The Evolution of THE STARTUP WAY Cover

The Evolution of THE STARTUP WAY Cover

I’m excited to reveal the final cover for Eric’s next book, THE STARTUP WAY, coming October 17. I’ve been working with Eric since the IMVU days and designed the cover for The Lean Startup… I was excited to help with the new cover and, after months of testing different iterations, we’ve decided on a design that checks all the boxes that Eric, the Crown Business publishing team at Penguin Random House, and I wanted to hit going into this process:

• It’s eye catching, whether on a bookshelf or online storefront
• It demonstrates a clear evolution from The Lean Startup
• It captures the book’s message of entrepreneurial management
• And, of course, it tests well with buyers

The first drafts I showed to Eric and the team played with two graphics: an infinity symbol and a chevron. The infinity symbol represents the continuous innovation that’s possible within any organization, regardless of size. The chevron represented a clear path into the future through entrepreneurial management. While both are essential concepts to the book, the chevron was a clearer departure from The Lean Startup circle. We looked at a number of color treatments for both graphics and knew we wanted to test several options.

We also looked at the cover options in a field among other business books. It was important to know that our jacket would stand out to readers looking for the next great business book.

Once we decided to focus on the chevron shape, I started playing with the color scheme -- some variations on The Lean Startup scheme and some total departures. While anyone who caught a glimpse of the options had an opinion, I knew we wanted to test buyer decisions rather than simply survey friends and family.

We ran ads targeted toward business readers on Facebook with the four different cover variations shown above. Clickthrough was strongest on the red cover with silver in second. We tested the actual purchase decision on our testing site, thestartupway.co. The blue covers led the way, followed by red, then silver a distant fourth.

We realized we ran the Facebook ad with the cover on a dark backdrop while the testing site had a white background. Given most buyers are shopping online, we had to see how the covers would look in an online retailer’s storefront. As you can see on the CEOreads page above, the silver was quickly lost on the white background. I tweaked the color schemes to find a blue chevron we all liked and we moved forward with testing one red and one blue design.

Down to these two color schemes, I extended the chevron to the edges of the page, adding to the boldness and drama of the design. With that change in place, Eric had a new test in mind, one we had run while designing The Lean Startup cover.

Using a website called fivesecondtest.com, we showed participants one of the two bookshops above for five seconds. When the image disappeared, we asked which books they recalled seeing. 2/3 of all respondents named The Startup Way as one of the first three books they remembered, with participants shown the red cover slightly more apt to name the title.

Anecdotally, but interestingly, a few participants mentioned the “red book” or the “orange business book” while there were no comparable mentions for the blue cover.

We continued testing clickthrough on Facebook, where there wasn’t a discernible difference between the red and blue covers.

 

At the same time, we tested purchase decisions on the book landing site, where the red cover held a slight edge over the blue. Given the buying preference for the red cover (and my and Eric’s personal inclination for it, assuming testing didn’t show it to be a terrible option), we decided to move forward with the red design.

Once we were settled on color, I spent a Sunday afternoon, paintbrush in hand, modifying the brushstroke of the chevron.

The outcome of the paint party was an evolution in chevron design, from smooth to more energetic. Eric liked the options with more streakiness to the chevron; we both felt the streakiness indicated a work in progress. The busier the streaks became, though, the more the title became lost in the design.

While the silver title, much like the silver cover, would look great on a bookshelf we decided to see what it looked like in an online storefront vs. a white title. It was immediately evident that the white title popped off the page regardless of how streaky I made the chevron. While Eric and I continued to tweak, we stuck to a white title from then on.

We played with chevron angle, thickness, size, streakiness, and splatter. The above shows how far we’ve come from the first draft. We tweaked accent colors, font style, font size, and font spacing. Three and a half months after our first conversation about chevrons and infinity symbols, we’re excited to reveal the final cover for THE STARTUP WAY:

Thank you to the Crown Business team who managed the Facebook and five second testing, to anyone who preordered through the landing site (whether you knew you were part of the testing or not!), and of course to Eric for helping balance art and science in the design process. We can’t wait to hear what you think of the physical product when it hits shelves October 17!

KICK-ASS 2, R ( 1 hr & 43 min )

KICK-ASS 2, R ( 1 hr & 43 min )

-

where: EDWARDS FAIRFIELD STADIUM 16 & I-MAX in Fairfied, CA
when: Thursday, August 15th, 2013
show: 11:00 p.m. Advanced Screening
costs: $11.50 Ticket + $7.00 medium Popcorn + $0.00 small 32.0 oz Pink Lemonade ( Free Reward on my Regal Elite Movie Watcher Card ) = $18.50
auditorium: 7
seat: 3rd row ( counting from the front ), 9th column ( counting from the left )

synopsis/overview: In high school, Dave ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ) a.k.a. Kick-Ass, and Mindy ( Chloe Grace Moretz ) a.k.a. Hit Girl, start training together and start a crime-fighting team. But Mindy/Hit Girl is busted by her adult guardian, Detective Williams ( Morris Chestnut ), and forced to give-up her alter ego and go into abrupt retirement. Dave joins-up with a masked and costumed crime-fighting gang called Justice Force, headed by reformed mob enforcer Col. Stars and Stripes ( Jim Carrey ). For a while, the streets become safe again. But Chris ( Christopher Mintz-Plasse ), the former Red Mist/now Mother-F*cker, wants to exact revenge on Kick-Ass for the death of his mobster father. And he wants to do it in a big way: By assembling his own masked and costumed gang of bad guys to take on Kick-Ass and his crew in an all-out street war.

