The Ancient Art of the Spit Take

Like the best oral traditions, it’s a gift handed down from one generation to the next.  I remember fondly sitting upon Grandpa’s knee while he spat prune juice into my eyes after I told him a really good knock-knock joke

After the jump find out just what the hell I’m talking about.  And find out how a few clicks of the mouse can help some impoverished cinematic auteurs put berets and cigarettes on the table.

The Contest

As I’ve written before, Goose, myself, and several other idiots are part of The Nectar of the Gods.  We work on short films to entertain ourselves, and on occasion, others.  Most of our work has been part of film challenges where you have a weekend to make a short movie.  Some of those have been quite successful, with our films won numerous awards and been screened at festivals in New York City and San Jose.

But that pales in comparison to the 4 large (i.e. $4000 American) we won recently for our efforts shilling delicious roast beef via YouTube video. Here’s what happens when you combine a taxidermied bear (obtained in a Craig’s List heist) with acting best described as “Malfunctioning Disney animatronic figure”:

And here’s a great shot of the ceremony where we were bestowed the cash.

From left: Carl T. Bear, Goose, myself, and Shane.  Not pictured: Evan, our collective boners for actually winning an oversized novelty check.

We were flush with success, hypnotized by the dollar signs in our eyes, and full to overflowing with inspiration in our loins.  So we did what any overreaching creative group would do...

We moved on to boxed wine.

The good people at Black Box Wine are running an internet video contest with the theme entitled “You Got Boxed”.  As in, “Hey asshole, you know that fancy wine you’re sipping and spitting out and praising because you’re a pretentious douchebag?  Well, it came from a box.  Now who’s the asshole?  You, that’s who.”

We took that humble seed of an idea and rained down our own twisted take on it and covered it in the dirt of genius.  Before I delve farther into the unique nature of the spit take, let’s take care of the important stuff.

 

Viewing and Voting

You can view our masterpiece by going HERE. 

To vote for it, you must first register.

You may vote once per day.  Let's use that.  Daily.

Any and all votes you can provide would be greatly appreciated.  THANKS!

And if you’re curious about following future efforts and possibly spitting on someone (on film), you can become a fan of The Nectar of the Gods on Facebook.

 

Catharsis

So we knew the spit take scenes would be funny.  But as it turned out, I wildly underestimated how much fun it would be to participate and to observe.

From the moment that  first drop of wine left the first mouth and landed on the first lapel, we were physically doubled over with laughter. 

After a while, the process crossed an imaginary line between humor and something deeper, something more cathartic.  We were being told that it was not just OK, not just encouraged, but MANDATORY, that you spit wine on close friends and strangers dressed in fancy clothes.  “Thrift-store fancy” was how I described it to our repertory company, but ridiculous fancy is still fancy.

Who knew that breaking a societal taboo we’re taught from early on could be this liberating? 

It’s possible I’m reading too much into this.  But it felt like there was something more than mere jocularity taking place.

 

Behind the Scenes

Here’s my favorite behind-the-scenes video where we work with some folks who are long on style and short on the ability to keep a straight face when phrases like “sexy baked potato” are thrown around.  You can find other videos here.

 

And here are a few of my favorite pictures.  You can see more pictures from myself, Goose, and The Baron.  You may need to be Facebook friends with the appropriate person to see them.