Playception

Playception

By Matt Horner

Characters:

Director:  A smart man in his late twenties. He lives alone in his apartment in New York. He was accepted to Stanford, but instead went on to pursue a career in theater. Everyone at Peet’s Coffee knows him by name.

Producer:  A businessman in his late forties. He lives in the suburbs of New York, and drives a BMW to his high rise office every day. Part of his duties involve checking in on the theaters and their directors to make sure the company is successful.

Scene 1

                10:00 p.m. An empty ornate theater. A massive chandelier hangs from the ceiling, shedding dim light across the stage. Two men sit in red velvet chairs in the center of the seating area. PRODUCER sits at  SL, DIRECTOR at SR. DIRECTOR has a clipboard in his hands.

PRODUCER:  This better be good. You have until tomorrow afternoon at four to come up with an idea that will give this company a shot at Broadway. (Annoyed) No more of these lame comedies and crappy musicals. Can you do that?

DIRECTOR:  Yes. Fine.  He shrugs. Why the urgency?

PRODUCER:  Because this company is losing money, and fast. And I need to know that my director is creative enough to make a decent show for once. (Calmly) I want to have time to hire a new director if I need to.

DIRECTOR:  I’ll get it done. Gets up to leave. Goodnight, Sir.

DIRECTOR extends hand for a handshake. PRODUCER stares straight ahead in his chair, no acknowledgement.

Scene 2

DIRECTOR sits at home at a desk in a dark room. Two sources of light, one from the writing lamp that casts bright light onto an empty sheet of paper. Another light comes from the TV, where a pirate movie is playing. Three empty cups with coffee remnants litter the desk.

 DIRECTOR:  Ugh. Why did I choose this job? Of all the occupations in the world, I had to choose the only one that I get paid like a laborer, and treated like a slave. I end up spending all my wages at the coffee shop so I can stay up late to do more work that I don’t get paid for. I could have been living in California spending weekends at the beach and building new technology. This reminds me of my sophomore year in high school, always staying up late the night before a writing assignment was due. Oh well. These three lattes aren’t going to let me get to sleep anytime soon, so I might as well make the most of it.

 

Scene 3

10:00 a.m. in the theater. Sunlight shines in from large overhead windows, giving the place a happy feel. DIRECTOR sits in a chair in the corner, with a stack of papers six feet tall.

PRODUCER enters from doors at top of aisle stairs. He walks down to the center of the stairs, where DIRECTOR meets him.

DIRECTOR:  Good morning Sir! I have a surprise for you.

PRODUCER:  (sighing) This better be good.

DIRECTOR:  Instead of one play, I was feeling so funny last night that I just wrote three.

PRODUCER: (Surprised) Really? He reaches out his hand to look at them.

DIRECTOR: Yep. This one’s about Pirates. He hands him a mass of papers. And this one’s set in medieval times with dragons and such. He hand him a second mass of papers. But this one is my favorite…He holds up a third mass of paper, but doesn’t give it to PRODUCER.

PRODUCER:  These both look decent. But what’s the last one about? (Looking intrigued)

DIRECTOR:  It’s about two guys. They need to come up with a hit show to save their theater company. But the problem is… they don’t have any ideas what to write their play about. They think and think, and try out a couple different options, but they finally end up writing their show about two guys who need to write a play.

PRODUCER: That’s brilliant! (Excited) He leaps up out of his seat. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Kid, I’m gonna give you a promotion.

I wrote a play about someone writing a play about writing a play. It's a play within a play within a play. The assignment was to write a short one-act play with dialogue, at least two characters, and a central conflict. This play is meant to be a comedy. If I had to revise it, I would add more scene descriptions to give a better feel for the mood. It shows creativity even though I was unable to think of a traditional storyline. 

 

Is it Worth the Price?

Is it Worth the Price?

Background:

         Everyone enjoys a cup of coffee to help them wake up, fight sleepiness, or stay awake to cram for finals. Popular coffee shops like Peet’s, Starbuck’s, and Blue Bottle can be found on almost every street corner. According to the National Coffee Association, coffee originated in Ethiopia, and then was spread to the Arabian Peninsula, where it was spread by Muslims on Pilgrimage to Mecca. Coffee really became popular in America after the British imposed a tea tax on the colonists. Now, coffee is grown all over the world, in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, and Asia (The History of Coffee).

