An American Way of Death

Healthcare is not really heath care, is it? It is actually sickness maintenance. It’s theoretically about providing resources for sickness: Drugs, medical devices, doctors and nurses. You only need those things when you’re sick. If you actually wanted to ensure people’s health you would make sure they did healthy things, like breathe fresh unpolluted air, drink fresh unpolluted water, eat organic carcinogen free foods. You’d ensure that people got exercise, took yoga classes, or that they maintained a stress free life as in doing meditation every morning and evening. You’d keep them out of stressful polluted traffic every day. You’d have them walk daily. You’d make sure they had respirators or masks in air polluted areas. If insurance did those things, it would be health insurance. It would be sickness prevention.

In America sickness is a profit center. Cancer alone is a multi-trillion dollar industry. Consider all the money required to maintain a person through cancer treatments. It easily averages over a million dollars (about the same amount required to support each troop in Afghanistan for a year). Industries profit on that. The insurance industry, the medical device industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the nursing home industry (and of course the war profiteers), all profit from Americans’ pain, suffering, and death. Call it PSD.

We have a lot of people who complain about the sick industries and the expense of PSD. People pay a lot for insurance. Even if a claim is honored, people have co-payments. They fight daily to get hospital bills paid by their so-called insurance. There is a profit incentive for the insurance industry to deny care. Their business model is to find ways to avoid paying claims and to take in as much in premiums as possible. They know that Americans willingly pay for insurance. Even when they raise their rates by double digit percentages, Americans pay. Even if insurance companies deny claims and people suffer and die for lack of care, they will still pay. Tens of thousands of Americas continue to die annually but they still pay for insurance. It’s an incredibly profitable industry that easily takes in a 30% margin over its costs, and makes huge profits. Very few industries do that.

Americans are conditioned like lab rats to pay hundreds every month, thousands every year, for questionable and often worthless insurance. Obamacare got more people to buy insurance. Authored mainly by Elizabeth Fowler, a prior insurance company executive, either Obamacare is a genius piece of legislation or it’s taking Americans for a ride (depending on if you’re an investor or not). Now millions more Americans pay for questionable sickness insurance. When they get sick, you can bet the first order of business for their insurers is to find ways to deny their claims. And now the government requires by law that all people pay for sickness insurance or they will be fined. So if you have insurance you pay to be denied sickness coverage, and if you don’t have insurance, you pay government fines.

The theory is that if people don’t have insurance, they will be taken care of anyway and everyone else will have to pay for it. That’s only true for legislators, government officials, and the active military who are all 100% covered by government funds at no cost whatsoever. For everyone else this would be true if insurance companies actually paid to help people through sickness. But they don’t. The reality is the opposite, which is to say insurance companies don’t pay. People with insurance suffer and die for lack of care because insurance is not care. It is a business. People without insurance also suffer and die, but at least they don’t pay premiums. They pay government penalties.

And what do we do to insure health? Nothing. Healthy Americans are a liability for the American PSD industries and their stockholders. Those industries depend on pain, suffering and death for their livelihood and profits. In fact PSD enterprises comprise about one sixth of the national economy. Without PSD our country would suffer a great monetary impact. Entire industries could go out of business. Do you work for the insurance industry? Do you willingly work for blood money? Those who have pain, who suffer, or die for lack of sick care, do so for our protected PSD industries to maintain high profits. It’s a uniquely American way of death.

Big Problem with the Universal Healthcare Movement or WTF is Single Payer?

"Single Payer" is some anonymously coined term (as far as I know) that supposedly describes the concept of a single government entity, such as a national government healthcare agency (not unlike the Veterans Administration), which would replace all commercial healthcare insurance companies. More accurately it has been called Medicare for All, which, in fact, is the title of a piece of legislation that has been kicked around for years in Congress, yet never killed. And why? Because the government in its infinite wisdom must appease any growing outcry from all the little people out there so they can continue to receive "campaign contributions" from the sickness industries. It is my considered opinion that the term was coined, probably well thought out in advance, by our paranoid little government in its never ending fear of losing control over all its people, as if it ever owned all its people.

Who came up with the ridiculous phrase? Some secret think tank or New England university choir boys group who decided that mommy and daddy's never ending money supply might be in danger of deflating by a few percent due to a few undesirables who have a problem with being considered dispensable for the sake of the multi-trillion dollar sickness industries in America, that's who. Tens of thousands die annually in America due to the lack of real heath care. They suffer and die for corporate profits. And insurance proves time and again that it is not health care. It is the denial of care. It is a profit center. 

Cancer alone is a multi-trillion dollar annual industry. But you won't hear "Single Payer" advocates or activists (as they think of themselves); you will rarely ever hear them refer to an American sickness conglomerate of industries or the fact than even just one arm of it profits in the trillions on the sickness, suffering, and deaths of their so precious free American co-citizens. No, you will never hear that. Why? Because the US government ultimately controls activist groups and has notoriously infiltrated each and every activist group in this country. This is a known fact regardless of whether you call it conspiracy theory or not. American agencies place infiltrators at the highest levels of activists groups. That is why there are ridiculously misunderstood terms like "single payer" used to describe the crux of activists' concern. No. That is not their concern. Their concern is human life, the forsaking of human life for profit. Greed rules America. People die. Insurance is not healthcare. Those are the concerns.

