Best job in the world application

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So one day I received an email from a good friend that suggested I enter a contest on an Australian website advertising the self-proclaimed "Best Job in the World". I thought it looked cool but it seemed a bit far-fetched. Besides, I pretty much already have that job making video games near the beach. 😊 Then I received 2 MORE emails sent from different friends suggesting the same thing. OK, maybe I will look into this a bit more. The job will award the winner a 6 month well paid "job" as the caretaker of an australian island on the Great Barrier Reef. Not bad. The method for application was creating a 1-minute video describing why you are the best candidate for the job. That sounded fun but I was in the middle of finishing a video game. There was no way I could brainstorm, organize, shoot and edit a unique video in my "spare time".

Check out my video and the job website here:

Australia Job Website

My Application Video

One late night over dinner with my relatively new friend at the time Kristi, we started thinking about ideas for the video. We came to the conclusion that whatever it was, it had to be extreme. Then we decided that it had to start RIGHT NOW by driving to Big Bear Mountain for some snow-boarding. Who cares that it was 2am, we had no lodging, no concept for the video and I barely knew how to snowboard. Somehow, this was gonna rule. We threw some snow gear and the camera into the car and blasted out of LA. We were tired but we knew we needed an idea. Winging it on the mountain could be fun but it would not likely yield the High Concept video that we needed to win this contest. We scribbled dialogue and shot ideas furiously as sunrise approached. They were clever and funny but none of them seemed right. Then it occurred to us. I should just scream at the top of my lungs and let the video do the talking. Simple. Extreme. Fun.

We arrived at the mountain around 4am and realized that this is a sleepy mountain town. Nothing was moving. Nobody was home. It was cold and dark. WAIT! What does that little sign say in that window. We called a random phone number of a random cabin and crossed our fingers.

"....uhh...hello?"
"Yes, I would like to rent a cabin for tonight"
".....its 4am....."
"Yes, it is"
"....well, you know check out is at 11am right?"
"Yes, we will be gone by 8"
"....alright man, there is a key in the mailbox. I will give it to you for 1/3 of the cost since it is so late".

KA-BLAMO! A quick nap and we rode to the top of the mountain with our tremendous screaming concept ready for action. It turns out that looking cool while snowboarding is hard...especially when you suck at snowboarding. It also turns out that screaming like a lunatic on a mountain draws some curious stares. Some people even screamed back! Kristi did a great job of finding cool angles and being patient with my spills and lame speed. We captured as much as possible and drove home.

The footage was pretty decent so we decided to push the concept to the next level. Lets do something extreme Every Weekend until the deadline! And that is exactly what we did . We climbed giant boulders at sunrise in Joshua Tree National park, danced like maniacs around a fire on the beach, jumped off a cliff with a para-glider, went sea-cave kayaking, wake-boarding, scuba diving and host of other shots....all in 4 week period. Insane! It turns out doing awesome shit is not that hard...even when you are super busy. With just a bit of organization and enthusiasm, you can unlock almost any adventure. All of my wonderful friends who came along made it truly fun and were very supportive of my ridiculous screaming in beautiful public places. Thanks a million times over!

So I didn't get the job. The finalists and winners had much more to talk about other than "Ahhhhhhhhhh!". Perhaps their "E Travel Channel" style is more appropriate for what Australia was looking for. The guy who won is actually a very extreme dude. He has made a life out of doing crazy things so he probably is more qualified than me. Regardless, I think the video is pretty cool. The process of making it alone was well worth it. I encourage everyone to be extreme and to leave at 2am for anything.

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Comments

[Kristi]

next time we should leave at 4 am! Hurray for spontaneous adventure~