APE 4

It's APRIL 4th. What on this planet?! Not only is time flying, but time is flying. I came to a realization the other day, April Fools Day to be exact. Exactly one year ago this week, Mr. Isaac Svensson and I, or as we're professionally known: Mawwiage Films, flew to Scotland for a weekend to film the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Ichikawa. This was the trip of a lifetime, a trip I will NEVER forget. And you know what's cool? Modern technology allowed us to film our experience. Modern technology allowed us to capture the ABSOLUTE ABSURDITY that was our weekend trip to Scotland. This video is a doozy and it never gets old. Very highly recommended. The emotions in this video are REAL, it's almost eerie (especially near the end when we have absolutely no idea what we're doing in a foreign country by ourselves).

MF in Scotland: The Documentary from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.





On March 31, something absolutely wonderful happened. My favorite band as a kid, Relient K, came to Biola University to play a show. I was stoked beyond words. Here was my facebook status following the concert:

If you know me well, you know that I don't hear lyrics. It's a weird phenomenon, hard to explain. But for some reason, there's one band, and one band only, that I know a whole lot of lyrics to. That band is Relient K. Relient K played at Biola University tonight and ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT. And it will be the first and probably last time I will have the privilege to SING and SCREAM lyrics with the band and fans, all while going APE in the PIT. An absolute BLAST of a show. I can honestly say, my childhood dreams have come true. Thank you, gentlemen.

Everything stated here is a fact. Relient K rocked Biola, absolutely rocked it. I must admit, I was a little worried. You see, Relient K has evolved quite a bit since their self-title album came out in 2000. Their sound has evolved throughout their career, and when Mmhmm dropped in 2004, I heard an inkling of what was to come, an inkling I wasn't particularly digging. Sure enough, the Apathetic EP came out in 2005 and I disappointed for the simple reason that the "fun, immature, punk" Relient K was old news and the "serious, mature, indie" Relient K was here to stay. Their music changed, for the better in a lot of ways, but the new stuff was simply not the Relient K I knew and loved.

So this same Relient K was scheduled to play at Biola and we were all wondering what their set list was going to be. Were they going to play old stuff? All new stuff? Combo meal? I wanted wanted wanted the old stuff, but was ever so nervous they weren't going to pull out the fun stuff. BUT, sure enough, the dudes pulled off a BRILLIANT set. Here's a picture of it for you:

PERFECT mix of old and new, super pumped. We went ape, got a gnarly pit going, getting our mosh on. SO FUN screaming those lyrics, never experienced anything like it and will never again. Once in a lifetime experience.

Two crazy things happened.

1. I have a good friend named Mr. Scott Weir that also goes to Biola. His father, Dr. Paul Weir, and my father, Mr. Ned Lott, were roommates at Biola back when they were students. From what Scott and I have heard, there was this band Toto that was popular when our dad's were in college, repping a song called "Africa" that topped the charts when our dad's were in college.  Now, Relient K has produced two cover albums, and on one of these cover albums, they cover Toto's "Africa." Do you know what this means? This means that Mr. Scott Weir and I are jamming to "Africa" while we were in college, just like our dad's jammed to "Africa" while they were in college. You know what's even crazier? Scott and I are going to be living under the same roof next semester. If that's not unbelievable, I don't know what is.

2. After the first two songs of the encore, the lead singer of Relient K, Matthew Thiessen (who is a BEAST of a lyricist) told us that his grandfather passed away this week and he would have given anything to be there with his family, but was commited to this show at Biola. Not only is this incredible dedication, but RK closed the night with Deathbed, an incredible 11 minute song that delves deep into the concept of death and our eternal meaning. Matt Thiessen performed this song BEAUTIFULLY, with emotion that can't be put into words. Straight from the heart. Take a listen, it's unreal.





And here are two pictures from the night, straight from the camera of Mr. Job Ang.

Excellent.

So that closes out the week. Next week is spring break. Which is wild. Animal Fiction has my name written all over it. 

Animal Fiction is a film I'm editing. Here's the trailer. It's going to be incredible. I'm pumped.

Animal Fiction - Official Trailer from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

Enjoy your day. All of it. It's been beautiful here. I've gotten a little sunburned. 

