Chapter 25 - Giant Roulette, once again.

November 29, 2010 Monday. A special day that gave Tayaw a pleasant surprise. Inside his apartment, while Tayaw was doing his homework, his world suddenly flashed and he found himself pulled to the same white void he was brought into the day he returned back in time. The familiar huge blue glowing words "Arts Records" scintillating in front of him, in addition to a now enlarged View Points below it. The View Points currently has 1,000,000 which surprised Tayaw. Back in September, he decided to only look at his View Points at the last day of whatever month. He guessed that 1,000,000 is a special figure that he can no longer ignore and was forced in the white void.

The words "Art Records" is a gain inviting him to touch it, which Tayaw did. After touching the words, the same basketball court-sized giant roulette table appeared in front of him. Only the View Points, in its enlarged letters and numbers is still present and is now floating above the roulette table. Unlike the last time, he shouted "ODD!" this time as he picked up the basketball-sized white roulette ball and threw it into the wheel. While the ball is dancing on the wheels, he noticed that his View Points are quickly reducing in number. As the wheel stopped, so did the View Points he saved up returned to zero. "Oh! So that's how the View Points are used!" Tayaw said to himself after seeing the proceedings.

As one of the countless tiles on the table floated up and stood upright in the air, Tayaw was repeatedly chanting "Songs. Songs. Songs. Songs. Songs. Songs this time please." A few words slowly appeared on the tiles. "Random Piece x 4. Random Skill Set x 1" the tile then zoomed towards Tayaw's head and smashed into nothingness. Tayaw felt like a cool strong breeze washed over his head accompanied by a throbbing headache. Tayaw was relieved as the pain is not as bad as the first time this happened to him. He also noticed that the roulette only gave him 4 random pieces compared to the 8 he was given last time. What makes him more curious is the Random Skill Set, which he figured, basing on the self-evident, common sense definition of the words, are interconnected abilities borne out of practice. After the headache passed, he felt dizzy by the information engraved in his brain from what looks like movie scenes. "An African American man shouting 'Get out!'. A group of three friends looking for some witch. Images from a boxer's training montage. A man dropping a snow ball while whispering 'rosebud'." The scenes arranged themselves in his brain as they formed into their own respective stories.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself inside his apartment once again. He was excited from what he just got and concentrated to recall the details of the information he received. From what he can figure out, he won four movies from the roulette. One amazing bonus he figured was that he can watch those movies inside his head. He then looked up the internet, searched on YouTube for the scenes, and Googled the lines from the movies to see if the movies he received already exist in his world. To his relief, these movies are not made in his world.

He also realized what skill set he got from the roulette is. While watching movie scenes in YouTube, he felt uncomfortable seeing the boring camera angles, the bad dialogues, subpar acting, and more. Tayaw saw many movies in his past life and while he enjoyed them, he knew he did not have a critical eye for movies. Now however, after his trip in the white void, he came out innately knowing what's good and bad in the movies and how he can make them better. Noticing these, things he found out that he must have received the skill set of a filmmaker from another world.

With his newfound skills in filmmaking, he realized how advanced the movies the roulette gave him compared to the films in his own world. The films in his world are dominated by the sports genre. With the genre, the style the filmmakers are using are intended to reproduce sports scenes as close to reality as possible that when one watches it, it looks like they're watching just a normal sports broadcast. Tayaw knows that logically, it makes sense why they decide to reproduce real sporting events, but comparing to Jake Lamotta Story, one of the movies he got from the roulette, he realized that the camera angles in his world's sports movies that capture the characters' emotions are almost non-existent and heavily relies on dialogues. Lines like "YOU'VE MADE ME ANGRY!" or "I'm upset at what you've done." made Tayaw uncomfortable. "Show, don't tell." is what Tayaw's new film making instincts is telling him.

Some of the scenes, he noted, are also excessively long that it didn't make sense putting them in as they do not serve any purpose to the plot of the movie. Tayaw also figured that if a movie scene is not a sports scene; his world's filmmakers shoot in wide angles as if to reproduce a stage play, only difference in the movies is the cuts to change of scenes.

The choreography of the sports scenes in his world's films is too close to reality to be compelling. He realized that instead of watching those movie scenes, it's better to watch real life sports broadcasts instead. He also now noticed that dialogues in his world's movies are either too forced or too close to reality. From what he feels with his skill set, real life dialogues are boring so putting them in movies makes the movies boring; they should not be realistic. A movie dialogue should give an illusion of reality while maintaining the embellishment to keep the audience interested.

"Jesus Christ, the movies in my world are embarrassing." Tayaw sighed to himself as he put the thoughts about movies aside. He has homework to finish.

