A suggestion for Bud Selig, Major League Baseball, and the proposed two wild card team system for 2011, 2012.

Bud Selig claims to have thought of every wild card scenario for adding an extra wild card team.

In my opinion, a one game playoff would be a complete disrespect to the wild card team with the better record. There could be a situation where the team with the best wild card record is miles ahead of the other wild card team in wons and losses, and to have a one game playoff is not enough of a return for a wild card team having anywhere from the second to fourth best record in the league.

But having a three game playoff is asking too much, and still would be unfair to the team with the better record as now they would have to win two games just to advance into the first round of the playoffs. Remember, it is possible for a wild card team to have the second best record in the entire league, so to force them to win two more games against a team with a possibly inferior record would create a backlash.

Here's a concept that has never been done before. Make the wild card playoffs a two game playoff, and the wild card team with the better record gets both home games and only has to win once, and they get two chances for that one win.

On top of that, make the playoffs be the final two games of the season assuming the two wild card positions are settled by then. If a situation arises where a wild card team with a terrific won loss record loses two games in a row to the other wild card team, the chance for outrage over the double wild card system would be greatly reduced since the better team had two home games to get just one win.

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ABC Tuesday Night Prime Time Audio Broadcast Problem, Nov. 16, 2010?

I was watching No Ordinary Family and found myself putting the volume way up past where I ever put it just so I could hear the dialogue. Then when the first set of commercials came on, I almost hit the ceiling as they were literally 3 times as loud as the volume of the show.

I decided to wait for Dancing with the Stars to see if the audio issue continued. Sure enough, the audio to the show "Dancing with the Stars" this particular night (Nov. 16, 2010) is low, (although not as low as with No Ordinary People), but more importantly, the actual fidelity of the sound seems slightly muted and with less frequency and dynamic range.

The drive to computerize all aspects of television broadcasting appears to be coming with its own set of problems. I am watching on standard def so its possible the problem is happening downstream of the HD feed, but still, this sucks. Its like the bass and the high end have been sucked out of the broadcast sound. Yech.

Most people may not notice because these shows actually create such an excellent sound track to begin with that even when the transmission is botched the sound still may be acceptable to most people.

(Edit note, the following night, The Middle sounded fine, but the next show, the one with the canned laugh track, seemed to have the same problem as the prior night's line-up.)

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ITT Tech does an innovative thing and creates a Veterans Day commercial tribute.

Edit update, Dec. 03, 2010, I just found this rather disturbing review of ITT Tech, click here to read it.

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It's 2010, can it be that difficult to create a one day commercial tribute to veterans? I don't know how many commercials advertisers actually bothered to create a one day commercial tribute to veterans, but ITT Tech did.

With the moving up of Black Friday to November, 12, 2010, it seems like a no brainer for advertisers to take a moment and also create a tribute video for our vets, but apparently, few did.

Please take a moment and read the article by Lynn Szymoniak ESQ, about the plight of many veterans coming back from service who are not getting a fair shake from the banking community regarding the foreclosure crises.

Honoring Veterans in Foreclosure

And next year, if you will be advertising for Black Friday, please take a moment and create a Veterans Day tribute commercial as well.

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Farmers Insurance Water Craft: Professor Burke, and All State use different styles, but a similar theme for their commercials.

My prior review of Allstate "Ghost Riders" could almost be reused for the Farmers Insurance Water Craft commercial below.

I don't hate the Farmers Insurance Water Craft:Professor Burke commercial. I probably would not change the channel if it came on. I find the old man picking up a young girl in a local bait shop (jail bait perhaps?) and then crashing his water boat into a tree with her on it, a provocative albeit sleazy message for an insurance company. Although I'm sure if I live to be his age I will change my tune.

I do wonder why the insurance agent didn't guess that it was grand dad taking his grand daughter for ride on the lake, I guess that's just less hip nowadays. Might have been funny actually. The salesmen guesses grand dad and grand daughter, and someone pats him on the head for being so naive.

What bothers me about the commercial is the message that having more coverage would somehow better protect the accident that occured. What about the bodily damage that most likely occurred to "dirty old dude and too young for him girl", and injuries that Farmers Insurance chose to pretend did not occur in their commercial?

That's actually irresponsible messaging from an insurance company.

Notice that neither dirty old dude, nor too young for him girl, have a cast, or crutches, or a neck brace? An accident that bad and the two come out relatively unscathed?

I understand the drive for insurance companies to be hip, energetic and "with it", so they can grab the attention of the I-Phone generation. But lets face reality, the moment insurance companies imply that insurance coverage "protects people by protecting their vehicles in bad accidents", they have strayed off the mark by ignoring the harsh reality that people get hurt real bad in those kind of accidents.

lol, I just got inspired with a bold idea for Farmers insurance, but that would only be shared after a consulting fee, I can't give everything away for free. In case anyone is wondering, the actor playing Dr. Burke is J.K. Simmons, and you can see his acting resume here.

