CineNiche

March 22, 2021 - March 28, 2021 Hello readers. Chicago is one of those places where if it hits 45° outside, people are in shorts and bikes invade the neighborhoods. I decided to venture out. I wanted to hit up one of the trendy areas, walk from one CTA stop to the next. In this stretch there's used book stores, nine independent coffee shops, an open-till-3am cookie dispensary, at least eight vintage clothing stores, another four to six vintage wares stores, used record shops, and any food you want. This could be any gentrified neighborhood in Chicago. My goal was to make it to the record shop where they have used Criterion Blu-Rays and head to the grocery store. My wife and our mutual friend accompanied us. I centered myself before stepping out the door. Repeated a little mantra about my generalized anxiety disorder, something like, "F*ck my life." Put my mask on (literally and figuratively) and out we went.  It was way worse than I expected. Not only was all of Chicago o...

March 15, 2021 - March 21, 2021 Hello fellow internet readers. Big news this week. My life-threatening asthma finally paid off. I was able to get my first vaccine shot. It was an easy process, once the appointment was made. I showed up and so many soldiers were nothing but helpful. I had my appointment barcode pulled up on my phone, and I was treated as VIP. You can proceed to lane two sir. You can skip around those people sir. Right over here sir. My anxiety pumped an unhealthy amount of adrenaline through my system prior to getting to the vaccination site. I abhor not knowing rules. Even if I don't always stick to rules, I hate not knowing them. My brain was fried thinking about all that could go wrong. Not with the shot mind you, but with not finding the correct line to wait in. That's how my mental illness works. The moment I sat down with the soldier grabbing the alcohol swab, my anxiety melted away. I got my sticker and my card, waited in the observation room, and left. T...

  March 8, 2021 - March 14, 2021   Hello new week, I  bought a Panisonic Lumix G85 camera and took it out for a test drive. I've been debating this camera for months and finally took the plunge. As it is COVID times, my test drive was multiple set ups around the house and filming myself in a routine. I remember in film school it was called a narrative moment. It is simply following an action. In film school we shot a 16MM film about two people playing chess, one cheating, and the other throwing the glass pieces on the floor. Each shot moved the 'narrative' forward, but it was mostly about matching your cuts. I wanted to test out the color grading, kit lens, and natural settings on the camera so I shot in 4K 24fps. My routine of choice was to take a shower, so yes, that means the first footage I shot on my new camera was me being naked and taking a shower. It's not the first time I've filmed my own shower. I'm sure it won't be the last either. It made me star...

 March 1, 2021 - March 7, 2021 Hello and welcome to March in Chicago. So far we've had twenty degree and sixty degree weather and we are in the first week. No one wants small talk about the weather. I learned in a YouTube video [worst beginning of a sentence ever] that people in Sweden abhor small talk and see it as a waste of time. They say people will contrive elaborate schemes to ensure they do not have to talk to others when heading out of the house. The video tried to show how humans need small talk. We have to test the waters before we jump in. I don't agree. If the pandemic has taught us anything, when someone asks how you are, we are allowed to pour all of our garbage out. Instead of the monosyllabic, "Fine," that we've been accustom to, we can go into our bout with seasonal depression. We can open up about how its been a week since we left the house or how we've found peace hidden deep inside the covers on our bed. Seriously, try it out. If some rando...

 February 22, 2021 - February 28, 2021 As this is a new editorial section, one would normally begin it with welcoming the reader to a new endeavor; however, if I stated that, then I would feel the pressure of continuing this. Right now is not the time to feel additional pressure from anywhere. For clarity to my future self while reading this: We are still in the middle of a pandemic and nothing feels like it will ever return to normal! Hopefully, when I read this in the future, I'll think back to how that time in my life was filled with such deep depression, but ultimately it helped to lead me toward more creative times. But that's not what I came here to tell you about... This Week In Film where I create a weekly rundown of the random sh*t I watch. There’s a HIGH / LOW at the end of this entry, so if words aren't really your thing, you can scroll quickly, look at pictures, and skip to my favorite viewings of the week. Lets begin... OVERVIEW: