I was fooled into thinking I was talking to a human being when it was just a pre-recorded human voice able to respond to my responses.

Edit update, April 10, 2019 3:59pm. Just wanted to point out that this Article about fake real voice sounding phone call solicitations was was written and posted eight months before Time Magazine covered the issue. end of update.

I was called by a company out of Minnesota called Stepping Stones Entertainment. They wanted to know if I was interested in supporting family entertainment films.

The person who originally called me said they would be less than a minute and asked me three yes or no questions. I then agreed to a call back the next day so that a representative could give me more information about their quality family entertainment films. 

Just as promised, I received a call the very next day. After a couple of minutes of conversation, I realized I was interacting with a cleverly constructed human voice that had been pre-recorded and was simply recognizing my yes and no responses and moving on to the next pre-recorded sales pitch, but all done in a very convincing interactive tone.

After I had my Soylent Green, "oh my gosh, its pre-recorded people talking to me," moment, I paid extra close attention to make sure my suspicion was correct. When the pre-recorded human "voice" heard me answer "no" to their final offer, I wanted to test my hypothesis that I was indeed talking to a human recorded voice. 

I asked the human recorded voice what they thought of the super bowl. The voice did not have an answer and simply responded, "What did you say"?

I asked again in as clear and concise voice as I could muster, "What did you think of the Super Bowl", and the voice still did not understand, and then quickly said goodbye and the line disconnected.

The rammifications of this pre-recorded human sales voice technology are damming beyond initial comprehension. 

It is one thing to have "Siri", a computer generated voice, respond to a human being. It is quite another to have one's time occupied by a pre-recorded human voice pretending to be a real human, and getting away with it and actually generating credit card sales!

Most Ponzie schemes eminate from the concept of, "If we could only ask enough people to purchase our product or service, and have it cost us as little as possible to communicate with them, we win".  

As bad as ponzie schemes can be at times, when one adds in that the product being pitched is digitally replicable at pennies per copy, it becomes a ponzie schemer's ultimate wet dream if they can digitally generate tens of thousands of sales call interactions automatically, by paying a human being to record their voice reading various script response combinations, once.

In the next few years there could be literally hundreds of thousands of actual living, breathing telephones sales people being replaced by  pre-recorded interactive human voices. 

Many times phone sales jobs can be so stressful to have that at first glance it might look like not such a bad idea to take the human being out of the equation, unless you happen to be that human being and like your job.

However, the bigger victims are going to be the american consumer, and eventually the worldwide consumer, who will have to wade through never ending and ever increasing pre-recorded interactive sales calls while the actual company spends virtually no money per call hawking their product or service. We will be fooled, and deluged, whether we like or not.

If you recently made fun of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o for being tricked into a relationship with a fake girlfriend who didn't actually exist, your karma points may soon expire and you could find yourself being tricked by a real human voice.

Another few hundred thumbtacks thrown in front of the consumer in the ever cluttering freeway of life.

Please Consider signing the Debt Neutrality Petition I started on Change Dot Org. This petition gives millions of consumers a fair chance to pay down their debts by freezing the interest rate charges, penalties and fees once an alleged credit card or student loan default has occurred.

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Important Breaking News scoop to the first media outlet that contacts me and uses the story.

I (Alessandro Machi), recently discovered something that could have major job loss implications for the american workforce. But rather than break the story here, I would be willing to trade my information to a major news show (Including local television news) as long as AlexLOGIC.com is credited during the on air piece.

First to request the rather shocking, breaking news story will probably get first dibs. I will be willing to give the lead out to more than one entity, however, the first news entity that requests it will get a window of time to produce the piece. 

I'm not looking for financial compensation, just on air credit. You can email via my bio located to the left of this article.

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Me TV Network Television, speeding up some of its programming? Say it isn't so.

I recently discovered Me TV network and love it. Shows that were a bit before my time have come to life. Shows such as The Rifleman, The Fugitive, Combat, 12 O'Clock High, Hazel, The Flying Nun, Gidget, Petticoat Junction, Emergency, Perry Mason, Naked City and many more remind me how fun television programming can be when actors actually speak dialogue to each other rather than evade or exploit the latest special effect.