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Exclusive viewpoint, Why Proposition 19, the Marijuana proposition, lost in California and probably will lose in the future as well.

There is a foundational reason why Proposition 19, the California marijuana initiative, lost, and will probably lose in the future, but its probably not what you think.

Deep down in the hearts of Californians is a very real fear that the day may come when people who are already receiving any of the following, disability payments, pension benefits, unemployment benefits, and so on, may also be some of the same people lighting up a doobie.

Living the dream for some may be nothing more than hanging out, doping up, and being paid to do so. By "some", it may only be 10% of the population, maybe somewhat less, but that's still too many.

Proposition 19 may actually induce people to TRY and get some kind of state or federal benefit so they can just sort of hang around, dope it up, and tune out. On a personal level, yeah, it would irk me no end to know that some people are getting high both off of state and federal funding, and weed.

Is there a solution that would let people get high without also taking from the state or federal government? There might be a solution, but I believe that most people that want to smoke weed the most, probably want to work the least.

I know there are exceptions to this work less, weed more rule, and there are some people who work hard all week, and maybe Saturday night they just want to relax and get high. But for every one of them, there are probably 10 times the number who just want to get high and will resort to figuring out how to game the system to pay for their legal fix and the ability to get high every day.

I suppose one could impose a minimum income rule, so to be eligible to smoke weed, a person would have to show a minimum income of say, 10-15 grand a year, and no federal or state assistance. However, just what kind of work would the weed whackers do that wouldn't endanger others?

I have never heard anybody bring up what I have brought up in this article, but I really believe it is at the very core as to why Marijuana becoming legal will be a tough road to hoe.

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Allstate Motorcycle Ghost Bikes commercial reviewed.

I understand the Allstate Ghost Bikes commercial is hip, it probably goes over well with the younger crowd, the guitar riff is sparkling, and so on, but, come on, just what is All State saying here?

What Allstate is saying in their commercial and on their own webpage is a head scratcher.

In case you don't want to enlarge the image by clicking on it, Allstate is saying,

Just protecting

your bike isn't enough, Allstate Motorcycle insurance protects the bike, and more importantly, you.

Lets think about this for just a moment. Just how is Allstate protecting a motorcycle rider DURING AN ACCIDENT! The answer is, Allstate IS NOT PROTECTING ANYBODY during an accident!

Its probably more accurate, and truthful to say that Allstate will help protect WHAT IS LEFT OF YOU after your accident!

Repeating...Allstate motorcycle insurance protects the bike, and what is left of you AFTER YOUR ACCIDENT.

Do you know how golden this advice is that I am giving? Allstate could do two things at the same time, they could entertain, enthrall, and be viewed as hip by the younger crowd, AND, Allstate could also remind everybody that "What is left of you" may not be the best route to take with your motorcycle.

I found a smaller mistake on a State Farm Commercial this past summer but State Farm never made the commercial available on the internet, too bad for them because I believe their message could have resonated even louder and clearer if they had me as a consultant because I found a mistake that probably was fixable without reshooting.

I'm here, I have an intuitive mind for making commercials better, but I can't make someone come to me if they think their stuff never could be improved.

There is also one more philosophical flaw in the entire Allstate commercial campaign that I won't divulge at this time. Just sayin.

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ITT Tech commercials, my critique of the commercial where the student says he likes everything about ITT Tech but can't offer specifics.

I think I see what ITT Tech is trying to do in their commercials. They are trying to show that their schools are for anybody who wants to better themselves, and to that end, anybody who makes it through their curriculum can be featured in one of their commercials.

So, if a participant in the commercial says, "What I like about ITT Tech, long pause, I liked everything about ITT Tech", I may see, cop out answer, but I think ITT Tech sees, this is an honest representation of our students, and we are proud of their after program success.

I am conflicted because I too believe in showing people as they are, and yet, I feel the answer given in the commercial is a cop out. During the long pause where this student is contemplating an answer, I noted an overall seven second "space" for his response. So even if the student had had an answer, he would have only had seven seconds to give it.

At that point, It wouldn't have bothered me one bit if they had written the answer for the student, asked him if he agreed with the statement, and if so, would he like to claim it as his own. I consider it acceptable to write an answer for a student as long as once it is written the person repeating the response absolutely believes it 100%, and is NOT PRESSURED to say it.

In this instance, I have to classify the non response as an epic fail, and an answer that I blame the producers and director of the commercial for accepting as the final word. I think they made the student look bad, and that's not really fair to the student, and I personally don't think the commercial is helpful to ITT Tech because I begin to question how believable the person featured really is.

Edit Update, Dec. 03, 2010 I just found this rather disturbing review of ITT Tech, click here to read it.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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).

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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.

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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.

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