Two days later, December finally arrived. Tayaw, while walking home from the campus, felt that the spirit of Christmas is becoming more apparent when he noticed the decorations that appeared overnight adorning the exterior and interiors of many businesses. Some are even playing Christmas carols in their speakers as if to say "Hey! We have Christmas stuff inside! Come in!"

The Christmas spirit is also calling him from his ATM card. Today, just like the first days of the previous months, Tayaw will receive his monthly share from the book sales. During lunch, he checked his current View Points that is currently at 116,000. Adding the 1,000,000 View Points he had before the roulette, he figured that there are now around 1,116,000 people who read his book. Deducting the 360,000 plus View Points he had in November 1, there is an addition of 756,000 new people who read his book in the month of November alone. Tayaw is feeling proud. This means that out of the 120 million Teungebians, more than a million of them already read his book.

He checked his bank account in the nearby ATM card and was pleased with what he saw. He earned a total of 270,000 BGC this month from the combined sales of 100,000 plus books from both the Children and A.d.u.l.t versions. Adding it to his prior savings, he now has 450,000 BGC in his bank account. He also plans to open another bank account to place 150,000 BGC in for both his brothers' future college expenses. So deducting that and the full 7,000 tuition payment he is planning to make this December, he will still have 290,000 BGC he can spend as he wished. This calculation, however, is something that will not be as he failed to consider one important thing.

Reaching home, he picked up his truck and drove to ROH Factory. However, his purpose this time is not to look for spots for gigs. "Good afternoon, boss." Tayaw greeted Rudy who was smoking outside at the alley behind the bar. "Hey kid. You weren't here yesterday. I've only got a few spots left." Rudy told Tayaw, confused at why he is only coming to him now. "Well, about that boss. I'm thinking of taking a break from gigs for now. I'm swamped with school projects and home works." Tayaw lied. He did indeed need a break, but not because he's busy with school. He is to think about his plans for the future. So many things have changed for him that he has a lot of thinking to do. "I see. Well, I understand. Just make sure not you still practice, alright?" Rudy said. Despite being a little disappointed, he also understands that Tayaw is still a student and he will not make time to practice every week. "Of course, boss. My practice with a stomp box is also going smoothly, so expect me to use it when I come back." Tayaw promised the Rudy. After a few more minutes of chatting, Tayaw finally excused himself.

While Tayaw was driving back to his apartment, his phone suddenly rang. He did not answer immediately but kept driving until he saw a restaurant, and his phone stopped ringing as well. He parked his pick-up and got out of the vehicle while checking his phone. The one who called him just now was Chala.

Chala, since the middle of October, went to San Prudencia City to handle the new book one of his clients is planning to release. It's also been more than a month since Chala called Tayaw so he's confused at Chala's sudden call. After walking in the restaurant and ordered his dinner from the waiter, he dialed Chala's number to return the call.

After a few rings, Chala picked up. "Hey Mr. Rotala, how's San Prudencia's beaches?" Tayaw spoke first. "Oh. It's great! I've tanned from hanging around the beach too much. By the way, I have news from Topaz." Chala replied with excitement in his voice. "What's up? It's been two months since I've last heard from them." Tayaw also asked curiously. "Well, there's a reason for that! They've actually been busy with your book. They called me earlier this afternoon and informed me that they just started selling your books to international retailers! I was also told that they estimate that your books will hit international bookstores by December 15. That's the news." Chala said. "Really? That's great news! Are they planning on changing something in the contract?" Tayaw asked, quite paranoid about Topaz's move. "Oh, actually no. Unless of course you want to look for an international publishing firm to have them print out instead. That's breach of contract though." Chala assured Tayaw. "That's good then. They'll take care of the rest then?" Tayaw asked in relief. "Yes. Because of the transportation costs and other expenses, the prices of your books will rise in other countries' bookstores. From what they told me, Topaz will just sell your books at the same prices like they've been doing; it's the international companies who will handle the transportation and logistics. You won't get extra, but the market for your book just multiplied." Chala explained. "Are they also releasing the books in non-English speaking countries?" Tayaw asked a question as he know that the currently released books are all in English. "Yes, but not at the moment. If I remember correctly, they are currently having your book translated to Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Russian." Chala said. "Alright. Thanks for the news. By the way, bring me something good when you get back." Tayaw said. "I will. By the way, what do you want to get?" Chala asked for Tayaw's preferred gift. "Hmmm. I heard they have awesome dried seafood there, bring me some dried squid or octopus and other dried fish. I'll pay you." Tayaw requested. "No need to pay me. You're my prime client now. I think you'll make me rich in the next few months so this one's on me." Chala said. "If you say so." Tayaw just accepted it. Tayaw and Chala spent a few more minutes on the phone, catching up with each other.