this works alright okay oh nice alright
okay so what I’d like to start by saying
is well I think it goes without saying
that everybody in their life has someone
that they can label a role model someone
that they take influence from you know
MLK Oprah Obama pretty much anybody your
parents you know I think if you turn the
question on me though I’d have quite a
bit of a different answer especially in
my childhood when I was young if you
asked me who my role model was I’d
definitely say boom spider-man
spider-man was my my guy he was my role
model for ages 5 to 8 2002 Tobey Maguire
the Sam Raimi action flick changed my
life when I saw it
there was just everything about it I saw
that movie and I wanted to be spider-man
you know we in our house we had we had
an old flip cell phone that couldn’t
make calls or text messages but it could
make little audio recordings and I would
pop spider-man 2002 into the DVD player
and hold up the cell phone and record
the the opening theme to the movie and
later on I take the cell phone into my
room and listen to that main theme on
repeat in my bed when everybody else was
asleep just because I wanted to feel
that energy that Danny Elfman you know
orchestral theme I wanted to I
envisioned myself as spider-man you know
and I think that this this was the first
of many films that introduced the
concept which has changed my life and
that is the concept of the superhero
so at as you can see my my TED talk is
about superheroes
you know everybody so far has given some
really deep and emotional talks and Here
I am talking about a bunch of men in
spandex but I think that
you’ll see that there’s a greater
message here superheroes have fueled my
artistic and creative passions I’d like
to think that today I’m a quite creative
person all my life I’ve I was the kid
who drew in middle school I’d like to
draw and make comics and I wrote and now
I’d like to make films and screenplays
and that’s all been driven that’s all
come from these these characters it’s it
led to the creation of a character who
reflects this passion called lazer boy
who is in the title of this TED talk but
he’s a character that I’d like to get on
to later I think first I’d like to talk
about the background a little bit of
context about superheroes because I mean
they’ve been around forever you know
superheroes looked like this at one
point Adam West that was the first
Batman he actually just died they’ve
been around for such a long time and and
that was the standard that’s what
superheroes looked like you know they’ve
definitely been exaggerated a lot more
today and I guess what I’m just trying
to say is that they’ve been present
forever but what what I’ve noticed and
the reason that it was called to my
attention that I wanted to create this
TED talk is how powerful they are in
today’s society if you look at these two
films which came out this this year
Black Panther I think was February and
Avengers just came out last month Black
Panther is a superhero film and it’s
already third highest domestic grossing
movie of all time
domestic being the United States that’s
insane numbers I think the only two that
are ahead of it are Titanic and Avatar
which are just colossal movies so it
really changed the course of cinema
already and it’s been out for a couple
months you know and with black panther
you could make the case that yes it is a
cultural phenomenon it’s the first
significant black superhero there’s an
all-star black
back-cast and it really kind of changed
the roles of black people in cinema and
it really kind of empowered them but if
you look at the movie to the right I
mean that’s as nerdy as it gets
that’s as superhero II as a movie gets
there’s got to be like 20 you know
characters laden in metal and colorful
spandexy outfits and that movie is on
track to become number one highest
domestic grossing movie of all time so
that was just this year these two movies
and that kind of called to my attention
I think there’s a greater message here
why are these movies doing so well I
know why I like them I’m a nerd I’ve
always liked them I like them ever since
spider-man but why are they gaining such
a high audience why are they so
lucrative and so why are people dressing
up like this why are people you know
adult men and women dressing up like
their favorite characters and giving up
all dignity to go out in public and and
and look like this so it kind of led me
to a bit of an investigation and the
first reason I think these movies are so
attractive is a pretty basic reason that
they’re fun they’re very fun not only
are they fun they’re repetitive
they’ve got essentially the same
storyline over and over again but you
want to come every time you want to go
to the theater you know an unnecessarily
attractive male or female gain some sort
of weird superpower and or already has
the power you know an equally
super-powered adversary appears they
punch each other around for two and a
half hours and then you get in the car
and drive home and talk about the sequel
that’s going to come out in a year or so
and the cycle continues that’s me I’m a
consumer I love these movies so that’s
pretty much the first reason and the
second reason is that they’re an escape
you know just like any movie is
superhero movies take you somewhere else
they take you to a more desirable world
I think especially with today’s
political climate and everything that’s
going on with the
terrorism and North Korea and things
that you really just don’t want to hear
about sometimes you know you see these
banners on the news and you know every
morning I look at the news I’m eating
cereal in the morning getting ready to
go to school and there’s just one thing
after the next and it’s tiresome and
sometimes you just want to get away I
think an example of a movie where this