       According to StatisticBrain.com, over 100 million Americans drink coffee every single day, spending, on average, $165 per person each year on coffee alone. Four billion dollars each year is spent on importing coffee from around the world, and Americans spend about $18 billion on specialty coffee. The average size of a cup of coffee is nine ounces, and costs about $1.38 (Coffee Drinking Statistics). In late November, Starbucks began to sell a limited-time brew of coffee priced at seven dollars for a sixteen ounce cup. The coffee, called Costa Rica Finca Palmilera, is the most expensive cup that Starbucks has ever sold (Sanburn). Jimmy Kimmel introduced the coffee on his show, and conducted a taste test to research whether people could actually taste the difference between the $7 coffee and the regular brew. However, both brews in the test were identical (Kimmel). People’s belief that they were drinking a superior product altered how their taste perceived it. This concept inspired my own project, also with coffee, to see if people in San Francisco could tell the difference in the price between two drinks. How does product association relate to more expensive products versus cheaper products?

Detail:

         The taste test was based around the premise of researching if people could actually tell the difference between two cups of coffee, based on what they were told about the coffee, even if they were the same. For my research, I conducted a taste test with two groups:  one group had two different beans of coffee, and the other had the exact same bean in both cups. I wanted to compare people’s opinions between the actual test and the control test to see if they were able to identify a more expensive product based on the taste. To conduct the test, I surveyed 22 adults, many of whom drank coffee on a regular basis. Both coffees were African blends from Peet’s Coffee and Tea.

As part of my research, I visited Peet’s Coffee and Tea in downtown Walnut Creek to purchase coffee and examine their prices. For marketing reasons, Peet’s does not allow photographs of their menus. For my study, I used the Uzuri African Blend, priced at $14.95 per pound, and the Arabian Mocha Sanani, priced at $21.95 per pound. By comparison, Peet’s House Blend coffee costs $12.50 per pound. At Peet’s the coffee of the day costs $1.80 for a 12oz small, $2 for a 16oz medium, and $2.30 for a 20oz large. The coffee of the day offered usually varies between roasts of coffee priced between $12.50 and $14.50, although it can sometimes include higher priced specialty coffees, like their Holiday Blend. No matter the price of the beans, a single cup of coffee purchased in store costs the same amount.

On January 3, 2013, I tested 22 of my mom’s employees in San Fracisco from 9:00-11:30 a.m. To prepare for the taste test, I brewed a ten-cup pot of coffee with the same coffee maker and the same amount of coffee grounds. The Uzuri, the cheaper roast, was divided into two separate thermoses for the purpose of appearing different when pouring. The cups used were labeled A and B for the actual test with different coffees, and X and Y for the test between two cups of the Uzuri. I did not take video of the research because I wanted the subjects to be honest and open with their opinions, without feeling self-conscious, and to respect privacy.

        The results showed that people were mostly able to tell the difference between the two different coffees. In the actual test between the two different blends, 62% of people preferred the Arabian Mocha Sanani, and 69% correctly guessed that it was more expensive. Participants said that they would pay about 35-50 cents extra for a cup of the Arabian over the Uzuri, while another claimed that he would pay 50 cents extra for the Uzuri, which is the cheaper blend. People’s comments about the Arabian coffee included that is was “easier to drink,” “stronger,” “polluted, and not fresh,” “robust,” “more intense,” “smoother,” and, “has many flavors.”

The results of the control taste test were more interesting. Of the nine tested, 88% of the participants claimed to prefer one of the coffees over the other. The table above on the right shows which people had a preference of one of the cups of the Uzuri over the other. Only one person correctly claimed that there was no difference between the two cups of Uzuri Blend. Two people said that both coffees would cost the same. Another said that he would pay “an extra twenty to thirty cents for this coffee,” gesturing to the cup he said he preferred. Comments about the differences in this test included: “one is more acidic and seems nicer,” “one is a darker roast, but they’re both good,” “smoother, richer,” and “stronger.” The most emphatic supporter of one of the cups claimed that “Coffee Y is lighter, and Coffee X is more complex, and is a richer bean. X is definitely more expensive.”