Drink something with two ice cubes. Just two.

Shoes

I feel like there is something stuck to the bottom of my shoe.  It might be busyness. The sheer busyness of life that just sticks there like a nasty bundle of gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Annoying to say the least. But you just have to live with it, there's not much you can do.

This blog has been getting the boot. So gnarlys busy.

Here's the trailers to the films that have been taking the majority of my hours. Take a look:

Wagner Teaser from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.

Animal Fiction - Official Trailer from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

These two weeks in particular have been OFF THE CHAIN. Every film major at Biola has to participate in the "BIOLA FILM" at least one semester, coming together to plan, produce, execute, and release a short film.  Our film is called Little Red Elephant, a story about a newspaper writer who meets Zach, a special needs student at a school she is covering for the local newspaper.  Take a look.

Little Red Elephant Promo from kevin maksimenko on Vimeo.

For the production, I am the 1st Assistant Cameraman. I pull the focus. Make sure what needs to be crisp and clear is indeed crisp and clear. It's been a learning experience, no doubt, and the opportunity to learn the RED One camera inside and out has been especially beneficial.  We'll see what happens, eh? We continue shooting through this weekend. Here are some production stills.'

Lead actor, Zach, on the left and lead actress, Riley, on the right. Not to mention our wonderful writer Ms. Julia Rothenbuhler hanging out in the middle.

Qual.




Tomorrow's going to be a long day. Friday's going to be a long day. Saturday's going to be a long day. Sunday's going to be a long day.


FOR THE SAKE OF FILM.





Have a wonderfully wonderful day, friends and neighbors.

Overwhelm-ation

This last week. Woah. It's been a week of intensity. It's been a week of extremity. It's been a week of surprise. It's been a week of celebration. It's been a week of remembrance. It's been a week of emotion. It's been a week of assumption. It's been a week of danger. It's been a week of longevity. It's been a week since last Wednesday.

During the last week, one concept has stood out to me: LIFE IS A RIDE, so you'd better BUCKLE UP.


During this last week, one million and a half different past, present, and future events, experiences, thoughts, conversations, memories, aspirations, dreams and other "stuff" were revealed, uncovered, dug up from the mountain of my life. On Monday, while I was at work, it all hit me, like a baseball bat hitting a baseball, like a brick through a window, like an ice cream cone splatting onto the floor. So what did I do? I headed over to the fountain to "think" about it.

I was there five minutes.


On Monday afternoon, I wrote this on my facebook wall for all the world to see:

I sat down by the fountain to think about my future. "Since when did I have control?" So I left & stopped thinking about it. #lifesaTRIP

Boom. That was it, completely stopped thinking about it. It was good feeling. Now, it's not that I've forgotten about it, these issues are still very present and very relevant. BUT, when stress and overwhelm-ation set in, boy, that's no good and it's not heading in a very good direction. Why mull around when I know for a 100% fact that God's in control? What happens, happens and, regardless good or bad, God has blessed me in that specific situation for a specific reason, an experience to learn by. I have absolutely no control over anything so WHY IN THE WORLD get so stressed out about it? Life's a trip and I'm just a long for the ride. Sure it get's bumpy, the oil needs to be changed every once in a while, but hey, it's a blast.


That ended on an optimistic note. The next video may change that. This video is INCREDIBLE. It's heartbreaking, personable, and hopeful. I don't know how to put it into words other than it's definitely worth a watch. (Disclaimer: there are a few "choice" words).


Last Minutes with ODEN


Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.


Unreal. I feel for this man and his love for his dog. There's something about this story that is so easy to relate to. We all desire unconditional love; regardless of situation, the love we crave never wavers and is always there for you. While I was watching this short film, the parallels between Oden and our Father in Heaven were incredible. The most notable difference? Christ's unconditional love is TRULY unconditional. He will never leave us, will never grow old, will not die out, and will always be there even if we can't feel it.

Unbelievable. The funny thing is we do not deserve it AT ALL.



The next video is an interview with Eliot Rausch, the director of "Last Minutes with ODEN."  This man is truly inspiring, using his gifts to tell a story, an extremely real story. As I continue in my film studies, messing and fooling around with different subject matters, content, etc., I am learning more and more that I am intrigued with REAL life. Capturing life as it plays out with as little "Hollywood" influence as possible. That's a completely different topic though. Enjoy this interview, I know I did:



Eliot Rausch on "Last Call" with Carson Daly from phos pictures on Vimeo.