fails is these these recent movies there
was a movie Batman vs. Superman which
came out a couple years ago and it taped
it
critics destroyed it and I think one of
the main reasons for that is because it
placed these characters Batman and
Superman these like loved characters in
a world where it’s kind of dark and
cruel and it’s too grounded in reality
and I think that’s one of the reasons
why that did poorly so the fact that
these movies can can transport us
somewhere else when we walk into that
theater or pop that spider-man 2002 into
the DVD player they take us somewhere
else and then the third reason I think
these movies are important is it
transcends the pretty obvious reasons
that people know you know you notice
every time you go to a movie like this
if you watch these movies at all if
you’ve ever seen a movie like this with
some sort of hero what you notice is
they’ll make this these characters will
make a lot of sacrifices for other
people and you’ll see this and and it
gives you kind of a striking feeling why
you know that Captain America just I
don’t know saved those people from that
burning building why did he do that and
that kind of feeling that I get when I’m
there it’s surprising it’s a surprising
feeling and I I don’t think it should be
surprising you know go seeing people do
acts of heroism and perform acts that
are benevolent and saintly why is that
so
treasured and rare and why is that
something
we push to seeing in movies and
something that we lack in society today
superheroes they set a precedent unseen
today and that’s I think they’re a bit
of a reminder of that so in that they’re
also a solution superheroes show us that
there is no Superman in this world but
there can be people in this world there
are people that should let me rephrase
this there are people in this world that
that understand that they need to
fulfill these rules and those people are
the superheroes
there is no spider-man there is no man
who can swing from a building with
adhesive shooting from his wrists
it’s not real these movies remind us
that there needs to be someone to fill
that space to fill that gap and become
the superheroes so why me why me why am
I giving this TED talk I mean anybody
could talk about superheroes they’re
very popular in society they’re big they
make tons of money everybody sees them
but why am I talking about this well I
talked about a character earlier in this
talk called lazer boy and so who’s lazer
boy he’s that he’s in the title he’s
he’s important who is he well this this
is lazer boy this is a picture of the
cover for lazer boy and the giant robot
published in about at about 2006 I was
probably 5 years old when this became a
New York Times bestseller this movie at
this book I should say was the first of
many it was an amalgamation of tons of
characters it was it was my spider-man
but it was also if you guys ever
remembered there’s Captain Underpants
books
that I used to read them a ton when I
was a kid so it was kind of a
combination of these characters who were
very heroic but you know I had added my
own artistic flair there’s there’s a
pirate eye I don’t know there’s a
talking spider on the bottom there
there’s a lot going on there’s a lot of
creative motives crashing around there
but Laser boy evolved Laser boy was
carried through most of my childhood
this is Laser boy and the terrifying
torture of the talking pterodactyls
because alliteration makes for a cool
title you know Laser boy was was present
in a lot of my life he was my spider-man
he was my superhero continued through
all the way till I think I stopped when
I was about 10
but Laser boy was always there always
something I could come back to it wasn’t
something that I just created and
dropped it was something that carried
through and I think there’s something
quite special there and laser boy gave
me a superpower and it’s it’s cheesy but
it it really did it’s changed my life
the the inspiration that these movies
provided me with led to something a lot
greater something that I never would
have accomplished today I think they
gave me a superpower
I’ve been shy I said not as much today
but I’ve been shy most of my life I was
always the one that was kind of
clenching the pant leg of the parent
while she was talking to the adults I
didn’t really engage I wasn’t very
expressive but I think that the creation
of this character Laser boy it reflects
my passions being brought out and
expressed I never would be up here today
if there were if there wasn’t that
motivation to be a superhero
and to show people what I’ve got and I’m
gonna show you a picture after this
slide this is two people who have just
recently become very important to me one
of them has always been very important
to me there on the Left that’s Romano
Berger Bello he’s 85 years old and he
just recently suffered from sudden
cardiac arrest
he’s currently battling he’s a trooper
he’s he’s he’s battling he’s also my
grandfather the man on his right there
that’s Alex that’s the man who came
rushing to his aid on the sidelines of a
soccer field and performed CPR on him
for ten minutes until he survived and
lived came back to life those are two
superheroes I mean that’s as superhero
as it gets you know I think these movies
not only have inspired me to find my own
superpower but have given me the ability
to identify who the real superheroes are
you know because they’re out there and
you can be one of them too
I don’t want to end this TED talk on a
really dramatic and tear jerking note
because these are superheroes and
there’s nothing sad about that because
they’re they’re fighters and they’re
people that are out there and there’s a
message that I if there’s anything that
can be taken from this TED talk is that
everybody has a superpower I think that
you just have to find it you know thank you
