Chapter 1

Conceptualization of the contraceptive device was not proving to be as easy as one would think for the esteemed Head of Set Props. There were only so many ways to insert, or take out, a device meant to prevent pregnancy, even for a six-legged extraterrestrial.

Staring directly at the spot where the window frame met the wall, his brow furrowed in concentration, Steve Bresnan was going to need more information before the meeting could be concluded. Visions of orb-like devices and green-light-escaping lanterns flooded through his brain, but then again anytime they came to him with “Science Fiction – Alien Movie – ‘Hot’ Actor, Plot TBD” projects like these it was his go-to initial idea, no matter if it was a weapon, source of energy, burial device or whatever the situation called for.

His first set of questions revolved around anatomy; was there, you know, a “male” and a “female”? Did the male, you know, impregnate, the female? Did he do this by, you know, the normal human way, or was there some sort of arachnid-type leg touching? After being sufficiently satisfied that there was indeed a prog and a hole, a mounting and a thrusting, focus could turn to cultures.

Without even looking up from his Blackberry, the Production Manager, a stout 50′ish man dressed in a blue cotton shirt (Brooks Brothers, $160, Item#: 45-8722) and faded striped brown suit pants, sensed where the conversation was going. Removing one hand from the keyboard, he raised his hand as if stopping a school-bus.

“Before you ask, yes they do look like humans but with more legs and some weird Sci-fi’ish face features.”

“So they’re not lizards or spider-crawly-types right?”

“Correct. We wanted to avoid the over-CGI route, plus that shit is getting expensive. I don’t understand computer stuff myself but I mean how much money does a team of nerds need?”

The Head of Design didn’t even flinch upon hearing this. Nothing. He was thinking about porn again, I bet, Steve supposed. Those nerds love their porn.

Tapping on the table with his iPhone, Steve noticed that his left leg was bouncing up and down at the same time. His right hand was twitching and his left leg was bouncing. He wondered if he was having a stroke. No, everything’s fine, it’s probably just the Red Bull. It was before 11 in the morning after all, definitely not the time for a drink made of sugar, medicine and evil.

“Do they gargle when they talk? You know, like “GAAARRRRGGGGHHH!, or “ScccccHHhhhhhHHhh”?”

“No, they’re all British. Well, the actors are British. We tried to get a few Arabs for the speaking roles but they’re all being used for that action flick down the lot.”

“OK, so British, 6 legs, fucking, dick and vagina…what’s the working plot again?”

“Aliens have invaded Earth but created hybrid babies with the wrong group of people and it’s up to the Twilight kids to protect the correct group from getting filled with alien babies.”

Clapping twice, Steve suddenly stood up in a more rushed fashion than he was hoping to convey. Placing his hands on his hips, he began to rotate them left-to-right in small to medium sized circles. No one found this odd.

“And one of those kids are actually an alien in disguise, right?”

“Correct. That enough info?”

“OK, no problem. One question though – if they’re here to impregnate earth people why would they need contraceptives?”

“Oh that’s the Parents’ Council bullshit again. Apparently even aliens need jimmy-hats.”

Stopping the hip circles, Steve opened his right hand as if a magician waving over a top hat. The panache was not unnoticed.

“Wait, it has to be the males that use them?”

“Of course, I mean I know they’re aliens and all but even they know better than to leave that kinda shit up to a woman.”

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The Subtleties of Shifting the NFL Labor Blame

With news that the NFL is close to a new labor agreement, the impetus now lies with the NFLPA (NFL Players Association), the union arm that represents all current and former NFL players.

After weeks of tough negotiation, an agreement in principle has been reached. NFLPA members are set to vote on the new agreement today, but in the realm of public opinion this “vote” can only go one way.

NFLPA Chief DeMaurice Smith

Perhaps realizing that putting brash billionaires in front of the camera pleading their plight won’t win over any fans, the NFL owners have been relatively silent in the past weeks. Jerry Jones is nowhere to be found (something that benefits everyone really). While owners entered negotiations with the upper-hand, after losing the appeal for network TV revenue regardless of a 2011-12 season their coffers were not quite so stuffed. Sure they had a lot of money, but then again so did MC Hammer.