Now if so called activists really wanted to end this criminality, this forsaking of life, this outrage that flies in the face of American freedom, this dispensing of people for profit; if indeed they wanted to be true activists, they would drop all their insurance polices. They wine and moan about how the insurance industry denies care, costs so much overhead, allows people to die and what do they do? They willing buy insurance from the criminals they fight.  Ludicrous. And then when they need insurance they get denied. They too suffer. Wake up! You are educated people. Think for yourself. Your money is your control.

If you want to go up against big insurance, you drop your insurance. You don't pay. You don't pay outrageous bills. You vote with your feet and your wallet. You allow yourself to get bad credit ratings because that's what true activists do. Going to a sit-in at the local insurance tower and getting arrested is not a sacrifice. That's a show with minimal effect. Forsake your credit ratings. Show your true power and commitment. Until you do that you will never have respect. Because money is all they understand. Nothing else matters. Not life. Not politics. Not freedom. Not this country or its ideals. No way in hell does any of that matter to American industry. All that matters is money. And the people have the power to cut off the money. You have that power. It's your money! You are funding your own doom. Are you freaking nuts? Or are you an investor in suffering and death? My mistake then.

How many activists out there still have insurance policies. Raise your hands. Yes. 99% of you. You aren't really activists are you.? You're spineless! Yes you work hard and I respect that, but your energy is misplaced and misspent. Work smart. Do something that matters. If a real movement were afoot to drop insurance you can bet it would change things in an instant.

News flash! Change does not happen in government. You will not find a champion to elect in government that gives enough of a flying fart about your life over their own. Would they risk embarrassment? Would they risk making waves? Would they risk their own credit ratings? Their reelection? Their job? Being ostracized? No! You think peoples' lives matter to anyone in government compared to the millions of dollars in donations they can get from industry? You are whacked out of your mind if you do.

Change happens when Martin Luther King marches, or when Rosa Parks gets on a bus, or when Bruce Springsteen drops a concert. It never happens when government signs a bill, because government will never sign a bill until someone forces their hand. Force their hand! Do not pay for insurance. Do not pay ludicrous health costs. Don't do it! It's criminal. 

Two Cents.

The Imporatnce of Theme, and other stuff

Steven Pressfield wrote an incredibly inspirational blog (I Can't Squeeze my Theme In) about theme. At least for writers, it's inspirational. You don't add the theme. It's already there, he says.

My wife tells me I can't see ghosts like she does because I can't let go and just relax. Apparently she experiences dead relatives alternately consoling or annoying her. She watches a lot of ghost realty TV too.

Then there's the thing about finding when you don't seek, and not finding when you do. Let it go. Use the force.

Ten there's the thing about, you don't find your passion, it finds you; you don't place your theme, it's already there. But you can't see it because you won't let go. That's how we met. Neither of us looking.

I'm convinced our frustration is due to our rat raced societal structure that imposes routine on our lives. What if we didn't all follow a circadian rhythm? Are we circadians? What if we didn't all go to work at dawn and return hone at dusk? What if we dared to sleep-in everyday? What if we refused to be pawns to the evil of money? Yeah, I know the conditioned answer is that without these things we would die or become homeless. Not true. But it's hard isn't it? To ignore our environment and peers? No it's not. Ignorance is easy. Just be selective about it.

And a few days after Pressfield's post, his editor, Shawn, writes Designated Driver to impress upon us how important his Theme post is. Yes it is. It makes me think. Actually. How daring. It's like the time I grabbed a rope, hung from a tree by a river bank, and swung right out and dropped into the water. The kids with me were shocked. I was always the reserved one. I didn't even know I could swim. That's one way to learn.

Dr. Peter Whybrow in conversation with David Milch

Published on Jul 1, 2015

Dr. Peter Peter Whybrow in conversation with David Milch at Live Talks Los Angeles discussing his book, "The Well Tuned Brain: Neuroscience and the Life Well Lived." For more about Live Talks Los Angeles, visit: www.livetalksla.org

Peter C. Whybrow, MD, is director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of, among other books, A Mood Apart and the award-winning American Mania: When More Is Not Enough. David Milch is an Emmy-Award-winning writer and producer (Deadwood, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues). Milch, who won the Tinker Prize for highest achievement in English at Yale University and earned an M.F.A.from the Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, left a teaching career at Yale to write for Hill Street Blues.

How to win actors and influence directors.

American Psycho - Analysis

American Psycho (2000), screenplay by Mary Harron & Guinevere Turner, novel by Bret Easton Ellis

