On My Radar: Andrew Lane

What’s the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?

I thought DeepSteaks, for SteakUmm, was cool. The AI was interesting and scary. The production logistics of turning around an augmented video so quickly had to be hard and I love that type of stuff. Fun fact, as a six-year-old, I ate a lot of SteakUmm.

What website(s) do you use most regularly?

There is some real untapped comedy in Yelp and product reviews. When I’m not driving my wife crazy by reading those out loud, I’m a sucker for Reddit. There’s a sub on just about everything, and they have such varied and insightful comments. Also, Wikipedia. I can go pretty far down a Wiki-hole while pretending to research material.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?

It’s not a piece of tech, but an app; What3Words. I was in the UK recently and everyone used it. They divided the entire globe into three-meter by three-meter squares and gave each square a unique three-word combination. Park the grip truck at ///hardly.deflection.flannel, or crafty is at ///wacky.older.burn. It’s more accurate than an address and it’s harder to make mistakes by transposing GPS coordinates. It’s especially helpful when a location has multiple entrances. I don’t know why we aren’t using it in the US. It takes the guesswork out of directions.  

What product could you not live without?

Wired headphones, specifically Bose SoundSport headphones. I hate wireless earbuds. Just one more battery to charge and they are extremely lose-able (I made up that word). The Bose has decent sound for listening to music and a microphone for phone calls They are discontinued, so I buy them refurbished off of eBay. I’m not a Luddite; I just like what I like.

What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?

American Fiction. It checked a lot of boxes for me, and I notice different things upon rewatches. Jeffrey Wright is great in it, as usual. And John Ortiz is doing John Ortiz things. It also influenced me to drink a lot more Chenin Blanc. 

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Don’t say Armageddon. Don’t say Armageddon. Don’t say Armageddon. Don’t say Armageddon. Don’t say Armageddon. I’m gonna go with Armageddon. It’s one of those movies that, if it’s on, I must watch it. I’ve even caught myself watching it on Telemundo before. I know all the dialogue, so it doesn’t matter what language it’s in. Other than the Aerosmith song in it, it is a perfect movie in my eyes.

What’s your preferred social media platform?

Oddly, not Reddit. I’d say Instagram. I mostly follow rappers from Houston, and old NBA players. That typically provides the dopamine hits I need to get me through the day. It’s also a good way to find new DP/gaffer/production designer talent.

What’s your favourite TV show?

East Bound & Down felt synthetically grown in a lab specifically just for me and my tastes. I also like 60 Minutes.

What’s your favourite podcast?

I’m not a big podcast person. If I had the choice, I’d rather listen to music. I did enjoy Coconut Radio, on SiriusXM back when it was on, though; it was sort of a podcast/playlist hybrid. Jason Schwartzman curated the music and gave insight into his picks. He did a fun one where he was a guest on his own show, and it was pretty clever.

What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?

I went to the Museum of Neon in Warsaw on a job a little while back. That was cool from a technology-meets-art-meets-commerce perspective, through a political science lens.

If you could only listen to one music artist from now on, who would it be?

I feel like, for this to be the case, something really, really bad must have happened. Like I’ve been committed to a psych ward or some sort of a post-apocalyptic situation. So, I’ll go with The Flaming Lips. They have a vast library and it would make for an interesting soundtrack to either of those situations.