The court decision did indeed force the owners hand – losing out on any football would cost them dearly. Even if Week 1 of the pre-season were to not take place, owners would lose out on an estimated $200 million dollars. For the pre-season.

With efforts thus increased to reach a deal, a settlement-in-principal quickly developed. Concessions on training programs and the rookie scale were reached, where previously there seemed to be an immovable chasm of disagreement.

Now that the NFL owners are out of the public eye and an initial settlement has been reached, the deadline of August 7th (the set date for Week 1 of the pre-season) looms. The decision to play football in 2011-12 rests 100% with the NFLPA. Should they fail to ratify the agreement, even with both sides coming out as losers, public opinion will see:

1. The owners were arrogrant
2. The owners realized they needed to play football to make money
3. The owners sacrificed some of their demands to let the season start as planned.

Thus, blame will lie with the former and current players and their union. Through simple self-interest the owners have laid bare their soul and become, if not the victim, then at least the grown-up in negotiations.

The NFLPA’s biggest bargaining chip has always been public support. Should they fail to ratify the proposed settlement they could find themselves reviled and in a position that may jeopardize their very existence.

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Short Story: Eavesdropping

Load plane. Take seat. Read in-flight magazine.

A few minutes into the flight, 5, 10, 15, 20 – Jim had no idea – one of the flight attendants – not the cute one or the gay guy, but the overweight obvious mother type – came down the aisle, stopping before every row and pressing down on the cart-brake with her white Asics sneakers (he looked). She was only three rows away, so like a conditioned lemming he unlocked his tray from its upright position and readied himself for his moment ; in the spotlight was coming.

What would they offer? Chicken definitely, but beef wellington as well perhaps? He doubted fish or pork – had he ever eaten one of those on a plane? No, no, that’s a silly though. Would she offer him a kosher meal? No, you had to request those before the flight, at least that’s what he had read somewhere before. Besides, he wasn’t like, Jewish or anything anyways.

Before he knew it she was upon him. He moistened his lips in preparation of speaking, but she addressed the other side of the row and then the Persian lady to his right first. Hmm…old person jealousy he thought, ignoring the fact that she had used the same procedure with every single row up to their 15. Persian lady was going with chicken. A safe, sensible and prudent choice he thought. He instantly warmed to her: safe, sensible, prudent – good attributes to have in a row-mate.

“And what about you fine sir? What will you be having?” Jim was astounded at the force of her smile. Her personality showed through it and for a second as the sun peered above the clouds her face was illuminated. Jim reacted with an inward gasp, a proclamation of the situational angel he was now faced with.

I’m sorry I prejudged you.
It’s OK, everyone does.
You are a nice lady
Thank you

“Well, what do you have m’lady?” he shot back with his most charming smile.

He felt he had gone too far. Her smile diminished, obvious patience slid out of her expression. She felt he was being “cute”, and not the good “cute” that worked so well at frat parties or at tehc ampus bar, the “cute” that aggravated those  who had lived, those who were working, those whose loved revolved around the routine of life. Jim instantly wanted to apologize for the unintended charm.

“We have a chicken plate, a chicken salad sandwich plate and a beef plate.”

“Chicken salad please.”

She handed over the tray and without another word unclicked her brake and walked the cart to the next aisle before turning to the next passenger and turning on her beaming smile. “And what would you like fine sir?”

Jim could not hear the man’s response over the popping sound of the plastic cover of his chicken salad sandwich plate.

Try as he might to find fault with his meal, Jim had to admit it was delicious. The lettuce was crisp, the side vegetables were fresh, as was the fruit in the accompanying fruit cup: honeydew melon, cantaloupe, grapes, and even a few pieces of pineapple. The standing of the flight company increased immediately. Everything on most flights was usually pretty cut-and-paste, but a good chicken salad sandwich plate went a long way with him. I mean he had even been on flights where they didn’t even give you a meal. This blew his mind. They advertised themselves as a “no frills” company, but come on – it was like going to church and getting skimped out of communion. Sacrilege! They smugly walked around with their menus to buy chips or bars or a ham and swiss cheese on rye, but he had never had money handy and even if he had there was no way he would buy anything on principle alone. No, he would not take their Judas-cookies or chips. There are certain places a man must take a stand, even if they are sitting down.