noteworthy scenes: 1.) Bulletproof vest; 2.) Boredom; 3.) "Jesus, dad. Get out"; 4.) Training regimen; 5.) "I wish you were dead"; 6.) Last resort; 7.) Insane; 8.) "You're fifteen"; 9.) "Nice pair of guns"; 10.) Anal beads; 11.) "I'm the whitest pimp, ever"; 12.) Alley fight; 13.) 'Phone call; 14.) "You got my soup"; 15.) Jealous girlfriend; 16.) "My destiny"; 17.) Two against one; 18.) Old man; 19.) Swear jar; 20.) "Welcome to Justice Forever"; 21.) Union J; 22.) New superhero; 23.) "Watch me end your life"; 24.) MMA sparring session; 25.) Dance tryouts; 26.) "Ultimate clique"; 27.) "Maybe, a little of both"; 28.) Born-again; 29.) Message; 30.) Archetypes; 31.) Frog eye; 32.) Date ditch; 33.) "Beat them at their own game"; 34.) Sick Stick; 35.) "Drugs would have been better"; 36.) "Let me show you what real evil looks like"; 37.) Col. Stars and Stripes vs. Mother Russia ( Olga Kurkulina ); 38.) Lawnmower; 39.) "I guess evil dick feels limp"; 40.) Hospital; 41.) Arrest; 42.) "Lifetime access to V.I.P. area"; 43.) Picture; 44.) Van; 45.) "He gave me a gift"; 47.) "My daddy was prepared for anything"; 48.) The Brawl; 49.) Adrenaline; 50.) First kiss; 51.) Real heroes; and 52.) Bonus Scene after the Ending Credits.

favorite scenes: I liked the Alley Fight scene.

I liked the Sick Stick scene.

I liked the Lawnmower scene.

I liked the Mother-F*cker/Night Bitch ( Linda Booth ) Encounter scene.

I liked the Van On The Freeway scene.

I liked the Hit Girl vs. Mother Russia Fight scene.

audience reaction: The audience liked it. But I don't think I heard somebody give it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

recommendation: I liked this movie. If you like part one, you'll like this one.

spoiler alert! A handgun that shoots a bullet that is powerful enough to send its human target falling backward is also powerful enough to kick the shooting arm backward. The taxi driver could easily have heard the conversation between Dave and Mindy. Dave should have fought a dirty fight against the gang of thugs in the alley; because, when you are surrounded by bad guys, time is a luxury that you simply  cannot afford in such a situation--use "Quick-Kill" moves ( some techniques that he should have already learned to apply by then )! When Kick-Ass was jumped by two bad guys, he should have whacked them in the shins with his sticks! Red Mist sounds like some kind of soft drink. When the superheroes went out on patrol as a group, any bag guy could have just mowed them down with automatic rifle in a drive-by shooting! Col. Stars and Stripes didn't follow his own advice when he punched Mother Russia in the face. Why didn't the cops shoot at Mother Russia's lower extremities which were unprotected? I don't think that a propane tank that explodes inside a car can lift a car several feet up in the air! To keep a gas-powered lawn mower from turning off, you have to keep the throttle open--Mother Russia didn't keep the throttle open. How'd she get on the roof of the van without getting detected. How was she able to know where to shoot at the bad guys inside the van? Hit Girl could have easily freed herself when Mother Russia lifted her overhead to throw her down; and Hit Girl would have landed on her feet--preferably behind Mother Russia--to deliver a counter-strike.

fyi: Only a few sharks can breathe without having to swim around. The shark in the tank is the type that has to move around in order to breathe.

I don't know about you, but I found the 6'2"Amazonian Mother Russia ( Olga Kurkulina ) strangely sexy---Don't tell my Yogi about it!!! Or I'll never be allowed to undergo my 2nd- and 3rd-Stage Kriya Yoga initiations. Ha, ha, ha.

Olga Kurkulina, a.k.a. Mother Russia. I found this on the Internet.

-

Ahh ... this is more like it! Just imagine the guy as having a "Fred Flintstone" face and you get the picture. I found this on the Internet.

-

word of advice: Leave the crime-fighting to the professionals.

tidbits: After I got off work, I went to the Springs Road 99-Cent Only Store, here in Vallejo, CA, to buy some stuff before going to the Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant next door for lunch.

As I walked back to my car at around 11:39 a.m., a short ( 5'4" ) black man who spoke with an African ( ? ) accent came up to me to asked me for directions. He said that he was lost, that he wasn't asking for money, that he had money--lots of it. He showed me two rolled-up/rubber-banded bundles of ( supposedly real ) money in a $100.oo denomination. Each rolled-up bundle was supposedly $100,000.oo worth! ( Red Flag! A new bundle--Federal Reserve strap--of $10,000.oo is less than 1/2-inch thick.  All new bundles, no matter what denomination, issued by the Federal Reserve are all of the same thickness: < 1/2-inch thick. Therefore, if $100,000.oo worth of $100.oo bills were rolled-up tightly, it would be at least 10 inches in diameter--not 3 inches in diameter like the two bundles that he showed me! )  "Nigerian Prince Scam" came to mind when he showed me his money!

