1) A shovel buddy
2) A friend that can keep a secret
3) A bucket list
Everything else is just a bunch of convenient time killers. 1 and 2 basically go hand in hand. If you are unaware of what a shovel buddy is, its a close friend you have where in the event you die unexpectedly, they are tasked with getting rid of anything in your room that anyone would consider “questionable”.
My shovel buddy would basically be clearing my browsing history. And getting rid of the stuff in the drawer to my right. And burning the… this could go one forever.
The Bucketlist stands on its own. With all of the “Man I wanna”s I hear in casual conversation, I never understood why more people dont have one. With that said… here is mine:
1 ) Sky Dive (FINALLY)
2 ) Pitch a tv show
3 ) Go to Egypt
4 ) Go to Japan
5 ) Give Nick Cannon the most intense stare down hes ever experienced
6 ) Make a sex video with a celebrity
7 ) Crash a wedding (or two or three)
8 ) Successfully pull off an elaborate heist
9 ) Shake the hand of the President and coax them into a thumb wrestling match (whoever it may be at the time)
10 ) Meet Meg Ryan (my love)
11 ) Beat a Guinness world record
12 ) Convince someone I can travel through time
13 ) Complete one of those things where you run up and down every set of stairs in a stadium (I thought this was called a “tour de sad” but I was wrong)
14 ) Eat a double bypass burger
15 ) Start a ridiculous trend
16 ) Learn to play the guitar
17 ) Go an entire week without telling a lie
18 ) Risk my life willingly (This one will take me a while Im sure)
This list will surely grow and yes… much of it is unrealistic but shit’s gonna get done. #12 and #15 will start immediately. More on #15 soon. That one is gonna be fun. Fun as balls.
The: “They actually asked for it months ago” edition
You cant quite escape worrying about what the hell youre going to do after college. Youre either the student that found a job right out of school or you’re the kid that didnt who will spend the next 3 months of their lives attending interview after interview walking around aimlessly in a sea of “we’ll call you later”s and shattered dreams.
You’ll find most Graphic Designers walking around in this state wondering why no one is loving their handwritten type as much as their teachers did.
*ahem*
“Graduates” (two thousand and… something) covers that other group of college students who decided to hide away in grad school conveniently avoiding life for an additional two years… yea I said it.
This pilot follows the lives of three 30 yr old men playing three 23 yr old grad students fresh out of college eager to continue their education. John Corkery the sorta cold guy with a nice face so you kind of ignore his coldness played by Josh Ruben. Augustine “Gus” Gustovson the guy whose name takes too long to say so you give him a cool nickname instead played by Steve LaChioma. And Cameron West the guy who constantly gets laid played by David Futernick (pronounced “future nick” and I dont care if thats wrong).
One of the first things I noticed about this pilot was probably one of the more important things to notice about this pilot. Its actually pretty good. After being burned quite a few times by the SVA film department, Ive quickly learned to not expect much from student productions… like ever. Theyre either black and white films about someone doing something mundane or theyre in color instead. But you could see immediately that there was some “love” thrown in this project.
The second thing I noticed that the the title wasnt kerned well at all but that was me being a nerd.
But the third thing I noticed was the solid job done by all actors involved. For example, Daniel Shafer (aka not Will Arnett) did an excellent job of making me hate Evan Young and Daniel Shafer because I cant see him being that much different in real life. He was just THAT believably douchey when playing this role which is not exactly a bad thing all things considered. Rachel Wood (Marisol) did an excellent job of making me instantly want her and Future Nick did the same when he delivered one of the greatest lines in history:
The only actor I couldnt quite gel with was Josh Ruben. But this is only because he reminded me so much of Jack from Lost that I could never really get pass that feeling and it was constantly distracting. Something about his wonderful face. But he did a damn good job none-the-less and the scenes between he and Daniel Shafer were pure gold.
Side: I actually met the actress the played Marisol and had a huge “THAT WAS YOU!!@!?!?” moment when I found out who she was. She was so wholesome that I couldnt even recognize her playing that role. Im thoroughly convinced that she has no idea what a pe… wait she might read this.
Moving on.
The final “realization” of sorts at the end was a bit lost on me though. As Corkery went up for that keg stand, I immediately got the feeling that they were going for the “he finally learned to let go” angle but he didnt spend any time in the story NOT letting go. He was mostly uninvolved in the wild [homoerotic] actions of Gus so there was nothing for him to really let go of. An awkward sex scene involving Marisol and Cameron wouldve made more sense. But thats just me… being a perv.
The whole package itself though was very well put together and its definitely one of the better [not quite sure how to categorize] pilots Ive seen. Very well directed, great dialogue and a story I wouldnt mind seeing continue… in other words I just want to see more of Future Nick.
