A long post about a Short Way

I hate to think that this blog is just a bunch of stuff that I write for Randy, because really, that's a little gay.  According to my 'followers' though, it's 67% women, so I'll just remind myself of that...

Especially when I do something like this: and basically just ask Randy what he wants me to write about.  Yes, I cater to him that much.

So what did he want me to talk about?  Well, him.  Of course.

For those of you unfamiliar with the major bullet points of my life, a few years back Randy and I worked on a little project together called The Short Way 'Cross.  In it's essence, it was simply us taking our love of Ewan and Charley's The Long Way Round a bit too far.  We rolled cameras on it, but I think even at the time, our expectations were pretty low.  We figured it would be closer to a video travel journal than a documentary.

Then a funny thing happened.  We loved it.  Not that we didn't expect to love the actual trip, but more so that we were surprized when the resulting footage ended up being an engaging and entertaining little story.  Or so we thought. 

A funny thing happens when something that you had low expectations of exceeds them in every conceivable way.  Suddenly we had something epic on our hands.  Everyone needed to see it.  We had to share our gift with the world.  We sent it to Ewan and Charley, we submitted it to the local film festival, hell, we even threw a gala screening for our friends and family.  Granted, our friends and family responded quite favorably, but really, they had to right?  The film festival?  Not so much.  Ewan and Charley?  Not at all.

The Gala

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little crushed.  But, having had time to come to terms with the mere possibility that I am not universally loved and adored, perspective has been gained.  You see, if the film festival had heard about us making this video, they probably would have thought: 'that's going to suck.'  Then when they saw it, they might have been like: 'wait, that didn't suck, it was actually kind of good.'  But by having no low expectation to exceed, it stands to reason that on it's own, simply 'kind of good' didn't rock their world.  Ewan and Charley however, they have no excuse.

Which brings us to the Short Way Up (and to the left).  During the height of 'this is actually pretty good' hysteria, the inevitable sequel talk arose.  Bigger?  Of course.  Better?  Naturally.  Now... I'm not so sure.  Not about a sequel.  Just not about having to do everything to one-up the original.  Perspective.  On the 2 year anniversary of our original adventure, Randy and I sat down and watched it again.  And the experience couldn't have been more enjoyable.  We remembered the good times, laughed at all the jokes we had forgotten, and, had a hidden camera been locked on us the entire time, I can imagine that both of us would have had a stupid grin plastered across our face for the entire 52 minutes.

And that to me is what Short Way is all about.  It's not about perfect sound quality, wireless microphones, 16x9 widescreen, or high definition.  And it's certainly not about the disappointment I felt when I opened the rejection letter from the film festival.  Or when I didn't receive a letter from Ewan or Charley at all.  It's not about the approval of others.  Short Way is about that stupid grin on my face for 52 minutes.  And I wouldn't have Up (and to the left) any other way.