We're the new Matt and Ben, Part 1

My good friend Roy and I were sitting in his living room yesterday afternoon trying to figure out how to rekindle our rapport. Because of busy schedules the last several months and also because I was out of the country for part of this summer, we hadn't hung out at all since February. That's FIVE MONTHS since NIU's version of Harold and Kumar have gotten together. Unacceptable.

The typical protocol when Roy and I hang out is we usually try to outdo each other for laughs and take turns raising the energy in the room, but yesterday we were both awfully quiet. I think we were just trying to act extra polite, since his mom was in the house and she's sort of a traditional Indian lady who probably wouldn't take so kindly to two over-excited, ranting jackasses in her living room.

But after what seemed to be hours of exchanging small talk, we started to talk about our admiration for this indie movie called Primer, and this is when Roy's eyes lit up in a familiar way.

"DUDE!!!" he screamed, no longer caring about whether his mom would think he's a loud asshole. "WE TOTALLY SHOULD MAKE A MOVIE!"

His mom peeked her head into the living room to see what the commotion was. I calmly asked Roy what kind of movie he had in mind.

"WHO THE FUCK CARES!" he yelped, jumping on the couch. "THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING BIG WHILE WE'RE STILL YOUNG! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT KIND OF MOVIE WE MAKE, AS LONG AS WE MAKE ONE!"

A smile started to enter my face. In a Roy sort of way, the idea did sound appealing. And why not? I've got screenwriting experience, don't I? And Phil's got expensive video cameras -- he could definitely help. And Roy's a natural producer -- he could pitch our movie to ANYONE. Throw in Dave, who was born to be Keanu Reeve's stunt double, and we've actually got some semlance of a crew here.

The smile on my face turned into laughter.

"Whoa," I said. "This could fucking work!"

Laughing and high-fiving in the living room in front of Roy's bemused mom, we had finally regained our rapport. And when the time is right, we are going to make an independent movie that will change the way people look at the world.