Autism in Love Special Fundraiser Event! June 13th Mark Your Calendars!

The team behind Autism in Love is not giving up. Despite the Kickstarter goal not being realized, the film team is working on finding other avenues to bring in the $100,000 needed to complete the film. One such idea is a one day only fundraiser event in Santa Monica at Bully Pictures. I don't know too many details yet, but I have a feeling they have something very special planned for the attendees. If you live near the area, be sure to check out this very special and memorable event.

Autism, Box Office, & Numbers

Many people on the autism spectrum seem to really like numbers. This can manifest in knowing the answer to math problems the moment someone calls them out, doing math problems based off the numbers on a license plate, or a myriad of other things. Now, don’t get me wrong, not every autistic or Aspie individual has a thing for numbers, but it does seem to be rather common.

Myself, I am pretty big on numbers. I find myself thinking about numbers a lot. And, I have no control over that. It is not that I love numbers, but for me, they are just a way of life. At a young age, counting came easy to me. I actually could not read until sometime in the third grade. I have a very mathematical mind which is backed-up by personality tests. Ironically, I never got far with math. I learned some Trig and never moved past that, but that is beside the point.

One of my favorite pastimes is studying box office numbers. I have a strong knowledge of the grosses for most films released within the last 10 years. I remember off the top of my head that 300 opened to $70 million and went on to gross $210 million domestically. This was quite impressive for a March opener until three years later when Alice in Wonderland opened to $116 million and made over $330 million and over $1 billion worldwide. That was quite shocking.

Trivial movie numbers aside, I bring this up because it is now the summer season and the box office is starting to get exciting, although not as exciting as last year when the Avengers opened to an unfathomable $207 million opening weekend or seeing a James Bond movie make more than $1.1 billion worldwide. But, so far, we have seen Iron Man 3 make $174 million on opening weekend and worldwide it will gross more than Iron Man 1&2 combined which is beyond amazing. We have also seen Star Trek Into Darkness disappoint with a $84 million four-day start. A lot of people including Paramount Pictures had much higher expectations. But, that happens sometimes with box office. Some movies over perform and some underperform.

This upcoming weekend we have The Hangover Part III, Fast & Furious 6, and the animated film Epic all opening on the same weekend. It seems like it is going to be an epic weekend, pun intended. But, seriously, this Memorial Day weekend stands a strong chance at being the highest grossing weekend on record beating Christmas weekend of 2009 where Avatar was in its second week and Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks did surprisingly well and broke out. However, 2009 and Avatar’s gross is surreal, so we just won’t go there.

With that said, why am I bringing this up? The reason being is that I know many people on the autism spectrum are fascinated by numbers. I suspect there might even be a closet minority (such as myself) who love studying the box office and seeing the numbers come in. This is a weird hobby to have when you think about it. But, then again, a lot of neurotypical people seem to remember sports statistics reasonably well. So, for me, box office, is my version of sports. I root for certain films to break out and hope for the best and cringe when I see films fail or go WTF when a movie like Battleship comes out. And, then, I am not surprised when it fails at the box office. And, speaking of Battleship, what were they thinking giving that a $200 million budget. Some movie executives are just insane and like to waste money, I guess.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this weekend and seeing what this week’s openers make. By any chance, do any of you readers follow box office? Would you like me to write more about it and my thoughts on movies and their budgets and what they end up making? Let me know? Thanks!

And, may everyone have a most awesome day of awesomeness!

Arman Khodaei Facebook Fan Page

Some of you may know this already, but I have an official fan page on Facebook. Please like the page and share with others. It would be very much appreciated. :) Thanks!

Jacob Barnett, Autistic Teen Tipped for Nobel Prize! Wow!

Sorry for being gone for a few days guys. I have a problem called getting sidetracked. I am trying to overcome that. With that said, here is a new blog/video entry. Today, I made a video talking about Jacob Barnett who is an amazing prodigy on the autism spectrum and is up for a Nobel Prize. He is only 14 and already working towards his Ph.D. I find it amazing and fascinating how some individuals on the autism spectrum have such amazing genius, savant talents. How does this happen? I have no idea. But, it is quite amazing to think about. Some people have even theorized that autism is the next step for the evolution of humanity. I am not sure what I think about that.

Nerds, Geeks, & Asperger's Syndrome

A common thing I have heard from various people is that a lot of people on the autism spectrum (especially Aspies) are either geeks or nerds and that is a good thing. I have also been told on numerous occasions that a lot of people are undiagnosed in engineering professions or professions related to working on computers. My own observation has been that this is true. It also seems true that there are a lot of geeks and nerds who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum who have gone undiagnosed for one reason or another. Me personally, I identify myself as a nerd/borderline geek. Nerd sounds cooler, so that is why I go with that term.

The reason a lot of people in the engineering or computer professions tend to go undiagnosed is because they are able to financially take care of themselves and even form some bonds with their co-workers or friends from school who share similar passions. A while back I made a YouTube video about The Big Bang Theory and how I felt many of the characters, especially Sheldon feel somewhere on the autism spectrum. It is my theory that the people involved on the show are well aware that these characters have Asperger’s Syndrome, but just like in real life, they go undiagnosed due to their ability to find intellectual and financial success. Social success, however, is another story altogether.

However, I want to add that there are other nerds and geeks that are on the autism spectrum that have gone undiagnosed. What I mean by this is that there are people who aren’t as financially successful like the characters on The Big Bang Theory. Where do you meet such interesting people? A common meeting ground would be major conventions like Comic Con and Anime Expo or BotCon or pretty much anything related to nerd/geek culture. Me, I am very much guilty of going to such conventions, and I have even started Cosplaying which is where you dress up as characters from TV shows, comic books, anime series, video games, etc.

Now, I also want to say that there are a lot of people not on the autism spectrum who are into what is considered this nerd culture. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that things like comic books and Star Trek have finally become the trendy popular things with society as a whole. Nowadays, it seems to be cool if you are into these sort of things whereas back in the 80’s and most of the 90’s, you would be shunned by society for liking these things. I guess the moral of the story is that society was behind times and for once, those of us on the autism spectrum were ahead of times. Actually, I would argue that a lot of us with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome are very much in-tune with what is going to be the next big thing before the rest of society. For instance, I used to be big on technology, and I think there are a few Aspies who know what the next big technological breakthrough is going to be before the general audience.

So, what is that I am trying to get at? I guess I am saying that it is cool to be a nerd or a geek or both. Today, society seems to be more open and liking Iron Man and Captain Kirk can actually be seen as something cool and not something that only dorks like. I think this is a good thing. I am rather happy to see a lot of other people take passion in my likes. And, I think the direction society is going in is a good thing.

With that said, I welcome your comments and/or questions. What are your thoughts? Am I right? Did I get some things wrong? I look forward to hearing from you, and with that said, I would like to wish everyone a most awesome day of awesomeness!

Just as a quick nerd/geek culture bonus, here is a video I did a few years ago about Star Wars vs. Star Trek!