What I also find fascinating is how women are treated in these shows. Women are usually portrayed as knowledgable and clever, or fighting for more rights and respect, and sometimes treated as objects to be won or protected.

Yet lately I've noticed a disturbing trend on Me TV Network, it looks like some scenes in at least one show are being sped up even as the dialogue remains normal. The weird thing is the commercial breaks don't seem to be particularly longer. "The  Saint", starring Robert Moore, seems to have some speeded up scenes, especially when there is no music playing and the scene is an action scene of some type.

I seem to recall that television show content back in the 50's, 60's and 70's used to run longer versus the amount of commercials per every half an hour. Sometime in the 80's television program content began to shrink in minutes per half hour, presumably so both more commercials and network television promos of upcoming television shows could be aired.

I don't like the speeded up scenes although I am relieved that the audio somehow remains intact and so far I don't think the speeded up virus has spread to all of their programs. 

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Kodak releases Vision 3 50 ASA film in the Super-8 format, see video below!

Kodak Vision 3 is amazing film and makes Super-8 film look like broadcast quality, wowzer.

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21 Super-8 Feature Film Production Questions answered by Scott Di Lalla and Zack Coffman on the making of "I am ZoZo".

Cinematography dot com has a topic posted about The Super-8 Feature Film "I am ZoZo", which has a very interesting story behind how the story line was created.

The story "I am ZoZo" involved curation creation, using "Google". The filmmakers searched google for the scariest ouija board stories out there, interviewed a few people, and then wrote a script loosely based on on one of those people's experiences.

I love when filmmakers share the wealth so to speak and actually cultivate the fertile lives and potential imagination and reality of other people rather than feel the need to start from scriptwriting scratch and do the same old, same old.

Below is the Internet Interview with the Filmmakers of I Am ZoZo - a Super 8mm Ouija movie, cool stuff, enjoy.

Did you shoot a concentrated schedule, or weekends only, or intermittenly?

Writer/Director/DP - Scott Di Lalla: Most of the movie was shot on San Juan Island, so once we were on set, we shot continuously for a couple weeks with days off included.  Not only did we shoot the film in straight days.  We had to do some pick-up shots a few weeks after the main shoot, but over all, principal photography was completed within a month.

Did you shoot any film ahead of time to make sure your camera or cameras were working well?

Di Lalla: Because I was new to shooting on this medium, I knew I had to get familiar with the 8mm format really fast.  I've done extensive research and testing eight months before we started shooting.  The first thing I wanted to know was what my camera's (Canon 1014xls) strengths and weaknesses were.  Every camera has a sweet spot.   This camera shot really well hovering around a mid range fstop, but I also nknew I would be shooting in low light, so I had to prepare for that. To get the best quality out to the viewer I had to make sure I had these things in check: shoot on the best film available, shoot within the camera's sweet spot, process it at the best place, and transfer the footage to digital and it's highest quality possible.  Luckily, the place we used offered a service that would scan each frame individually.  This was a much better choice than to take the whole file and up-res it.

What film cameras did you use?

Producer/Editor - Zack Coffman: Canon 1014-xls, We bought three used ones and had them turned into two good ones.

Did you have back ups?

Coffman: One of our two rebuilt Canon 1014-xls was always as a backup.

Did you ever shoot multiple cameras?

Coffman: No.

Once you started shooting, how often did you check your "dailies"?

Di Lalla: That was the scary part.  We only checked it once by sending in the a few roles on the first day of shooting and they fedexed it back to us the next day.  It looked great so we proceeded with the assumption that we were getting an image on film.  It just wasn't conducive or affordable to do this every single day.  However, it definitely would have been a better choice if we had the means.  The only real problem we had, after looking at all the footage, was at times we got hair in the gate.  On an 8mm frame a small piece of hair looks like a giant snake monster.  It happened way more than we hoped, but we were very luckily it wasn't worse.  It is very hard to clean the gate on these cameras.  I was consistent on properly cleaning it, but getting hair caught in the gate of an old super8 camera is inevitable.  We had to pay to get rid of the hair on essential scenes.

Who did your film to tape transfer?

Coffman: Lightpress in Seattle, they were great to work with and Eric Rosen from Lightpress even did our color-grading later.

Who did you film processing?