OWEN: Call me. (Hands him a business card)
PRICE: How about Friday?
OWEN: No can do. Got a res at eight-thirty at Dorsia. Great sea urchin ceviche.
There is a stunned silence as he walks away and sits in a corner of the room, ostentatiously studying papers.
CLOSE-UP on Bateman’s face, cold with hatred.
PRICE: (Whispering) Jesus. Dorsia? On a Friday night? How’d he swing that?
McDERMOTT: (Whispering) I think he’s lying.
Bateman takes out his wallet and pulls out a card.
PRICE: (Suddenly enthused) What’s that, a gram?
BATEMAN: New card. What do you think?
McDermott lifts it up and examines the lettering carefully.
McDERMOTT: Whoa. Very nice. Take a look.
He hands it to Van Patten.
BATEMAN: Picked them up from the printers yesterday
VAN PATTEN: Good coloring.
BATEMAN: That’s bone. And the lettering is something called Silian Rail.
McDERMOTT: (Envious) Silian Rail?
VAN PATTEN: It is very cool, Bateman. But that’s nothing.
He pulls a card out of his wallet and slaps it on the table.
VAN PATTEN: Look at this.
They all lean forward to inspect it.
PRICE: That’s really nice.
Bateman clenches his fists beneath the table, trying to control his anxiety.
VAN PATTEN: Eggshell with Romalian type. (Turning to Bateman) What do you think?
BATEMAN: (Barely able to breath, his voice a croak) Nice.
PRICE: (Holding the card up to the light) Jesus. This is really super. How’d a nitwit like you get so tasteful?
Bateman stares at his own card and then enviously at McDermott’s.
BATEMAN: (V.O.) I can’t believe that Price prefers McDermott’s card to mine.
PRICE: But wait. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
He holds up his own card.
PRICE: Raised lettering, pale nimbus white…
BATEMAN: (Choking with anxiety) Impressive. Very nice. Let’s see Paul Owen’s card.
Price pulls a card from an inside coat pocket and holds it up for their inspection: “PAUL OWEN, PIERCE & PIERCE, MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS.” Bateman swallows, speechless. The sound in the room dies down and all we hear is a faint heartbeat as Bateman stares at the magnificent card.
BATEMAN: (V.O.) Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark…
His hand shaking, Bateman lifts up the card and stares at it until it fills the screen.
He lets it fall. The SOUND RETURNS TO NORMAL.
CARRUTHERS: Is something wrong? Patrick…you’re sweating.

Bateman (Christian Bale) has a hateful rivalry with Paul Owen (Jared Leto), who outplays him at every turn, even though it’s only ever about appearances (He’s not too fond of anyone else who outplays him as well). The rivalry is prevalent among all these guys. But none can touch Owen with his reservation at Dorsia or his unrivaled business card, especially not Bateman who had to lie about a Dorsia reservation, and whose card is second rate to at least a few others.
This is a classic pivotal scene and inciting incident, which reveals Bateman’s deep inner conflict, torment, personal anxiety, and hatred toward Owen, and serves as the premise of the story (Bateman’s psychosis). This incident sets Bateman off on a killing spree, starting later with taking an axe to Owen to Huey Lewis’ ‘Hip to be Square'”.

       

Posted in daily dialogue |

Happy Endings are Depressing

People sometimes complain about movies with sad or depressed endings. They want upbeat, feel good, inspiring. They want the fairy tales. But do happy endings actually make you happy? Do down endings make you sad? I don't think so.

When you've seen a a movie with a happy ending and then have to face reality, you inevitably come to the realization that you don't have a happy ending. You don't have any kind of ending. Even when you die, you won't experience the ending of your life, because it will be over before you can experience it.

When you've seen a movie with a sad ending, you may think about how the characters went wrong. You may think about how lucky you are not to have experienced something so depressing. Even if you had experienced it, you can feel consolation with characters that share your experience.  The outcome of a sad ending is to make you feel better.

When I got out of college times were tough, as they probably are for most kids just out of college. I could barely find enough work to survive. It was depressing as hell. So what did I do to feel better? No. I didn't go watch movies with happy endings. I couldn't afford movies with any kind of ending. I simply went out for walks in the city. And what did I see? Homeless people of course. People living depressing lives, too poor to have a car, taking buses. Waiting at bus stops like zombies. I would walk down the street and see all the lonely people, just like the Beatles song. Then I'd feel better. I'd feel sorry for them. But I'd feel better about myself, because even though I didn't have much, I had enough to feel like I had more than a lot of other people had.

You might have expected me to say that I least I had friends. But I didn't really. They'd all left college. They weren't around. My parents were staunch conservatives. They didn't want me around the house. So I can't say I had family either. I had nothing but myself. But I was comfortable with that. I had my films that I was working on. I had ideas. There was always the future. If there's a future there's hope. You have the opportunity to continue to live and make something happen.

Happy endings will depress you. But sad endings give you hope in what you have. Now try explaining that to the genius Hollywood MBA studio heads.

Leaving Las Vegas: Analysis

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
John O’Brien (novel)
Mike Figgis (screenplay and director)
with Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue

Scene

INT. RESTAURANT – NIGHT
Ben and Sera are eating. He plays with his food, eating very little of it. Finally he pushes it away and orders another drink.

SERA: I’m from the East. I went to college, did an arts course. I now live in Vegas. I think of it as home. I came here deliberately to carve out a life. I was in LA before, but I’ll come back to that later. (pause) The tough times are behind me now. I can deal with the bad things that happen. There will always be dark characters. But my life is good. It is as I would want it to be. So, why are you a drunk?

BEN: Is that really what you want to ask me?

SERA: Yes.

BEN: (worried) Well, then I guess this is our first date… or our last. Until now, I wasn’t sure it was either.

SERA: Very clever.

Sera thinks for a while and decides to give in to him on this.

SERA: First. It’s our first. I’m just concerned. So… why are you killing yourself?

BEN: Interesting choice of words. I don’t remember. I just know that I want to.

SERA: Want to kill yourself? Are you saying that you’re drinking as a way to kill yourself?

And she leans across the table to be close to him, listening intently. Ben becomes uncomfortable and tries to joke it off.

BEN: Or killing myself as a way to drink.

Sera continues to stare at him, wanting to know the real answer. He takes a slug from his drink. She sits back.

BEN: We’ll talk about it some other time maybe. OK?

