That's Captain to you

Today I was Captain Morgan if you will. Here's the story. For Valentine's Day, I was asked to be the MC, or Captain Stubing of the Love Boat. So this is what I wore. Yes it is handmade. I found the shirt at goodwill and then the rest was constructed by my lovely mother who found the buttons and the patches, etc. I think it turned out pretty good. I was going to wear it the week after the dinner, but it was way to cold out and the shirt requires so undershirt. Imagine that! Anyway, that's the story. I don't have much to report on other than I, like always, have a million and a half things going on all at the same time.

Here's something significant that happened recently:


Winter Camp: Hume Lake: Decisions '09. Pretty awesome, I'm definitely not going to lie about that. We get up there way before anybody else. It's almost deserted, nobody anywhere. Strange? I think we were just early. The guys immediately went up to the cabin and began construction on the probably the highlight of a lot of peoples trip. We had stairs outside our cabin, but with snow and ice packed on, and a boogie board provided by Mr. Joel Waddell, it makes for a pretty sweet ride. This turned into quite the project and we continued to get more and more extreme, getting steeper and steeper and faster and faster. I'd have to say my favorite ride down the course was a conjoined effort by me and Mr. Travis Edwards as we launched off the burn we worked hard to make. Wasted effort, but for a good time.

We also proceeded to the cabin above us on bad terms without doing anything whatsoever. They started throwing snowballs at us and didn't stop for quite some time. I'm going to go into much detail, but overall, it almost ended with a fight and some name calling. They also turned into a running joke. Oh, teenagers.

I made an observance while up at Hume. Going into it, I figured it would be much more laid back than summer camp, as summer camp is absolutely insane. I figured snow would put a damper on the energy of the campers. Oh, teenagers, you surprise me once again. First night at chapel, one church decided to dress up, I'd say, kinda crazily. For instance, one dude dressed as a banana-munching gorilla who proceeded to induce Simón to a bloodcurdling scream. It was quite entertaining. What I figured out though is that winter camp is most people's summer camp. A whole lot of campers there last weekend do not go to summer camp; boy are they missing out. It makes sense though, and it explains their craziness.

Broom hockey was pretty sweet. I was on a team named "Chapped," named after our youthful youth group. It consisted of me (Morgan Lott), Kyle Dietz (traded for), Mike Spafford (traded for), TJ Tolliver, Scott Weir, Travis Edwards, and Matt Fennell. We won one round and it pumped us up, but then we proceeded to get slaughtered by a team who knew exactly what they were doing. The ladies on the other hand owned. They proceeded to win the championship and get their names engraved on the Kearth Cup! Absolutely insane. At the championship game, Sean Cook and I (Morgan Lott) mustered up a sick beat on the boards. It was magical.

Shicuartro. I don't really know the story cause I was asleep when the name was created. But this winter camp has become the Shicuatro year, just like summer camp became known as the Schindler's List year. Ask one of the guys who went to explain Shicuatro to you, becuase I don't know the whole story.

One night at dinner, this kid named Garrett (here's a shout out) did a little sketch called "Little Tortilla Boy" by comedian Pablo Francisco and it was wonderful. Immediately after, I gave him one of those hand-shake-hug deals and said "that was sick, man!" I felt accomplished. The last day we were at Hume, I did his announcer voice perfect. I felt accomplished then, as well.

Mike Cirricione wanted a shout out so here it is.

Lastly, I became better friends with a bunch of people. It was sweet. Mostly on the bus rides, even though it was deathly hot and nastily tiring, it was fun to roam and talk to most everybody.

I feel like I'm missing a lot, let me know if I am, and I'll added in. It's all about the memories, so if something was memorable, it should be in here.

Now for what matters:

Hume has a tendency to induce intense spirituality. You are away from the world, temptation, Internet, you name it, and you get to focus on our Creator. Josh Riebock gave the us the Word, constantly repeating a passage from 1st Kings 18:21.

"Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word."