( Note: A Pilipino was scammed out of his $20,000.oo here in Vallejo, CA, just a few years ago--probably by these very same scam artists who seem to think that all Pilipinos are easy prey. This particular  "Nigerian Prince Scam" was reported in the local newspaper, Vallejo Times-Herald. )

This is the exact spot, under the shade of a tree, in the 99-Cent Only Store's parking lot where a scam artist and his partner tried to scam me out of my money just a little over 24 hours ago. That is my blue Hyundai Accent that you see pictured.

-

He said that he got the money at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in San Francisco. He walked by a church and gave money to some panhandlers--according to him. A taxi driver saw him and told him that it wasn't safe to show money around like that. He told the taxi driver that he must donate money to poor people of different colors ( i.e. Minorities ) and to churches that are open to people of different colors. The taxi driver told him that he would take him someplace where there are churches that welcome people of different colors. And that was how he supposedly ended-up in Vallejo where the taxi driver dropped him off after charging him $500.oo. The taxi driver pulled-up to the bus stop in front of the 99-Cent Only Store and told him to wait for a big white bus that will take him to the church that the taxi driver wrote down on a piece of paper.

The man waited but no white bus arrived. He walked across the street ( according to him ) to the Royal Jelly Donut Shop to ask the proprietor about the bus. The donut shop owner told him that there was no such bus.

He crossed back to the 99-Cent Only Store side of the street and asked people for directions. But people just waived him off and some even called him a "Nigger" ( according to him ). He said that he just needed to know how to get to the church so he could donate money. He said that he was willing to pay me generously for my assistance. I told him that I didn't want any of his money.

He showed me the church's address: African Christian Church, Peagreen Street. I told him that the street name doesn't sound familiar. I got a Vallejo map from my car to look-up the address that he gave me. I was right, there was no such street name here in Vallejo. I asked to look at the address again. ( Red Flag! The name of the reverend written on that piece of paper is Rev. Jesse Jackson---I almost laughed. I don't even think that Jesse Jackson set foot in Vallejo at all or if he's even heard of the City of Vallejo in the first place. And a note scribbled between the church's address and Jesse Jackson's name was a price quote for room and board [ at the church ...? ]. )

As I was looking for the address on my map, the African marveled at my ability to read maps ( Red Flag! Flattery. ) He asked me if I worked for the government because I know how to read a map. He told me that he doesn't know how to read at all ( Red Flag! Feigned innocence. ). He told me that some lady on crutches gave him the street corner address of Broadway and Tennessee Streets because that is near where the church that he wants to go to is located. He asked me how far away it was in kilometers. I guesstimated the distance to be approximately 3 kilometers. He asked me if I could walk with him, that he'd pay me for my assistance. I told him that I would need to have a telephone directory to be able to help him find the church, itself. I asked him to follow me to Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant where we could use their directory. I just wanted him to go inside the restaurant so that the security cameras could capture his image on video.

This is Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant where I took the African would-be scam artist yesterday on the pretext that I needed to look-up in a telephone directory the address that he showed me. Actually, I just wanted the restaurant's camera to catch images of him.

-

I asked the proprietress for a telephone directory. And I sat down at a table with the African. I looked in the directory and on my map for any church that would be closest to the corner of Broadway and Tennessee Streets. I couldn't find any.

He then showed me a letter from his "lawyer" based in San Francisco, CA. The one page letter that he showed me ( Red Flag! ) didn't have a company letterhead. All it had at the top was a list of "lawyers'" names, addresses and 'phone numbers 4 across and 3 deep. The "lawyers" addresses and 'phone numbers were from different States. His "lawyer's" name was listed in the upper left corner and it was ( Red Flag! ) misspelled! He asked me to read the letter out loud to him because he couldn't read. The gist of the letter was this: The African, Jamal Hison ( pronounced Hassan ), is a Muslim from Johannesburg, South Africa ( I guess Nigeria got so notoriously identified with the Nigerian Prince Scam that scammers are now operating from South Africa! ). His uncle, an illiterate Zulu Warrior just like his own father, somehow ( Red Flag! ) learned how to read in English, immigrated to America, became a ( Red Flag! ) doctor who, when he died, left a Liberty Mutual Life Insurance valued at 1.2 million dollars and whose other assets totaled-up to 2.6 million dollars. Jamal said that he stood to inherit 2.0 million dollars if he anonymously donated 1.8 million dollars to churches first within a certain time-frame. I asked him why he would donate to Christian Churches since he was a Muslim. Jamal said that there is only one God. ( Note: I read the Koran years ago. And there is a passage in it which says that a devout Muslim should do his best to avoid the infidels [ i.e. Christians and Jews ] because they are the most vile people on Earth and cannot be trusted. ) He said that he stood to lose his inheritance if he couldn't give away 1.8 million dollars to churches and to people who help him. And to speed-up the anonymous donation process, the will's condition stipulated that he could anonymously donate money in increments of $1,000.oo, and that he could hire 2 trustworthy persons to help him donate all of that money. As I read the letter to him bit by bit, I couldn't help but notice that ( Red Flag! ) he could point out exactly where I should pick-up from where I left off each and every time!

I took out my cellphone. Jamal marveled at the cheap "pay-as-you-go" flip-phone TracFone which I held in my hand.

This is exactly the kind I have, an LG440G No-Contract TracFone.

