Evolution of Editing Luke (2009-2011)

This blog has been designed, re-designed, tweaked, overhauled, and upgraded many times in its almost four year history.  This will likely never change.  I first documented some of the original banners from 2007-2009 in an earlier post, and the reason why I put so much energy into how Editing Luke looks hasn't changed since then.

Keeping an online journal is, for me, about growth, creativity, and change.  I've always felt inspired to rethink my presentation and to keep myself interested in it by not letting my site ever look too familiar.  Most banners only ever last a few months before they're changed or updated.  Sometimes the changes are minimal, sometimes they're more dramatic, but in general I think my banners have become a trademark of my blog and capture a slice of my visual style.

Starting this year I began rethinking my Editing Luke logo, and have since incorporated it into the background graffiti of my latest blog header.  I've also been using the current image of myself since 2010 and I think I'll probably update that at some point this year.  That could radically change the entire layout of the banner, but then again I can't predict where the design will go.  

I'm always trying to refine an earlier idea with a new bit of inspiration it would seem.  As everything is on this site - it's a work in progress.    

From September 2009.

Overnight: Documentary #5

Thrillingly entertaining, bold, harsh, and a remarkable character study, Overnight is a documentary about ego and success in Hollywood.  The film chronicles the overnight success of Troy Duffy, a young musician and screenwriter at the time, who destroyed a golden deal with Miramax resulting from his own arrogance, attitude, and self-destructive behaviour.

As the tagline of the film reads 'there's more than one way to shoot yourself'.

I've seen numerous documentaries about Hollywood and celebrities, but I've never seen one that captured the rise and fall of an individual so intimately.  We're treated to home video after home video of Duffy celebrating with his friends, taking conference calls, having heated debates about his script, reacting to feedback, and so on.  As an outsider your perspective shifts from viewing a talented guy who just happens to be cocky about his success, to viewing a talented guy who really has no clue about how out of touch he is with those around him.

Duffy's persona is that of a spoiled film student who got an easy A, and that's because the deal he was offered was a dream come true.  Miramax bought his script for The Boondock Saints for $300,000, gave him the opportunity to direct the picture with a $15 million dollar budget, allowed his band to release the soundtrack for the film, and Harvey Weinstein even said he'd buy the bar that Duffy worked at.  Troy Duffy essentially won the filmmaker lottery. 

It's the classic tale of money changing the man (or at least revealling more of who he really is) but Duffy does start off with profound ambitions to simply make great movies.  He's passionate, talented, driven, and he wants to take his friends along for the ride.  He's entitled to some celebratory gloating, and really, who wouldn't be pumped? 

It's when the euphoria starts to fade that he doesn't seem to realize how alienating his arrogance becomes.  Here's a guy who bought entirely into the hype of himself and figured it was enough to build a career on.  He starts burning his bridges, but still talks as though he has everyone by the balls. If you watch his friends throughout the film you can just read the levels of disbelief on their faces.

The politics and maze of Hollywood production is fascinating to me, and it's incredible to see such extreme sides of the spectrum.  Duffy deserves what he has coming to him and there's an element of joy in seeing him get his comeuppance - although he has no shortage of people to blame when things start to go sour.  

Overnight combines the candid and blunt conversations that put you right at the source of the chaos, while also having broad enough coverage of the experience to contextualize the arch of the story.  There's no doubt about Troy Duffy when the camera's pointed in his direction, and although the realities that come to light about his personality are unfortunate, they're also responsible for turning a deal gone wrong into a classic slice of documentary filmmaking.

This doc was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. 9/10
 

Inside the North Shore Yacht Club

After an extensive renovation of the long abandoned North Shore Yacht Club at the Salton Sea, it was cool to revisit the location in 2010 to see what the restored building looked like. You can read about our previous visit to the location when it was still abandoned here - also check out the vintage promotional video for the original Yacht Club building below.
 

The Yacht Club is now part community centre, museum, and gift shop. There are plans however to bring the marina back in the coming years to try and inspire some of the interest that surrounded the area back in the sixties. The future of the area is still uncertain, but this is a strong step forward.

Dave and I were lucky enough to get a personal tour of the facility by one of the kind ladies who works there. She showed us some of her artwork that she sells in the gift shop and how she makes it. It was unexpected, but made the experience even more memorable. It's awesome feeling connected to a place with so much potential - I look forward to seeing how the Salton Sea continues to evolve. 

The view from the roof.

Our host shows us how she uses pieces from the beach and surrounding date farms to create original butterfly sculptures for the gift shop.

Albert Frey, Architect.