Timing is Everything

It makes perfect sense that the day that Jonathan Coulton is performing in Chicago, that very same day Aaron J. will be engaged in a performance all his own. "Code Monkey" is in the post-production stages and two of the cast members are making their Chicago stage-debuts in "Pills" for the Black Ship Theatre Co. If you want to cheer on some of the Imaginary Trends crew then check out more information at www.GorillaTango.com.

It looks like every member of the Code Monkey crew is making strides in the performing arts. Kyle just signed on to take part in yet another Sesame Street tour while Jackie Baker and some of the Pittsburgh gang are working on a yet-to-be-announced pilot. Kyle and Aaron are still busy working on a project called Futurenews which we'll have more news on in the coming weeks. Being in separate time zones tends to ruin some productivity, but fear not! Our passion has not been beat down, not by time, distance, or by lack of good movies being released at the theatres.

Stay frosty

~ Imaginary Trends

we're putting this in 'smash mode'

A few months ago the Imaginary Trends team was split up. One went on tour, one went to Chicago, one stayed in Pittsburgh and another went on...another tour. Trying to get things done when you live out of a suitcase can be pretty strenuous, and we knew that putting together some projects would be difficult (but not as difficult as watching "Two and a Half Men", amirite? Amirite?) but we continued down this road and dammit, we're not gonna stop now. Being the sole member of the group with a stable footing and not moving around the country or planning a move, I have to step it up and talk about Imaginary Trends whenever possible.

My speech at the funeral last week did NOT go over well, but I'm determined to keep on truckin'.

That's why I'm pleased to announce that we'll have our first trailer for "Code Monkey" shortly after the new year. Yes! That means you, yes YOU will be able to see us sing, dance, and ACT in a feature length movie-musical and this trailer will whet your appetite for the final product.

In any case, one of our founding members (Kyle) is at Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark tonight, and I can guarantee that "Code Monkey" will be equally as good and WITHOUT any injuries! Check back next week for the trailer and to see how goofy I look in glasses and uncombed hair.

~ Aaron J.

I could write a book or two, or start a magazine.

If you have come here looking for the demo version of "A Talk With George" from the Code Monkey movie, then click the link at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, hi there. What's up?

Imaginary Trends is pretty busy right now. Code Monkey has a brand-spankin' new editor, and we've officially begun hard work again on LAN'ded, our next project. If you don't know what those are, click on our "current projects" tab at the top of the screen. If you are REALLY lazy, then just watch the video to your right. Either way, you're losing calories, albeit a very small amount. Also check out our principle core team down below. Notice Jackie? Yeah. I added her down there. She SHOULD'VE been there a few months ago but I was lazy. Please acknowledge that she is awesome and talented and know that Code Monkey wouldn't have gotten off the ground without her.

So...LAN'ded. I keep detailing it to people, and those who have been involved with any one of our readings of the show are interested in knowing what was kept and what has changed. I'll just say this: the zombies and mimes are still there but in different forms/amounts, and Natalie has been cut until about the halfway point in the story. LAN'ded is now a project focused much more on Christian and Izzy now, and it works better that way.

The thing I'm excited about is that I'm asking for help on LAN'ded. It is essentially a call for artists over the Internet. Several web based musicians/nerdcore rappers/webshows have proven that people can indeed collaborate over the Internet without any problems so I'm taking my cause there! If you want to help out with our latest project LAN'ded then head to the "who are we" tab for more information. We'd love to hear from you.

I apologize for this being more of a strict and informative post but work is ramping up! Hopefully next update I will have a trailer or at least a teaser trailer...we shall see...

~ Aaron J.

DAAAAA Bears da bears da bears da bears da bears...

Hey gang! I've officially moved into my new place in Chicago. What a ride! After an 8 hour long train from Erie and a day of catching up on sleep, I can rest easy. Though the USPS may have lost most of my possessions in the long pipelines of the mail stream, I am happy and secure in my new city. To celebrate I cut together a short video detailing the projects that IT is working on right now. LAN'ded and Code Monkey are still at the forefront of my activities but like Street Fighter would say: WE HAVE A NEW CHALLENGER. She's not really a challenger though, she's a singer/songwriter named Blue and we are collaborating on a song. I'm unsure when it'll be released but when we nail down something tangible I'll drop a line here.

Now that I am secure (I think?) I can tackle these projects more and get back to more creative work. I'm really excited about collaborating with people here in Chicago on new geeky projects that can extend the theatre arts to those who don't get to see/perform it often.