He asked me if all people in America have cellphones. Yeah, I said, pretty much. I told Jamal that I would like to speak with his lawyer on the 'phone, and that I would like to see his letter once again so that I could dial his "lawyer's" number myself. He told me that his "lawyer" was busy working on a case, a ( Red Flag! ) murder case---Estate Lawyers don't handle murder cases unless his "lawyer" had my murder in mind! He said that ( Red Flag! ) he would call his "lawyer" himself. He took out his ( Red Flag! ) I-Phone which he was quite adept at using--I mean, he was illiterate, after all. I spoke with his "lawyer" who asked me where his client was, and told me to take his client, Jamal, to the address that he needed to go to and, once he's done donating money, to have Jamal call him so that Mr. "Lawyer" could send a limousine to come fetch his client in about 40 to 50 minutes ( Red Flag! San Francisco is approximately 50 miles from Vallejo via freeway but afternoon traffic would increase the travel time by at least 20 more minutes ).

Jamal reminded me that the letter stipulated that he could enlist the help of 2 trustworthy people to help spread his money around. He asked me if I would help him do so. I asked to see the two $100,000.oo rolled-up bundles. He ( Red Flag! ) didn't want to show me either one--even though he was flashing them around outside in broad daylight just a few minutes ago! Instead, he pulled-out three $100.oo bills from his left front jeans pocket. I checked them; they were real.

He said that he was pressed for time because he had to return to San Francisco later on today after being in the country for only two days. He said that he would have to return to South Africa tomorrow whether or not he was successful in anonymously donating all of the money ear-marked for such. He said that whatever money was left over, he would have to burn because he couldn't take it with him. He said that white people in South Africa would beat him up and would take his money if he walked into a bank with a lot of money. I told him that Apartheid was no longer practiced in South Africa. He said that I was wrong. That white people kill black people all the time in South Africa. I said that it is the black people who kill the Boers in South Africa. Jamal said that the blacks are just fighting back ( Red Flag! This is not what I read on the Internet and in the trusted quarterly newsletter which I receive on a regular basis ).

And Jamal said that he had to see his "lawyer" before leaving for South Africa because ( Red Flag! ) his "lawyer" was holding his visa for him---I don't believe that anybody could lawfully hold anybody else's visa for him/her!!! He wanted to know if I would be so kind as to help him because he would pay me good money for it. I told him that I didn't want any of his money but that I will drive him to where he wanted to go.

As we were walking toward my car, three white guys walked by and one of them asked me if I had a nickel. I told him, No. Jamal asked me, perplexed and somewhat angry, why I didn't give the man some money even though he trusted me to help him donate his money; and he proceeded to reach into his right front pocket to get some money. I told him not to do that because people just ask for handouts and use that money for cigarettes or for liquor or for drugs ( of course, I don't know what kind of cheap drug you could buy for just a nickel ).

As we got closer to my car, he reminded me that he could enlist the help of two trustworthy men who would not fight like cats and dogs over his money. He ( Red Flag! ) pointed to a nicely-dressed 5'10" skinny old black man ( his "confidence man" a.k.a. his "lawyer" in all probability ) for me to ask him if he would be willing to help us donate his money.

Jamal asked the man, "Will the white people take your money and beat you with a stick if you go into a bank because you're a nigger?" Once again, I told him not to use that word around strangers. "But he's a nigger like I'm a nigger."

"Whoa, now. Don't use that word around here," said the elderly black man.

"You're a nigger. I'm a nigger. He ( me ) is not a nigger," Jamal pointed out. Maybe if he ( me ) goes to the bank the white people will not beat him up and chase him with a stick."

"They don't do that here," said the old black man.

I told the old black man that we were looking for a particular church.

Jamal showed him the church's address. The old black man said that there was no street by that name here in Vallejo, that he should know because he's lived in Vallejo for 40-something years. Then, he saw the reverend's name. The old black man smiled and said that Rev. Jesse Jackson was in Chicago. Jamal told him that a woman gave him the Broadway and Tennessee Streets address to go to because there was a church nearby. The old black man said that the church Jamal was referring to was the Revival Center Ministries ( RCM ). Then, I remembered---It used to be a bargain 2-screen movie theatre! Jamal said that he would pay him money if he would help us get there. The old black man said that he didn't want to be paid because he had his own money; and he proceeded to take a small wad of money from his dress pants' front left pocket ( and there was a hundred dollar bill or two in it ) to show to us.

We introduced ourselves to each other. The old black man's name was Frank. I asked Frank to show me his driver's license as proof of his name. He took his driver's license out of his wallet as I showed him mine. When I reached to get his license for a better look, Frank ( Red Flag! ) reflexively pulled his hand back.

Jamal showed him the two bundles of "money" he had in his fanny pack. Frank told him not to show his money around because he could get killed over it. Frank said that he would help us because it was a "Christian" thing to do. Frank added that he wasn't always a Christian but became a "born-again" Christian ( Red Flag! People who say that they're "born-again" Christians don't know what the term EXACTLY entails, according to Jesus Christ, Himself ).

So began the "Confidence Scam" otherwise known as the "Pigeon Drop":

Jamal said that he would pay us good money if we could earn his trust. He said to Frank, "You, I will give you 20% of the $100,000.oo. Him ( me ), I will give 30% of the other $100,000.oo."

Frank asked, "You're giving me just 20% because I am black?"

Jamal answered, "I'm giving him ( me ) 30% because he is my ( Red Flag! Flattery ) number one friend. And my people always treat their number one friend best."