Throughout the entirety of both tests, there were some repeating trends. Every person who mentioned a stronger coffee always preferred that one. A participant stated that one of his cups, which had the expensive Arabian Mocha Sanani, was weaker, and as a result, he would pay 50 cents extra for the Uzuri solely because it was stronger. A common difference in the control test between two cups of the Uzuri was that one cup tasted more acidic than the other, with three of the nine reporting this claim. 

Reflection:

        The findings reveal two pieces of information about how consumers value and judge their products. First, the actual study with the two different coffees showed that, in general, people preferred the more expensive product for a variety of reasons: stronger and bolder was preferred. The test subjects were also clearly able to tell correctly which product was higher quality. In terms of coffee, people tend to prefer the stronger drink, even if the bean is less expensive. 

Second, the control test showed that people wanted to believe that one coffee was nicer than the other because it was more expensive, so their knowledge clearly influenced their taste. They were told that they had two different blends, so their belief created a difference.  This belief that customers have based on their knowledge of price could be exploited by advertisers if they were to put the exact same product in two different packages with a different price tag on them. The customer, thinking that the products were different because of the pricing, would create a difference in the taste or quality of the product. Advertisers might be doing that now, but as a consumer, there’s no way to tell without buying each product and comparing it to a separate product, and that would still be profitable for the company because they just sold two products. For example, how much different is one brand of soda than the other? The more expensive one does not always taste the best. 

From this study, I have learned that a consumer should buy the products that they prefer, and not always assume that higher expense means higher quality. In my research, I did not tell people which one of the coffees, A or B, was more expensive. If I were to do another study, I would tell people which cup cost more, to see if the results became even more lopsided in favor of the expensive one. I would test this theory on more products, like pretzels, sodas, and cheeses, which are all commonly consumed foods.

An area of possible error in my test was the fact that all of my taste testers worked for my mom. The test was conducted in her office, and her employees have a certain amount of trust in her, so they may not have been as skeptical of the two coffees as they might have been if this test was conducted out on the street, like Kimmel’s test was. 

Works Cited

"Coffee Drinking Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., 31 July 2012. Web. 03 Jan. 2013. <http://www.statisticbrain.com/coffee-drinking-statistics/>.

"The History Of Coffee." National Coffee Association USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2013. <http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=68>.

Kimmel, Jimmy. "New $7 Cup of Coffee at Starbucks." Jimmy Kimmel Live. ABC. Hollywood, 28 Nov. 2012. YouTube. Google, 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Jan. 2013.

Sanburn, Josh. "The $7 Cup of Starbucks: A Logical Extension of the Coffee Chain's Long-Term Strategy." Business & Money. TIME Magazine, 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 Jan. 2013.

22 Employees in My Mom's Department. "Coffee Taste Test." Personal interview. 4 Jan. 2013.

Visit to Peet’s Coffee and Tea. 1343 Locust Street, Walnut Creek, CA. 7:00 p.m. 2 Jan. 2013. 

Visit to Blue Bottle Coffee. Ferry Building Marketplace, San Francisco, CA. 8:30 a.m. 3 Jan. 2013. 

      This is a report from December, during the media studies portion of the class. I really liked this assignment because it was so open; the only criteria was something media related. I conducted my own research about something that I really enjoy:  coffee. The project itself is creative, however, the writing is mainly informative. I learned a lot from this project because it is about something that I was interested in, rather than a topic forced upon me, like many research reports in other classes are. 

6 Word Memoir

This is basically a short description of my swimming life. I don't ever get to sleep in due to workouts and homework, even on the weekends. The assignment was to write a short memoir about yourself in six words exactly, then bring it to life with a visual component. I considered other aspects of my life to write about too, such as my dedication to the things I love or family, but I chose this one because it is supposed to be slightly funny. 