Sera relaxes and continues with her food. We hear her thoughts for a moment.

SERA (v.o): It wasn’t so important to me. I mean, he never asked me why I was a hooker, and that was impressive. I really liked him. So I decided to just play my part. I mean… it’s good to help someone once in a while., it’s a bonus to being alive, and that was my plan… to stay alive. I suddenly came to a decision.

Analysis

I love this movie. Cage got an Oscar. Shue was nominated, along with Figgis for screenplay and direction. It’s a classic great with a wonderful bluesy jazz track. It’s one of those rare films where everything comes together.

This scene sticks in my mind, especially the line about how killing himself is a way to drink. That line is very representative of his character. He is always jovial and light about everything, with a few exceptions of rage. But this indicates how he rationalizes and accepts his depression. He’s OK with killing himself. And it seems he doesn’t even know he’s depressed. Or doesn’t admit it. That way he can carry on life as if it’s all very acceptable.

In fact numerous great writers seem to fall into depression and even suicide. And the novel is semi-autobiographical. In writing, if you put your soul into it, it can be reflective and can bring up certain thoughts such as the general futility of life (everything ends). In Hollywood this kind of demise seems even more a rule than an exception. Success is usually short lived. It’s wonderful to face these things through this character.

Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (analysis)

**** SPOILERS ****
Here is my take on “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”. It is explained and owned by Dickinson (the theatre reviewer character). It’s the title of her review that was so feared by Riggan before she ever wrote it. And it explains Riggan’s dichotomy.

Dickinson defines Riggan as a personification of Hollywood:

….I hate you. And everyone you represent. Entitled. Spoiled. Selfish. Children. Blissfully untrained, unversed and unprepared to even attempt real art. Handing each other awards for cartoons and pornography. Measuring your worth in weekends. Well, this is the theater, and you don’t get to come in here and pretend you can write, direct and act in your own propaganda piece without going through me first.

She’s telling him he is ignorant and she’s thinking he doesn’t even know it (he’s an untrained child). Ignorance becomes a “virtue of ignorance”, but it’s only virtuous when she sees he is actually honest in his performance and direction of the play.

Honesty is a virtue in acting. I think it is the thing that most divides Hollywood/film from theatre. The simplest thing can be honesty. It is possible to transcend both film and theatre as some great actors do. You might not expect that of an untrained, Hollywood comic book character player with no theatre background.

Riggin’s ‘virtue of ignorance’ is his ‘innocence’ (as a beginner on the stage), an unexpected innocence. I would add that the dichotomy between film and theatre is another strong recurring theme and mirrors Riggin’s own inner conflict of Divided Self and Disunity.

As Mike also eludes to it:

Do you have any idea who walked these boards before you? Geraldine Page, Marlon Brando, Helen Hayes, Jason Robards… And now you. Riggan Thomson.

And again later:

….Your stage? This stage belonged to a lot of great actor’s, pal. But you are not one of them.

Perhaps it is the explicit reflection of the implicit film/theatre disunity subtext that we also see personified in Riggan’s conversations with the Hollywood Birdman. If Riggin were to embrace and understand Dickinson’s meanings, he might come to terms with, and conquer his internal disunity. Perhaps her review was a letter to him.

As an aside, the film/theatre theme is carried out in the execution of the film itself. We watch Birdman, a movie shot in the style of theatre, where actors play out scenes in one uncut take as they would on the stage. This is the greatest advantage of the fluid Steadicam, no-cut, no-coverage, continuous take style. I think it should be the norm and not the exception when actors are involved.

Who are you?

Yes?

Is this Larry?

Who's calling?

I'm Wendy Ferguson, with Mutual Applied Assistance Care. We show you listed at 458 Temple Boulevard in Akron Ohio. Is that correct?

I don't know you and I never heard of mutual whatever.

Yes. Well we show that you have a balance of 35,886.51 on you college loan. Can we make some kind of arrangement to get this paid off?

I never made any loans with Mutual anyone.

Well, trust me sir. You do have an outstanding balance.

Trust you? Can I see your ID?

Well we're on the phone here.

OK, well email it to me.

Sir, I can't email you my ID.

Why not?

Look that's not the way we do business. I can't send you my personal information.

But you have my personal information, don't you?

Yes.

And I never heard of you.

Sir Mutual is a well respect agency accredited by the federal government as a loan collection agency.

So what? How do I know you're not lying? How do I know you really are Wendy whatever? How do I know your company even exists?

Well I assure you, any information you give me is kept in strict confidence. Our company does exist, and I am Wendy.

Really? Tell you what. How about you send me a copy of the loan agreement with my signature between me and Mutual.

Sir, I don't have that readily available. I can send you a copy of the information I do have in front of me.

Does it contain my signature?

No.

Well there you go. Any legal agreement for a loan requires signatures of both parties, does it not?

Sir this is not a legal call. I simply wish to make payment arrangements.

Tell you what. Tell me what you're wearing.

What?

Yeah, you heard me.

Sir this is inappropriate. I will have to report you if you continue.

Go ahead. report me. What color is your underwear?

I'm sorry I will have to terminate this call. Good-bye.

Have a nice day.

Mad Men Ending

Of course Don forsakes human interaction and love for fellow man by selling out to a Coke ad. That is completely in his character and certainly to be expected. No doubt, you along with most everyone was holding out for hope that Don comes to an epiphany, even to the point of suicide, because killing off the proverbial ad man, in his own realization that what he does has no substance except to subvert human growth into tooth decay and obesity (Coke by products), would be the most humane thing we could do for society.