"How much money you have in the bank," asked Jamal of Frank.

"I have $10,000.oo in my savings account and over $60,000.oo in my safe deposit box, along with some jewelry and my trust deed."

"Why only $10,000.oo in your savings account," asked Jamal.

"I put most of my money in my safe deposit box because that is where you keep money that you don't want the government to know about."

"If the government finds out, will the white man take it away from you and beat you with a stick?"

Frank said, "They cannot take that money from you because they don't know about it."

"I want you to take money from your safe deposit box and give it to me to prove to me that I can trust you," said Jamal. "And so that I know the white people will not take your money and beat you with a stick. You go alone. We will wait for you here."

We sat in my car, with Jamal on the right side of the rear seat as I sat in my driver's seat,  as Frank walked to the nearby Bank of America ( BofA ) to take money from his account.

As Frank started to walk toward BofA, Jamal told me to call him back. I called Frank back.

Jamal asked Frank if he was sure that he was safe and would not have any trouble with the white man in the bank. Frank assured him that he was safe to enter the bank and take money out of his own account.

This is the side of The UPS Store building across the parking lot behind my parked blue Hyundai Accent.

 -

Of course, from where I sat, I ( Red Flag! ) couldn't see Frank walking toward the bank because The UPS STORE building was conveniently blocking the view.

This is the back side of the Bank of America ( BofA ) building, across the parking lot from The UPS Store building, where the would-be scam artists tried to get me to withdraw the full amount of money I have in my savings account. 

-

As we sat in my car waiting for Frank, Jamal told me that his "lawyer" said that there is a "magic card" that anyone can use to take money from banks. He asked me if that was true. I told him that I wasn't clear on what he meant. He said that the "magic card" is a ( Red Flag! He was leading me on ) deb... card. Oh, you mean a debit card, I said. Well, yeah, you can take money from banks with a debit card because it is your own money that you have in your debit card account. But I don't have a debit card. I only have credit cards ( Note: Credit Cards are safer to have in your possession ). He asked me if I could take money out of my credit card. I told him that I use my credit card to buy some things, that--in my own experience--I have never taken money out of my credit card.

Frank came back with a BofA money envelope which was 1/3rd-inch thick with ( supposedly ) $100.oo bills. Frank sat in the front passenger seat. I couldn't help but notice a skin growth on the left side of Frank's neck: It was about 1/2 inch long by 1 inch in circumference.

Jamal asked Frank about the "magic card" that his "lawyer" told him about. Frank said that it was possible to take money out of a credit account as a cash advance. Of course it was, but I reiterated that I had never taken money out of my credit card at all.

Jamal asked for Frank's money envelope so that he could put it together with his $100,000.oo rolled-up bundle in a black "prayer cloth" that he got from his Zulu mother. Then, Jamal said that we should put our hands together as he prayed a silent Muslim ( or Zulu? ) prayer of blessing. Frank put out his left hand, Jamal put out his right hand and I put my right hand over theirs. Jamal pressed down his right hand 4 times as he recited his silent prayer of blessing.

Then, Jamal asked Frank to step out of the car so that we could drive around the block to test Frank's trust in us. Jamal wanted to be sure that Frank would not cry like a little girl when we drove off with his money. As we drove around the block, with the prayer cloth full of money wedged between my legs ( as my sign of disrespect for the scam ), I asked Jamal why he couldn't just put the money in the bank ( Of course he couldn't because anything that's $10,000.oo or more that's deposited into any account would have to be reported to the FBI. And he couldn't make a deposit because he didn't have any form of ID on his person ) and give checks to charity. He said that the money had to be donated anonymously and that he was out of time and would just have to trust me and Frank to donate the money for him. Because if he took the money back to South Africa, people would kill him for it--not just the whites but the blacks, too. He said that, in his village, black bad guys would even go so far as to stomp on a baby's head and kill it in order to take money from helpless victims. So he couldn't even bury the money in the ground because if people suspected that he had money, he and his three wives and children would be at peril. We drove around the block and came back to see Frank waiting patiently for us near where I parked my car.

So, Frank had earned Jamal's trust and was now allowed to put Jamal's rolled-up $100,000.oo into Frank's safe deposit box with the stipulation that 80% of Jamal's money must be donated to charitable causes. Jamal said that Frank could not tell his family about the money but ( Red Flag! ) he could help his family first because family always comes first among Jamal's people.

"Did you count the money?" said Jamal. Frank said that his allergy was acting-up and he didn't have time to count or check the money that he put in his safe deposit box ( Red Flag! False sense of security---He probably hid the "money" in his car parked at the opposite side of The UPS Store ). And just to prove a point, Frank asked me if he could have a paper napkin that I kept handy in my car's sundry section just below the cigarette lighter so that he could wipe his teary eyes with it.

Now, it was my turn to earn Jamal's trust. Jamal asked me to disclose to him and to Frank the amount of money I have in the bank. I had just made deposits into my Benicia, CA, BofA savings account and my Benicia, CA, Chase Bank checking account earlier today. So, after guesstimating the amount of money I have in each account, and telling them that I have X amount in my safe deposit box, I showed them my deposit slips as proof of my word ( Note: It is perfectly safe to show your deposit slip to a stranger because your personal information is safeguarded unless, of course, the stranger holds a gun to your head. But this was not an armed robbery, it was a "confidence scam" ). As it turned out, my guesstimate on my BofA account was a little more than what I actually have in it. Anyway, Jamal wanted me to go to the nearby BofA and take my money out of my savings account and give it to him as a show of trust. I thought about it momentarily then said, "I shouldn't have to take out the full amount since Frank only took out $6,000.oo from his safe deposit box which is just 10% of the full amount." I wanted to put out only 10% of what I have in my BofA savings account because it was the fair and equitable thing to do ( I can be a pain at times, but rightfully so ). After a little bit of back-and-forth haggling, the exasperated Jamal stepped out of my car and told Frank, "I don't trust this man!"

