Hallow

Today is Wednesday, October 31. Today is also Halloween, All Hallows Eve. I'm dressed up as an Insurance Salesman. On Wednesday. Everyone dressed up for Wednesday. It's great.

Here's a short history of Halloween.

Short History of Halloween

Just about every culture sets aside a special time to remember those who have died and give reverence to departed ancestors. Halloween started out as that kind of celebration. It has mutated since it came to America. The Mexican version of Halloween is Dia De Los Muertos, Day of the Dead.

Halloween's a pretty interesting holiday. People do weird stuff. People say weird stuff. People wear weird stuff. People think weird stuff. It's also a holiday that transcends age. Last week, we made a late night run to Denny's and a group of Halloween celebrators walked in, all dressed up and "fancy." They were probably late 20s, early 30s. They could have been standing next to the elementary kids who dress up for reading time. Transcends age. People do weird stuff.


Let me tell you something. LIFEIZCRAY.

Don't have much to talk about. Because so much is happening. So many projects to juggle, so many conversations to be had, so many passions to pursue. It's all a mad conglomerate of stuffs, compiling, compounding, abstracting upon each other. It's a world of trouble, it's a world of craziness, it's a world of learning and pursuit and excellence. This is the time for it, right? College? Be pushed further than I could even imagine? And THEN some? Yup.

Here's two examples of what I've been working on. I've been digging them BUT there's bunches and bunches of work to be done.

 

Here's a poster for the All Student Art Show that has been showing on campus all this week.

AND SleepTalk100 was shown at the gallery which was an unprecedented honor. 


Have a merry Halloween everybody. Eat some candy, down some sugar, celebrate a straight up bizarre holiday.

GOTIME

RGB. My life is engulfed in creative speak. I live, dream, speak in creative terms, I have conversations all day about creative things, I work on creative projects all day every day. It's almost overwhelming. Scratch that, it IS overwhelming, it overwhelms most aspects of my life. Film, graphic design, photography, music; these four creative fields DOMINATE my days. Today I wore RGB, red green blue, the additive color mode that infatuates most mediums outside of print (all hail CMYK). The combination of the primary colors of red, green, and blue, will make up any and every color you can think of. That said, as college is slowly coming to an end, I'm realizing that the reds, the greens, and the blues of life, three categories that have NO REASON knowing each other, are coming together. Things that have been taught to me since I was a child are now becoming very important. Habits I have developed over time now matter. My interests I have developed, practiced, and perfected in these last four years of college are all of a sudden going to be what I base my livelihood after. RGB. They're coming together. Becoming 1. And I'm only 21, almost 22. I've got four words.

WHAT IN THE WORLD.

Life's crazy. These last couple weekends have been MADNESS.

CRAZINESS ENSUES



Last Saturday: Pumpkin Patch.

Ms. Alyssa Morris and Ms. Bree Kather had a brilliant idea: go to a MASSIVE pumpkin patch, get lost in the corn maze, watch pumpkins get launched into space, search for the PERFECT pumpkin, and then carve that perfect pumpkin. And that's exactly what we did. Ms. Alyssa Morris, Ms. Bree Kather, Mr. Michael Warnecke, Mr. Joel Limbauan, and myself headed to Tanaka Farms in Irvine, CA to this big ol' pumpkin patch. There was this WILD corn maze with all sorts of WILD kids running all around it. There was this pumpkin cannon that launched pumpkin rejects into a barren hill (the pumpkin canon guy was great, way too enthusiastic for his own good). There was THOUSANDS of pumpkins, many of which were not suitable pickings for the PERFECT specimen we were looking for. Nevertheless, "perfect" is hard to come by, virtually impossible, so we had to settle for less. We then went back to Ms. Alyssa Morris' house where her mom prepared a FANTASTIC soup-in-breadbowl dinner for us, a dinner we did not deserve. As the night continued, Mr. Ben Jacuk joined us, we ate candy, and carved pumpkins (the girls provided WILD accessories like glitter and paint to decorate the pumpkins, two materials I had never considered using before). I may include pictures at some point, they haven't been uploaded to Instagram yet, so I can't quite spoil the experience. Overall, GREAT day/night.

Last Sunday: Film Festival.