And I liked Don. But he was never better than after he dumped his ad man life. Going back to it is a fate worse than death.

Of course he will ultimately fittingly die of cancer, just as he suffers for his wife at the hands of ad men like himself (they sold and still sell nicotine, yo). No ad men. No smoking. No cancer. And that's what Hollywood is all about. Happy endings at any cost. It makes the execs happy.

But ironically in this case, it exposes the reality of 70's hype that killed what the sixties stood for. And that is why it’s a great ending. It is truth. It is exactly what happens and what did happen. And you call that upbeat? Get cancer and see how upbeat it is.

got healthcare?

Full Movie:

The Perfect Smile

Are you a dentist?

No. But I do suggest getting some dental work as well. After all, what good is your smile if your teeth look bad.

My teeth look like teeth.

Yes of course. But just a few improvements here and there would help.

Ok. Forget the teeth.  What can you do for me.

First I must suggest you try every avenue you can to have your smile without any of the contrivances we provide.

What? Therapy?

Therapy, yes. But also, a vacation can help. Some people find peace in faith, spirituality, meditation...

I'm not religious in the organizational big money church sense.

No, I understand. Spirituality has nothing to do with religion. It's internal and personal. That's why I mention meditation.

You're saying to believe in myself.

Believe in yourself.

Ok. I get it. I do believe in myself. I'm spiritual. But in the corporate world, it's all about a false front. There is no honesty. It's all about face time, and anytime is face time. You close your eyes and meditate for 20 minutes; people will think you're on drugs or something.

Well that's why we're here.

So will this be permanent?

I think so.

You think so?

We haven't had anyone go through the procedure long enough to determine how long it will last. 

Oh great.

Not to worry, we do have a guarantee.  We think it will stay with you for at least five years.  After that, things may revert back. But I highly doubt it. Five years of the procedure will probably alter your internal muscle memory and you'll become so used it that it will stay with you. My theory is that it would take another five years to wear off.

Look, all I need is to get hired and maybe established for a few years. I'll worry about the rest when the time comes. So what is it that you do exactly?

In simple terms it the latest in plastic surgery. But we don't like to use that term. We call it physical mirroring. In other words, you will look as good as you feel, or want to feel, as the case may be.

Alright. You're going to plant a permanent smile on my face like The Joker.

Yes. That's very funny.

But specifically what are you going to do?

Plant a permanent smile on your face like The Joker.

Ha.

We will reshape your face, give you a permanent smile. Pull up your eyebrows a bit depending on what kind of look you're going for.

Oh right. I'm kind of torn between the wide eyed girl and the sultry lady.

Yes. Well those are very different looks. Perhaps somewhere in between.

You can do that?

Oh sure. And with the just the least bit of effort you will easily transfer from one look to another. One minute the bright eyed girl. The next minute the sultry lady.

Oh that sounds wonderful. That's exactly what I was hoping to do. Are there any side effects?

Well, climbing the corporate ladder, we hope. But seriously, nothing that mild medication couldn't help.

Mild medication?

Well if you prefer, a few shots or drinks after work, and even during if you can sneak it by. Maybe a joint at lunch, if that's your thing.

Sounds like going back to college.

There you go. Just let go of yourself. No more worries. No matter what stress or internal misery you're experiencing, you'll look like the happiest person on earth on the outside.

How about cost?

We do offer a payment plan through our credit affiliate.

Of course you do.

Moneyball, Written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin

The Scott Hatteberg walk off scene.
This is a very typical sports underdog makes good scene, with a winning move at the climax of the movie. What’s interesting with Moneyball is that it’s main premise is that very thing, how overlooked underdogs actually have talent that can make all the difference. There is very little dialogue. Though we see the coach have to coax Hatte out to bat. Hatte isn’t expecting this at all. The build up is great. And in fact, it’s this sudden lack of dialog that makes us pay attention and gives the feeling of suspense and anticipation. Note that in the locker room Billy watches a MUTED TV, adding lack of sound to the lack of dialogue. There is something to be said for silence.

EXT. OAKLAND COLISEUM FIELD – NIGHT – BOTTOM OF THE 9TH 152

The scoreboard shows us that it’s still tied in the bottom of the ninth. Nobody’s out. DYE grabs a bat and walks to the plate. Then, inexplicably, Howe turns to-

ART
Hattie. Grab a bat.

SCOTT HATTEBERG actually points to himself and mouths, Me?

ART
Let’s go.

SCOTT pulls a bat from the rack and heads to the on-deck circle. He only manages a warmup pitch or two before –

INT. WEIGHT ROOM
Billy is watching on a muted television as he sees Dye fly out to right field. As Hatte approaches the plate, he kills the TV.

EXT. OAKLAND COLISEUM – SAME TIME
As ROY STEELE’s booming voice echoes:

VOICE OF GOD
Pinch hitting for Eric Byrnes–Scott
Hatteberg.

Scott’s wife, ELIZABETH, watches from the VIP seats. She clutches her face. SCOTT lets the first pitch go by.

UMPIRE
Ball!

Art Howe looks like he can’t stand it any longer. In the dugout, Koch looks like a psychopath ready to kill.
SCOTT steps out of the box to catch his breath. He steps back in and stares at the exact spot in space he thinks the pitch will leave the pitcher’s hand.