okay so what I’d like to start by saying
is well I think it goes without saying
that everybody in their life has someone
that they can label a role model someone
that they take influence from you know
MLK Oprah Obama pretty much anybody your
parents you know I think if you turn the
question on me though I’d have quite a
bit of a different answer especially in
my childhood when I was young if you
asked me who my role model was I’d
definitely say boom spider-man
spider-man was my my guy he was my role
model for ages 5 to 8 2002 Tobey Maguire
the Sam Raimi action flick changed my
life when I saw it
there was just everything about it I saw
that movie and I wanted to be spider-man
you know we in our house we had we had
an old flip cell phone that couldn’t
make calls or text messages but it could
make little audio recordings and I would
pop spider-man 2002 into the DVD player
and hold up the cell phone and record
the the opening theme to the movie and
later on I take the cell phone into my
room and listen to that main theme on
repeat in my bed when everybody else was
asleep just because I wanted to feel
that energy that Danny Elfman you know
orchestral theme I wanted to I
envisioned myself as spider-man you know
and I think that this this was the first
of many films that introduced the
concept which has changed my life and
that is the concept of the superhero
so at as you can see my my TED talk is
about superheroes
you know everybody so far has given some
really deep and emotional talks and Here
I am talking about a bunch of men in
spandex but I think that
you’ll see that there’s a greater
message here superheroes have fueled my
artistic and creative passions I’d like
to think that today I’m a quite creative
person all my life I’ve I was the kid
who drew in middle school I’d like to
draw and make comics and I wrote and now
I’d like to make films and screenplays
and that’s all been driven that’s all
come from these these characters it’s it
led to the creation of a character who
reflects this passion called lazer boy
who is in the title of this TED talk but
he’s a character that I’d like to get on
to later I think first I’d like to talk
about the background a little bit of
context about superheroes because I mean
they’ve been around forever you know
superheroes looked like this at one
point Adam West that was the first
Batman he actually just died they’ve
been around for such a long time and and
that was the standard that’s what
superheroes looked like you know they’ve
definitely been exaggerated a lot more
today and I guess what I’m just trying
to say is that they’ve been present
forever but what what I’ve noticed and
the reason that it was called to my
attention that I wanted to create this
TED talk is how powerful they are in
today’s society if you look at these two
films which came out this this year
Black Panther I think was February and
Avengers just came out last month Black
Panther is a superhero film and it’s
already third highest domestic grossing
movie of all time
domestic being the United States that’s
insane numbers I think the only two that
are ahead of it are Titanic and Avatar
which are just colossal movies so it
really changed the course of cinema
already and it’s been out for a couple
months you know and with black panther
you could make the case that yes it is a
cultural phenomenon it’s the first
significant black superhero there’s an
all-star black
back-cast and it really kind of changed
the roles of black people in cinema and
it really kind of empowered them but if
you look at the movie to the right I
mean that’s as nerdy as it gets
that’s as superhero II as a movie gets
there’s got to be like 20 you know
characters laden in metal and colorful
spandexy outfits and that movie is on
track to become number one highest
domestic grossing movie of all time so
that was just this year these two movies
and that kind of called to my attention
I think there’s a greater message here
why are these movies doing so well I
know why I like them I’m a nerd I’ve
always liked them I like them ever since
spider-man but why are they gaining such
a high audience why are they so
lucrative and so why are people dressing
up like this why are people you know
adult men and women dressing up like
their favorite characters and giving up
all dignity to go out in public and and
and look like this so it kind of led me
to a bit of an investigation and the
first reason I think these movies are so
attractive is a pretty basic reason that
they’re fun they’re very fun not only
are they fun they’re repetitive
they’ve got essentially the same
storyline over and over again but you
want to come every time you want to go
to the theater you know an unnecessarily
attractive male or female gain some sort
of weird superpower and or already has
the power you know an equally
super-powered adversary appears they
punch each other around for two and a
half hours and then you get in the car
and drive home and talk about the sequel
that’s going to come out in a year or so
and the cycle continues that’s me I’m a
consumer I love these movies so that’s
pretty much the first reason and the
second reason is that they’re an escape
you know just like any movie is
superhero movies take you somewhere else
they take you to a more desirable world
I think especially with today’s
political climate and everything that’s
going on with the
terrorism and North Korea and things
that you really just don’t want to hear
about sometimes you know you see these
banners on the news and you know every
morning I look at the news I’m eating
cereal in the morning getting ready to
go to school and there’s just one thing
after the next and it’s tiresome and
sometimes you just want to get away I
think an example of a movie where this
fails is these these recent movies there
