Amy Johnson and Brandon Follett are the creative team behind Earthworm Envy films and omelet reviews. Their films are short travel documentaries that are one to seven minutes in length and highlight everyday people and places from a unique perspective. Their omelet reviews are primarily social and political commentary including travel tidbits and at least some mention of an omelet.

They met at the Neurolux, which is the best live music venue in Boise and where Brandon worked occasionally as doorman and karaoke deejay, in addition to his corporate job. Fascinated by languages and cultures, Amy worked at an ESL program, and she recruited Brandon as a volunteer English tutor. They joined together in their love of travel and adventure, going camping and hot springing, and exploring rural Idaho while saving for overseas travel. In April 2006, they began making short films and writing omelet reviews, and in June 2006, they left their hometown of Boise, Idaho to pursue travel writing and filmmaking.

For his involvement in a wide variety of creative projects spanning poetry, photography, stand-up comedy, acting, music, and documentary filmmaking, Brandon Follett has been called the twenty-first century’s answer to the Renaissance Man. His body of work is “The Mental Foreplay Experience,” and you can experience it yourself at www.brandonfollett.com. His creative endeavors are so unique that perhaps the best way to describe his art is under the umbrella of “Follettry.”

In 2004, Brandon found bliss when he quit his corporate job to work at the independently-owned Flying M Coffee House in downtown Boise, since he finds more satisfaction in stimulating conversation and a rotating art display than a 401K. Just a year into his barista career, Brandon was named “Boise’s Best Barista” in Boise Weekly’s Best of Boise 2005, for the following reason: “How is it possible that the best barista is also the best karaoke guy/poet/poster-child for emo fashion? Brandon Follett is all of these things, and you can catch his coffee making skills at the Flying M Coffee House. Where other baristas tend to be surly, snotty or just crappy at pulling shots, Brandon is so smooth he looks like he’s on skates behind the counter. He also moonlights at Neurolux, and we’re pretty sure he’s the only karaoke maestro to a take a call on his cell phone in the middle of setting up our own Amy Atkins’ homage to Patsy Kline. And his poetry is one spicy meatball. Brandon, if you’re reading this, run for Governor…please.”

In addition to Brandon Follett’s live performances and latte art, he has written and published many poems, including four poetry chapbooks in the Mental Foreplay for the Classics series. In 2002, Wolf Peach Press published a hand-bound chapbook of Follett’s poetry, subtitled “Always Remember when the Heart’s Cold the Bladder is Full of Warmth.”

Also in the Mental Foreplay for the Classics series, Follett’s latest chapbook is subtitled “A Brief Memoir of Veronica.” Travis Catsull of Haggard and Halloo Publications offers the following review: “Simply put, we could use more poetry like this. Brandon succeeds in delivering sexy and utterly clever poems that arouse the mind, bend the heart and entertain with unique and confident humor. A Brief Memoir of Veronica is a dynamic (and eventually sad) story told thru a series of wit and wander. A certain adventure for lovers of poetry and those who’ve never read a poem in their life.”

Inspired by Brandon’s do-it-yourself attitude, Amy self-published her first chapbook in 2006. “Producto Peruano: Made in Peru” is a clever combination of black-and-white photographs, snippets of travel journal thoughts, and guidebook-style recommendations for fellow travelers to Lima and Cusco, Peru.

Contact us at earthwormenvy@yahoo.com