Coffman: Alpha Cine in Seattle, the best lab anywhere.

How many rolls of film did you shoot?

Coffman: 18,000 ft... forgot how many rolls that is.  haha

Did you use an 85 filter, if yes, indoors, outdoors, or both?

Di Lalla:  No, I didn't use an 85filter.  Although the camera had an 85 filter built into it, I knew it wouldn't have been smart to use it because the camera was so old.  Anyway, I shot on Kodak's tungsten balanced negative film, so I didn't need it for the inside and through my extensive research and testing,  I didn't really need it while shooting outside, if it was cloudy.  If the sun peeked out a bit, I knew whatever cast it would leave behind we could take care of it in post.

Was camera noise an issue?

Di Lalla: Yes, it was a big issue.  Unfortunately, when I was playing around with different types of blimps I conducted all my tests without any film in the camera.  I thought I had completely silenced the camera until I loaded it with film on my first day of the shoot.   My heart almost stopped when I had noticed that the camera was considerably louder when film was actually running through it.  Of course it would be, it just slipped my mind when I was testing it.   I took thick towel and wrapped it around the camera, silencing it a bit more, but not enough.  The show had to go on, and I knew it was yet another thing we had to deal with in post.

Coffman: Our Sound Designer, Michael Fox, who was dialogue editor for The Grudge and one of the earliest ProTools technicians took one look at it and said, "I'm gonna have to get forensic on this sh-t."  We actually removed most of the terible film sound and then decided to lay in a consistent low-level film sound back under the whole film to make it consistent with its amazing Super 8mm film look.  Indie filmmaking is always about re-inventing the wheel, but that's why we love it!

How did you record sound?

Di Lalla: On a DAT with our sound guys, Dustin Bath and Joshua Svare.

How did you deal with a film cartridge that was near filled? Did you just roll out on a long scene, use the short amount left for insert shots? 

Di Lalla: There were times I rolled out on the scene, but I would say most of the time I had to change out just short of its end.  Those cartridges were marked and used later for pick-up shots.

Did you swap film cartridges because of running time issues?

Di Lalla: Yes.


Did you prefer long, eerie takes, or shorter takes because of the limited film runs?

Di Lalla: I preferred long takes in general.  My takes were anywhere from one min to over two minutes.  Since an 8mm cartridge is only two and a half minutes long (at 24fps), my longest takes were usually around that.  However, this is where most of my planning went into.  To reduce the risk of a ton of retakes I rehearsed the lines and movements with my actors for two weeks.  If we weren't that prepared it would have been impossible to do it without wasting a significant amount of money.  Also, I am a big fan of Belgian film makers, the Dardenne brothers' style, so long takes was definitely a style choice as well as a clever way to build tension.

What format did you transfer your film to?

Coffman: Pro-res HQ

Who did the music?

Coffman: Composer B.C. Smith (Smoke Signals) did the original score, cellist Aniela Perry wrote and performed "Tess' Theme", and we had tracks from Sun Kil Moon (Kark Kozelek), Windsor for the Derby, Blood Warrior, and The Tragic Tantrum.

Who did the sound-efx?

Michael Fox, with some additional eerie bits from B.C. Smith

Who did the mix?

Michael Fox

What format did post production request for editing purposes?

Coffman: I edited the film in Pro-res HQ.

Did you happen to check out super-8 websites prior to shooting?

Di Lalla: Yes.  I checked out everything Super8 available that was online or in print.  I have so many people and sites to be grateful for, now I am ready to give back what I learned.  I just want to say thank you for giving me the chance to give back and if anyone wants to follow me on twitter please go to:  https://twitter.com/scottdilalla (@scottdilalla)

Coffman: We never could have made the film without our supporters, friends and family.  Likewise, happy to help others so feel free to add me: @choppertown[/quote]

Additional links for I am Zo Zo include...

Web: I am Zozo  
Facebook: I am Zozo
twitter feed: Choppertown

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This could make for a really fun movie, maybe even a TV series, The Frequent Fliers who flew too much.

This Los Angeles Times article about "frequent flyers who flew too much" is fascinating to say the least. It's three web pages long and is broken up by ads just in case you think it suddenly ends. It tells the story of different frequent flyers who bought lifetime airline passes and then used their passes so much they were costing the airlines MILLIONS!

