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Talking with an Engineer in Silicon Valley

March 17th, 2015 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
A memoirs of sorts reflecting the talks I've had with most engineers that I met in SF the last few years.  It's funny to encounter at first, but when you're living it everyday, it really drains one's patience.  Maybe I'm having the worst of luck meeting people here, but this has been the bulk of my experience.  All responses are based on real conversations I've had; many are actually toned down from the original statements while others are pretty much direct quotes (besides obvious name changes, etc).  
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Sam: Hi, I'm Sam. Nice to meet you.
Engineer: Hi.
Sam and the engineer shake hands.
Engineer: Sorry.
Sam:...[More]
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Perfect World

March 9th, 2012 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
Had this whole script idea in my dream this morning.  It was like watching a live-action movie with really good effects. It even came with an ending credits song - recorded a bit of it, maybe will make it a full fledge song later one day.

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An advanced society is led by one man (the leader) who seems to have invented a means for everything (free energy, robots, etc).  He himself seems immortal and omnipotent now from his own inventions.  His daughter - he turned into part machine so she does not grow old.  His company headquarters is actually a giant parked spaceship in the city.

One day, however,...[More]
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Who You Are on the Inside

February 4th, 2012 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
Two friends have known each other since childhood.  One has always been a bit weaker and slightly ill with an unknown virus.  The other friend makes the promise to one day find a cure to the other's condition and studies to become a doctor.

Twenty years later, the doctor gets close to understanding the nature of the illness and finding a cure.  Both are excited at the prospect, but as the cure is applied, the friend seems to gradually get weaker.  The doctor scrambles to figure out what went wrong, but each day that passes, the friend seems to slowly lose grasp on the world.  Eventually the friend becomes bedbound and the doctor caring daily for the friend.

Over time, the doctor notices that, although the friend is losing mental capacity, the friend seems physically fine.  In fact, as the friend becomes healthier, the friend becomes less mentally stable.

The doctor...[More]
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Passing Dreams

May 29th, 2010 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
A young influential doctor is called in to assist in the operation of an elderly high-profile patient.  The patient has been left in a paralyzed state by unknown causes but continues to have thought processes and dreams; the paralysis is believed to have a mental rather than physical basis.  New technology by an experimenter is being used that would allow the doctor to enter the patient's dreams in an attempt to free him from his condition.  The doctor was chosen because the technology is not entirely understood, and it is hoped the doctor would be able to figure the situation out quickly once inside the patient's mind.

The doctor is placed into a deep sleep next to the patient, his head in a device connected to the head of the patient's.  The scene pans across the patient's brown eyes to the blue eyes of the doctor, the irises of which are blue.  The doctor awakens in a bed that is not his own and quickly realizes he is in the mind of the patient....[More]
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Flying with Hunger

December 12th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
  This script idea's a fun one... a bit on the goofy side and that no one dies in it at least (though that can always change).  Imagine if your uncle was a mad scientist living in a creepy castle next door (yes, complete with lightning, the moat, and everything while your house is just the typical suburban plot).  Your uncle invites you in one day to test out his new experiment which could enable you to fly... and it works! The only thing is every time you fly, you get hungry.  Very hungry.

  The story starts with James in his class on a typical day.  The lesson is on how birds fly.  The teacher emphasizes that the bird is small but requires a lot of energy to stay afloat, its heart beating up to 6 times faster than ours.  James daydreams that he could fly like a bird, flapping his arms like a bird.

  James is the average 12-year-old kid with a mad-scientist uncle. ...[More]
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Immortality

December 11th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #

  You often see movies or books about people who can never die, but usually they also heal super fast from any wound or injury.  Just a thought on my end, but what if you can never die, but you heal at a normal rate?

  The scary part about this is that the normal person can relate since no fast healing is involved.  The person in the character is essentially still conscious no matter what happens.  What’s to say this doesn’t occur in real life? Obviously you can’t heal from everything or live forever, but what’s to say your consciousness doesn’t continue drift along out there?

  It probably wouldn’t work that well as a film because you can’t show the inside of someone’s mind (supposing you take a first person perspective).  From an outside observer though, that might work.  Ideally, a book would work better so you can see the main character’s thoughts.

  The story…[More]

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Undo

November 6th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #

This is an idea that came to me for possibly a short video ad of some sort.  Promotes safer driving I guess, but really.. change the ending and it could promote a lot of things.

  Scroll through a series of scenes showing every day life.  Closer shots show they are actually running backwards.  Over time, we see that these are all mistakes that people make (spilling coffee, breaking tables, etc) that are fixed by going backwards in time.

  Eventually we come to the scene of a car accident with a car pinning a helpless victim to a tree.  The scene running backwards, however, does not solve the issue.  The car pulls away and the victim slides to the ground.  The car is intact - in fact, it’s brand new - but the person spends his life scarred.

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Friend in the Shadows

September 30th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
     A man is traveling with his family and gets stranded in a dark cave.  He is alone and trapped in a large pit within the cave.  Fortunately, there is a stream of sunlight reaching down towards one end of the pit and plants are growing there.  From these few crops he is able to survive.  Later he also climbs down rocks deeper into the cave where it's darker and discovers a river where he can catch fish.

     The whole time he is alone until he one day notices someone standing in the shadows on the other side of the river.  The person can't really be seen and is just a dark figure.  The man calls and waves out.  The person doesn't say anything, but the man assumes it's because they're too far apart to hear each other.  However, the person seems to motion or signal back before fading back into the shadows.

     The man doesn't see this person again until one day he injures himself along...[More]
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