"The Gran' Scam of Things"

The Gran' Scam of Things (2010) is a short fictional tale beginning with an email from Osagioduwa Williamson, a Nigerian banker, addressed to a senior citizen, offering her $16,000,000 if she would respond and cooperate. 

The fanciful comedy produced on video was written and directed by Leor Baum through Rooftop Mind Productions. The Internet Movie Database lists and describes the movie ("An elderly woman opens an email that leads her into the welcoming arms of an international crime ring."), as does Vimeo. Leor created a Facebook page for viewers to follow the film, and posted some production photos on Flickr. 

I first heard about Leor's project when I received, ironically, an email message from him on October 21, 2010.  He said, in part:

My team and I have put together a comedic, light-hearted film that we hope can spread a little awareness about elder financial abuse and online safety.

I discovered your blog and after reading more of your material, I felt compelled to write to you and share what I'm doing. I hope you can take a look. * * *

I did not act until now, since I wanted to make sure that . . . well . . . that it wasn't a scam. After all, I am concerned about scams.  See: EE&F Law Blog posting Talkin' SCAMS! (01/06/11). 

Now, with those validating references on the Internet, and with the online report of its funding and production completed, I acknowledge this creative, multimedia effort to educate, in a humorous way, about senior citizen scams and financial elder abuse. 

I watched the movie trailer and read two reviews online. The reviews are favorable. See:

• The Gran Scam of Things, reviewed on Cinema-Crazed by Felix Vasquez Jr. (01/13/11): "Director Leor Baum's dramedy is a fantastic short that shows what happens when karma and fate plays a hand in an average woman becoming a hero and helping others in the journey for happiness. "The Gran Scam of Things" is a beautifully acted crowd pleaser and a socially conscious one at that."

• The Gran' Scam of Things reviewed on Rogue Cinema by Duane L. Martin (01/01/11): "So how was it? Well, to put it simply, I LOVED this film, and my wife, who watched it with me, felt exactly the same way. There's a really nice sense of innocence to this film that you don't see too often, and it was fun from start to finish. What I found probably the most hilarious though were the fantasy scenes of Osagioduwa peeking around the side of a door on a sandy beach and then emerging with this giant 16 million dollar check and a big friendly smile on his face."

Given its short length and humorous approach, yet its very timely topic, The Gran' Scam of Things should offer good "movie night" viewing, particularly for seniors and their families.

Update:  2011-01-16 (Sun) at 6:30 pm: 

Leor responded to my posting with two email messages.  Here are portions of them:

I will try to keep you up to date as we apply to the film festivals and try to get this film seen by a wider audience. It would be nice to get a screening in PA someday down the line. * * *

I'll look into the PA festivals and if we can afford it, we will submit. It all depends on how much we can raise by the deadlines. Following the Kickstarter campaign, we've been offering gifts for anyone who helps us submit to the festivals: www.rooftopmind.com/donate.

If your readers want to contact me about the film, they can write to gsot@rooftopmind.com.

The official website is www.rooftopmind.com/gran-scam if anyone wants to see more.

2011 PA Legal Holidays Listed by AOPC

For many, this is a holiday week, if only in a personal mindset.  But "legal holidays" are declared in advance, and are quite fixed.  A county's courthouse is closed on a recognized national or statewide "legal holiday" or a local "legal holiday."

On December 28, 2010, the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System published online the legal holidays to be observed in 2011 by all employees of the appellate courts and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.  The schedule also listed local legal holidays of the sixty-seven counties in Pennsylvania, which vary surprisingly (mostly around the end of next year).

The statewide court holidays are not a recently released secret -- the holidays were identified in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on January 6, 2010, 40 Pa.B. 525, under an Order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The recently-issued compendium of Pennsylvania 2011 County Holidays (PDF, 2 pages) integrates those holidays with additional local ones.

Would the PA Dept of Aging Change its Name?

During an unscheduled late morning session held over coffee and donuts on Tuesday, April 1st, 2010, at a restaurant in Harrisburg, a representative of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, sitting among co-workers, was overheard discussing whether the Department should change its official name to the "Pennsylvania Office of Getting Older" ("OGO" or "Pogo").

When queried, the representative disclaimed any authority for seeking feedback or for involvement in a name change project, but he did comment.

"Some of my co-workers wonder if we should consider a change in our name. We're changing everything else lately. Personally, I'm tired of the negative connotations of some abbreviations used to reference the Department.

"Now, I gotta get back to the office . . . and don't print my name."

One source confirmed that concerns do exist within the Department that many people abbreviate the Department's current name into the acronym "DoA". That term carries a negative connotation in medical terminology.

"Our work is not about that condition at all," said that source. "That would be under the jurisdiction of the Department of State's Funeral Directors Licensing Board."

That same source noted that many journalists refer to the Pennsylvania Department of Aging loosely as the "Aging Department." That name conflicts with the "enhancing" and "empowering" themes in its posted mission statement.

The ripple effects of such a name are uncertain, too, in a society that prizes youth. Remember what happened to the Oldsmobile.

Some workers, without explanation, have transferred to other departments having more positive, long-lasting names, like the "Welfare Department" or the "Health Department". But linking those departures to the Department's name remains purely speculative.

Also some confusion in mail deliveries may find their cause in the Department's current name. When the Department's name is called out in the central mail sorting room as "Aaa...Ging!", some deliveries are earmarked improperly to the Office of the Attorney General (A.G.).

That might not be as much of a problem if the name of the Department would be changed to the "Office of Getting Older".

"Everyone is 'getting older', right? That would be a politically correct name, and no joke" said one Department worker.

That worker confirmed, also, that more than one name had been floated initially. At least a few names were rejected due to their acronyms, specifically the "Office of Older People Services" ("OOPS"), the "Department of Inter-generational Experiences" ("DIE", which was viewed as similar to the current acronym -- although a variation, the "Independent Department of Inter-generational Experiences" or "iDIE", was considered trendy), and also the "Agency on Senior Services".

As to the current suggestion for a name change, there is some concern about the new acronym ("POGO") as being too fanciful or flashy, and perhaps vulnerable to trademark disputes.

The idea of any name change may not be well-received by the Department's affiliated agencies at the county level, but for other reasons -- their changed acronyms.

Presently, each local entity is known as an "Area Agency on Aging" ("AAA"). Local workers have come to love the alliteration of the longer appellation.

Also, many county agency office workers have delighted in the anonymity of their offices' "AAA" name, which can reduce their workload. Since "AAA" is frequently confused with other organizations having identical acronyms, such as the "American Automobile Association", the "American Arbitration Association", and the "American Antropological Association", it is believed that many Pennsylvanians making an initial inquiry call those other offices instead, and then tire of their voice mail systems.

One employee in a county aging office expressed concern about losing its "AAA" rating -- something to be prized in today's beleaguered economy.

These benefits would disappear if the local agencies would be renamed the "Area Agencies on Getting Older" ("AAGO"). Who would confuse a local getting older agency with the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando or the American Academy of Gnathologic Orthopedics?

Such a changed name for the Department would also affect its leader, who would then be known as the "Secretary of Getting Older" ("So GO").

The Governor's Office apparently was unaware of any movement to change the name of the Department.

"If it comes to us, we'll have to study it carefully," said a liaison. "But a rose by any other name is still a rose, don't you think?"