I think frequent flyers who flew too much could make a feature film or even a TV series. The thrill of the perpetual free trip, the growing consternation by the airlines, the ongoing joy and fun the fly for life flyers were experiencing, all the people they meet, the potential flirting, the stewards and stewards so familiar with their preferences they don't even have to be asked what they want to eat or drink, all while the airline executives grow more and more angry, could make for an interesting movie or tv series. A little bit of "Cheers" in the Sky.

Out of desperation, the airlines eventually plot to see if the frequent flyers are somehow abusing their lifetime airline pass privilege. This is classic story telling. Person in search of happiness, person finds happiness, person is threatened with loss of happiness.

There could even be a "Lost" aspect to the show where the main characters have flashbacks to their lives before they bought their lifetime airline passes. One flashback could involve the frequent flyer bought his pass with some of the money he got from an accident settlement. What a way to turn a miserable accident into a happy lifetime adventure.

I could see a comical episode where the entire first class is comprised of frequent flyer lifetime pass holders and that could even be the turning point when the airlines try to put a stop to their own accidental over generosity. The moment when all the first class flyers realize they are all lifetime pass owners, and their own realization that this can't be a good thing for airline...

The frequent flyers overuse of their airline passes is like having an itch and scratching it, but every time they scratch, someone else bleeds while they feel relief. 

I think Ray Romano, Dennis Leary, and Scott Bakula would be perfect as the frequent flyer scratchers. Patricia Heaton could pull off the female frequent flyer scratcher as well.

Lets do it!

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LiveLeak.com - Bodies in Motion: Women at the 2012 London Olympics

LiveLeak.com - Bodies in Motion: Women at the 2012 London Olympics  AlexLOGIC agrees with the authors assessment, this is NBC Olympics soft porn promo.

Maybe its time to create another Emmy Acting Category for Actors who don't use guns or have life threatening violence within their roles.

(Edit note, this article was written 12 hours before the tragic massacre at the Aurora, Colorado movie theatre during the Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises).


Lets face acting "reality", the most coveted acting roles involve being a violent law breaker who got a bad break in life, or being a character within a group of law breakers who got a bad break in life but is actually at times a decent person.

But then there are the Scott Bakula, Ray Romano, and Andre Braugher roles in Men of a Certain Age that are more than comedy, and way less about exporting their own misery onto others. I just don't see an acting category for shows like Men of a Certain Age in the Emmy Awards anymore.

Amazingly, Braugher broke through for an Emmy Nomination in 2011, but the final 6 episodes of Men of a Certain Age that were eligible for 2012 were the best of their best, and MOACA was skunked this year for any EMMY award nominations, and I find that unbelievable.

But then again, NBC cancelled it's MOST POPULAR SHOW, Harry's Law, because too many older people were watching it, so maybe I should not be surprised.

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2011 Toyota Venza Commercial - Social Network commercial, Older People RULE!

What's not to like about the Toyota Venza Social Network commercial? This actress spectacularly nails this well written part. 


While this commercial "makes fun" of the younger crowd, it does make one wonder how NBC can do the opposite and value the younger crowd so much more than those over the age of 49.

Do the ratings people really believe that it takes a total of 8 mothers and/or fathers over the age of 49 to equal one of her in terms of audience advertising value?

According to NBC and their cancellation of their NUMBER ONE RATED SHOW, Harry's Law, the answer is yes, it takes a total of 8 mothers and/or fathers over the age of 49 to equal one of her.

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)
NBC's number one rated show, Harry's Law, is canceled even though it attracted 3.5 to 4.4 million more viewers than MANY other shows that NBC renewed!

Ouch!


If you want to fight back, join the facebook age related protest groups that are starting to spring up, click  here for an example.         


Here is another example.

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40 Watt Womb (featuring Alex Rush and Medium Zach) of Grape Juice Records.

Props to Grape Juice Records for featuring my Super-8 special effects stock footage in their music video by the band No Ordinary Oswald called "40 Watt Womb".  

The AlexLOGIC Super-8 filmed special effects are primarily used in the final 45 seconds of the 2 minute 11 second music video, (all the light swirling footage). 

