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.

PLANK'D

What you see above is my WEDNESDAY PUDDLE PLANK and HOMEWORK STATION PLANK.  What is planking?  Well, let me tell you:






Australia knows how to start the party.  My good friend Mr. Stuart Weir and his pals at his house in La Mirada viewed this Australian video and took a look around the the US of A.  No planking to be seen.  Mr. Stuart Weir and his pals spread the disease, QUICK.  Before long, planking was all I was seeing/reading about on the facebook and pictures were popping up like Whack-A-Mole.  I think it's great, relatively safe, except for the gentleman that died planking (I guess it's only safe if you want it to be safe), and it's hilarious.  I stated earlier in the week that my first PLANK would be Wednesday.  Today is Wednesday. SO BEGINS.


In other news, Mawwiage Films (http://mawwiagefilms.com) has been busy!  I now introduce to you Matt & Emily Mongeon, tying the knot April 9, 2011 in San Diego, California.  Let me tell you, you're in for a treat.  This wedding was OUT OF CONTROL, so much energy, so much heart, so much FUN! I've never seen the dance floor erupt like it did at this fantastic wedding.

ENJOY!



Matt & Emily from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.




And here's something: you may have seen last week our wedding video from Scotland (If not: mawwiagefilms.com/ichikawa).  Well now, I present to you, our Mawwiage Films documentary.  Throughout the trip, we took footage of anything and everything, documenting this trip in the fullest.  This is what came out of it.  WORD TO THE WISE: it's kind of long, almost 18 minutes.  Think of it this way: you'll be going from California to Scotland and back in less than 18 minutes.  That's flyin' folks.  Plus, our trip was NUTTY, so definitely worth the experience.



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




And that's it, friends.  Little writing, lots of watching.  I hope you enjoy it.  You may have already seen it, if that's the case, I'm pumped.  If you haven't? I'm pumped too because now you have the opportunity to see it.  You're the best.



Have a delightful morning tomorrow.

Rebuttal

What a week it's been! This post is going to be short for two reasons:

1. Finals are approaching and oh, there's much work to be done.
2. I wrote a surprisingly long post the other day about the viral video phenom that is "High Five for First Kiss." If you haven't read that, you need to, it's definitely worth the read: "High Five for First Kiss: The Birth of a Viral Video."

Since I wrote that post, the video has gained a few million more views and has (along with the families) appeared on Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live, as well as graced the homepages of Youtube, Yahoo, among others.  I still can't believe it.  I think it's super watching from the inside.  Even though I can't take any credit and have no affiliation with the video, it's been a trip watching the chaos ensue from the beginning.  I'm a fan.


I've got exciting news:

Coming straight from the United Kingdom, Jonathan and Carrie exchanged vows on April 2, 2011 in St. Andrews Scotland.  Mawwiage Films is proud to present the brand new Mawwiage Films Moment!  Sit back, relax, and take a trip to Scotland!



Jonathan & Carrie from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.
.

http://www.mawwiagefilms.com/ichikawa

What a beautiful wedding and what a trip!  I'm still in shock that this trip even happened.  Be on the lookout: Isaac and I shot a short documentary-esce about our trip to Scotland, it'll be finished soon.  It's WILD.



Here's one more video, imagine that!


Here's a really well done commercial I stumbled upon.  I dig it.  I think it's clever. I think it's daring. I think it's funny. I think it subliminally advertises it's product well. I think it pulls off advertising two completely different products.  I dig it.








And that's the story folks, that's all I have for you today.  Here's the deal though, you got a bonus, and I already told you about that.  HOORAY!


Have a mightily pleasant day today, you should go make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grab a crisp apple, and eat it.  Delicious.

Full Fledge

Holy Mackerelity.  It's been a crazy week.  It's been a crazy two weeks.  Last week I didn't give you a proper blog post because I was heading to Scotland.  Now I'm back from Scotland and I have so much to talk about, I don't know where to start.  That's a problem.  We'll see how this goes, I'm not sure what's going to come about.