The Burning House Project

The Burning House Project

Name:  Matt Horner

Age: 16

Location: Walnut Creek, California

Occupation:  Student-Athlete

Website:  creativeswimmer.blogspot.com

List: 

Stuffed brown bear from childhood

Car keys for Dad's car

NCS Championship medal from water polo days

Panda, favorite stuffed animal

San Francisco Giants 2012 World Series Champs commemorative Sports Illustrated issue

 Giants Buster Posey Jersey, present from parents

Laptop computer, with family pictures and important documents

All-American swimmer patch, earned with relay team

Las Lomas Swimming Rookie of the Year Award

NCS swimming medals, earned with record-setting relay

Watch, given to me by aunt and uncle

Glass dolphin from Italy, represents traveling

Driver's license, earned after 16 years of waiting. Key to freedom

Blanket made and given to me by my girlfriend.

This project is a collection of the things that I would save if my house was burning down with short descriptions of each. It is meant to show what is important to me, both because of sentimental value and monetary value.  This project shows many of the different aspects of my life, and is more of an artsy project than a writing project. 

Swimmer/Student

Swimmers are also studentS

We always try to win, buT

It is not the only thing that drives yoU

Managing everything leaves one tireD

Maintaining grades and times is a challengE

Every night is a struggle withiN

Read, study, or sleep? We will find out later tonighT.

 

     This poem is a double acrostic. The first and last letters of every line spell out a different word that both represent who I am. I wanted this piece to show some of the aspects of my life as a student-athlete. I like how everything fits together in this piece; it flows together well. If I had to revise it, I would try to make it rhyme internally.

Trees in the Woods

Trees in the Woods

The two stood face to face, as they had for the past three hundred years. Their thick trunks had weathered many storms and seen children play every sort of game imaginable. The trees were located in a small forest, just outside of a small town in Montana. A two-lane road separated the forest from the townspeople. In the winter, the tops of the trees became dipped in snow, while in the summer, their leaves shone bright green.

                The two trees were the perfect distance apart, and the perfect width for a child-sized hammock, which had always been there, its colors wilted by the sun. The trees were a favorite hangout for Jack, Nick, and Michael, three boys who lived in the town. The group of friends came to the two trees every day during the summer, and played tag, frisbee, and took turns in the hammock.

                Jack had always been more adventurous than his other two friends. He was the one who always wanted to try new things, and push the limits of what was safe. His parents were always tied up at work, which left Jack alone to do as he pleased. One summer, Jack decided to camp out in the woods and sleep in the hammock. He prepared for this by finding a lantern, some beef jerky, a sleeping bag, and a water bottle. He loaded his supplies into his pack, and walked into the mid-afternoon forest.

                After a five minute walk, he arrived at his hammock, where he spread his sleeping bag. He hung his lantern on a low branch, and took a sip of his water. Jack dozed off in the late afternoon sun, and when he awoke, it was dark outside.

                The forest had never seemed so dark to Jack before.  The wind rustling in the trees seemed louder and more mischievous. Jack heard small animals scurrying around on the ground, making leaves jump and crackle. All of a sudden, he heard a louder thump, like a tree had fallen down. Jack heard the noise again, and this time, he felt it too. Even though his hammock was suspended off the ground, he could feel the vibrations. The thump came again, so Jack knew that it wasn’t merely trees falling or squirrels and chipmunks. The thumps came faster now, and much louder.

                A bear crawled through the darkness, its eyes two yellow marbles in the night. The bear walked with purpose towards the trees, where Jack lay motionless in his sleeping bag. The bear walked right up to the first tree and began to sharpen his claws. From his hammock, Jack heard the screeching and scraping noise as the tree’s bark was torn apart, hoping that his body would not meet the same fate.

                The bear finished his claws, and tore apart Jack’s bag, grabbing the beef jerky. At that moment, a wolf’s howl echoed in the distance, jolting the bear from his snack. As he rose to his hind legs, his claw swiped past Jack’s leg, tearing it open from his ankle to the middle of his thigh. Jack bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming in pain. The bear lumbered off to investigate the howling noise, taking the beef jerky with him.

