Miffed

Hey guys! Long time no talk! I wanted to share something with you all that has really irritated me. A few months ago, a film called DRONES, co-directed by Amber Benson and Adam Busch and written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The trailer for the film looked promising, and it didn't disappoint. I don't want to give much of it away for those of you who haven't had the opportunity to see the film yet, but trust me when I say it takes a lot to impress me with a film, and this one did.
This little indie film is set in an office environment and takes place over the course of a week, following the life of Brian Dilks, an office drone who discovers that he may... or may not... be working with aliens who may... or may not... be planning to take over the earth. Yeah, I'm not telling which it is because I want you guys to be sure to see the film when it comes out. The lack of special effects in the movie make it that much better than almost anything mainstream Hollywood would ever be able to put together. The screenplay and dialogue is witty, catty, and just plain hillarious all at the same time thanks to the incredible writing team of Acker and Blacker, who also do the Thrilling Adventure Supernatural and Suspense Hour in Los Angeles; if you're out that way, make a stop in and check it out. The directors, what can I say? It's clear on the film that they knew what they were doing one hundred percent. Everything sounds peachy keen, right? So, you may be wondering what the downside is. I'm about to tell ya.
I have this pal o' mine that was nice enough to keep me posted on all things Twitter while my internet was down from moving over the weekend. I get a text message. "The whole DRONES thing sucks for Amber Benson." I was like, "Wait, what?" I was very confused. You never realize how much you miss until there's no cyber space... Anyhow, back to the story. After waiting patiently, and kinda worriedly, for the next text, I find out that the SyFy Channel is releasing a television series that is remarkably similar to the DRONES movie. I could have hit something. Namely... the SyFy Channel people. You know what? It doesn't even deserve capital letters. syfy channel. There. I like that better. I don't lose my temper all that often, but seeing someone's hard work just ripped off like that... infuriates me. Amber Benson was more diplomatic in her blog about this subject, but I don't have to be. I said RIPPED OFF.
When someone takes the mind spawn of two brilliant men like Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, changes the names of the character and the name of the show, but has the same plot line. IT'S THE SAME THING WITH A DIFFERENT NAME! I mean, COME ON! Acker and Blacker wrote the script in six days. Angela Bettis was brought on one day before filming. The crew pulled up dolly track so the camera could make a full circle, for Pete's sake! Hence the reasoning of the irritation, considering it's pretty much unheard of for a script to be done in that amount of time, or for an actress to do that well in a film in only one day's time. Chances are, the Syfy Channel, a mainstream cable network, probably took all of two seconds to rip the idea off.
Like Amber Benson said in her blog(found here: http://amberbensonwrotethis.blogspot.com/2010/07/drones-tv-show.html) people have similar ideas for programs and products all the time. I mean, look at Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Similar and yet different. However, truth be told, the recipe for Coca-Cola was stolen from an INDEPENDENT Pharmacy and taken to a pharmaceutical CHAIN to be used as cough syrup before the carbonation was added to make it a tasty beverage. So, yeah, not so much a fresh idea as a rip off... much like syfy has done to the creators and proud parents of DRONES. I, for one am miffed, and don't plan on sitting idly by. I'm thinking boycotting the network's programs. I've started a petition which can be signed here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/saveourdrones
If you guys want to band together to possibly help getting the network to not release the series, sign the petition(for anyone) and add a DRONES twibbon to your Twitter profile pic, for those of you who have Twitter. Be sure to see DRONES when it is released in March 2011. Let's bring 'em down!
BRING IT ON SYFY!!!!!

Life's Lessons

You learn life's lessons through the small things in life. I can think of about twelve right off the top of my head. I shall share them with you now!

12: If you consume too much alcohol.... chances are you're eventually going to either, embarrass the heck out of yourself, or hit the floor. Whichever comes first.

11: Gummy bears take SEVEN YEARS to digest! Just thinking.... WOW!

10: Don't let the bad things in life keep you from the great things in life.

9: Take it from me... don't tell someone to read your blog, even though you totally weren't expecting them to take the time to do so, if you don't really expect them to read your blog!

8: Keep your nose clean... drugs are more trouble than they're worth, and they only keep you satified for a while.

7: It's not a wise idea to Psych 101 someone that you have absoloutely no clue about. Usually, it comes back to bite you in the butt.

6: It's ridiculous to conform to what someone else thinks you should be. Be you.

5: You can learn a lot of valuable life lessons from Buffy! :o)

4: Nowhere in the Bible does it say "cleanliness is next to Godliness", but being clean does have it's benefits!

3: Ladies, if you go to the restroom after a four year old boy has just come out of it, check the toilet seat... the water's cold!

2: Don't judge others.... it's not your place.

1: And my A#1 life lesson..... drumroll please......... If you have a dream in life, aim for it, and then aim a little higher because it will make you happy in the long run!

You can take these of leave them... it won't hurt my feelings either way! Till next time guys!