balance

We creative types work hard. We should play hard, but sometimes that takes a back seat. This past Summer, a great way to unwind from 8 hours in the office chair would have been to hop on the mountain bike and ride. Maybe it was the humidity or the seemingly constant rain we had here in New England, but this year my couch potato genes took over. Actually that would be "chair potato" because most of my downtime was spent in front of my home computer, either watching Hulu, or working on my own pet projects. And no, emptying Rusty's litter box is not a pet project.

So what are my pet projects? Funny you should ask.

1. Editing silly videos.
Aside from the lifetime project of organizing and editing family videos, home movies and the like, the occasional idea springs to mind, usually right around bedtime. By the time the videos are uploaded I sometimes realize that the moment of inspiration has passed. But alas, it is fun, passes the time, and keeps my television in the off position.

Who is my audience? Family and friends on Facebook and probably the same bored guy many times on YouTube. Wanna join him? Here you go:

This is my fave YouTube creation. And the most hits.






This next one I actually shot with a proper video camera, not my usual stills camera that now documents our vacations. There are actually about 2 more hours of raw footage covering the whole outer Cape. Maybe one day I'll do more.






Most recently, after being awed by the Balloon Boy, I made this little gem. Again, not quite as funny as I thought it was going to be. Might have been better with audio, but Nancy Grace wouldn't return my emails:






Speaking of politics, back in '08 after watching one of the debates I thought maybe we should be looking at the candidates from a more comedic point of view, since whoever wins we will be making fun of them for four years.







I think Obama was the natural choice, if only because of the Abe Lincoln connection. Sorry about the music.

Other times, inspiration happens by accident. I am always snapping photos and video clips when on vacation. Many of them never see the light of day. Here are a few that did, in various forms:

Cape Cod






Vegas - aside from NAB, the Bellagio fountains were one of the only interesting things about this crazy town.






Finally there are the family videos - the most interesting of all. No need to be clever or funny, the memories speak for themselves.

I'm the cute one in the overalls:






As for upcoming pet projects for the coming cold season...I need to finally re-edit my wedding from the raw footage. I recently got around to the first edit of the honeymoon. I also have two half-finished screenplays. They may stay that way. Late night inspiration does not work for that project.

Thanks for watching.

Mike Cohen