New Story Idea

SOURCE CODE also covered this territory.

Here's a possibility for the ending:

Oregon is debating whether to allow terminally ill patients get a prescription from a doctor to end their lives.\

Oregon Statesman: Mary Lou drove her husband to Massachusetts General Hospital. An emergency room evaluation, CAT scan, and subsequent biopsy revealed tragic news. He had terminal, inoperable brain cancer, the same kind that had killed Senator Ted Kennedy a year earlier. Before coming to Boston, the Johnsons had known something was amiss — indeed, Mary Lou had stopped riding in the car with her husband because he’d been running red lights. Not long after the diagnosis, Johnson said he needed to return to Oregon. He knew his home state granted terminally ill patients the choice to end their lives with a lethal prescription.

What if there's a fad of having these implants... and the company discovers there's a way to make the turn up the voltage and make it lethal?

The Death With Dignty Act is rewritten to allow death by an easier method than prescription drugs?

Jamster said, I actually like that premise - now why not go and write it?

Well, a couple of reasons.

(1) Doesn't have a dynamite ending yet. It's always easier to know the ending before you start writing.

(2) I would like to move it a bit further away from Robbie's. Maybe change the identity of the protagonists, or get rid of the chip altogether.

(3) What did you like about it? The scientific aspect of a surgeon implanting a microchip with wires running up into the brain...?

In another post, I described how this technique is being used to help control Parkinson's disease. Instead of movie stars, I think the starting point could be a doctor experimenting with ways to control the deterioration that is so tragic in Parkinson's... and make the protagonist a bit more relatable.

The thing about the Development Process. you don't know where it's going to wind up.

I actually like that premise - now why not go and write it?

There's a book being sold on Amazon

I Have Lived Before: The True Story of the Reincarnation of Shanti Devi

According to this book, Shanti Devi reveals

(1) the extremely vivid memories of her experiences after Death,

(2) the period between her lives, and

(3) the return to a physical body!

What if a surgeon could implant a chip, run wires into parts of your brain...

and, just by pushing a button on a remote, you could stimulate memories of a past life?

Not a TV program, not a movie, but memories that seem to come from a person who died before you were born?

Amazon Studios is part of Amazon. Here are four different comments on another book

I Have Lived Before: The True Story of the Reincarnation of Shanti Devi [Paperback]

(1) Absolutely Amazing!!!!!, Sunita (FL United States)
I came across a brief introduction to Shanti Devi in "The Idiots Guide to Hinduism". The story fascinated me and given I was eager to learn more about her past and present lives, I bought the book and couldn't wait to read it! Reincarnation is a concept which have been exposed to me but I've never come across a story as legit and real as Shanti Devi's experience! The facts gathered are amazing! One needs no scientific evidence to accept the fact that this case is legit, genuine... real! The author did a terrific job composing details, outlining details from her present life and past memories, as well as delving into other religions such as Christianity and explaining more about it, such as how it reincarnation was once accepted. This is a must read book for any individual interested in reading an initial true story about reincarnation and learning a little more about Hinduisim in comparison with other religions!

(2) One of the best books on reincarnation, March 21, 2011
By N. Sri Vittal (Singapore)
A must read for those who are interested on the topic of reincarnation, What happens after death? Why we are born again? I have read hundreds of books on this topic and this is one of the best. Also read "Many lives Many Masters" and the "Tibetan Book for the dead"

(3) Shanti Devi was a girl that could remember her past life in full detail like it was yesterday, at the young age of 4. The book tell of how she eventually meets the husband she was married to, and other family members, and is tested to make sure she really was who she says she was. She went back to her last home and knew the whole layout and where she had hidden some money.

(4) The most thoroughly documented and authenticated case of reincarnation in modern times! This was NOT a case obtained through the use of hypnosis or any other means. Shanti Devi also reveals the extremely vivid memories of her experiences after Death, the period between her lives, and the return to a physical body! Even Mahatma Gandhi became involved and encouraged examination of the case.

You're so fat Lisa

The link is to the book's page on Amazon. this site is part of Amazon.