Jim nodded to himself in resolution and wiped his hands with the accompanying wet-nap. Yup, these guys were fucking pros.

Mr. PimpleNeck really seemed to be enjoying his newspaper. He folded and crimpled it every few minutes like he was an origami master. If he had made a sailor’s hat of the classifieds, Jim would have instantly liked him. He doubted this little miracle would take place however.

Placing most of his upper weight on his left elbow, he leaned to better see what PimpleNeck was reading through the cracks between the chairs in front of him. The headline on page…page? Ah…page A5 read “Insurgents Strike Kabul Again; 5 Killed”. He deduced that this was the article Pimple Neck was reading, judging by the various disapproving mouth clicks and head shakes that emitted almost like clockwork every five or six seconds. Mark down PimpleNeck as a non-fan of insurgency and innocent deaths.

Without knowing why, this made Jim dislike him even more. Jim slouched back in his chair, his jaw slightly agape, cocked to one side. He licked the back of his teeth and pulling down on the left sleeve of his polo looked out the window again. Off in the distance he saw the glimmer of water – whether it was a lake or ocean he didn’t care.

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Technical Writing: Radiant Heating

**This is one of over 15 articles I wrote for Resnet.us, a provider of home energy solutions.**

Long popular in European homes, radiant heat flooring has only recently caught on with the American market, yet is becoming increasingly popular in new home construction.

Homeowners looking to increase their energy efficiency and decrease their reliance on heating methods dependent upon fossil fuels can achieve a more comfortable heating system and expect considerable savings by moving to radiant heat flooring, in some cases up to 40% in colder climates.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers reports that homes with radiant flooring receive the same amount of heat as convectional heating with the thermostat set to an average of 6-8 degrees lower. Most new super 98% hot water boilers are efficient only at low temperatures, so this leads to a substantial drop in energy costs.

Unlike traditional forced air heating methods, radiant heating does not require humidification as it does not change the moisture levels in the home. Thus, you no longer need a humidifier, nor the electrical costs it incurs.

There are three methods of radiant heat flooring:
•    Radiant Air floors – whereby warm air is circulated through pipes below the floor.
•    Electric Radiant floors – achieved via the installation of electric coils, usually above existing flooring with a covering layer of hardwood flooring.
•    Hydronic Radiant floors – hot water is carried through pipes via a boiler

Hydronic flooring comprises the majority of radiant home flooring in the United States and can be installed in existing homes either via plates or tubes that are stapled to the sub-floor and then covered with a layer of installation, or, the entire floor is replaced with a new flooring level featuring pre-installed aluminum tubing and hardwood floors above.

The drawbacks of radiant flooring are as follows:
•    New super efficient hot water boilers can be very expensive
•    If your home has carpeting, this will have to be replaced for hardwood floors
•     It takes longer for your home to warm

In older homes, many people are turning to a combination of convectional heating, for fast acting heat and electric radiant coils for a slower, longer lasting heat.

Radiant heat works very well when combined with solar power solutions.

While radiant home flooring can be expensive to install, it can provide savings on energy costs and give a more natural warmth. Determining if the energy savings will outweigh the installation costs requires examination of your prior heating bills and a consultation with a certified professional.
Due to the complexity of installing radiant home flooring it is advised to use a Resnet.us certified floor technician to make the conversion to natural heat.

Big Picture: Mexico’s Drug War

Boston.com features a photography journal known as “The Big Picture” – LINK HERE – that examines aspects of life we may not normally get to see.

One of their most recent photogs examines the drug trade in Mexico and just how the US (and Canadian) demand for hardcore drugs has escalated an already violent situation into a full-fledged war.

Think about some of these pictures the next time you’re listening to a rapper sing about “yayo” or Charlie Sheen jokes about how he does so much blow. Kinda ruins the cool when you see the effect, huh fam?

Here are just a few of the pictures from the series. Click on any image to visit The Big Picture’s full gallery.