                Jack lay in his hammock, unsure of what to do. Tears rolled down his face as blood dripped onto the ground from his leg and his tongue. He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t control his leg. It was all he could do to stay conscious, as he felt himself sway and lose balance. At that moment, he saw the beam of a flashlight wandering toward him. It was Michael, with Nick not far behind. “Jack? Your parents were looking for you. Are you okay?”

                “My leg…it’s hurt,” he replied with a struggle.

                “Okay, then let’s get you out of here. Nick, you grab his good leg, and I’ll hold his arms,” said Michael. They picked up Matt and dragged him to the forest’s edge, into the circular glow of streetlamp.

                “I’ll go for help,” said Nick as he ran off. Michael comforted Jack, while elevating his leg so that he didn’t lose too much blood.

                After only five minutes, an ambulance arrived, sirens blaring. Jack was carted off to the hospital, where his leg was amputated. He would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

                Jack’s parents, appalled and upset by what had happened, immediately complained to the city council. The council members debated about the safety of having a forest in such close proximity to the town and children, especially when there were bears and other dangers located within. After weeks of deliberation, the council decided to replace to forest with a grassy park. A single tree would be left standing as a tribute to Jack, one of the two that his hammock was strung from.

                Thirty years later, Jack, a successful business man, returned to his hometown. He rolled his wheelchair onto the sidewalk next to the park and admired the perfectly mown grass. In the middle, was the single tree, where his head had lain so many years ago. He remembered the whole forest, and his two favorite trees, but now, after thirty years, there was one.

                This assignment was to revise a previously written story to devolop it and add a plot line. I revised as much as possible by writing a whole new story with the original prompt, which was to start with the line “The two stood face to face,” and end with, “Then there was one.” This story uses the prompt to set the scene of a story about a young curious boy. It is sad, but I wanted to be able to have some suspense and develop the plot, which I was not able to do in my previous draft. I accomplished this by creating the bear as the antagonist, terrorizing a little child. The result is an interesting story with dialogue, action, and a resolution that ties everything together.

The Handshake

The Handshake

I swam fast, with the deep blue water rushing past me. I felt the pressure on my face, with the gurgle and splash of the water in my ears. As I touched the wall, the wake of water behind me leapt into the gutter with a crash, like a tidal wave. But my speed didn’t matter here, it was only warm up.

                The sun was sinking in the sky, casting long shadows across the pool. The walls were crossed with dark triangles at odd angles. The flags above my head flapped and yelled at the wind.

                I sat on the wall for a minute, my feet hanging below me like a jellyfish’s tentacles, flowing with the currents of the pool. It was almost my turn to swim. I propelled myself out of the water, raining little droplets and large buckets of water onto the deck. I headed over to my lane.

                Before I got there, I was stopped by the person I was trying to avoid. Cold dislike was my immediate thought. There was no way that I could let him of all people beat me. There would be no joking, no smiles, just a desire to touch the wall first. 

                He walked up to me, hand outstretched. The crowd was loud and alive behind us, and I struggled to hear his words. There was water in my ears, blocked in by the maroon cap with golden L’s on it. He sounded distant.

                “Good luck, man”

Even though my goggles were fogged, I could see his smile that made it sincere. I grasped his hand firmly, and felt the rigid muscle cords and bones beneath the skin. I held it for a second as I responded, “Hey thanks, you too.” I released.

In the warm down pool, as I was swimming smoothly, I thought about what had happened. It had just been a simple greeting and expression of sportsmanship, but it changed the way I view the sport. Now, instead of feeling the cold separation and rivalry, it’s a warm feeling of happiness and friendship.

I felt ashamed, guilty, that I hadn’t realized this before. Everyone was there for the same reason: to enjoy their sport and to achieve their goals.

     This memoir is written about a time at a swim meet when I made a new friend, and learned more about myself and sportsmanship. The assignment was to write a memoir with as much detail as possible. This piece shows my athlete life, and how important it is to me. If I had to revise it again, I would include more sensory details such as the temperature outside and in the water, and the emoitions associated with the memory. I would include more dialogue as well.