Frank, the "confidence man", tried to sweet-talk me into falling for the scam one last and final time. "Look, Jamal is giving away all of his money. I don't know about you, but he would be better off giving that money to us than to some untrustworthy people out there. See, he's already trying to get somebody else to replace you." I saw Jamal trying to solicit some other black man.

I reminded Frank that he only put-up 10% of his money as a show of trust. And I should only have to put-up only 10% of my money, too.

Frank said, "He's illiterate. He doesn't know anything about percentages ( Red Flag! Jamal offered Frank 20% of $100,000.oo and he offered me 30% of the other $100,000.oo just a short while ago )."

I told Frank, I don't trust him.

"Okay," said Frank. "You're losing out on a lot of money. I'll just help him and keep the ( percentage? ) money to myself." Frank stepped-out of my car.

Then, I drove off. I looked at my watch. It was already around 2:00 p.m. Damn, that's enough time for a movie, I said to myself. I should write a movie script about this! The thought of pigging-out at Selecta Pilipino Buffet was no longer in my mind. I just went home, instead.

I rested for a few hours before I drove to Fairfield to see this movie.

The next day, Friday, I drove by the Vallejo Police Department to file a report at 11:58 a.m. The walk-in appointments were unavailable for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I just used the outside 'phone box to speak with the dispatcher. I told her about the Nigerian Prince Scam that some guys tried to pull on me yesterday. She told me that I should have reported it yesterday--and I should have. But in the time that I wasted the scammers' time as they tried to scam me out of my own money, they were too preoccupied to try and scam some gullible people out there. So, in a way, I did my civic duty to keep the city safe from scammers for at least two hours. Anybody who falls for a scam like this that throws out so many Red Flags! deserves to get scammed, I'm sorry to say---But this is just I, the analytical Cine-Man, talking.

Kaynak:

Cine-Man

 

 

WAR DOGS, R ( 1 hr & 54 min )

WAR DOGS, R ( 1 hr & 54 min )

-

I went to see this on Saturday, August 20th, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 6:50 p.m. show in auditorium 6, 2nd row from the front, 7th column from the right. The price of admission was $11.50. And I bought a $6.80 Lite Bites at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  Two friends get the "Dream Deal" of their lives when they land a government contract to supply the Afghan forces with AK-47 ammo. But they soon discover that they are in way over their heads. Based on a true story.

The audience liked it. I liked it, too. Go see this movie.

The scene wherein one of them shot rounds into the air in that neighborhood, I found hard to believe. He could just have shot at someone's front yard to keep from hurting/killing someone with stray bullets. I felt sorry for their driver ( I hope that this role was strictly fictional, not based on an actual person ). I usually don't comment that much on "based on a true story" movies because I don't know which scenes are true and which scenes are embellished upon/fabricated for "dramatic purposes".

When I stepped out of the auditorium,  a man seating on a bench with his son, and waiting for the next show, asked me,  "How was the movie?" I said that I liked it,  that it fascinated me. He said that that was a good enough of a review for him.

**********************************************

Yesterday, Friday, the 19th, I was at the 1602 E. 2nd Street McDonald's Restaurant in Benicia. As I took my tray to a table at around 6:10 p.m., I saw a cop standing in the lobby. He said that someone had called about a girl running out of the restaurant without any pants on! He was asking everyone for information. How could I have missed that?!?!?! Damn, my burger wasn't made fast enough!

But I think that it was really a guy. When I went to use the men's room, I noticed that someone had left a doo-doo on the toilet seat. And a pair of soiled pants was in the trash can. LMAO

Well, today, I went back to the same McDonald's. After I filled my large cup with half lemonade and half sweet tea, I started to walk towards the back lobby when, all of a sudden, at 2:49 p.m., the fountain drink machine started dispensing ice cubes all by itself. I looked at the woman seated closest to the fountain drink machine and made the comment, It must've been a ghost.

There are supposedly many ghost sightings here in Benicia, CA. It was even featured in a newspaper article and was shown as a segment on a ghost-hunting TV show.

I know the former owner of Char's Hot Dogs on 1st Street, here in Benicia. He told me, "Before I owned the restaurant, I didn't believe in ghosts."  Apparently, a male ghost haunts that place and was seen on occasion at night and after it closes for the evening.

I should eat at Char's someday--or some evening!
Kaynak:

Cine-Man

BEN-HUR ( 2017 ), PG-13 ( 2 hr & 5 min )

BEN-HUR ( 2017 ), PG-13 ( 2 hr & 5 min )

-

where:  CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA

when:  Thursday, August 18ht, 2016

show:  7:30 p.m. 2-D Advanced Screening

costs:  $8.00 Ticket + $6.80 Lite Bites = $14.80

auditorium:  9

seat:  2nd row from the front, 8ht column from the left ( as you can tell from where I was seated, there were a lot of people who went to see this movie--mostly older folks ).

