Even monsters need to get things off their chests.

Much love
Travis

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Well you should cause he’s awesome. Joel is a multi-talented young man I met on YouTube who is under-loved in my personal opinion. A man with an incredible voice and sharp wit, Joel has helped me out on a few projects of my own. He wrote and sang the new Receptionist theme I now use, and he also wrote and sang the montage/theme song to my 2008 YouTube horror movie Collaboration movie, The Bloody Door. See below for some examples of his work, then check out his site and channel. Enjoy!

Here is the video shots he did for The Bloody Door song. I needed a song written about this villain on the Internet. If you watched his video your brain caught fire. I asked Joel if he’d write this song that would go over a montage of people dying…he took to task and wrote this in 1 day.

He also does humorous videos and other strange things that fall out of his head. I enjoy this one.

Now here’s Joel doing some live songs he wrote all by himself. This one is pretty damn cool.

OK, consider your whistle wet. Now check out his website and channel. Subscribe to him!

Joel’s website

Joel’s YouTube Channel

Much love

Travis

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I can’t believe that there are over 260 videos posted for my experimentally bizarre web-series, The Baby Eaters. So many, in fact, that I bet a good portion of the people who follow me haven’t seen some of the “classics” (classics is put in quotes to denote that they are only deemed “classics” by me and are in no way real classics like, It’s A Wonderful Life ). So I have decided that every so often I’ll reach back into the ol’ crypt and pull out an oldy but goody…give it some new life. 

Today’s “classic” is a good example of how we film these nuggets of fun. We turn the camera on and see what happens! Sometimes it’s the mistakes and do-overs that make the best videos. Enjoy the epic pirate goodness of, Strawberry Vanilla Island, Ho!

Much love

Travis

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My independent web series, The Receptionist, seems to be the only artistic thing I do which occasionally puts a little scratch in my wallet. Mostly, I believe, this is because I do it alone and my budgets never reach any higher than $0.00. With no one to pay back I am the sole beneficiary of all the George Washington’s that come my way due to my construction paper world. Oh, how lovely it is to pay my phone bill every so often!

My first paid gig as The Receptionist was nearly 3 years ago when I had just started my channel on YouTube. Back then there weren’t as many personalities and people clawing tooth and nail to be popular. It was much easier to build an audience and a small group of devoted people had found me. An advertising representative recognized my tiny audience and paper-laced madness and contacted me and a few others to create online promo’s for their new movie, Let’s Go to Prison. We were to basically do a video in our own style with the idea of presenting tips on surviving prison life. I was paid a small fee which gassed up my car and got me a few nights of Taco Bell. Here is that video:

 

After that, my channel continued to grow. It was never a subscriber behemoth or anything, but people were discovering my shorts every day and I was developing a bigger audience. So I kept on making um! Suddenly, I am contacted by Comedy Central. They love The Receptionist and are looking to buy content for their web division (which later became atom.com). The CC bought 5 of my old episodes and commissioned me to create 5 new ones as well. This was a very exciting opportunity as I was making these shorts just like I was before, only now I was being paid. The money was nice and allowed me to pay some bills and move out of my 1 room apartment and into a place with dividing walls and rooms with names like, bedroom and kitchen. Here’s an episode I made specifically for Comedy Central:

The Receptionist: Frog Sucks

When I finished the new 5 for CC, they did not hire me to make any more. They played on T.V. a few times but eventually (like most web content) they were forgotten. I went back to YouTube and brushed the cobwebs off the channel. I never started making these for money, and money wasn’t going to stop me from continuing to make them. Thus began, what I call, The Receptionist: Season 2. I was back in production and the episodes were larger in scope, using more of my world and sprinkling in more music than before. Sure I was now a YouTube partner, but anyone who is a partner can tell you (aside from a few choice and lucky individuals) that the money barely exists. If you’re a partner for the money then you are in big trouble. So, recently YouTube contacted me (and a few other’s) to create a promotional piece for HP. They were holding a contest and needed example videos. They would pay me to make a 1 minute video about anything I wanted. I just had to be creative and not show my face. I was going to be making a new video anyway, so why not get a little greenback for it? I created this video for YouTube and HP:

3 years running, and The Receptionist is still the champ for money brought in from artistic endeavour. Perhaps someday I will be paid to make feature films, but until that black magical day arrives, I will be enjoying the process of the construction paper short…and if it happens to pay a bill here and there….so be it.

Much love

Travis

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So…I seem to be having a very self-pleasing week. Yesterday I masturbated with my werehand, and today…well…I mean, just watch the damn video.

Ward usually posts our Baby Eater videos and so I never know which one is coming next (which is always very exciting as I usually forget we even made half the ones he posts). This particular week I have to wonder if he watched my episode of The Receptionist and then decided it would be hilarious to also have me suck myself off in the same week, or if is pure coincidence.

Hmmm…tomorrow I post a new Rough Cuts video. Maybe I should keep to theme? Hmmm….

Much love

Travis

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I always enjoy doing musical Receptionist episodes. I’d probably do them more often if I had the time and the musical resources. This is one I have been meaning to make for a long time now, but always got lazy and made something else. Well, I finally got my shit together and here it is. Enjoy the hell out of it!

Much love
Travis

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This is what happens when you play with shit that falls from outer space. They’ve been warning us since the 50’s but there is always some asshole who just has to get in there and poke around.