First of all, last week Mawwiage Films and our website, http://mawwiagefilms.com, was entered into a website contest.  The last week of the contest turned into quite the blood battle between "websites" on campus, as contestants were ploying with students to support their websites by "liking" them on facebook, visiting their webpage, etc.  We had to give them an answer, here was our viral marketing campaign:

There you have it, two videos that were not made by Mawwiage Films endorsing Mawwiage Films.  I can dig that.  Mr. Kenny Becker and Mr. Drew Eccleston, I can dig that.



Next, Scotland.  Here's our opener:



"THIS IS NOT A JOKE" - Mawwiage Films in Scotland : A Teaser from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.


This trip was out-of-control ridiculous.  It is somewhat unexplainable.  Let's just say we (Mr. Isaac Svensson and myself) took a trip to Europe, to a foreign country, without a guide, without anybody telling us how to do it.  Because of this, trial-and-error was the name of the game.  We made mistakes right and left, dealing with public transportation, Scottish currency, simply trying to get around.  We have story after story, I'll give you one:

In St. Andrews, the village of the wedding, the birthplace of golf, you can get onto a bus with a 5 pound note and the bus driver will provide change, naturally.  This is how we got around in St. Andrews.  The night of the wedding, at 2 am, we began planning our trip from St. Andrews to Edinburgh, the village 40 miles away where our hotel was located.  We had to figure out how to get there on our own.  We were two Americans in a house in St. Andrews, Scotland alone without the help of anyone who knew what they were doing.  We had no telephone and limited internet.  After 3 hours of researching, we discovered that our itinerary was one of such: walk a half mile to the bus station, ride the bus 5 miles to the train station.  Ride the train 35 miles to Edinburgh.  Ride the bus 8 miles to our hotel.  The problem?  We didn't have times for any of these lovely events.  So we picked a time: 9:55 am.  At 9:30, we would set out to the bus station, hoping our bus would come sometime soon afterwards.  We began walking with our massive luggage up the scenic hills and arrived at the bus stop where two Scottish people were waiting.  We asked them what to do, we got a "I have no idea" and "10:00," which was a great thing to hear.  We made our way to the stop where we were supposed to be and waited...alone.  We trusted the Scottish folk, but still, were they right?  Luckily, 10:00 was on the money and we got on the wonderful bus.  Long story short, we made it to the train station, waited a while, ran into the bride and groom going off to their honeymoon, boarded the train and arrived in Edinburgh.

This is where things got interesting.  We had no idea what to do here, BIG city, TONS of people, no idea where to go.  We just started walking, found a few bus stops, confused, found tourist central and headed in.  It was awesome.  We had our massive luggage walking towards the tourist information center, all we needed was neon visors.  We found out what bus line to board and headed out to find the bus stop.  We find it and wait a half hour. A half hour passes and the bus comes amidst 8 other buses.  This place was poppin'.  We wait in line and finally get onto the bus.  I ask the driver if this was the right bus to the hotel, he didn't know what I was talking about, so I had to repeat it, he finally understood, said yes, and I handed him a five pound note.  He said "I can't take that, exact change only."  Great.  So we got off bus 31 with our massive luggage, ventured backwards through the queue of people and figured out what to do, pretty frustrated at this point.  Long story short, we finally made it to the hotel.



That's just one story of a decent amount of what-in-the-world-are-we-doing moments.  Had it not been for the hot tub, sauna, and steam room at the hotel, we would have popped.  It's a beautiful thing.

All in all, Scotland was an incredible experience, definitely worth it.  Albeit stressful, busy, freezing, and a number of others, it was AWESOME.  It was definitely a trial-and-error run, we made mistakes, we learned from them, next time we go back, we will be prepared maybe turn it into somewhat of a relaxing vacation.

DISCLAIMER: if you want to hear more about Scotland, ask me in person, or watch the video that will be posted probably next week.







That's it.  I guess.  Maybe.  It's alright I guess.  Maybe.  I'm just kind of tired of writing.




Have some brillienceness of a day.

WOAH hold up

TOOOOOOOOO BUSY TO POST A BLOG POST TODAY!    lWHWET)IJET     Ironic that random selection of articles of type spelled "JET" at the end.  I'm going to Scotland tomorrow!  So much to do, so little time!  Don't worry, I have a bunch to post, I may do it tomorrow or the next day....or soon.


And then after Scotland?  PHAT post. 


Craziness.  I'm going to search "random video" and choose one.  Ready? Go: