Just imagining 3-5-10

  Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a project, lamenting its difficulty as you struggle to finish, and you think to yourself, If only there were a better way!
    As you’re pounding away, trying in vain every idea to resolve the task at hand, the solution hits you like a ton of bricks. Hands flying, you finish your project in record time and are left basking in the glow of your success.
    Does it get any better than this? Heck yes, it does. Suddenly, a moment of brilliance appears atop your achievement like a glowing holy grail. You think, I can’t be the only one with this problem! I must create a device to help my fellow man with their struggles!     Or, you know, to capitalize off the profits. I won’t judge.
    We’ve almost all had little flashes of brilliance at one time or another, but what becomes of these moments? Unfortunately, they typically only end up as entertaining stories at a dinner party.
    Take for instance, the story of my friend Laura. One year for Mother’s Day, she and her family gave her mother a digital camera as a gift. We’re not sure what year it was, but the digital camera took a floppy disk, so combining Laura’s age and the years the floppy disk was all the rage, it’s got to be somewhere in the the 1990s.
    Anyway, Laura’s mother was marveling over her gift, and Laura had an idea: What if there were a picture frame into which you could insert the floppy disk, and then choose which photo you wanted to display in the frame?
    You see where this is going. Flash forward to the 2000s and the birth of the digital picture frame. She’s not really kicking herself or anything, but Laura definitely rues the day she dismissed her idea that the masses would appreciate a handier way to look at photos.   
    Even “Friends” tackled the issue of missed opportunities. Ross claims to have originated the plot of “Die Hard” and has the napkin to prove it. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure the movie raked in more dough than that used napkin is worth.
    I can certainly relate. I didn’t come up with some earth-shatteringly genius plan to rid the world of lint or pick up fallen sticks in your yard. No, my idea was much like Ross’s: It was a movie.
    I first saw “Ocean’s Eleven” (the Clooney version) in 2003, and I was hooked on its glamor, humor and overall sharpness. I had a ton of ideas for a sequel, starting with a combative love interest for Brad Pitt’s character. (The obvious choice to play her? Me. But that’s neither here nor there.)
    So imagine my surprise when in the summer of 2004, I learned the “Ocean’s” crew was back for part two. I kicked myself for not doing more to market my “script,” but judging how the movie was a critical bomb, perhaps it’s best my ideas were spared.
    Craig Ferguson, that witty lad, put it all into an understandable nugget Wednesday night. He told a story of how Alexander Graham Bell did not, in fact, invent the telephone, but some Italian guy did instead. Ferguson stressed the importance of snapping up the patent to any invention because “the Italian guy probably said, ‘Oh, I’ll do it tomorrow. Tonight, I’m gonna celebrate with tutti-fruity ice cream!’” In the meantime, big Al was getting his patent on, and the rest is - quite literally - history.
    I think about those silly infomericals I see late at night, particularly the one about that guy who “invents” a portable cooler (keep dreaming, buddy). Some of those gadgets are hilariously ridiculous, but more often than not, I’ve found myself casually strolling through the “As seen on TV” aisle at stores, browsing the latest and greatest kitchen utensils, hair extensions and magic cleaners. I hardly ever buy anything, but I’m always impressed by the amount of initiative it took to even get those items into stores.
    Even if it’s crazy, why not give it a shot? What have you got to lose? Besides, there are plenty of crazy people who might think it’s a swell idea.

    Quote of the week: “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
- Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha)

    Song of the week: “Bittersweet Symphony”  
 - The Verve

    Contact Keen at jodi.keen@murraystate.edu.