Mission Statement

It's hard to write a defining goal for a group of works that should have so much variety and character. But, as I'm going to attempt to spearhead this sordid operation, I'll try and tell you what my underlying motivations are, and in so doing, hopefully help you understand why I do what I do.

If I was to sum up my goal in one phrase I'd say "To make life beautiful." I don't mean beautiful in an "aww, how pretty" kind of way. I mean beautiful in an epic, interesting, powerful way. The sort of beautiful that's accessible to everyone, that infects you, instead of forcing you to be a mere observer. I want to make life interesting, intense, inspiring; everything but mundane. Essentially, make it worth living. I want to die feeling that I've really lived, not in the sense of having accomplished great things or risked my life for thrills, but in the sense that I've felt, created, inspired, and been a forceful "presence." An identity and experience unto myself.

So I want to capture that in my prose and films. I want to come up with ideas that seem epic and monumental in scope, and yet not inaccessible to the point of sheer fantasy. So, when I orchestrate campaigns of two armies with cardboard weapons marching around UT's campus, it's not because they're fighting for anything in particular, it's because it's interesting.

It's the journey and the destination. There's some subtle message behind it, be it the foolishness of hubris, the ridiculous qualities of war, the futility of one man trying to change the world, whatever. It's thoughtprovoking, emotional, hilarious, ridiculous, beautiful, and inherently human, despite its fantastical qualities. That combination is what I'm trying to grasp. I'll probably fail, but, at the very least, we'll all have a great time along the way doing one of the most important things a person can do with their life: fulfilling it.