was a movie Batman vs. Superman which
came out a couple years ago and it taped
it
critics destroyed it and I think one of
the main reasons for that is because it
placed these characters Batman and
Superman these like loved characters in
a world where it’s kind of dark and
cruel and it’s too grounded in reality
and I think that’s one of the reasons
why that did poorly so the fact that
these movies can can transport us
somewhere else when we walk into that
theater or pop that spider-man 2002 into
the DVD player they take us somewhere
else and then the third reason I think
these movies are important is it
transcends the pretty obvious reasons
that people know you know you notice
every time you go to a movie like this
if you watch these movies at all if
you’ve ever seen a movie like this with
some sort of hero what you notice is
they’ll make this these characters will
make a lot of sacrifices for other
people and you’ll see this and and it
gives you kind of a striking feeling why
you know that Captain America just I
don’t know saved those people from that
burning building why did he do that and
that kind of feeling that I get when I’m
there it’s surprising it’s a surprising
feeling and I I don’t think it should be
surprising you know go seeing people do
acts of heroism and perform acts that
are benevolent and saintly why is that
so
treasured and rare and why is that
something
we push to seeing in movies and
something that we lack in society today
superheroes they set a precedent unseen
today and that’s I think they’re a bit
of a reminder of that so in that they’re
also a solution superheroes show us that
there is no Superman in this world but
there can be people in this world there
are people that should let me rephrase
this there are people in this world that
that understand that they need to
fulfill these rules and those people are
the superheroes
there is no spider-man there is no man
who can swing from a building with
adhesive shooting from his wrists
it’s not real these movies remind us
that there needs to be someone to fill
that space to fill that gap and become
the superheroes so why me why me why am
I giving this TED talk I mean anybody
could talk about superheroes they’re
very popular in society they’re big they
make tons of money everybody sees them
but why am I talking about this well I
talked about a character earlier in this
talk called lazer boy and so who’s lazer
boy he’s that he’s in the title he’s
he’s important who is he well this this
is lazer boy this is a picture of the
cover for lazer boy and the giant robot
published in about at about 2006 I was
probably 5 years old when this became a
New York Times bestseller this movie at
this book I should say was the first of
many it was an amalgamation of tons of
characters it was it was my spider-man
but it was also if you guys ever
remembered there’s Captain Underpants
books
that I used to read them a ton when I
was a kid so it was kind of a
combination of these characters who were
very heroic but you know I had added my
own artistic flair there’s there’s a
pirate eye I don’t know there’s a
talking spider on the bottom there
there’s a lot going on there’s a lot of
creative motives crashing around there
but Laser boy evolved Laser boy was
carried through most of my childhood
this is Laser boy and the terrifying
torture of the talking pterodactyls
because alliteration makes for a cool
title you know Laser boy was was present
in a lot of my life he was my spider-man
he was my superhero continued through
all the way till I think I stopped when
I was about 10
but Laser boy was always there always
something I could come back to it wasn’t
something that I just created and
dropped it was something that carried
through and I think there’s something
quite special there and laser boy gave
me a superpower and it’s it’s cheesy but
it it really did it’s changed my life
the the inspiration that these movies
provided me with led to something a lot
greater something that I never would
have accomplished today I think they
gave me a superpower
I’ve been shy I said not as much today
but I’ve been shy most of my life I was
always the one that was kind of
clenching the pant leg of the parent
while she was talking to the adults I
didn’t really engage I wasn’t very
expressive but I think that the creation
of this character Laser boy it reflects
my passions being brought out and
expressed I never would be up here today
if there were if there wasn’t that
motivation to be a superhero
and to show people what I’ve got and I’m
gonna show you a picture after this
slide this is two people who have just
recently become very important to me one
of them has always been very important
to me there on the Left that’s Romano
Berger Bello he’s 85 years old and he
just recently suffered from sudden
cardiac arrest
he’s currently battling he’s a trooper
he’s he’s he’s battling he’s also my
grandfather the man on his right there
that’s Alex that’s the man who came
rushing to his aid on the sidelines of a
soccer field and performed CPR on him
for ten minutes until he survived and
lived came back to life those are two
superheroes I mean that’s as superhero
as it gets you know I think these movies
not only have inspired me to find my own
superpower but have given me the ability
to identify who the real superheroes are
you know because they’re out there and
you can be one of them too
I don’t want to end this TED talk on a
really dramatic and tear jerking note
because these are superheroes and
there’s nothing sad about that because
they’re they’re fighters and they’re
people that are out there and there’s a
message that I if there’s anything that
can be taken from this TED talk is that
everybody has a superpower I think that
you just have to find it you know thank you
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