The theme of the weekend was Decisions '09. You either are a Christian or not, nothing in between. Even though I wasn't nailed emotionally this weekend, I did learn that Christians really are looked down upon. It is very easy to say you are a Christian, it is a very versatile and vague description (i.e. on Myspace, under religion, it has all specific religions then it had "Christian/other"). Countless number of people declare themselves Christians when they do not lead lives reflecting their "beliefs." This is why hypocrisy and Christianity are so closely related this day in age. This needs to change. Josh challenged us to be one or the other, a Christian or not, but DO NOT sit in the middle. Pick and side and do not walk the fence.



I hope you enjoyed yourself. Remember, let me know what you think/if I missed anything, etc.

Also, I uploaded a new version of "The Water's Always Running" so you MUST watch it for improved viewing.

http://vimeo.com/3342174

The Water's Always Running

The Water's Always Running from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.





The Water's Always Running (2009) USA/7:38 min

Production Co: Eutychus Falls

Summary: A classic film noir. Marty Mozzarella seeks to end the feud that has haunted the dueling families for years. Once the godfather, Pete Mozzarella, dies, Marty attempts to finish the feud once and for all.

Filmmakers:

Morgan Lott - Director, Editor, Actor
Beau Akers - Producer, Screenwriter, Actor

Cast:

Morgan Lott - Marty Mozzarella
Beau Akers - Eddy Spaghetti
Tomas Capaldi - Myrel Mozzarella
Teppei Kasai - Pete Mozzarella
Jenn Larcomb - Maggie Mozzarella
Amy Howard - Maude Mozzarella
Benjamin "Boogs" Davis - Manford Mozzarella
Patrick Greene - Stet Spaghetti
Jeremy McKnight - Stan Spaghetti
Scott Weir - Chaplain


Today was the premiere of "The Water's Always Running," a film noir style project. I teamed up with Beau Akers, you'll probably recognize him. I'd say this film turned out really really good. There are a few shots that blow me away, but at the same time there are a few that really are not good. That's a given though. So please watch it, critique it, smash it, enjoy it, and drink up its fluids, because the water is always running. Let me know what you think.

50s

This is my fifty first post. Crazy. I am writing a day late. Sorry. I have been so insanely busy and I continue to be so insanely busy, I am probably going insane. I'm working on my new film "The Water's Always Running" and it's going to be sweet. Don't worry, you'll see it. I can't talk long, so this is going to be my fairwell. I hope you have a wonderful day/night.

I'm so insanely stoked to go to Hume tomorrow, even though it's not going to help my loss of sleep. I need sleep so bad, but I don't have time for it. What is happening to me.

It's a long picture for a long post

Man alivin'. I have never done this and I hope I never will again. This blog is really becoming an interesting part of my life. I made it for the sole reason of documenting my Wednesday outfit tradition. I had no idea how many people would read this thing about me and think it was cool. Boy was I wrong. I have met numerous people who declare "hey! You're the guy with the blog!" Weird? I have numerous "subscribers" who read week to week, waiting in anticipation for what I'm going to do next. I have a story. I don't know how many of you loyal readers have been reading since November, but in my post, Turkey-A Bowling Sense, I displayed a picture of my cousin Ryan who was at my house. I told him, completely kidding, that my blog was famous and that he would be an instant celebrity. Little did I know what when we entered the Thanksgiving Eve service at church that night, within five minutes, two different people came up to him and told him they had seen him on my blog. Crazy. I don't understand it. I'm just some kid who goes against societies standards and dresses differently from everybody else. Not only that, but it's just one day of the week, exluding holidays and other special occasions. This strikes me funny. I guess what is weird is the concept that has been drilled into society, maybe not intentionally, that it is best to be on the bandwagon, to wear the coolest clothes, to have the coolest friends, to look and act like the "cool" people do. In most movies, the "outcasts" are clearly outcasts, dressed different, looking completely different from the others. We see trends; here's a few: Pokemon, Abercrombie, Vans, and the most recent (and most insane in my opinion) True Religion jeans. Whatever is popular, it's everywhere. All I wanted to do was be a little different, add a little color to a color blind society, and here is the paradoxial aspect: according to the past and true societal trends, I should have become the outcast. I am different, not partaking the the crowds ways, but I can say that I probably became considerably more popular than I ever have been before. I'm not sure why. Maybe people were just shocked that someone would have the guts to be different. Maybe it's the way I react when I get made fun of (I do by the way, random people I walk by say some pretty interesting stuff, most of it very elementary), I just play along and say something like "yeah that's right and I'm proud of it!" I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, people like it. I've heard stories of people that are just infatuated with me. This was not the case before this Wednesday thing. Just paradoxical. I think I'll write a book on trends when I'm old. I feel like I have more to say; if I do, I will post more later. Here's something unique: people tell me I write almost exactly how I speak. They are pretty much right, I am speaking. These are my words on a computer screen. I don't edit. You can't take back what you said after you've said it, right? So if I rant, ramble, just take up space, I'm probably not going to delete it. So sorry, humble reader, you must bear with me. But it is you who decided to read this in the first place right? I hope you understand.

