Quatloos!

My tax dollars at work.
I'll bet 100 Quatloos Captain this will suck!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... ?hpt=hp_c2

The really bad thing about the video is that the cast was made up of IRS executives and their staff.

At least Social Security has decent videos. Have you ever seen the ones they did with Patty Duke? They did one that spoofed Star Trek but it had Patty Duke and George Takei is it was all good.

I feel that "sucks" is insufficient, by an order of magnitude, for describing this video. A giant black hole eating the center of a galaxy doesn't suck as much as this does.

As usual these snafus get blown out of proportion. It cost less than $100K? Are we such immature imbeciles that we still regard the government as the problem not as a force for reform and as a catalyst for transformation?

Although "sucks" is an understatement, I can appreciate the IRS not wanting to send all their employees to Anaheim. Disneyland cannot fit within the per diem. (Even the food at Disneyland won't fit within the per diem.)

Seriously, a good training video can save expenses while having only a minimal reduction in training efficiency.

I've met good trainers and seen good training videos. This is not a good training video.

Where is Famspear when you need him? This deserves a limerick; it couldn't be any worse than the video.

Arthur Rubin wrote:Where is Famspear when you need him? This deserves a limerick; it couldn't be any worse than the video.

Boy, you guys really know how to encourage the budding creativity of a senstive, young poet. I know you're trying to get me to streeeeeeetch myself artistically.



I'm thinking that Gene Roddenberry must be rolling over in his grave.

The Saturday Night Live spoof of Star Trek was funny, and how many movies have been made?

But this IRS video might be the last straw -- the one that finally kills the Star Trek franchise.

Famspear wrote:Oh, this pond'rously awful depiction
Is the nadir of all science fiction.
This attempt at Star Trek
Is the worst kind of dreck;
I don't think I will see contradiction.

Were you going all out for your 5,000th post? Happy quintiversary! I made that word up.

I also feel that it the bad thing about the video is that the cast was made up of IRS executives and their staff.

Strange as it might seem, that is FAR from the poorest trsining video IRS has ever made.

Back in the good old days (before CGI and other neat tools were invented) the videos consisted of an IRS "Subject Matter Expert" sitting behind a desk and reading (actually droning) a prepared script. They were lethal. The audience survival rate was less than 50%.

AndyK wrote:Strange as it might seem, that is FAR from the poorest trsining video IRS has ever made.

Back in the good old days (before CGI and other neat tools were invented) the videos consisted of an IRS "Subject Matter Expert" sitting behind a desk and reading (actually droning) a prepared script. They were lethal. The audience survival rate was less than 50%.

Speaking as a lifetime insomniac, I recall those fondly. NOTHING has ever put me to sleep faster.

It turns out that this StarTrek parody is giving the IRS a terrible headache. This video was cooked up in 2010 and now Congress (and the press) is bitching that it is a TERRIBLE waste of taxpayer money (for one thing, it teaches hardly any sort of information -- unlike a tolerated IRS Gilligan's Island parody). I cannot guess the cost of the video but, if IRS people constructed the sets and costumes, it probably cost less than the agency's Christman parties. Compared to some other videos that corporations/organizations have cooked up, I think this is pretty clever, but the IRS has been beaten into apologizing for it.

Burnaby49 wrote:

Famspear wrote:Oh, this pond'rously awful depiction
Is the nadir of all science fiction.
This attempt at Star Trek
Is the worst kind of dreck;
I don't think I will see contradiction.

Were you going all out for your 5,000th post? Happy quintiversary! I made that word up.

Thanks. Wow. Five thousand posts. No wonder I feel tired.

Oh, wait, no. I just forgot to take my Geritol.

Were it not for the totals being reset after our friend Mr. Merrill was finally shown the gate, I might be closing in on that august total, if not past it....

Number Six wrote:As usual these snafus get blown out of proportion. It cost less than $100K? Are we such immature imbeciles that we still regard the government as the problem not as a force for reform and as a catalyst for transformation?

How was this blown out of proportion? The video was not for training purposes and both the IRS and others agree that this video should have never been made. The cost ($60,000) was a waste of taxpayer money. When the government is causing problems like this, it is removing its ability to be a force for reform and transformation.

AndyK wrote:Strange as it might seem, that is FAR from the poorest trsining video IRS has ever made.

It wasn't a training video. So it can't be even considered in that category.

AndyK wrote:Back in the good old days (before CGI and other neat tools were invented) the videos consisted of an IRS "Subject Matter Expert" sitting behind a desk and reading (actually droning) a prepared script.

Please. There have been live IRS classroom sessions that exhibited that same practice. Nothing worse than an "experienced" instructor reading the material out of the book.

fortinbras wrote:It turns out that this StarTrek parody is giving the IRS a terrible headache. This video was cooked up in 2010 and now Congress (and the press) is bitching that it is a TERRIBLE waste of taxpayer money (for one thing, it teaches hardly any sort of information -- unlike a tolerated IRS Gilligan's Island parody).

Hardly any information taught? Try no information was taught. It was an entertainment introduction to the SB/SE manager's meeting. So it was a waste of taxpayer's money.

fortinbras wrote:I cannot guess the cost of the video...

Don't have to guess, the IRS has already confirmed to Congress that the video was made for $60,000.

fortinbras wrote:but...it probably cost less than the agency's Christman [sic] parties.

Really? Do you actually believe that the IRS has official funding for Christmas parties? Do you have a cite for that? Or are you just pulling that out of thin air?

fortinbras wrote:Compared to some other videos that corporations/organizations have cooked up, I think this is pretty clever, but the IRS has been beaten into apologizing for it.

As well they should be. This is the exact kind of thing that gets government agencies into trouble when they take liberties with their funding and get off the beaten path. Especially when Congress is looking to cut budgets every chance they get.

Average crappy movie on SyFy probably has a running time of 90 minutes..ish and a cost (highballing here) of $2m.

IRS Movie costs $10k per minute to make.
Bad SyFy movie costs $20k per minute to make.

Congratulations, IRS, you managed to make a movie for 1/2 the cost of a bad made-for-TV movie with less than a quarter of the quality.

I'm waiting for their next venture: "Monster Guru VS Mega-Cheat: A Romantic Interlude of Epic Proportions."

There is NO budget for IRS Christmas or any other parties that I know of; the employees pass the hat for the traditional end-of-filing season party for the toll-free hotline or for retirement parties. As to budget stupidities, the biggest one I ever saw was when Mark Everson (during his brief tenure before his sexual indiscretions brought him down) sent each and every IRS employee a Christmas greeting with his picture on it. In color. (One person said it cost about 50k, but I cannot confirm that.) Some may still be used as dartboards by old-timers. What truly amuses me is that the wife he was cheating on (who has divorced him now) was an ethics adviser to the Bush administration. (Sure, George, you don't really need a court order for a wiretap!)

During college, several friends and I made a movie about Nixon invading Canada, complete with Mounties and moose.

It was better than this.

wserra wrote:During college, several friends and I made a movie about Nixon invading Canada, complete with Mounties and moose.

Did anyone's sister get bitten by the møøse?