Stories, projects, and life from Jeff Lion.
I gave up half my lunch break for a month and spent it watching one short film at a time. The surprise wasn't the movies. It was how much a 20-minute pause could reset a workday.
I built a 30-title physical-media shelf from thrift-store finds and library sales, then lived with a one-in, one-out rule for a month. The shelf didn't cure my scrolling. It did make choosing feel like a decision again.
I gave my streaming apps a week off and let my library card do the talking. What I found was less glamorous than a prestige TV premiere and way more useful for my budget.
I shot the boring parts of one ordinary week and edited them like a movie trailer. The result was 58 seconds of coffee, commutes, and grocery aisles that made me see my routine differently.
For thirty nights in 2026 I let a quarter decide what I watched, read, and left the house for. The algorithm lost on satisfaction, won on convenience, and taught me something uncomfortable about my own taste. Here's the play-by-play, plus a one-week version you can steal.
A full project log for a zero-dialogue micro-short shot on a phone in one weekend: the three-shot structure, the pocket-sized kit, the sound design that saved it, and how to screen ninety seconds for friends without renting a theater.
Everyone keeps telling me the movies are back because of the giant releases. I think the better night out is happening two doors down, in a half-full auditorium showing a mid-budget drama nobody's posting about. Here's why the small theatrical release is winning 2026, and what US audiences can do to keep it alive.
For three years my second bedroom was a storage unit with a window. One long weekend and four hundred dollars later, it's the room I actually want to be in — here's the before, the after, the three purchases that mattered, and the mistakes I'd skip if I did it again.