Speaking of filmic inspiration, I've been chugging through some fun little shorts.  They're all short, under 1 minute each, and they're all happily unique, bizarre, and promotional, all in the same.

1. SPOOKTACULAR: This is a promo for HME's dance Spooktacular going on at the end of this month. I decided to act a little, this is what happened.


SPOOKTACULAR IS COMING from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.
.

2. UP: THE MAN IN THE FLYING CHAIR: This is a promo for a theatre/film production directed by Mr. Ian Mayta.  I very much enjoyed developing this idea of using stock footage as the main content. The opening video to the production will also be a video in this similar style, I'm excited to begin working on it.


The Man in the Flying Chair from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.



3. ANIMAL FICTION: This is a promo for a short film directed by Mr. Zack Campbell that I will be editing in the near future. I'm PUMPED to be involved on this project.


Animal Fiction: A Promo from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.







And there! There you have it!


The blog post for the 26th of October.





Have a most excellent day today. Take a short brisk walk around the neighborhood. Say hello to a neighbor. Talk about something you've never talked about before.



Enjoy life, it only happens once.

Tripp

Oh man, today. Oh boy, today. It's 9:30pm and I'm writing this blog post, today. I spent the day at Hume Lake, dropping my kid sister, Ms. Melanie Lott, at her summer job for the summer, working the Ponderosa pantry, gonna be feeding all those fancy campers throughout the summer. Summer. You may recall the last blog post, I wrote about how I thought this trip to Hume would be a wild:

"Here's the surreal part, I think it's going to be strange heading up that mountain knowing I'm not on staff.  It's going to be weird waltzing around Hume without responsibility, with a camera in my hand.  It's going to be weird still knowing a majority of the staff and having conversations that I would be having as if I were on staff.  But at the end of the day, I can leave.  I can drop my faux-commitment and drive down that mountain."

Well, I'm here to tell you, this is EXACTLY what it was like.  It was very strange, very weird, very faux.  I enjoyed it thoroughly though.  It was a trip seeing a good number of my summer pals and telling them "No, I'm not going to be working this summer." It was a trip walking around, feeling "at home." It was a trip hanging out in the media office, meeting the new videographers/photographers, and hanging with the QUALITY full-time staff.  It was A TRIP going to the G-Store, getting a styrofoam cup, filing it up with ice and water, and enjoying the beverage (you Hume people might know the significance of this. Trust me, IT WAS A TRIP).

I'll just put it in 4 words: it was a trip.

To all the people I ran into, I very much enjoyed running into you.  Every one of you.  I also enjoyed our conversation, even if it was simply an exchange of hello's, not just running into you.


It was also a blast seeing the Hiett clan and Grandma.  Always a pleasure.  No doubt.



In other news, we've got videos, lotsofem.


First, here is a promo for a new film hittin' the world: Animal Fiction. More info on FB? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Fiction/204033439633114





Seconds: I (and Mawwiage Films) was blessed with a new toy: the Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens.  It was begging to be tested:


A Test Of Sorts :: EASY STREET from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.




Thirds: This little dude blew my mind fruits.  Serious.  Didn't know what to think at first. I mean, we've all seen this little act before, so I didn't know what to think.  But let me tell you, the ferocity and the skill this little man displays left my jaw chillin' on the floor.  I had to bend down to pick it up and then rewind the video because I had missed a few seconds of this gentleman's BEAST of a performance.  Enjoy.





Fourthy: This video simply left me smiling.  You may have heard of a GoPro. You may have heard of a hula hoop.  Well here you go, what a solidified square inch of a hula hoop looks like as it's whipping around its contestant.









Mmm. Much enjoyment.






Hey you, yeah you. This has been another Wednesday. I mean, come on, a Wednesday.  At 10:09 now. I hope you enjoyed your last week.  Enjoy this next week, regardless how your last week was.


I realize there is not a picture today.  I don't know what I'm going to do.  Maybe I won't have one all summer.



Enjoys.