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Fresh To Death: Make Your Bid on Speedsale. Oops, Too Late

Courtesy of the dope trending site Springwise.com, a site full of great entrepreneurial ideas, comes Speedsale.se – a Swedish based website but that gives you just 4 seconds to put a bid in.

That’s it. Four seconds. Hum and Haw on whether you should buy or not and bam – it’s done.

SpeedSale Screen CapCreated by retailer Papercut (kind of like a more informative Swedish Borders.com), this Swedish-based site only has a handful of items to offer, but as more people check it out their inventory will surely rise.

Even if you don’t want to buy a thing, you’ve got to give it up to Speedsale for praying on our insecurities and “buy now” attitudes.  Sure saving $5 on a child seat might not seem like that great an idea (especially if you don’t you know, have kids and stuff), but when you’ve got only a moment to think about it you’ll quickly find out how much of a bargain-hunter you really are.

This is a relatively new aspect to the online marketing world – “Planned Scarcity” – and Speedsale’s idea is likely to spawn a copycat in the US market, it’s only a matter of time.

Kinda like 4 seconds.

Click here to check out SpringWise

Click here to check out Speedsale

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Say What Now: Scotland

Ten bucks if you can understand a single sentence here.

“This tin (unitelligible) his ashes innit…weigh a ton (unitelligible)…hamster cage!”

That is literally the only thing I understood. Kind of.

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Fiction: Ice Bro, Ice

Since the day when he first saw her brand new Chip N Pepper t-shirt in the sixth grade, Clint Thomas had been madly in love with Jill Morrison. His particular brand of love was the one of Shakespeare, of Hallmark cards and movies starring Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts, though his lack of attention to educational pursuits would not allow him to describe the sentiment in such a fashion. No, for Clint he just fucking hurt whenever he saw her: not a physical, bruising hurt but the hurt that one gets from loss or missing out on a car give-away from Oprah. It would creep up in his abdominal region every day during school, every Friday at the local hangout and reduce the surrounding visuals to a blur. Clint would joke with other girls at parties, or flirt with them when he was drunk, but she was always there in his peripheral vision like an unknown danger in the darkness. He couldn’t escape her grasp nor to be quite honest did he want to, which made the sight of Jimmy DiPalmo’s left hand touching her lower back tonight all the more troubling.

Fidgeting his right leg on the footrail of the bar at roughly 230 bpms Clint was unaware of how much he resembled someone with a nervous disorder. The steady tap-tap-tap rose above the 40 decibel bar music (some rap song about having money and taking a girl out to show her how much money the rapper has as opposed to the other gentlemen from his “Hood” who apparently were not as financially wealthy and therefore not as suitable mates, despite the fact the rapper spoke with reckless bravado about how he surrounded himself with the criminal element), causing the middle-aged Irish couple next to him to raise their eyebrows as if seeing too much cleavage on a buxom woman. All that mattered was figuring out how to get that cocksucker Jimmy away from Jill. Obvious to a keen observer perhaps was the fact that Clint was now soundly drunk out of his mind, having slammed back 5 beers and 4 shots of whatever magical whiskey the bartender kept within reach of his well.

Now, I would not be doing a service to you the reader by pointing out that alcohol tends to cause an emotional reaction in the male species ranging from anger to sadness to extreme anger and crushing sadness. Clint lay somewhere between the extreme and the non-emphasized version. Despite having said nary a word to Jill since he asked her about her dad’s recent bout of prostate cancer (“Yeah, he’s doing a lot better thanks. At least I think he is.”) and having said nothing to Jimmy since their Senior year of College (“Shit I’m good man, good seeing you. Hit me up on Facebook.”) this was a conversation in which he would need to interject. But alas, how best to interfere, break up the amorous mood, re-enforce his own male superiority over that WOP fuck and do so with an aplomb that bordered on Clooney-esque as opposed to Dudley Moore-esque was what currently occupied Clint’s head.