That was quite the rant. The picture at the very beginning of this post was of Senior Hug Day on Friday. My shirt declares to the world that "I am too old for this-- Hug me while you can." Intereting day this was. First of all the weather. I got up ready for cold, wearing a big ol' jacket, but when I got to school I was pleasently surprised with sunny, semi-warm weather, so I left my big ol' jacket in my car. Bad bad idea. After, I'd say probably second period, it was crazy cold, and I was stuck with a Hanes undershirt with green writing on it; and it was raining. Boy oh boy. Second of all, I was sick. You kiddin' me? The night before, or the morning of, I was reintalling the OS on my computer because I deleted something on accident that sent the machine into self destruct. This did not help my sickness. I had to fix it that night because I had a million + one things to do and had no time whatsoever to spend time fixing the computer, so I had to spend time I would normally be sleeping doing it. Hooray. Third of all, I was wearing green. It was the day before valentine's day, and I was wearing green scrubs. I had a reason, but if you notice, I am writing on sunday and I have forgotten why I was wearing green, but I can assure you, there was a reason. So about the hugging. I didn't really initiate much hugging because I was sick and didn't want to get other's sick. Towards the end of the day I hugged a little more, but either way, I didn't really initate it. However, everybody who came at me with open arms, I embraced. It was nice--and warm.

Valentines Day I went to D-land with my family. No, I didn't have a date. But I did take a picture with this Indian that I have a distinct memory of punching him in the nose when I was in elementary school. I'm not sure why I remember that, but that is my favorite object at Disneyland, no doubt. My favorite ride is Peter Pan, no doubt. It is simply brilliant. I have memories of that ride with my buddies Stuart and Scott Weir. I wonder if they remember what happened on that ride. Ask them.

It is time for anew. Today was our first day of filming for our new Film Noir short film, "The Water's Always Running." It's going to be epic without a doubt and I am way excited to continue this thing. We did one scene today and I am pumped for what we come up with! So I naturally dressed in my costume. That is what I was today. I'd say many people liked it, I gotta bunch of comments, including a "You make my life." I'm glad I can bring upon people happiness. I'd say the most loved object of my wearing were the shades. I got these shades on the spring trip in San Fransisco at the Spy Shop. These are not just ordinary shades though peeps. They got mirrors on the sides so you can see behind you. I'd say it was a hit. People enjoyed trying them on and deciding if it would be worth it to splurge and get a pair which is virtually impossible. I'm not kiddin' you.

"That's one Eddie. That's two Eddie."