The pitch. SCOTT swings.

Crack! 55,000 erupt. The A’s leap to the front of the dugout steps and watch.

We see the ball ascending on a strong trajectory, but before we can know for sure where it’s headed, TIME SLOWS TO A CRAWL-

INT. WEIGHT ROOM – SAME TIME 155

BILLY’s sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, trying to breathe. He looks like he’s in pain. He can’t move.

He hears the crowd ERUPT outside. His Blackberry buzzes: “hatte homered. a’s 12, ryls 11″
Billy flips on the TV. With sound off, he watches silent images of his team swarming the mound in (archival footage) mixed in with Art Howe celebrating with them.

EXT. OAKLAND COLISEUM – SAME TIME

The place is going crazy. ELIZABETH is screaming as she watches her husband get mauled by his teammates at the plate.

Hacker World: Did you hear about the Sony hack?

That was you?

Hey, I was just having some fun man.

You busted open a major corporation. It must be worth billions.

What'd they ever do for me?

Look man, you could get jacked up for this. They think it's an entire Asian country that did it. This could start a nuclear war, man.

I can't help what the government does. If they start a war, they were going to do it anyway. This just gives them a scapegoat to blame it on.

Not cool man. Why you wanna be a freakin' goat?

I don't. But that's what they do. And this is what I do.

Man, you could bring down a lot of movies.

They suck anyway.

You should take a powder to Mexico or something till the heat dies down. Didn't you see what happened to that snow boy guy?

He hacked into the government. This is Hollywood. The government hates Hollywood. They'd probably give me a medal.

Yeah. I don't see anyone paying much attention.

There you go.

Look you can't talk about this to anyone. You can't text about it, email or anything.

Lighten up man. Don't be so paranoid. If they actually come after me, it means they don't have a freakin' clue. It will prove how retarded they all actually are.

Man, what's with you? Is this a vendetta or something?

You mean like the mask? Like "Anonymous?"

No. I'm not that stupid. I mean how dumb do people have to be to think a group called Anonymous exists and actually takes credit as an organization which is the exact opposite of what anonymous means?

It's genius. Isn't it? Any hacker can hack up a post that claims responsibility as "Anonymous," which throws off suspicion on real hackers and makes people think there's some kind of terrorist organization around. It's what people live for. It gets their blood circulating. And the news media eats it up. A perfect cover, with built in publicity and perpetration. Plus amateurs actually claim membership. Imagine.

Yes, and then get caught. This is what I mean. You can't go around talking like that.

Give it up man. Anyone who hears me will think I'm looney. In fact, I should probably talk it up as much as possible. What ever happened to "Anonymous" anyway? They seemed to have conveniently disappeared into thin air, and replaced by some newcomer called Guardians of Peace. Isn't that convenient as the name of a terrorist organization possibly connected to an act of war?

I suppose Anonymous finally decided to remain anonymous. God, I hope I don't have to bail you out, assuming they even allow bail.

Hey. There is no evidence. Nothing. It's the beauty of it. It disappears into thin air. The snow boy just has too big an ego and had to get his face in the papers.

They don't make papers anymore.

You know what I mean. He's all about vanity, ego, fame. I wonder if he stashed a fortune away somewhere before he decided to go all martyr.

Maybe he's actually proud. In most countries, he's a world hero. But you won't be. There's nothing heroic about hacking into a movie studio.

Hey, the extreme right loves it. How do you know it isn't one of them?

You're a closet right wing extremist?

No man. But why do you believe me when I say I did it, which by the way, I never said?

Yes you did, You said...

I said I was having fun. I never said if I did any hacking, was any kind of participant, or anything concrete. And if I did, all that is, is my words. There is no evidence.

Yes. You keep saying that.

Ok. I don't know it for sure. But I think it's quite obvious that if there were evidence they'd have the guy, or girl, by now. Unless it's a hoax or some kind of plant.

You mean like goat-scaping for war.

War is a huge business. That kind of money will drive people to try anything. If they can sell a war, you can bet they'll do it. We're talking tens, maybe hundreds of trillions.

I hate it when you make perfect sense. I hate you.

No. You love me because I just gave you an education.

Want to go out?

I'm tired. Been working all day.

I've been couped up in here all day. I want to go out.

Fine. So go out.

Fine. I will.

Fine.

Fine.

Fine, I'll wash up. Maybe a shower will make me feel better.

Need any help?

Mmmm. Well, yeah. But then we'll never get out of here.

Ok. Fine.

I didn't mean...

No. No. That's Ok. Take your shower. By yourself!

Fine! I will!

Fine!


....Feel better?

Yeah. Anything else you need to do? Wash the dishes? Do the laundry? Dust the blinds?

Ok. I'm sorry. Let's go.

Where are we going?

Where do you want to go?

I don't know. Where do you want to go?

It was your idea to go out.

Fine. We'll stay home.

I just took a shower.

Oh. So you only take showers when we go out, in case you see a hot girl?

No. Come on.

Oh yes you do. Like that time we were at Jake's and that woman with the skirt up her ass walks by and drops a spoon and bends over to pick it up? I thought you were going to fall out of your chair.

No I wasn't.

Everyone else saw you look at her too.

Hey. Can I help it if she made a spectacle of herself?

You didn't have to look.

What was I supposed to do? Make believe she wasn't there?

Yes.

