January production diary: we called it and it came

Hey gang! I hope you've had some rest over the holiday season, and your year's gotten off to a good start. I have to admit, I've been living the dream this past week, mostly just... hangin' out. Playing some games, watching new stuff (read on for recommendations), and tending to friendships I struggle to find enough time for! It's been great – I really needed this after the whirlwind that was December.

I'm getting back to work now, because my next project is too darn cool to stay away from. I'm dedicating the first two weeks of January to polishing up a short film screenplay. I've been developing it since last June with a close friend of mine, a brilliant writer, and I think it's shaping up to be something special. No telling whether it'll find funding, but we're giving it all we've got!

Concept art ft. my favourite Montreal landmark, the patch of sky that glows green at night

Other than that, I've finally had time to think about what's next for the channel! The race to finish the last video ("Is AI Making Us Less Human?") was kind of gruelling. That video had to come out in December for sponsor reasons, but ignoring that, I don't think getting something out before Christmas was worth the weeks of crunch.

Looking back on the videos that make me proudest, it’s the ones I took the time to hone sharply. For “Cinema’s First Kiss”, I spent 3 months conducting interviews, digging through archives, and staging photoshoots. For “Why Are People Trans?” I spent days editing the music, and designed those storybook-style title cards I'm still thrilled with.

I haven't had time for that kind of attention to detail in a while, and I miss it! So I'm thinking of loosening up my schedule a little bit this year, releasing projects when they're ready, and not aiming to release 6 projects a year as I did in '22/'23.  I'm planning on tackling some huge topics this year and want to do them justice.

My first video of this year will come in March. It'll be a return to form, a big ol' journey through gender/philosophy/politics. I haven't started writing it yet, so I'll hold off on spilling the beans until next month's production diary!

The Content Corner™

I'll leave you with a song, a game, and a movie I've been digging recently.

The song: Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes

Throwback indie song that's both catchy and heart-wrenching! I don't know where it's been all my life – it brings out the heartbroken high schooler who still lives inside me, and makes me want to write its lyrics as a Facebook status (or use them as the title of a Patreon post). I especially recommend this one to fans of modern Alvvays, Hop Along, and 2000s indie rock at large.

The game: Inscryption (trailer)

This week, a solid third of my waking hours have been spent playing Inscryption. Its premise is that you're locked in a cabin with a murderer, who won't let you go unless you beat him at a card-based role-playing game he invented. The game-within-a-game is like a spooky Magic: The Gathering; I don't really care for card games, but it's an utter blast with so much more substance to it than you'd guess. The story and game mechanics both go places you'll never see coming.

The movie: Monster (trailer)

The new movie from Hirokazu Kore-eda, who's quickly becoming my favourite director, having recently fallen in love with his movies After Life and Air Doll. It starts by telling the story of a single mom dealing with infuriating bureaucracy, as she fights to hold her son's teacher accountable for bullying him. The movie then branches out to tell the same story from two more perspectives, which ends up completely upending our interpretation of what we saw in the first act. I'm tempted to give more away, but I don't want to ruin it! The trailer does an excellent job at hooking without spoiling, check it out.

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That's all from me! Drink some water! xoxo