Irrelevant: Circa Survive: Feb 5th: The Troubadour

So my buddy Brent Rowley asked me months ago if I would like to go to a Circa Survive concert because he had an extra ticket. Little did I know what demand this concert would get. Weeks ago, the concert came up at school and I heard that the tickets sold out in less than a day; and I had one? I'm just lucky I guess. It was kind of a weird situation though. I've never really really like Circa. Saosin with Anthony Green was AMAZING (Seven Years-epitome of awesome), but after he went and formed Circa, I kind of lost interest. Don't get me wrong, they are amazing musicians. The instrumentation and sound of all of their songs are one of a kind. When I heard their first album, to me, the songs sounded the same. Then when their second album came out, I didn't even give it a chance.
So before the concert, I listened to Circa nonstop and realized they had some AWESOME stuff! Really really cool sounds and insane crazy.......just nuts. I don't listen to the lyrics words all that much, mainly just the music. This will be important later.
At 7:30 pm, Thursday night, Brent picks me up and we make our way to Los Angeles. Driving in pouring rain, we slipped and slided all the way. In fact, we were right behind a phat accident on the 118. One truck was wedged upon the median, his left wheel completely gone, and the median resting on his wheel well. Insane. We arrive at the Troubadour at 8 something. We missed the first band, Endless Hallways, but got there in time for Halos. Halos put on an interesting show, clearly an "opener." I liked there sound though, they had a few good moments, but overall, it was just average. After Halos, it took like half of an hour for anything to happen. Circa was supposed to play at 10, it was 10:30 and the anticipation was growing. The drummer did his sound check and it was sign of things to come, but no, just more waiting. Then all of a sudden, Mr. Anthony Green himself ran up to the mike and yelled "Hey Check check" and something else, then took off. It was so random and caught everybody off guard, it was awesome. That's when the "Circa Squeeze" started. We turned into sardines.
On with the show. I'm going to explain a lot cause honestly don't remember a whole lot. Here are a few notable instances however.

1. I borrowed my sisters camera. After the circa squeeze, I tried pulling it out but I lost the batteries on the floor. Great. But I soon replaced the batts as I had thought ahead and grabbed an extra pair. Then I snapped 400 some pics, getting less than 30 that were worth keeping. You'll see a few.
2. I was right up front. Mr. Green was literally inches from my face many a time. It was absolutely insane. Absolutely insane.
3. Circa introduced a new song, called "Frozen Creek." It was magnificently good. I don't know what effect was put on Mr. Green's voice, but it was phat reverb/echo and it sounded heavenly. It was a nice, relatively slow song and the crowd was quiet for the most part. Brilliant.
4. Mr. Green was quite impressive. He is not one of those singers who can not perform live, like most are nowadays. He nailed every note, hitting every pitch. Quite impressive.
5. Near the end of the show, Mr. Green jumped into the crowd. I'm not sure what went wrong, since there were crowd surfers the whole night, but Mr. Green fell right to the floor. I was pulled down with the people who fell first, I tried snapping some pics, but, sadly, none turned out.
6. Number six is one of the most insane things I have probably ever seen. During the encore, Mr. Green, clearly not happy after his fall in the crowd, led the group in "Semi-constructive Criticism." He was jamming though, it was obvious. Someone decided hand up a water bottle, a pretty cool thing to do. I have a picture of the bottle below this. I was like 3 people from the front so the water bottle was in front of me and I tried to pass it up. Right as the last notes were hit of the song, some idiot in the front row decided to squirt the entire water bottle all over the front of Mr. Green. Mr. Green was not happy at all and chucked his mike at the kid and walked briskly off the stage! Not the way to end a show. It was pretty awkward getting out of there, I'm not going to lie.
   

Following the show, I was looking at the merch when, what to my wandering eyes should appear, my buddy from Spanish II with Señora Bernd, Mr. Jimmy O'Neal. That was pretty surreal.

All in all, the show was awesome. We were soaked with sweat, never washing our bodies after we touched Mr. Anthony Green himself (I touched his head, microphone, arms, soaking shirt; Brent held his hand for a full minute), and on our way home. It was a good time and I am grateful.

Also, I feel bad. I never really mentioned the other musicians. They clearly make up the most part of the band. The drummer was legit. He didn't rock out like most drummers do, probably because he was doing insane stuff all over the place. His feet were just as versatile as his hands, I wish I could say that about myself. The other musicians were amazing, considering the complexity of Circa's music. It blows me away how these guys came up with this stuff.

Enjoy pictures.

