Setec Astronomy

COSMO
The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy or money. It's run by ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons.

The world is spinning. It's something I say to myself all the time. Obvious, of course, but still another way to state that not only is the planet on it's axis, but also that the world, in general, is functioning, and often wildly.

In the past month, along with the usual chaos, hurricanes, devestation, gas prices, and today another indication of the faltering economy. Another corporate bailout, Wall Street is reeling, and we're less than 60 days away from a historic presidential election. Alot's going on. The world is spinning.

Not quite sure why, but I am reminded of a scene from a highly underated movie from the 80's. Sneakers.


Great direction by Phil Alden Robinson, it's got one of my favorite scores from James Horner, and it had some great lines in it.

COSMO
There's a war out there, old friend, a world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think. It's all about the information.

And one of my fav lines.

WHISTLER
I want peace on earth and good will toward men.

ABBOT
We are the United States Government, we don't do that sort of thing!

It was caper movie, about spies and break ins, covert ops, and cons and setups. Ocean's 11 before Ocean's 11. Panned by critics, but there was a brilliance to it I absolutely loved. It was clever.

After watching the news today I thought of one scene in particular where Marty, played by Robert Redford, is having a conversation with his long lost best friend who is a computer hacker turned organized crime figure played by Ben Kingsly.

COSMO
What's wrong with this country, Marty? Money. You taught me that. Evil defense contractors had it, noble causes did not. Politicians are bought and sold like so much chattel. Our problems multiply. Pollution, crime, drugs, poverty, disease, hunger, despair. We throw gobs of money at them. The problems always get worse. Why is that? Money's most powerful ability is to allow bad people to do bad things...at the expense of those who don't have it.

MARTY
I agree. Who did you say you were working for?

COSMO
That's just my day job. While in prison, I learned everything in this world, including money...operates not on reality...

MARTY
But the perception of reality.

COSMO
Posit: People think a bank might be financially shaky.

MARTY
Consequence: People start to withdraw their money.

COSMO
Result: Soon, it is financially shaky.

MARTY
Conclusion: You can make banks fail.

COSMO
I've already done that. Maybe you've read about a few? Think bigger.

MARTY
Stock market?

COSMO
Yes.

MARTY
Currency market? Commodities market?

COSMO
Yes.

MARTY
Small countries?

COSMO
I might even be able to crash the whole damn system. Destroy all records of ownership. Think of it, Marty. No more rich people, no more poor people, everybody's the same. Isn't that what we said we always wanted?

Everything in this world operates not on reality, but the perception of reality.

That line always made alot of sense to me.

Anyhoo.

Here's a 45 second intro I cut together for Monster Cops. It's a work in progress.


Monster Cops intro1 from one spartan on Vimeo.