A couple years ago, a friend in Pittsburgh called me and said he found a great deal on a couple old projectors — the kind that my elementary school teachers would play those awesome filmstrips through. “Ten bucks,” he said. “Do you want me to pick you up one?”

Having no idea what I would do with a projector, I said, “Sure, get me one.”

It sat on the shelf for a year or so. Then one day as I was working on my one-man zombie short movie, I realized that the projector would make one incredible spotlight. And that’s what I’ve been using it for ever since — a great deal for ten bucks.