Ok. Fine. Next time I won't look. I'm sorry. So you want to stay in then?

No. I want to go out. I've been couped up here all day. All week. You spend the whole day out there doing stuff. I'm stuck here.

I work all day. I'm not out having fun.

Oh really? You don't pal around with your friends or that girl, Angela.

Angela? How do you know about Angela?

Oh. So there is something going on. What is it? An office affair? You guys do it in a closet or something?

What? No. I hardly ever even see her.

But when you do, I'll bet it's hot and heavy for at least three minutes.

When did you ever hear about Angela?

You told me about her. She has a husband. They have an open marriage. They always talk about science and technology.

Oh yeah. Right.

Is that what you want, an open marriage?

What? No. I just thought it was interesting.

Well guess what mister? It ain't gonna happen. You want to have sex with other women then just go do it.

I don't want to have sex with other women.

So you're gay?

I don't fucking believe this conversation. Let's go out somewhere.

Where?

How about a gay bar?

Oh. So you know where all the gay bars are.

Yeah. Right.

I knew it! I see how all those gay guys looks at your with their gaydar.

Really? They do?

Yeah. You look good.

Oh great. Just what I need.

Women look at you too.

No they don't.

Why do you think that girl dropped her spoon in front of you. You guys are unbelievable. A woman has to sit on your face before you get the message.

What am I supposed to do?

Take me out once in a while.

Ok. So lets go.

Ok.

Fine.

It's raining.

Oh yeah. I forgot. That hurricane's supposed to hit.

Everything will be closed.

Great.

You took a shower for nothing.

No. I feel better. And I like staying in with you after being out working all week.

You want to stay in and I want to go out.

I'll take you out. Come on.

What are we going to do? Drive around in the rain in a ghost town. Everybody left for higher ground.

So if you knew that, why did you want to go out?

Because I'm couped up in here all week.

So lets go out and watch the hurricane.

Isn't it dangerous?

Nah. It could be dangerous here.

That's why everyone left town.

The hurricane lost a lot of ground. It's only gusting to like 65 miles per hour. It's not going to kill us.

Well lets wait it out and see if it passes by.

The cable is out.

Oh great. Where's that stupid beeping message that comes on in the middle of a movie?

Probably the people who made it somewhere safe, hundreds of miles away, are getting it.

Must be exciting for them.

Maybe we can go out and find one of those newscasters being blown around in the wind.

L.A. Car Chase

And now breaking news as we cut to Roger Irvine in our News 27 chopper. Roger?

Roger Shirley. What you are looking at is some poor lost soul sucker about to have this head beat in when we cut to commercial right after he gets caught. Whoa! Did you see that?

We sure did Roger. How fast do you think he’s going there?

Well Shirley, I’d say 97.3 to 99.2 miles an hour, definitely.

So he’s almost able to keep up with the people in the HOV lanes.

That’s right Shirley.

Roger, is he a white guy? He kind of looks like a white guy.

Yes, Shirley I think he is indeed. Once he’s caught we’ll be able to get more info after the cops beat it out of him, for sure. But yeah. Looks white.

Of course that would mean he’d be white trash then.

Oh absolutely. No typical self infatuated self entitled money grubbing white guy would dare to get caught up in a chase like this. Image is everything. You know Shirley, having money in the bank to make life easy makes all the difference.

Absolutely Roger. I know I could never get by with less than the low seven figures I pull in. And you do a nice healthy six figures too.

Absolutely Shirley. I don’t understand why anyone, especially a white guy like this, can’t pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get a job selling useless Obamacarea, balloon payment loans, or something. I mean if he were black or brown we’d expect as much.

That’s right Roger. As you know the majority of the prison population is black and male. What do you suppose drives people to drive like this Roger?

Well, beats me. The guy must be a looney tune. But I’m sure that beating the shit out of him will straighten him right up and send him off to jail where he can get the skills of real criminals.

Roger I see the police are holding back. Why don’t they deploy a spike strip or something?

Well Shirley, a spike strip at 95 miles an hour might cause one hell of a crash into a lot of cars besides the one the driver is in.

Right Roger. I remember the time they tried something like that and a young boy got killed.

Live and learn. Kill and learn. That’s right Shirley. Very bad PR for the cops and PR is all important you know. They have to be very careful to avoid being seen as racist or sadistic.

Well thank God for commercials. Ha ha.

These guys live for this stuff. They spend years waiting around doing boring police work, writing tickets and whatnot. And then one day the call comes. It’s huge adrenaline rush. Drugs can’t beat t.

And I just love the pretty flashing lights, and the sirens. Oh so sexy.

Shirley it looks like he’s cornered. Yup. The car has stopped. He’s on foot. Looks like the cops are catching up to him right now…

Roger, sorry to interrupt. We have to go to a commercial and we’ll be right back with more breaking news on the car chase coverage on the poor white guy.

Quit

Joe vs the Volcano, by John Patrick Shanley:
INT. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT – DAY
Joe comes in. Dede is typing away. Mr. Waturi is on the phone. Joe hangs up his coat. He misses with the hat again because of Dede’s typing. He leans over and switches the typewriter off. Then he picks up his hat, dusts it off and throws it in the garbage can.

WATURI
(on phone)
No. No. You were wrong. He was wrong. Who said that? I
didn’t say that. If I had said that, I would’ve been
wrong. I would’ve been wrong, Harry, isn’t that right?

