cardboard for a disposable pitching cap. Good for one impact, then throw it away. I suppose the downside to this concept would be if the pitcher's sweat penetrates the cardboard, resulting in a continual wetting / drying cycle that would weaken or malform the pitching cap sooner rather than later.

Maybe some type of water / sweat resistant lightweight cardboard that collapses on impact would be the ideal solution. In AlexLOGIC's opinion, 4 extra ounces is probably the additional weight threshold that most pitcher's would consider dealing with. 

However, if a disposable or non-disposable cap adds weight which in turn makes it hotter to wear when pitching, that could mean less overall use of such a cap.

It is possible that any extra weight added to a pitching cap means the pitcher's neck has to work harder to support their head, which would mean extra energy used, which means extra heat generated and possibly more heat retained within the padded pitching cap.

I suppose the ultimate irony could be that adding any extra weight to a pitching cap could just make it hotter, possibly nullifying the benefit of what the cap was intended for. If a pitcher feels hotter and sweatier, they just may not pitch as well, which could be just as dangerous over the long haul as not wearing a cap that adds weight.

You design innovators who are interested in designing the perfect, light weight and padded pitching cap, MLB is probably receptive to seeing what you have come up with. 

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Coach Swap, Swapping Coaches from different sports for a Reality TV show.

Might be difficult to pull off, but would be fascinating to see Sports Coaches swap teams from other sports to see how they do. Coach Swap.

I think it might be impossible to do because in professional sports players make too much money to be experimented on, and in amateur sports, many times the players are either trying to get a scholarship or keep one.

But it would be fascinating to explore of if coaching greatness translates across different sports. 

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Do the Networks purposely pit their scripted shows against each other so they can cancel them?

Yes, it is a rhetorical question, Do the networks purposely pit their scripted shows against each they can cancel them.

I was shocked to discover how few 18-49 year old's watch The Good Wife.  But then I recalled that all the channels are putting their best scripted shows up against the other network's best scripted shows.

Parenthood vs Elementary,  Person of Interest vs Chicago Fire, Revolution vs The Middle. The Good Wife must have destroyed Donald Trumps reality TV show The Apprentice because I haven't seen any promo's for The Apprentice this past January, thus providing some proof that the networks are afraid to ruin each other's reality tv fare if the ruining is done by a higher cost scripted show.

I think many scripted shows that are on the bubble for renewal would destroy reality tv programming from other channels if they were scheduled opposite such programming. It seems to me that there is a quid pro quo to not put solid scripted fare against reality tv shows whenever possible.

I think the networks are protecting their reality TV shows because they are cheaper to produce and get higher ratings among the younger people, and they protect those shows by making sure their best scripted shows go head to head with other scripted shows from other networks.

The strategy of scripted vs scripted so the reality tv shows get a free ride strategy is mind bogglingly stupid. As more and more networks such as ME-TV, Antenna TV and Cozi TV come online broadcasting older television shows, I think it is pretty safe to say that quality scripted fare from today will win out over reality TV shows from today over the long haul.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert almost comes up with the perfect sixty four team NCAA billion dollar bracket contest, almost.

Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans is offering a one billion dollar prize for a 2014, 64 team NCAA Perfect Bracket prediction. The offer is being insured by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.

Besides one billion dollars to the person who picks all 64 NCAA's team's tournament destiny, twenty $100,000 awards will go to the next 20 best predictors, and perhaps most importantly, a million dollars will be donated to Cleveland and Detroit inner city educational non-profit organizations.

What I find wanting is the golden opportunity that has been missed with this contest. This was a chance for the 1% to offer a 1% of 1 billion dollars (10 million) to the person with a perfect bracket, and the other 99% (990 million dollars) for non-profits to be determined by the perfect bracket 10 million dollar winner.

Does anyone really think that less people would enter this contest if they could only win 10 million dollars instead of a billion. If we think about this for a moment, would not the lure to give away the other 990 million dollars to non-profits of their choice be just as great as winning one billion dollars for oneself? I don't think there would be any less participation if the contest had been configured to give 990 million to non-profits and 10 million to the perfect bracket winner.

A chance to let the average person dream about how they would change the world for the better has been lost, and instead we just have a billion dollar prize that most likely will be won by nobody  while reinforcing the me first mentality that is already far to prevalent in today's society.

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

Super Bowl Consulting

Printed Camera Manual from OTC, Paper Camera Manuals make sense.

Paper camera manuals can be faster and easier to use than online camera manuals.

It is also true that purchasing a manual from someone who makes manuals as a business might overall be a better deal than printing it out oneself, assuming the same manual exists online.

Please consider signing the Debt Neutrality Petition by by clicking here.