As a college student and eventual human person, there are a lot of fun things I could be doing with my youth. I can go out and meet pretty women or go on adventures filled with debauchery and spectacle. But, in the age of smartphones and attention spans that last only 8 seconds, anything past me getting up off the bed, grabbing my keys and wallet, putting my shoes on and going out the door, I've already lost interest. Doing things takes too much time. But in the magical world of the internet, you can go on any adventure you want through the power of Netflix.
As of late, I have been watching two television shows primarily (Not The Leftovers, although here's a clip) and that is Netflix's Love and my DVD set of Firefly.
The final season of Love popped up on Netflix on March 9th, I had/have a viewing commitment for this show and was unable to properly "binge" it, but have managed to watch through half the season. The show is funny and mushy, taking a look at relationships in the modern era and how two strangers can become close knitted love birds (at least as far as I am.) The show can seem very inside baseball with its California set location following behinds the scenes of a pulpy CW type show and the goings on at a broadcast radio station (where the main leads, Gus and Mickey, work respectively.) Despite this, the show can be oddly sweet and painstakingly awkward as you watch the two love birds try to work it out.
In my interim of watching Love due to viewing partner complications, I have revisited a show that defined the second (or third depending on how you look at life and time) "phase" of my life. That show is Firefly. Firefly is a one season wonder, only lasting 14 episodes (which is pretty good considering only having one season to establish a tone) and a movie called Serenity. It follows a crew in space, wondering aimlessly through the black, taking up quick crime to keep afloat. The show hit a tone that was unique at the time and also the baby of Joss Whedon, of Buffy and Angel fame. I started rewatching the show just out of an urge to rewatch the series finale Objects in Space. In it, a mysterious man takes out the entire crew one by one whilst spouting off philosophical questions. This is what ushered me into a head space where The Leftovers would seem more at home, and, for that, I am eternally grateful.
The extent of my knowledge outside film and entertainment news (or possible world catastrophe) ventures no further than the top trending videos on YouTube. If something is happening in the world like a global catastrophe, "lets eat something inedible" challenge, or cute cat videos, it generally ends up on the top trending list, keeping me updated enough to things outside of my interest.
Over the last couple months, I have been capturing glimpses of a YouTube channel focused on a young spider named Lucas. The channel is promptly named Lucas the Spider. There were about 2 videos at the time and the third ended up in the Top 10 Trending. The video was only 31 seconds so I thought "Why not?" The video was called "Captured" and starts out with the title card with a small fuzzy spider with huge eyes and fuzzy hair that lets out a small childlike giggle. From there the video starts and the spider is in an ultra-realistic setting and the spider itself is CGI. (Though it is unclear to me if the setting was CGI or not and is only complicated in watching other videos on the channel.) The spider, Lucas, then recounts a story of how a wine glass was cupped on top of him. As he mentions his captor, a human like figure is seen in the reflection of the glass. As the figure walks away, Lucas exclaims its his time to escape and pushes the wine glass over an edge just enough for him to jump out.
The animation was neat, the spider was cute, and I watched the other two videos on the channel at the time. I didn't think much of it, it was only barely 2 minutes of any given day, but I did start seeing him pop up on my twitter and other social media. It wasn't a lot, but you'd see one or two people mention it every week or so.
Flash forward to today, and I see another Lucas the Spider video in the top trending. It was #35, granted it's been a busy week with the Oscars going and such. I mention this small internet phenomenon only based on the hunch that Lucas the Spider might end up something bigger in the not so distant future.
Plenty of effects artists get bigger movie jobs because of what they did online. Fede Alvarez directed and animated a film called Panic Attack! which garnered attention from director Sam Raimi (my fave) and got him the job to direct the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. Or the film Pixels which was based on an idea done by French short film director Patrick Jean.
The animator of Lucas the Spider is Joshua Slice who worked on big budget animated films such as Epic and Zootopia. Splice asked his nephew to voice the spider. Due to some of the love he was getting on social media platforms, he decided to make more. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas the Spider became the face of a children's television show or movie in the years to come.
More on Lucas the Spider: Story 1, Story 2