Sight

ATTENTION: LISTEN TO THIS WHEN YOU READ. I WAS LISTENING TO THIS WHEN I WROTE. I KNOW- UNBELIEVABLE





Today was an interesting day that most people did not pick up on: day.

TODAY WAS ALL ABOUT SIGHT

You have probably seen those images in magazines that have two side by side with, say, 10 differences between the two images. This was like that. Except the objective was to figure out was wrong with my "outfit." It's time for answers. I will go through every letter shown in the image, as, if you were paying attention, in some way is not normal.

A. Glasses. I don't wear glasses. I hate glasses. Instead, I wear contacts. I hate contacts. But I hate glasses more.

B. Undone top button of dress shirt. I think this is tacky. Unless part of the look (rich, preppy kid/reality tv), I believe the top button should always be buttoned. I've never unbuttoned the top button before, something I do not normally do.

C. Unbuttoned dress shirt sleeves. Are you kidding me? Unless they are rolled up, these bad boys should never be unbuttoned, especially leaving them flopping around like this. I actually got quite annoyed of my wind-driven shirt sleeves.

D. The most obvious marker was the tie: a replication of a chart you would see at the optometrist, or any doctor for the matter. I had a wonderful time testing people on their sight and convincing them their eyes were going bad when the letters began to blur towards the bottom. They believed me.

E. The Livestrong bracelet. I'm kind of glad nobody mentioned the bracelet, or I'd feel like I was being stalked. Anywho, I was wearing Lance Armstrong's 2nd claim to glory on my right wrist, instead of my usual left. Yeah, I went crazy on this Wednesday.

F. I was wearing all black. This is really unnessessary unless going to a funeral. I definitely do not do this often. This was one of the most pointed out "unusualities" so to speak.

G. Socks. I have a thing about socks. I do not wear them with shorts. Ever. I don't know why, I just don't do it. Maybe its the sock tan prevention. Also, Sperry Top Siders, even though many people do it, are not meant to be worn with socks. They are boat shoes. I felt wierd today, almost rebellious and disrespectful to the Sperry's. It just isn't meant to be.

H. Shoes. I wore off-white shoes with all black clothing. Girls got me on this one. It doesn't match whatsoever. I guess you could make an argument that it matches the lettering on my tie, but that is no excuse. This was kind of a lame one to end with.


So that's it. Wednesday, the 4th of February. I'm diggin' second semester so far. I finally have a free sixth which is definitely nice. I also won't get sick of drums anymore. The other week was the first time I've ever been sick of drums. I played in directors at 7 am, then 5th period jazz, the drumline for 3 hours, then jammed in church worship. By Friday, I was sick of it! It was crazy. AP Government is going to be interesting, considering it's 5th period and that when the tired bee stings me. Plus, I can't remember anything when it comes to facts. We'll see what happens.

Three events happened recently that I need to report on. First, I attended Simi's winter formal with Ms. Julie Nicolas Thursday night. I had a good time and I believe she did too, so in the end, everybody wins. It was at the Ronald Reagan Library, underneath Air Force One. It was kind of surreal, dancing under our former presidents airplane.
Friday, I attended the Annie Awards at UCLA with my buddy Mr. Kelii Miyata. It was pretty much the Oscars for everything animation. We hosted the presenters for the night and I had the pleasure of hosting Mr. James Arnold Taylor. The night was pretty cool, getting to see many famous people, seeing some of my photoshop work on the big screen, watching Kung Fu Panda sweep everything, listen to the rants of Brad Garrett about Kung Fu Panda, the list continues. One of the highlights was almost signing up for CALPIRG -- twice. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Nobody knows what I'm talking about except Kelii and any unsuspecting bystander watching the foolishness.
Sunday was Super Bowl XLIII. I said we wouldn't see a better Super Bowl in our lifetimes than Super Bowl XLII, but Super Bowl XLIII certainly could have been better than Super Bowl XLII. Amazing amazing game. Just amazing. I still can't believe how good it was. TO THE END! I was hoping the Cards would come out on top, as my shirt read (a tradition), but they sure put up a good fight. I can't believe it.