Last second, I was asked by Mr. Alex Sparks and Ms. Cherith Simmons to design the credits for the short film "Two Car Garage and a Swimming Pool." So I did. And I dug them. And they dug them. "Two Car Garage and a Swimming Pool" screened at SPIFFest, the San Pedro International Film Festival. I was invited... as the title designer.... I'm not complaining! It was a great time, super super random, there were some BIZARRE films that screened, the most bizarre, in my opinion, ended up winning an award. Eh. We played hard.

Afterward, Mr. Taylor Moore's mom treated us to a nice dinner aboard the Queen Mary cruiseline! We were dressed to impressed for the Film Fest, might as well go somewhere where dressed-to-impress in a requirement. Great people, great food, great venue, great memories. Thank you Mrs. Moore.

Last Monday: Birthday Party.

Ms. Missy McAllister turned 21 on Monday. Ms. Giselle Gonzalez had a brilliant idea, "Let's celebrate Missy's birthday by going to the beach for sunrise!" So we did. 5:30 am, we took off from school, headed down to Huntington Beach and enjoyed the slow light crawl that is sunrise. It's true, the sun does not rise over the ocean BUT being at the ocean during sunrise is still a wonder in itself. There was this great pre-morning mist that inhabited the atmosphere, the air was crisp, the waves were being ROCKED by surfers of all shapes and sizes. It was Ms. Missy McAllister's birthday. We then headed to this small breakfast join called the "Sugar Shack" and enjoyed a nice warm breakfast at a ridiculously early hour. Definitely a good time, definitely a tiring time, and we got back just in time for class to start! HUZZAH!

Friday: GYRAD

Gyrad. Get Your Roommate A Date. This is a Biola tradition that, in my opinion, is an absolute blast. Here's the objective. Get Your Roommate A Date. Simple. It's popular among dorm life, I went on a few my freshman/sophomore years. Then I moved off-campus. I haven't even heard of GYRAD in two years. And then I was asked on one, and I said "YES, OF COURSE!" I love these things and here's why. They're just fun, a good ol' time with more often not a member of the opposite sex that you do not know. It quality time to get to know another human being. A lot of people do not like GYRADS, perhaps it's because they take them to seriously. Perhaps it's because they think they are lame and boring. Let me tell you something, even the most riveting and life-changing, fun things can be "lame and boring" if you put your mind to it. Likewise, even the most lame and boring things can be "riveting and life-changing" if you put your mind to it. All that said, I super dig gyrads.

So, Ms. Rose Peterson asked me if I would like to go with her roommate Ms. Addi Esson and I was all about it! The gyrad was as follows: BIGGER OR BETTER. Start with a penny, go around the neighborhood(s) and ask "Do you have anything bigger or better than this that you would like to trade?" If yes, they trade and you have a new item. Fun game. A group of four of us, Ms. Rose Peterson, her boyfriend Mr. Michael Morton, Ms. Addi Esson, and myself set off to conquer this game. We ran into all sorts of interesting folks, the best being a woman moving out of her boyfriends house. They were both snapping at each other as he was trying to find something to give us. She kept calling his house junk, that we could literally "take anything because it's all trash." We ended up getting a LARGE dog house from the gentlemen as the woman drove away with all her belongings on a AAA truck (those guys come in all emergencies apparently). The dog house ended up being the largest item of the gyrad, so we won in the size category! Super fun, lots of good laughs, good memories, solid gyrad, always a fan.

Saturday: Bakery Dance Party

So the house I live in, it's called the Bakery. Many, if not all, off-campus houses have a house warming party of some sort, welcoming in friends, acquaintances, and random people into their homes to enjoy and experience the space. The Bakery wanted to throw and dance party AND THAT WE DID. There are many reasons why this party was a massive success. 1. We kept it DRY. 2. We kept it CLEAN. 3. We kept it BUMPIN'. 4. We kept it SWEATY. People had a BALL. It was so so much fun, so so much high temperatures, so so much sweat. BUT people had a BALL. I could go into the logisitics, but in a way, it needs to be kept secret so the next party can ROCK THE WORLD. SO fun. It's been talked about everyday since. I talked with Mr. Kyle Norman and Mr. Cody Ramaekers for a straight hour about how fun it was. It was JUST FUN! Can't wait for the next one. Here's some of my favorite shots from the night:

 THIS ^ is a PERFECT example of how the hosts of the party should be hosting the party BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS.

AND BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.







That's the post, ladies and gents. WHAT. A. LIFE. WE. LEAD.


Do something you've never done before this week. Watch the sunrise. It's beautiful. Watch the sunset LITERALLY watch the sunset. Sit there and watch the sky turn colors. Watch it all. And love it.