Old Souls: Compelling Evidence from Children Who Remember Past Lives
Tom Shroder (Author)

Review: "Old Souls" is filled with descriptions so vivid you feel as if you can smell, taste and touch the surroundings, takes the reader on a colorful journey to Beirut, India and Middle America. These spontaneous memories are not the grand, theatrical "I was Cleopatra"-type claims that have become old hat in New Age philosophy. They are not a product of regression-hypnosis.

(2) The subtitle, "The Scientific Evidence for Past Lives," has little relationship to the contents. Dr. Ian Stevenson is now 80 years old and has been meticulously documenting past-life memories for 40 years... on follow-up visits to Lebanon and India. Too much of the book comprises Shroder's whining about the conditions he is forced to endure. (Rethink your vacation to India, folks.) The real evidence -- reams of it -- is found in Stevenson's own works, such as "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation" and "Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect."

This suggests another possibility for the script

Instead of confusing the woman with scenes from a movie she made....

The implanted chip triggers memories from past lives. Memories that she could not consciously access.

Memories that overwhelm her because they are "real" on a different level than the movie.

Wow, this is a great change.

From a book sold on Amazon

"Twenty Cases suggestive of Reincarnation"

in the reviews"

Convincing evidence of continuity of "life" at another level of consciusness. March 9, 2008

By Rajyashree Tripathi

Format:Paperback

I read this book several years ago-- long after I had kept hearing from my parents about one of the cases cited therein. A young girl from Chhattarpur (MP) India whom they had known, and who recalled her past three lives. She sang songs in a language from a distant province in India and even recognized her "families" from those times when "re-united" with them. As a scientist, my approach to the notion of re-birth had been on more logical grounds. However, now I am more convinced than ever that something that gives us an identity-- beyond the name and face as we know in this life-time-- lives on. Perhaps forever....

Robbie said, It also explains the self assurance and really degrading treatment of non-American stuff (India or Slovenia), while at the same time not being able to point either of the countries on the map.

there's a habit of religious people, which I have observed many times in America, but also in people from India

they like to pretend their relgious beliefs have some kind of scientific basis.

the beliefs in India are different than America. They really stand out because they're not anything that Americans usually think about.

Reincarnation. A person dies and his memories and personality are reborn into a different body.

If you read a book by anyone who grew up and went to college in Calcutta, you have to allow for this bias. It isn't that a scientist discovered something important. He's just regurgitating religious beliefs he learned as a child in India.

This is not the first time I've encountered this. If I have time, I may post examples from books that Amazon is currently selling.

@Andrew
--- "Your behavior would not be tolerated in my department."

If YOU have a department anywhere, it's a sad lookout for the business.

- You are unable to think outside the box.
- You spend entirely too much time online.
- You spend entirely too much time bantering.

If you went to school in 1957 you are about the age of my father. It explains well the stubbornness and ability to banter into oblivion. It also explains the self assurance and really degrading treatment of non-American stuff (India or Slovenia), while at the same time not being able to point either of the countries on the map.

Your inability to comprehend how other people see you also shows a high level of self-esteem coupled with a low level of intelligence. Bad and annoying combination, which - unfortunately - is a trait of many leaders. Mainly because they are merciless in pursuing their goal.

I pity your team and salute a (hopefully) dying breed of people like you who managed to screw up our world into it's present state.

So are you saying that all these incarnations you have: andy et el are not the product/ by-product of some form of medication?

I thought you already alluded to the fact that they were - no?

Maybe I dreamt that - another parallel universe - or maybe it was another identity?

Jamster said, I thought you were a 22-23 yr old Disney employee with a ten member 'writers group' - no?

No.

One of the wonderful things at Disney is tuition reimbursement. I could take a class every night through UCLA Extension if I wanted to spend that many hours sitting in a classroom. I've taken a lot of screenwriting classes through UCLA, a few at USC because the facilities are wonderful.

Your guesses are just so far off-base... for example, you haven't gotten the message that your humor about "meds" is disrespectful and I usually have to stop myself from insulting you in return. Your behavior would not be tolerated in my department.

this thread was supposed to inspire comments about ways to add humanity to a concept. There are many good ways to do that. But it's the kind of thing that screenwriters might talk about, but only if you took the class and were paying attention.