If only there was a way to be:

A.      Cool

B.      Funny

C.      Make being uncontrollably drunk seem like a pro and not a con

D.      More attentive to Jill’s eye than the competition

Now one can assume that with ulterior motives come ulterior excuses for a lack of social grace. Barbarism in the human kingdom rarely carries any weight without the backing of female approval, so he would have to be subtle about this – no barging in and taking over the conversation or sabotaging Jimmy while he was in the bathroom, no this would require tact. Clint felt he had this in spades.

He did not.

By closing one eye Clint could see that Jimmy was drinking a Smirnoff Ice, or at least it was on the table next to them with a radius that pre-supposed ownership. Clint knew what to do. He would ice this bro.

Pointing in the general direction of the bar mirror, yet at no one in particular Clint waved around a roughed up and laundered $5 bill. “Hey you, give me a Smirnoff Ice.”

Seriously, fuck Jimmy DiPalmo.

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Emphatic Movie Reviews in 10 Words or Less

As my favorite film blog – FilmDrunk – likes to point out*, most movie critics are really, really  like… stupid. Some are snobs who think their enriched vernacular (big words) will make them seem like an authority, while some others like that hackjob Pete Hammond are basically whores for the movie industry, except they give poster-worthy fawning reviews instead of handjobs in back alleys (I think).

This all leads me to one conclusion – I want in.

Cmon Hollywood - I've already got the douche-y pictures. I CAN DO THIS!

Yep, that’s right, I will 100% take my talents to South Beach movie reviews. I will suspend my good taste and moral judgment if it means some of that sweet, sweet Hollywood money, buddy.

Hollywood execs, to give you a sample here are my emphatic 10 word or less reviews of the last 10 movies I have seen. Feel free to use any or all for your movie posters. Again, give me a call. I am willing to give up all credibility for a piece of the action. We can discuss the back alley handjobs later.

–Centurion–

Starring: Michael F. Assbender. I’m sorry, that’s actually Michael Fassbender.

Review: “Brits try to make Hollywood-type crap action. They succeed!”

Rating: 1 bended ass out of 5

–Date Night–

Starring: Tina Fey, Steve Carell

Review: “Should be good, but isn’t! Like a date with me!”

Rating: 2.5 boring-marriage cliches out of 5

–Red–

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman (who dies, but no one seems to care)

Review: “Red is a color…and now a terrible movie!”

Rating: 1.5 dead black actors out of 5

–Predators–

Starring: Adrian Brody (doing his best Batman impression), Laurence Fishburne (for like 10 seconds), some Yakuza guy, Walton Groggins (Finally!) and a bunch of guys in scary looking monster makeup.

Review: “Predators Hunt. Actors Die. Yakuza Uses a Sword.”

Rating: 1 cardboard sign with “How the hell does Hollywood keep getting this movie concept so wrong?” written on it, out of 5

–Inception–

*BRRRRAAAAHHHHHMMMM*

Starring: Leo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Philip Seymour Hoffman Michael Clarke Duncan Anthony Michael Hall Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine (acting all Michael Caine-y)

Review: “Great movie. Makes you think…or does it?”

Rating: 4.5 Exploded Minds out of 5

–The Book of Eli–

Starring: Denzel “I’m thirsty” Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman (Check out Jay Pharaoh’s spot-on Denzel impersonation here)

Review: “If you hold the bible you can’t be shot! Really!”

Rating: 1.5 vaguely-covered religion metaphors out of 5

–Dead Snow–

Starring: Jeppe Laursen, Charlotte Frogner, The Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show

Review: “Zombie movie? Sure! Zombie NAZI movie? Uh-oh, this sucks!”

Rating: 0.5 Dissapointed Nerd-boys out of 5

–Legion–

Starring: That guy from “Wimbledon” and the blonde girl with the weirdly placed mole from Saturday Night Lights.

Review: “Angels and demons fight for some kid for some reason!”

Rating: 0 Anythings out of 5 (For the record: this was the worst movie I’ve ever seen)

*SPECIAL “How Have You Not Seen That Earlier” REVIEW*

–Slumdog Millionaire–

Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, a bunch of other Indian actors I cannot pretend to know, some poor kids

Review: “Unlike chicken vindaloo, stays with you in a good way!”

Rating: 5 Danny Boyles out of 5

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