2nd time

-

where:  CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA

when:  Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016

show:  4:40 p.m. 3-D

costs:  $9.75 Ticket + $6.80 Lite Bites = $16.55

auditorium:  2

seat:  4th row from the front, 7th column from the right

synopsis/overview:  A Jewish prince, Judah Ben-Hur ( Jack Huston ), is betrayed by his adopted Gentile brother, Messala ( Toby Kebbell ), loses his family and property, is sold into slavery, escapes death by drowning, and swears to exact revenge on his estranged brother in a chariot race with the help of an African tribal chief, Ildarin ( Morgan Freeman ). He encounters Christians and Jesus ( Rodrigo Santoro ), Himself, along the way. ( They weren't called Christians back then. Their fellow Jews referred to them as, Ebionim, i.e. the poor and destitute. )

noteworthy scenes:  1.) Accident; 2.) "We have different Gods, Messala"; 3.) Family; 4.) Carpenter; 5.) A wounded Zealot; 6.) Life as a soldier; 7.) Pacified town; 8.) Sword; 9.) Cemetery; 10.) Brother's bow; 11.) "I may kill your brother, someday"; 12.) Death or peace; 13.) Assasination attempt; 14.) I confess; 15.) "You killed them both"; 16.) "He needs water"; 17.) New galley ship slave; 18.) "Don't care ... just survive"; 19.) "Keep rowing"; 20.) Chain; 21.) "All are dead to the last man"; 22.) "How long were you a galley slave"; 23.) "She couldn't keep pace"; 24.) On the road to Jerusalem; 25.) Message of Jesus; 26.) A gift; 27.) S.P.Q.R. ( Senatus Populus que Romanus ); 28.) "Where's my mother and sister"; 29.) "He brought you back to me"; 30.) "Twenty Jews from the street"; 31.) "There's nothing here for you anymore"; 32.) "In the circus, there is no law"; 33.) The wager; 34.) "The Gate"; 35.) "Bury us together"; 36.) "First to finish, last to die"; 37.) "She wants you"; 38.) "I know where your family is"; 39.) "If he wouldn't save her, I would save her from his own mistake"; 40.) Chariot race; 41.) "They want blood. They are Romans now"; 42.) "Find something for yourself"; 43.) The kiss of betrayal; 44.) "My life I give of my own free will"; 45.) The Crucifixion; 46.) Miracle; 47.) "Come, you are free"; 48.) "Come see what you did to me"; 49.) "What I can do is carry you"; and 50.) Reunited.

audience reaction:  The audience liked this movie but didn't give it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

2nd audience reaction:  The audience liked this movie but didn't give it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

recommendation:  I liked this movie. Go see this movie if you like Action/Adventure movies. And especially if you're an old fart because most of the audience members were that old ( says the man who almost always is given a Senior Citizen discount--keep the discounts coming, baby! ).

But, seriously, my dear readers, pay no attention to the bad reviews that it got.

spoiler alert!  There were townspeople just standing around when they should have helped Messala carry his wounded and unconscious brother. Another Archaeological Faux Pas: Red Hot Chilis. No one back then had travelled to the Americas to gather hot chilis. And chilis are not to be mistaken for peppers. It was Columbus who mistakenly named American Chilis as Peppers because he noticed a similarity between the two types of spices. Black, green and white peppers from India would have already been in common use in Israel during Jesus' time. This movie presupposes that Jesus Christ remained in Jerusalem all of His life and learned His father's carpentry trade. So, Jesus' 18 lost years are attributed to His dedication to His vocation. And this movie downplays Jesus Christ's miracle works. Did the galley ship slaves get bathroom breaks? There is no mention of Jesus Christ stopping the stoning of a man in The New Testament. The setting for the stoning was all wrong. People that were found guilty of sin back then were first dragged out of the town before they were stoned to death. In this way, blood would not be spilled on the town's ground and made it unclean and defiled ( contrast that with today's execution chambers and abortion clinics that are operated well within a town's boundaries--people do anything and everything to turn God away so that they can claim that He doesn't exist! ). You would need more than two men to carry a chest full of thousands of gold coins ( they could just have used a wheeled cart )! The question should have been, "Not appropriate for whom?"  They didn't stone lepers to death back then; they just ostracized them since killing them would have been tantamount to commiting murder. There were no women in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of Jesus' betrayal by a kiss. Jesus Christ was crucified on a tree ( New Testament Book of Acts 5:30 ) which actually makes more sense and that I could effectively argue for. I don't recall a mention of rain when Jesus Christ died on the cross. The Bible mentions darkening of the day, ghosts going up to heaven ( Rapture? ) and an earthquake that rips the Temple's curtain; but rain isn't mentioned at all ( I think ). I'm not sure if I saw it or if my eyes fooled me, but there were no stirrups back then.

fyi:  I don't remember the Charlton Heston version of BEN-HUR because I was still very young when I saw it and my English vocabulary was limited to the words that I learned in English Nursery Rhymes and in simple sentences like, "See spot run," et cetera,  for the most part.

Back in Ancient Times, only the rich could afford to have fancy clothes. Others wore the same old clothes 24/7/365!

The sign's acronym, S.P.Q.R. ( Senatus Populus que Romanus ), as it was nailed on the front door, meant that the place belonged to a Roman citizen ( since Messala was adopted into the royal Jewish family ) of high standing. In other words, as it applies to this example, trespass only at the risk of death! Which is why the abandoned mansion was not ransacked.