Religion is the same way. The religions folks sit in class, but they're not really paying attention. If you were to read the accounts of Jesus, you'd realize they're not factual. They were trying to create a fictional Jesus who could compete with the memory of Julius Caesar, the monuments that Augustus Caesar built to honor Julius, the fact that Jews were forced to use coins with the faces of Roman Emperors, the Emperor cult. they wanted Jesus to compete with heroes from Greek mythology. Jesus wasn't "real" in the sense that anything written about him is truthful.

It's a story. The kind that modern con men tell.

I think I'm right in saying that you think god has played a part in the American Dream, but, Lets suppose, we all have imaginations, that the only reason you think that all the US Presidents where devoted to God is because you have been manipulated into thinking this!!! Who knows what exactly goes on when the blinds are drawn????

Andrew - I thought you were a 22-23 yr old Disney employee with a ten member 'writers group' - no?

So why the talk of being in school in 1957???

Oh, maybe you're God in your own parallel universe?

Time for meds, and another incarnation me thinks ;-0

Originally from India, Goswami received his Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta in physics in 1964, from where he moved to the United States

(Wow. I'm sure the University of Calcutta had high standards in Buddhist malarky in 1964)

he refers to himself as a "quantum activist" engaging in research on the "Science within consciousness", ... varied theories of integral medicine based on five interchanging levels of existence:

the physical,
the vital,
the mental,
the supra-mental intellect and

the limitless bliss state.


Goswami is convinced that the universe, in order to exist, requires a conscious sentient being to be aware of it.

Without an observer, he claims, it only exists as a possibility.

Leaning heavily on the ancient mystical traditions of the world, Goswami is building a case for a new paradigm that he calls "monistic idealism," the view that consciousness, not matter, is the foundation of everything that is

So, as I read this shaman from India, he's using science to prove there's a limitless bliss state.

Oh, come on, Calvin. Really? This is your source?

Calvin said, And, quite frankly, I'm beginning if you have lost consciousness with your silly absolute statements, the same kind of logic you condemn some soft thinking religious people for.

I suppose you have to come back with some kind of blatant lie, to make yourself feel better.

There is no God.

A.... what did you call it "silly absolute statement"??

A con man says "I believe I have found evidence of..." or "If you donate money to my ministry, God will reward you. I can't tell you how God works but I know it will happen>'

The absolute statement... is the opposite of a con. That's why it bothers you. You can twist it around and pretend it says something else.

Calvin said, Sorry to bring this up again, but Dr. Amit Goswani believes he has found proof their is a higher consciousness, that some of us called God.

Absolutely not.

"believes he had found".... the cheap come-on of a con man.

Either he found it, or he didn't. Saying he "believes" he found it... means a scam. There are known buzz words that always imply deceit and dishonesty.

Like Calvin, most religious folks have one "mantra" and they keep repeating it, long after it has been proven false. No matter how many times I explain the first chapter of Genesis, religious folks never understand that... Genesis is a scientifc explanation written by men who had no actual knowledge.

I just saw this: "Was the gunamn in Aurora demon possessed? Maybe. It happens," the Rev. Dwight Longenecker wrote at the Patheos website, where the Catholic priest from Greenville, S.C., is a columnist.

Longenecker dismissed the range of explanations for what might have motivated Holmes -- a bad childhood, mental illness, social awkwardness, extreme political or religious views, or exposure to violent video games or to the Batman movie that was showing when he allegedly opened fire.

The real culprit, he says, was Demonic Infestation.

"Demonic infestation is a rare, strange and terrible psycho-spiritual affliction," Longenecker said. "In simple terms, a malevolent, separate intelligence infests the mind and spirit of a person."

The priest conceded that "trying to diagnose the possibility of demonic influence is extremely difficult. An exorcist often feels like he is walking blindfolded through a minefield set in quicksand. He is wrestling with a pool of oily octopuses."

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a onetime Baptist minister, blamed the nation's "sin problem" for the crime. He echoed the views of Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, that

the shooting happened because public prayer is not allowed at public schools

and so Americans have lost the "protective hand" of God.

So... in the religious malarky, the gunman was possessed by a Demonic Infestion because... wait for it... America no longer allows organized prayer in public schools. Ridiculous.