It's always cool to see how some one else uses my stock footage on their own production.

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The Over 49 Crowd fights back against the Harry's Law Cancellation, here's a protest idea worth considering.

Please Like the Save Harry's Law Facebook page. Please also consider Liking Fight to Save Men of a Certain Age from Cancellation Facebook page as well.  


And there is also the Save Men of a Certain Age Facebook page. Like all of them and triple the impact you have as an over the hill demographic.

Now for a proactive solution to bring back power to those older than 49 years of age. Why don't television shows create credit cards with the name of their television show on the card?

HARRY'S LAW CREDIT CARD, 

DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT.


Could MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE be saved 
if fans use an M.O.A.C.A. Credit Card?

What better way to show how much buying power "older viewers" have of their favorite television show than to use a credit card with the name of that show on the credit card?

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American Express Kayak commercial, almost funny, but it's not.

I wanted to like the american express kayak commercial, I wanted to laugh, and I sort of chuckled, but the commercial is definitely lacking something, and it does not play well in repeated showings for me.

I wonder if a supporting cast would have helped this commercial.  Maybe the Kayaker's friends throw cups of water on him, maybe one is a girl that is flirting with him so he ends up buying a kayak for two?

Even some sound effects would have helped.

On top of that, the way the kayaker just sort of whips out his phone and pays by american express, as if it's a throwaway expense but he can afford it, is slightly offensive in this day and age of job loss and economic stagnation.

Kayaking is a serious endeavor, no goofing around or one can end up drowned, especially if they go alone.

Why not just make a commercial about someone with poor vision buying a high end sports car, kind of the same thing, no, is that really funny?

I still like the actor who plays the kayaker, Aziz Ansari of Community.

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Robert Dewey shocked by hectic world | GJSentinel.com | This would make an EXCELLENT TV series, no?

Robert Dewey shocked by hectic world | GJSentinel.com

Instead of ANOTHER relatively points reality tv show, would not comparing and contrasting a person wrongly convicted of a crime before they went into prison, and 17 years later when they got out, make for a terrific new television series?  

What an incredible time shift that would be. And guess who could be the consultant? 


Mr. Robert Dewey of course.

Please Download the Chase Bank Protest Protest Flyer for FREE, and then all that needs to be done is just give a few copies out, it is really that simple.

Clay Aiken, the New Captain Kirk of Celebrity Apprentice Star Trek?

I like the original Star Trek Series, I wish they had made 150 of them instead of the 79 that were made.

I'd love to see a remake of the original Star Trek series. The special effects were not over done as I feel they were in later Star Trek spin off series, and I would love to see more old school special effects if a  Celebrity Apprentice Star Trek version actually made it to television.

Someone once made fun of some Captain Kirk's grimaces, and that slightly ruined his character for me, but only temporarily. I still like  the character of Captain James T. Kirk  played by William Shatner.

Watching Clay Aiken on the 2012 Celebrity Apprentice, especially the opening sequence of the final episode, Part I, that aired on Mothers day, 2012, it just suddenly clicked to AlexLOGIC that Clay Aiken would make a terrific Captain Kirk.  

 Meet the new James T. Kirk, Clay Aiken.

The Original James T. Kirk.

Many of the 2012 Celebrity Apprentices would work well as the officers of an original Celebrity Apprentice Star Trek remake.

 Chief Engineer, Scotty, aka Penn Jillette

 Uhura, Aubrey O'Day

 The head of the Star Trek Federation, aka Donald Trump

 James T. Kirk's favorite on board vixen, Dayana Mendoza

 Star Trek Veterinarian Tia Carrere (ok, there wasn't a veterinarian on the original Star Trek, but there should be for the new version).

Donald Trump, lobbying hard for that head of the federation position. 

 Star Trek chief Litigator/negotiator(a new position), Lisa Lampanelli 

Meet Spock, Adam Carolla, flare that eyebrow, Adam.

Aresenio Hall, Possibly Chekov's or Sulu's position.

George Takei, playing himself from the original Star Trek and having accidently been age accelerated on the planet dosomar, has now been frozen to preserve his remaining years and is only thawed out when his experience is essential to saving the Enterprise or solving a crisis, sometimes votes are taken on whether or not George is "Thaw worthy."