Confliction

Coming soon.

Punky

It's Wednesday. Certainly is. It's Wednesday again. And again.

Today's clothing styles is symbolic. Exactly a year ago, the clothing styles were the same. Take a look: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2011/10/storytime.html. This is important, it is INCREDIBLE how much happens in a year. We look the same, we dress the same, but we're a year older and a year wiser. This is when this blog comes in real handy (I've debated quitting this thing many a time); it allows for an opportunity to remember, reflect, and learn from the past. It's crazy to see that a year ago, Mawwiage Films was finishing up it's first summer and how far we have come since then. It's crazy to see that a year ago, the SWAGTACULAR video had just been released:

SWAGTACULAR // The Chaos from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

This video was the BIG one. It legitimately changed my life. I began to see life differently, I approached filmmaking in an ENTIRELY new way, I had been exposed to an entirely new world creatively, relationally, and personably. This experience set me on a new path school-wise, career-wise, and turned me into the person I am today. This was a year ago. 1 year.


School's been nuts STRAIGHT UP but it's been fun as well STRAIGHT UP. Last week was Punk N Pie, Biola's annual talent show. I was part of a group called Hau Fun, led by the multi-talented Ms. Sarah Hau, covering "Some Nights" by fun. This was A BALL. So so much fun, so so much energy, so so much sweat. It brought me back to my drumline days and it was FANTASTIC to be back. Running 4 bars over and over, marking time, the whole shebang. Such a blast, so loud. And let me tell you, if you want a GNARLY forearm workout, beat the living daylights out of a turned up kick drum with a mallet with all your might. Enjoy the show!



Here's a picture the multi-talented Ms. Caitlin Helms snapped. JAM ON.

PLUS. My fam bam came down for Biola Weekend and were able to experience this madness! The college kids cooked dinner for the fam bam and it turned out delightful. Delicious.

AND, just for good measure, here's the video from our performance last year. JAZZERCISE, this group went down in history. It's difficult to beat it, definitely difficult.





WOW WOW WOW.

I'm speechless. Love it.





So that's it for this week. Some nice recollections. Punk N Pie is always fantastic. This year's was better than the rest. I heard it said that previous year's talent shows felt like high school talent shows. This year, high school was left in the dust. A FANTASTIC lineup, most of the acts original and surprising. And letting the audience vote for the winner? Definitely a good move. Will the REAL winner please stand up? Taking away the judges and letting the crowd decide worked out very very well.



Do something fun this week. Get crazy, go wild, do something out of the ordinary, throw a spin on your week, GET NUTTY.

Bye, folks.

Conflicting colors

WILD TIMES WE LIVE.

Ms. Norma Santamaria told me I should randomly choose items to wear for this Wednesday. So I did. And then I realized some interesting symbolism. Check it out: conflicting colors: teal and blue. They're close, but definitely not the same. They don't go well together. They're close, but definitely not the same. In the last few weeks, I have been exposed to a number of young, creative 20 y/o's who are creating content that is simply unbelievable. The amount of potential I have seen in people my age has inspired, terrified, and humbled me to the utmost. These people are the teal, I am the blue. My work is close, but definitely not the same as some of these unbelievable creative's. It doesn't match... but it's close. Should it match?


This week has been pretty wild. Due to awful sleeping habits, my body gave me a wake-up call and gifted me with a fabulous case of the common cold. Way too many Kleenex later and a rad video shoot at the Ronald McDonald House in San Diego, I headed home to Simi Valley for a sunrise music video shoot with my pals Mr. Kelii Miyata and Mr. Brent Rowley. Sunrise is CRAZY. It literally lasts 15 minutes. At 6:25am, it's dark. At 6:30am, the sun begins it's rise. At 6:45am, IT IS COMPLETELY LIGHT. Don't blink. We got some pretty great footage, Mr. Brent Rowley's a natural.


I admit, I'm a tad lackadaisical. It might be because I still have awful sleeping habits. And I woke up at 10:30am this morning, realizing that my 10:30am class was starting, realizing I had zero seconds to get to class, realizing I was going to be late for class, realizing that is ALWAYS a big bummer. When mornings start in this fashion, it throws the whole day into a gnarly funk.

I'm experiencing this funk.


Have a bless-d day, encourage someone, laugh with someone, get serious with someone, dig down deep with someone, get witty with someone.


LAUGHS! from Everynone on Vimeo.