I am returning from a partly self-imposed, partly circumstantial hiatus. In this time, I toured the masterpieces of Paris and Rome, I reviled in the stillness of rural Eastern Europe, and I started my first semester of college.

Over the summer, I had planned to update my travels in the form of podcasts and blog entries, but my laptop (which acts as my sole broadcast platform) got stolen in a crowded train station. The trip turned into much more of a vacation without the pressures of creativity. I realized that much of my free time with my laptop was focused on production of some sort, and the theft allowed me to take a break and drink my life slowly and thoroughly.

Since I returned, brimming with new experiences, thoughts, and writings,  I redesigned and rebranded my studio – Orange Marble Studio became Cique Studios. The name change comes with a desire to create a unique identity, something that has not been done before. This idea textually presents itself in the new studio name: Cique (pronounced “seek”) does not mean anything, allowing me to bring my own meaning to the word.

But the idea of bringing a unique meaning must extend beyond the branding. I feel as if a studio (or any organization) functions best by doing something fundamentally different then others.

The problem is Cique Studios does not do anything fundamentally different. In many ways it is unique: it utilizes open source to the fullest, distributes content online for free, and is, so far, simply an extension of one person. None of these factors necessarily lend themselves to better movies.

Better movies is the ultimate goal, and of course there is no systematic way to achieve this. But I hope that the next few years I will discover a unique niche where I can truly bring something new and exciting.