Turkey Donut

            Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed my last post on Lindsay. If you had the chance to catch the docu-series, feel free to comment on it. I’d like to see if you agree or disagree with me, or if there were some shocking moments I forgot to mention.

This post includes a Q&A with director/writer and my friend Ethan Barrett. He is the creator of Turkey Donut, a YouTube channel he launched a few months ago. There’s also a surprise if you scroll down. I was involved in one of his videos. Make sure you click and watch to find out how.

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in filmmaking?

Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to make movies. On weekends I wanted to go out to the movies. When my friends came over, I asked them to bring movies over. I can't really explain the motivation behind it; it's just always been there. However, I had no idea you could do "filmmaking" as a "career." It never occurred to me - as kids we're told to become something like a firefighter or doctor or teacher or engineer. That lasted basically until I got to college, when I found out other studies were actually taking "film classes" where all they did was talk about and make movies. My first semester I added a film major and the rest is history.

2. What kind of content will we see on your channel?

For my channel you can expect the unexpected. It's a no-holds-barred type of comedy in which the most outlandish thing (within limits) happens and takes a huge turn. Hopefully no one sees the endings coming in Turkey Donut Videos, and it’s all the better for that.

3. How did you come up with the name for your channel?

It's hard to say... Originally the name for the channel was, "Challegne Voidoes." I don't need to explain that was almost impossible to refer people to. So I needed to come up with a new name, and the idea of a walking and talking donut popped in my head. Then I mixed it with a turkey, because they're funny, too. Right?

4. What's the story behind "Haunted Shoes?" What motivated you to do it?

The first time I ever watched a reality show, I laughed my head off because I thought the whole thing was supposed to be a joke. I mean, who's really that vocally open about what's going on around them when it's so obvious? Who needs narrators to elaborately exaggerate minor conflicts? Just taking the idea of having two people walking up to each other and introducing each other on television - that's kind of dumb! There are a dozen camera people around, and of course these people have met before. You can just see it in their faces. Reality TV's just funny to me, and it's never funnier than when it takes itself absolutely seriously. Then, one day a friend was watching one of those "spooky house" shows where a ghost-hunter explores a haunted house in night vision, pokes his head around the corner, and has to TELL us that something really scary is going on.
Haunted Shoes was my reaction to that show. Reality TV is just hokie; it tries to convince us that the situation is much more dire than it really is. Because even though we may be exorcising evil ghosts, in the end they're still just boiling shoes in ketchup.


5. What is your favorite scene from "Haunted Shoes?"

Probably the scene where Bob runs off and we hear the sound of the ketchup squirting out of his shoes. Because everyone's taking everything very seriously while all the while the situation is pretty ridiculous.


6. Can you give us a sneak peak on videos we might be seeing in the near future?











You can definitely expect to see a lot of more of the favorite characters from Turkey Donut. More planned with Major Tim, Bill of Bill Rates, and Shirley Martinelli Buford, Jr. And Sigmund will soon be embracing a career in hip hop.

I still love Ethan, even though he totally just dissed Reality TV...

#LindsayOnOwn

            

           Hello everyone! It’s nice to be back after two months. You might remember a blogpost from July 14^th of last year in which I talk about the announcement of Lindsay Lohan’s docu-series on the OWN network. Well, today was the finale of the seven-episode show and I will be giving my personal points of view. So, if you haven’t finished watching, stop reading as there will be spoilers.

            I can’t say I didn’t like it since I watched each episode religiously; however, I had so many issues with the show! First of all, I was taken away from the experience many times (especially at the beginning when I was figuring out the tone of the show) because it wasn’t strictly shot like a docu-series, and there was a lot of intervention by the crew. Audio was really bad on some scenes, such as Lindsay’s audio when she’s being interviewed by Oprah at Dina’s house on episodes three and four, and the literary agent’s audio in the sixth episode. One of the things that made me laugh took place on the fifth episode. It’s a scene with the personal assistant, AJ, and someone else having a conversation on the street. People are walking by, aware that they’re on camera but not knowing what to do. They look at the camera, try to hide from it, walk quickly, etc. I just thought it was pretty funny, but also wondered where the second camera was.

            Story wise, Lindsay was pretty much a lost cause until the last episode, maybe? I sympathized with many of the people around her who didn’t get the credit they deserved, which are AJ, the sober coach, and the best character of the show, her personal assistant. I am happy though that the show didn’t really take sides and didn’t mind showing Lindsay be a total b****, as the Indonesian lady from the “natural lighting” photo shoot called her. (I love that they showed that).

            This show was a guilty pleasure that kept bringing back the audience to see if Lindsay could ever clean her act. Oprah reminded us she is a total boss with her speeches, and even though it wasn’t great on a technical level as I’ve mentioned already, I think the people in the story department did a good job considering all the footage that was recorded and all the events that took place.