Mr. Waturi’s attention is split between his call and Joe, who is walking around the office like a tourist.

WATURI
Listen, let me call you back, I’ve got something here, okay?
And don’t tell him anything till we finish our conversation, okay?

Mr. Waturi hangs up the phone. Joe is looking at the coffee set-up.

WATURI
Joe?

JOE
Yeah?

WATURI
You were at lunch three hours.

JOE
About that.

Joe wanders away, into his office. Waturi looks after.

INT. JOE’S OFFICE – DAY
Joe is staring at the big wheel valve sporting the sign that says Main Drain. Mr. Waturi comes in as Joe moves forward and, with great effort, rotates the wheel to its opposite extreme. This scares Waturi.

WATURI
Joe, what are you doing?

JOE
I’m opening, or closing, the main drain.
Nothing happens.

WATURI
You shouldn’t be touching that.

JOE
Nothing happened. Do you know how long I’ve been wondering
what would happen if I did that?

WATURI
What’s the matter with you?

JOE
Brain cloud.

WATURI
What?

JOE
Never mind. Listen, Mr. Waturi. Frank. I quit.

Joe starts to take some stuff out of his desk. He looks at his lamp, gets the cord, plugs it in, and turns it on.

WATURI
You mean, today?

JOE
That’s right.

WATURI
That’s great. Well, don’t come looking for a reference.

JOE
Okay, I won’t.

WATURI
You blew this job.

Joe takes in the little room.

JOE
I’ve been here for four and a half years. The work I did I
probably could’ve done in five, six months. That leaves
four years leftover.

He’s been filling up a shopping bag with stuff from his desk: three books (Romeo and Juliet, Robinson Crusoe and The Odyssey), an old ukulele and his lamp. Now he’s finished. He walks out of the room without even looking at Waturi. Waturi goes after him as he exits.

Joe is walking towards the front door. Waturi follows him in. Joe stops at Dede’s desk. She’s typing. He looks at her. She stops typing.

JOE
Four years. If I had them now. Like gold in my hand.
Here. This is for you. (gives Dede the lamp)
‘Bye-bye, Dede.

DEDE
You’re going?

WATURI
Well, if you’re leaving, leave. You’ll get your check.
And, I promise you, you’ll be easy to replace.

JOE
I should say something.

WATURI
What are you talking about?

JOE
This life. Life? What a joke. This situation. This room.

WATURI
Joe, maybe you should just…

JOE
You look terrible, Mr. Waturi. You look like a bag of shit
stuffed inna cheap suit. Not that anyone would look good
under these zombie lights. I can feel them sucking the
juice outta my eyeballs. Three hundred bucks a week, that’s
the news. For three hundred bucks a week I’ve lived in
this sink. This used rubber.

WATURI
Watch it, mister! There’s a woman here!

JOE
Don’t you think I know that, Frank? Don’t you think I’m
aware there’s a woman here? I can taste her on my tongue. I
can smell her. When I’m twenty feet away, I can hear
the fabric of her dress when she moves in her chair. Not
that I’ve done anything about it. I’ve gone all day, every
day, not doing, not saying, not taking the chance for
three hundred bucks a week, and Frank the coffee stinks
it’s like arsenic, the lights give me a headache if the
lights don’t give you a headache you must be dead,
let’s arrange the funeral.

WATURI
You better get outta here right now! I’m telling you!

JOE
You’re telling me nothing.

WATURI
I’m telling you!

JOE
And why, I ask myself, why have I put up with you? I
can’t imagine but I know. Fear. Yellow freakin’ fear.
I’ve been too chicken shit afraid to live my life so I
sold it to you for three hundred freakin’ dollars a
week! You’re lucky I don’t kill you! You’re lucky I don’t
rip your freakin’ throat out! But I’m not going to and maybe
you’re not so lucky at that. ‘Cause I’m gonna leave you
here, Mister Wa-a-Waturi, and what could be worse than that?

Joe opens the door and leaves. Mr. Waturi and Dede are frozen. The door reopens and Joe comes halfway back in.

JOE
Dede?

DEDE
Yeah?

JOE
How ’bout dinner tonight?

DEDE
Yeah, uh, okay.

Joe smiles for the first time since we’ve met him, and closes the door again.

DEDE
Wow. What a change.

WATURI
Who does he think he is?

Notes: The first thing that strikes me is the honesty of the character in the dialog, basically merging the subtext with the action. He says what he thinks and feels. Usually this might be considered too ‘on the nose’ type of dialog. But it works here because we want to see him tell off his boss. Otherwise that tension of Joe needing to release, might take some other form, such as going postal or taking it out on someone else.

And he doesn’t do this at first. He’s about to walk out. But then he decides he will have it out. The whole time he walks around, the prelude to the monologue, we feel the building of tension. Something is going on inside and we don’t know what it is. But we can guess it has to do with his facing death and realizing how he’s wasted his time at this place (or maybe he’s just lost it). When he does talk, it comes out like some kind of classic scripture or epiphany about the meaning of what little time we have in our lives.

This scene marks the turning point that propels Joe into the adventure of the rest of the movie.
In a later scene Joe sits in amazement of the life he’s apparently missed and his companion Patricia remembers her father saying that most people in the world are asleep except for a very few who live in constant amazement. Here again we have a scriptural, spiritual sort of statement about life.
John Patrick Shanley also wrote Moonstruck which has life changing event themes as well. I think he is highly underrated.