Lou Ferrigno, ready willing and able to lift or throw anything at anytime, whether appropriate or not. 

There you have it, the Star Trek Celebrity Apprentice, courtesy of AlexLOGIC.  

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Ray Romano | Ray Romano's Axed Show Wins Tv Award | Contactmusic

Ray Romano | Ray Romano's Axed Show Wins Tv Award | Contactmusic

Basically, all the axed shows, (MOACA) or award shows that uses axes (Rescue Me), or have a battleaxe running the show (Harry's Law, ok just trying to be funny) got awards.

So if you want to win a television award, use an axe, or have your show die trying.

The FIRM, NBC's best show, buried on Saturday Night.

(Edit update: May 14, 2012, 10:27pm)  lol, Harry's Law, the second best rated show on NBC, has also been canceled. Meanwhile, NBC keeps piling on new music based and reality based shows, culminating in reality based music shows. gasp)


A funny thing happened to NBC at the beginning of the 2012 fall season. 30 Rock was not ready to roll at the beginning of the  new season because of Tina Fey's pregnancy and "The Office" no longer had lead actor Steve Carrel anchoring the show.

So CBS swooped in and did two incredibly smart things. First, CBS counter programmed NBC with a new show called Person of Interest at 9 PM on Thursday nights, and the opening scene of the first show was a terrific reincarnation of Clint Eastwood's Sudden Impact "Make my Day" scene.

What's not to like about a grudging super hero who just wants to be left alone, but, if bothered, will make the day memorable for several subway punks who were asking for it. The second thing CBS did was cancel "How to be a Gentleman" after only two episodes."

As an aside, How to be a Gentleman, in AlexLOGIC's opinion, was doomed to failure because Kevin Dillion's character was far too prominent. The promo trailer was just awful as well. What is really so funny about a guy punching another guy in the gut?

Dillion's character should have been more of a shadowy figure who seems to come out of nowhere to make the main character's life, miserable. Instead, the show created an allegedly Funny Bully who actually punches people. 

Really?

So CBS did the incredibly intelligent thing and after only two airings of How to be a Gentleman on Thursday nights moved the show to Saturday nights, (where most television shows go to die). Then after one more airing on Saturday, HTBAG went off of their schedule entirely.

CBS then ran consecutive episodes of the Big Bang Theory every Thursday before Person of Interest until more episodes of Rules of Engagement were ready for airing, with Person of Interest coming on at 9:00 PM.  

This entire strategy destroyed NBC's Thursday night's line-up, which suffered not only by not having Third Rock episodes ready because of Tina Fey's pregnancy, but also because Steve Carell was no longer on  The Office.

Which leads us to "The Firm". The Firm was unfairly put on Thursday night's lineup by NBC after CBS had already annihilated what was normally a solid ratings night for NBC.

The Firm's Thursday ratings were apparently so low that NBC moved the show to Saturday Night. 

I'm not alone in liking The Firm, Jay Leno of NBC absolutely loves this show and raved about it on The Tonight Show.

Shows like The Firm should be rebroadcast at 2 or 3 in the morning to hook in people who missed it the first time around and find it to be a nice late night treat. This will over time build viewer loyalty for a second season.  There I go again giving great, unsolicited advice.

NBC will be foolish to not greenlight a second season of The Firm, it's a solid show that mixes interesting court room drama with, action scenes as well. I love that the two male leads are brothers, and I think the casting for this show is fantastic, the music and overall sound mix is spectacular as well.

Sadly, what appears to be missing is a late twenties something female and male co-lead, what I refer to as "tart appeal" to keep the younger crowd interested in a show that is actually about something, but skews to a slightly older crowd.

The Firm reminds me of "Men of a Certain Age" because both shows skew slightly older, and don't seem capable of drawing people under the age of thirty who apparently would rather watch reruns of Jersey Shore and Kimmy Kardashian minutia.

I wish the networks would realize that first time ratings should not dictate what shows they run. A show like The Firm will do spectacularly well in syndication, so can a show like Men of a Certain Age, (Although the dialogue track on MOACA needs to be raised and the music track lowered in volume), and there are creative, new ways to raise overall viewership for shows such as The Firm and MOACA that the networks presently don't practice.

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