However, for now I must sleep. The video to your right should explain why I'm so tired. Until next time, sayonara.

~ Aaron J.

the ring has been dropped into the pits of Mordor.

OR all of our footage has been dropped off to our editor. That's probably a more accurate idea of what has happened. It looks like the world premiere of "Code Monkey" will take place in Pittsburgh on November 19th at the [LOCATION DELETED UNTIL SECURED]. It's a pretty swanky place so I am mucho excited. Now the whole process of advertising and marketing the movie comes into play. I'm no PR whiz like the guy from Mad Men, but I am trying my hardest to gain some momentum for the project. I mean, when you're going to have a movie premiere at [LOCATION DELETED UNTIL SECURED] then you know you have your work cut out for you.

In the meantime, everyone who visits here should check out our behind the scenes videos to the right. It shows how we managed to rehearse and pull off some of the shots in the film. When you operate on no budget, you tend to get a big more...creative.

Off to make cold calls hoping someone gives us a million dollars!

~ Aaron J.

The next big step towards our totally awesome and epic musical of epicness

I'm never nervous about starting a project or jumping into production from a pre-production phase, but this Sunday the 11th has me very ANXIOUS. There's a big difference between being anxious and nervous and I think I'm just generally anxious in a positive way. Since Jackie and I shook hands and jumped feet first into this piece we've had several barricades and checkpoints to fight through, but hard work and perseverance have paid off. I'd be a jerk if I didn't thank some people right now, so I'm going to.

Jackie Baker has been a dear friend of mine for years now, and without her hard work and dedication to this project we would never have seen the end of pre-production. She's one of the best directors I've ever worked with and has more moxie than I can shake a stick at, and if you've ever tried to shake sticks at moxie then you know it is an intangible impossibility.

David Bielewicz has been instrumental in the music recording process (see the pun?). Without his willingness to let us rearrange his whole life just so we could nail our soundtrack we wouldn't be where we are today. He's never said no to any request and I cannot thank him enough for stepping up his game.

Sean Lenhart, another good friend of mine, is a plethora of good ideas with radiant enthusiasm to match. Never once has Sean been without a fun morsel for us to think about when trying to dress a scene up and has volunteered time and time again to help out.

Jim Overly volunteered to take time out of his crazy busy schedule to record some piano parts for us on our "Mr. Fancy Pants/Future Soon" mash-up and was constantly in high spirits, even when our mixer broke down! His adept abilities also helped us mold the sound of some of our pieces and I know for a fact I could not have done any of that without him. I hope he feels better soon :)

There's really a ton more people I could thank, and I plan on doing so later on but I don't want this to be insanely long so I'm going to cut it short right now. The fact of the matter is that we start principle photography on Sunday @ 6 AM and I'm giddy. Also, I should be going over lines. To everyone who has followed our progress on twitter (www.twitter.com/ImAaronJ) and Facebook (search for the Imaginary Trends facebook group!), I personally thank you. You're all awesome. Like, fer realzies.

Wish us luck, we're ready to go and I couldn't be more optimistic. Sometimes everything just lines up perfectly and you're surrounded by people you love to work with. The next big step starts now.

~ Aaron J.

Consolidation and Moderation

June has reared its ugly head and you know what that means: Code Monkey, our first movie musical is about to start production. In addition to Toy Story 3 being released, I can easily say this is the most important event of the year. I can't say that the road to our first true day of production has been smooth, but the passion and sometimes foolhardiness of my cast and crew has made any problem easy to work around. Making a movie with no budget, and using only volunteers is a daunting task but with high spirits great things can happen.

We go into a recording studio Tuesday to lay down the soundtrack to Code Monkey. In what might be my most anticipated part of the production, we will be singing JoCo's music with our own piano/guitar arrangements. I can't say I'm not nervous, I'm just anxious! Being a fan of Jonathan Coulton for years now, I'm so used to hearing the usual renditions of his music. Being given the freedom to experiment with his creations is a little scary but I like what we're trying to create. I guess Tuesday we will see...

We've recently closed down our dedicated "ChristianInTheWired" page on YouTube and moved everything to our main site. It has been quite good for us seeing as how we gained 51 subscribers in 4 days. Guess it just goes to show you that big decisions pay off sometimes. I expect to see us making many more big decisions soon, especially with me moving to Chicago. Time will tell...

~ Aaron J.