04/08/17 William Fitzsimmons

If you want some chill music to listen to in the mornings I recommend William Fitzsimmons on Pandora, it's one of my go-to's for mellow morning music.

Brown Truck: LowerGentry's first feature-length film

LowerGentry has recently completed their first feature-length film, Brown Truck. The film won't be publicly available anytime soon as they're in the process of applying to get it into a film festival. However, you can catch a trailer and clip of the film below, then follow LowerGentry on Facebook for updates here!

Brown Truck trailer:


A clip from Brown Truck:

Today's Breakfast

Oatmeal with a bunch of stuff (oatmeal, 10-grain hot cereal, sunflower seeds, walnuts, raisins, chia seeds, and banana, sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg), 4 scrambled eggs with spinach (seasoned with salt, basil, and oregano), cottage cheese from the cottage (not really; and sprinkled with paprika), and black coffee; I did also have a protein bar early on when I woke up:

A good amount of fuel there following yesterday's workout. Today I'm mostly focusing on light, repetitious movements, maybe a little cardio, and stretching.

Today's Workout

Today's workout, a bit harder than I expected but that was partly the point; some of it was easier — surprised I was able to keep up with doing push-ups in sets of 20.

Lowergentry's "Brown Truck": Final Draft of Script Writing Complete

Lowergentry's Elliot Norton and Charles Norton have completed the final draft of their latest film script, Brown Truck.

The immediate next step for them is a private script read-through with Lowergentry collaborators, followed by a long-anticipated transition into their first feature-length filming phase. Following several 48-hour film projects for Idaho's i48 film competition, and numerous other independent film productions, Brown Truck will expand territory for Lowergentry as they have hitherto only produced short film works. What they can hope to retain from previous efforts is a quality and originality that has awarded them successful acknowledgements including:

2013 i48's "Second Best Film" for Twomancrew,
2014 i48's "Best Use of Character" for Guru's Sandbox,
and 2015 Idaho Media Award's "Best Narrative" for Canyon County.

Image by Lowergentry.com
For updates on Lowergentry and their newest project, Brown Truck, follow them on:

Facebook
Twitter

Visit their website at www.lowergentry.com

I'm Going to Start Waking Up Early: my thoughts on supplementation and lifestyle changes

By the end of the month I'll be waking up at 6 a.m. every weekday. That's the goal. The plan is to maintain that habit for at least a month or two, enough time for my body and habits to adapt to it. My original goal was 7:45 a.m., but then I realized I'd miss sunrise and might as well get up a little earlier, plus for some that's sleeping in and my goal is to try being an early bird. I have a tendency to stay up late and I don't know if that's just lack of discipline or a biological propensity, but this experiment should help me see how I handle mornings. The benefit is that if I adapt then I think I'd really enjoy it- seeing the sunrise, and being up early I'll still enjoy some quiet personal time, plus I'll probably be more productive having more structure. If it doesn't work out, at least I gave it a shot and when people give me a hard time about staying up late I can honestly say I gave mornings a shot and they weren't for me. Obviously I'm talking about preferences, having an early job or a family someday will likely get me up early whether I like it or not.

Lately, my staying up has been exceptionally bad- to where I don't even like it. Staying up as late as anywhere between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. in the morning and sleeping until early evening. This is largely owing to being on the search for a job and as I'm laying in bed I start thinking of other jobs I should apply for or other e-mails I should send, so I get up and stay awake much later than I should. For about a week or so I've been trying to get to bed earlier so I can adjust to reaching my goal of being up early, but I don't get tired now until way late into the morning. I tried skipping sleep for a whole night in order to fall asleep sooner the next day but that wasn't as effective as I'd hoped. I tried working out- jogging 5 mi. a day for a bit and that helped a little but not enough. Part of it is also lifestyle- being on the computer too late and thinking about job searching too late. However, last night I got to sleep around 3 a.m. and woke up around 9 a.m.! I went to Whole Foods looking for melatonin, and discussed it with an employee there who recommended Stress-Relax Tranquil Sleep supplement, and it worked well, better than I expected! It looks like this:

Image by Wesley Grover
(Obviously, people are different- consult your healthcare provider about what's right for you, especially if you take any other supplements or medications, and I would only use it short-term. I'm not being endorsed by this product, I'm just stoked that it worked well so far. I'm also not promoting the brand per se, I don't know how its quality stacks up against other brands.)

It has 5-HTP which is a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, Suntheanine which is a company's proprietary form of L-theanine- the compound in green tea that promotes a relaxing effect, and melatonin which is a naturally occurring hormone that helps regulate your sleep cycle. So, I'll be trying that temporarily as well as a few lifestyle changes such as not using the computer so late, not dealing with things that will get me excited late- such as thinking about a job or things I need to do, keeping the lights low prior to bedtime, exercising regularly, etc.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this morning schedule pans out and what effect it has. If it's even remotely remarkable then perhaps I'll give a little update on how it's been. Cheers.

Oh, and if you're already a natural early bird, as in an effortless early bird- YOU RASCAAAAAAL!! *shakes fist in a Stephen Colbert-esque manner*

Image by David Shankbone

Idaho Media Awards

Yesterday, friends at Lowergentry.com won the Idaho Media Award for Narrative with their short film Canyon County. Congratulations to them!

Their film is available for viewing here (some mature content):

Canyon County

For more information and updates on Lowergentry, like their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Lowergentry.

For more information on the event host, Idaho Media Professionals, visit their website at www.idahomediapro.com and their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IdahoMediaProfessionals.

"A Zombie Parable" a short film by Lowergentry

This is the film friends at Lowergentry submitted for the h48 Idaho film competition. Enjoy!



Look for future films and updates of Lowergentry by subscribing to their channel on YouTube and liking their page on Facebook (or follow on Twitter). Thanks for watching!

h48 at the Idaho Horror Film Festival

Lowergentry has submitted a short film for h48, a Halloween-themed forty-eight hour film competition in Idaho.

See their film, along with the others, on Saturday the 18th starting at 4pm- at The Egyptian Theatre in Boise. h48 is an annual Halloween-themed forty-eight hour film competition, and the Idaho Horror Film Festival is a several-day, Halloween-themed film festival making its inaugural debut this year; h48 is being featured at the Idaho Horror Film Festival. For more information on h48 and the Idaho Horror Film Festival, including a schedule of the events, click the links below:

h48: Horror Idaho 48-Hour Film Competition

IHFF: Idaho Horror Film Festival

Image by Wesley Grover

Image by Wesley Grover

"Canyon County" a short film by Lowergentry

This is a recent short film some friends at Lowergentry made. In dramatic fashion it captures the difficulties and issues associated with social dynamics and crossed boundaries.
The film features local musical talent Hillfolk Noir, and also acts as a preview for a full-length film the group aspires to make.

Lowergentry will be participating in the upcoming H48 competition, a Halloween-themed 48-hour film competition in Idaho. You can keep up-to-date on their Facebook page here.

(Note: some mature content)


YouTube:
"Canyon County"
Website:
"Canyon County"