Elliot: All of the Fake Stuff

For my final 4th year film project I created a mockumentary short titled, Elliot.  It was about a struggling author named Warren Elliot trying to make it into a prestigous writing guild after numerous rejections.

One of the really enjoyable parts of the process was getting to create a series of campy documentation to make Elliot's journey even more colorful.  From newspaper articles to book covers to notes and magazine excerpts, everything was made to be fairly tongue and cheek.  The blatently photoshopped childhood photographs emphasize this even further. To read more on my Elliot film school project and to view it CLICK HERE.

Wireless Weekend

It all started with a Netflix account.

Early last week I took the plunge and signed up for Netflix to check out some of the documentaries they had available.  As a guy who hasn't bothered to get cable, Netflix seemed like an affordable and diverse enough option that would actually save me money by curbing my DVD purchases when I'm looking for something new to watch.  So far so good.

On Friday I decided that it was time to go pick up a wireless router as it had become cumbersome trying to curl up in front of the computer to watch videos.  This was a relatively inexpensive upgrade that started the snowball rolling.  

With the wireless installed I quickly added Netflix to my Wii to sit back and enjoy.  *Sigh.  I'm not the kind of guy who needs to see everything in Blu ray quality and I'm not quick to adapt to trends that don't suit my needs (it took this long to get wireless after all) however, the quality of Netflix on the Wii sucks.  It's essentially like taking a YouTube video and blowing it up to your full screen.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Wii for gaming and wasting an hour with friends, but it was certainly no consolation for taking the cable-less route.

Saturday came along and I knew what I had to do.  I was off to the store and picked up a fancy new Blu ray player with built-in wifi and a 320GB PS3, because well . . . sometimes it just feels good to reward yourself - and after wrapping a 6 month stretch of balancing numerous edits between two jobs and putting a good chunk of change into a retirement fund, I felt I had lots of justification to buy a few toys.

Netflix has since been hooked up through the PS3, which is sharp and with it's 1080p looks noticeably better than what the Wii is capable of.  The Blu ray is also nice for checking out YouTube now, however, I have my fingers crossed that they'll be releasing the app for Netflix through Samsung in Canada soon enough that I can have it playing through my existing surround sound setup.

For now both toys will undoubtedly continue to get a lot of use, and my Netflix subscription has already paid for itself with amount I've watched. In short, the wireless weekend was a blast!

Inspired Singles: Your Mother Should Know

Issue 17: Your Mother Should Know by The Beatles

While it's tough for me to talk about any Beatles tune like it's a hidden gem, Your Mother Should Know is perhaps one of their lesser known successes that I always get a kick out of.  I love the weight and jaunty tone of this track in particular.  It remains upbeat but restrained from the rambunctious style that highlights so many other Beatles hits.

The Magical Mystery Tour is one of my favorite albums of all time!  But look at the tracks listed on the cover art - they could all be considered inspired singles for numerous reasons.