For those unaware, those other two jerks are the guys I collaborate with on the darkly experimental, homoerotic straight-boy comedy web series, The Baby Eaters. We currently post a new video every Monday and Thursday for your twisted and random delight. This series has always been an amazingly cathartic experience for me. After a long week of pulling my hair out as a starving artist, it’s pure joy to get together with two of my best friends, Ward Roberts and Devin Barry, and simply play (and record it) . The Baby Eaters is the perfect way to re-tap into my childhood way of life, throwing down all my guards and just having a damn good time. The results are yours to enjoy.

Much love
Travis

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I consider myself very fortunate to be surrounded by talented friends. They are often great sources of inspiration and allow me the pleasure to promote them. I met Riki Lindhome about seven years ago when she came to a party we threw out our house (the very same party in which some drunk asshole peed in my guitar). She was brand spanking new to Los Angeles and had come out here to be an actress. We got to talking and discovered she lived across the street from us. We quickly became friends and I even ended up casting her in my very first short film…a film that no one will ever see due to its mind-numbing badness (no fault of hers, all fault of mine…yikes!).

Riki went on to play some pretty great roles in some pretty great flicks. She was Hillary Swank’s sister in Million Dollar Baby, The evil nurse in Changeling and bad girl, Sadie in The Last House on the Left .  She’s done plenty more of the whole acting thing, but I’m actually here to promote her band/musical duo. Cause they rock. And are hilarious.

Garfunkel & Oats is best described by me as two girls armed with guitars, keyboards, ukuleles, keytars, and flutes, sing funny songs that can be  heartfelt, topical or of-the-wall. Playing Oates, to Riki’s Garfunkel is Kate Micucci who you might best recognize for her role on Scrubs. Together they have been charming live audience all around the Los Angeles area as well as maintaining a growing YouTube channel where they post songs and music videos. I highly recommend checking out their website for music and show dates: Garfunkel & Oats, as well as their youtube page for videos: rikilind. The video I have posted here is one of my favorite songs from them. Enjoy!

Much love 

Travis

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This episode was loosely inspired by the fact that I feel like I’ve been at my job for long enough that calling it “Hell” is more than appropriate. Each new day is like a knife twisting under my ribs. That being said, recently I have been able to look around at all the positive things in my world. There are others out there suffering far worse than this whining artist.  I have a lot of great things going on at the moment and I want to stop taking them for granted. After all, my pen pal from Hell has it much much worse.

Much love

Travis

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It finally happened. The day I have been dreading since I started this whack-crazed project I call The Receptionist. Tucked away in a tiny office somewhere in Hollywood, I have been making construction paper short films on and off for almost three years now. In that time I am occasionally (very rarely) recognized in public. For the few times this has happened it has always been very pleasant and I have enjoyed the attention. It’s a good feeling to see people who enjoy your work face to face. No longer are they simply screen names with kind words, but are flesh and blood and excited to see you. So yeah, that’s a nice feeling. Then it all went wrong.

It was Monday, June 1st. I was sitting at work behind my desk, as I always do, waiting patiently for the phone to ring (thus is my job as a receptionist). Suddenly, a young man enters the front doors and asks me if there is a restroom on this floor. I give him the information he requires, directing him to the other side of the courtyard where the throne of man resides. He thanks me and is about to leave when suddenly he stops. He takes a good long look at me and then says, “You’re The Receptionist.” Time froze. I was not prepared for this and for a moment I forgot where I was and who I was. “Yes.” I said, not knowing what else to say. He proceeded to tell me that he was turned on to my videos by a friend of his and that he saw me making out with a bull made of paper…so he definitely had the right guy. After that, he asked if he could take my picture using his camera phone. I agreed and smiled. SNAP! The picture was taken, but I was still caught in the bizarre headlights of surprise. We chatted for a few minutes about my work and what he did (he was a production assistant for a very popular show and was dropping something off to one of the upstairs offices). He was very nice. Cool guy and all. So why was this an issue for me?

After he had gone I thought about the experience. The reason I felt so awkward during the entire exchange was not because he had recognized me, but instead where he had recognized me. I was at work. Behind my desk. my RECEPTION desk! I’ve never made it a secret that I am actually a  receptionist. The whole origins of my web series stems from being a receptionist. My gimmick has always been that I make the videos at work, during business hours. I have always taken a small amount of pride in this. I developed a small fan base for the show and answered questions about my work…but then, one day, someone finds me in my habitat! A pair of eyes spies me working not as a happy-go-lucky, paper adventure man, but as an honest to god, “please hold while I transfer your call”, receptionist. A job that I have had for far to long. Suddenly I felt the way I dread feeling…like a receptionist. Like a trained monkey who answers other peoples phone calls for a living. At that moment it didn’t matter that I had made three feature films or a number of web shows. What the hell did I have to show for all my hard work and creativity? I had a phone and a desk. I had a bi-weekly paycheck that barely covered my bills. I had bags under my eyes and a hat to hide my unwashed hair.  And so the exchange, for me, was different than the others. It was more honest. Less rock star. It was sobering.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not throwing a pity party for myself. I am very happy with the movies I have made. I love the Receptionist series. I am thankful for the success I have had in my creative career. All I am expressing is a strange moment I had when I was recognized for my art at my day job. It was a surreal exchange for me, an hopefully a kick in the ass to get out from behind this damn desk.

Grahm (Gram?), if you ever read this, I’d love to see that picture. I bet it’s hilarious.

Visit The Receptionist here.

Much love
Travis

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