I felt sorry for the horse.

According to Ancient Jewish tradition and superstition, Jesus Christ would have been hanged totally butt-naked to let everybody see the "nakedness of His sins"!

And His hair and beard would have also been cut short. Just like in this Veronica's Veil image:

I found this on the Internet.

-

Since, more than likely, Jesus Christ took some kind of a vow, which would have made Him a Nazirite, just like Samson was. And we all know what happened to Samson after his hair was cut!

And speaking of Jesus's hair, He more than likely had sported dreadlocks, just like Morgan Freeman's character did, because He spent time in India, during His 18 lost years, where holy men and ascetics had dreadlocks.  (  https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Dreadlocks/  )

This movie should have been released around Easter time.

word of advice:  "Forgive and forget."

tidbits:  Early this morning, just past midnight, on my way home from watching HOW TO BE YOURS, some idiot drove fast on Admiral Callaghan Lane behind me and gained fast on me. We were coming to a stop sign on the corner of Rotary Way. I pumped my brakes to slow my car down and to let the idiot know that we were coming to a stop sign. I did a full stop and the idiot behind me had to swerve his car to the right to avoid rear-ending my car! What was it about pumping-my-brakes-to-slow-down-my-car-before-reaching-the-stop-sign that the idiot behind me did not understand? Some people are just so damn clueless.

Partway through my sleep, I had the beginning-stage sensation of an Out-of-Body-Experience ( OOBE ). The last time that I had a full OOBE was sometime around 2008.  The most OOBE experiences that I have had was when I was in my late teens and early 20s. They'd have had numbered in the 100s had I taken the time to document each one, I kid you not! My OOBEs became fewer and fewer and further and further apart the more I studied The Bible. Maybe, I'm being set-up for more of such experiences now that I am older and wiser.

I went to Benicia to pick-up my paycheck. And, wouldn't you know it. I was shorted. I had asked for an extra day-off for my anniversary date of employment. But I wasn't paid for it. I will have to request this paid day-off again.

At work, I met Cheyenne, a former co-worker, who was rehired. We hugged each other. I asked her how her brother was doing. He's doing fine, it seems, having been hired to replace their dad at work when their dad retired. He makes more money than I do, and he's just starting-off. He sure was lucky to land such a job at Berkeley Cement, Inc. I asked Cheyenne why she didn't have her dad help her to apply for a job position. She said that they passed on her because of the hard manual labor involved in such a job. I told her that she should sue for discrimination.

After checking my work schedule for next week, I drove to the Benicia Southampton Shopping Center to buy lottery tickets at the liquor store and to deposit money at the Chase Bank directly across the parking lot.

And I walked a few doors down to buy stuff at the health food store and at the Dollar Tree Store. I had to pass by Petco along the way. I couldn't help but look through the storefront window to admire the kittens and cats that were awaiting to be adopted into their "forever homes". If only I lived in a house instead of in a condo, I would have happily adopted a few of them. Why do I need to have a house just to adopt cats? Simple, I can just let them loose in the yard to do their "business" so that I don't have to spend so much money on cat litter. And they can fertilize the yard while they're at it. Ha, ha, ha.

At the health food store, Earthly Nutrition, I inquired about my special order, Natural Sources Raw Multiple Glandular.

I found this on the Internet.

-

It still had not arrived. I will just have to order this on-line and save on $$$. In the meantime, I bought a bottle of Natural Sources Raw Male:

I found this on the Internet.

-

Raw Male is made with prostate and orchic glands derived from bovine sources. Maybe it will help improve my libido.    ;-)

I also bought some Solgar Olive Leaf Extract as I was running low. This is supposed to be good for the cardiovascular system, and it also kills viruses--supposedly.

I found this on the Internet.

-

At the Dollar Tree Store, I bought some cough drops and some take-to-work snacks.

Speaking of cough drops, I've been having coughing episodes for the past week. I don't know if it's because of an allergy or if I am coming down with a cold. I say that I don't know because my coughing doesn't come with most of the symptoms of either one.

But, last night, I read an on-line article that says eating lots of nuts can trigger a histamine attack. And I've been eating lots of nuts and seeds, and peanut/almond butters, for over two years now. I mentioned this to Michelle, a co-worker, who said that airlines have banned peanuts on flights because of such a possible reaction. She said that coughing in an enclosed cabin that has lots of people in it can help to spread germs and infect other passengers--'makes sense.

And I'd been coughing so much and so hard that it had given my lower torso such a good workout. My abdominal six-pack is well on its way to becoming more defined, as a result.  Ha, ha, ha.

Back to my conversation with Michelle. I told her that walking through a pine forest has an anti-histamine effect because pine trees release such an agent into the air whenever they "exhale".

2nd tidbits:  It amuses me whenever I see this pendant:

I found this on the Internet.

-

Why does it amuse me? Simple, a small cross inside of a Mogen David translates to ... A bunch of Jews crucified a Christian! If you're a Jewish-Christian sporting this, you're showing the world your culpability---And it's bad enough that the whole world blames the Jews for anything and everything! It should be the other way around: A big Cross and a small Mogen David where the cross pieces intersect to denote that Pagan Law allowed for the crucifixion of a Jew. Yeah, as Jesus Christ would say, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's". 

Kaynak:

Cine-Man