Almost literally...nothing to speak of. Lots of writing but I can't talk about that. I have a stage audition coming up but I won't talk about that. Can't jinx it.

I'm just stopping in to say I just watched AvP:R and wtf, mate? Argh! Why do movies want to hurt me so? It wasn't awful. It certainly wasn't great. It was nothing more than a good popcorn movie, meant to watch for eye candy alone and nothing like plot or character really matter. That's fine. I don't care that you're bastardizing the Alien franchise. Only some of my favorite movies ever. (Poll: Alien or Aliens? I know what I'd vote.)

But don't...ever...try to alter the plotline or infringe in any way on the original movies. And that's what those bastards did in the last line of the movie. I was willing to forgive everything else, but not this.

Random: Just watched Heat with Michael Mann's commentary. Amazing. This beautiful movie and he almost never mentions anything other than character and the choices made by the actors. The flipside is John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. He describes lighting and lenses til your head hurts. Both are interesting. Heat for writing and acting, ItMoM for techie stuff.

Go watch Dexter.

Two things

Of all the shows I addict myself to, Dexter has filled me with the most joy. Check it out.

I'm sorry folks. I've watched as much as I can. I don't like Dario Argento movies. If a purple and orange light is all he's got, I'm out.

Ok, ok, I didn't forget about you...

...I just haven't been thinking about you. I've been doing so much other thinking that some days the idea of typing events of my life into this blog is just daunting. So I haven't done it.

The unfortunate side of effect of lazy blogging is all the interesting things I've done since my last substantial entry is no longer fresh in my mind, so you don't really get much in the way of witty or entertaining. I'll do my best...

Wait, first, coffee...

...okay. (Aaahhhh.) First, that last short I did for Emerson was an absolute one sided blast. Picture this, if you will. We're doing a film about dealing with the devil. The Friday night after Halloween. In the (I shit you not) Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The next night we're shooting in the back alley of a haunted theater. You don't need to conjure up anything as an actor when you've got mood you can hang a hat on. The other actors were great, and great to work with. The crew that I knew were really excited to see me, and I them. These students were shooting two movies this weekend. They'd shoot ours all night then the other one all day. Their energy is just so...infectious. I always find myself wrapped at three in the morning still wanting to be there.

The director for this short was nothing short of awesome. I'm sure most of us have worked with all kinds of directors, from tyrants to mice. Some we've liked, others we haven't. Hopefully we've learned something from every one. This one, I say without doubt, is a truly wonderful director already. That's right Tina Densmore, I'm calling you out! Barely past the drinking age and she's got the right mix of confidence in herself and ability to let the actors (and crew) add to the project. When I originally got the script I had some thoughts about my character, certain ways I wanted to play it that would make it more original. Within boundaries, she left me free to explore different things. She let actors determine what worked best for them and would shoot to capture those moments we would find. At the same time, she was very clear on when to reign things in, and did so without being overly authoritative. Her crew was awesome, and you could tell they loved working for her. She was a mother hen to everyone. I never saw a crew member just walk away because they were frustrated, something I thought was pretty much a given on every student shoot I've done (and more than a few non-student films). If this business pays any attention to talent and ability, she will have a long career ahead of her.

There she is, busted finger and all. This is inside the theater, which has been mostly torn down inside.

I love getting these director-doing-directory-things pictures. I don't know where the pictures are, but I posed her with her crew pointing at something a couple times. All the good director candids they're pointing at something. In this case, it was too cold for bare flesh, hence the hands in pockets.

Other than that, not a ton happening lately in the outside world. I've been working on a script collaboration so I'm trying to kick that out as soon as I can. Those of you who might have gone over to Triggerstreet and read the short story I posted might be pleased to know that it still sits on the Daily Top Ten, which is pretty cool considering I didn't proof read it for plot holes at all. I was so nervous I finished it and fired it off without thinking. The reviews were good for finding out where I went wrong, and now I have the bug to write more prose.

I've been kind of itching to get on a stage again, but that's always such an iffy process for me. Rules I've learned about doing theater:

1) Only do shows you know. Or with a director you like to work with or a cast you like. Nothing is worse than accepting a part in a show you ultimately hate. South Pacific taught me that the hard way.

2) Don't do shows with people you've burned bridges with. Unfortunately, I have this habit sometimes. The more I watch Gordon Ramsey I realize he's a prick because he's a perfectionist, and he can't stand non-perfectionists. While I know I'm nowhere near his league of prickishness or perfectionism, I come across this way. I need to shut my mouth more often than not.

3) Schedule. This is the huge thing for me. My work doesn't allow me everyone else's Monday to Friday business hours. I've learned (the hard way) to be very upfront and specific at auditions. It's not enough to say, "Well, I have a weird schedule." Now on audition sheets I put up all my specific days from audition to wrap. This has cost me parts in the past year. In fact, it's kept me from doing any theater at all since The Crucible. But that show taught me more than any to leave nothing to chance there, which leads me to the final...

4) Reward/Effort ratio. It's gotta be pretty close nowadays. If it's something I believe in, something I want I'll move my schedule, call in favors, lose sleep and work my ass off to get it done. In the beginning I need to have the feeling that by the end I'll have no regrets.

Later.

Before the Next Big Post...

...here's a small one. Go to triggerstreet.com and register a profile. In the short story section you might find a story named Trauma. It's probably written by a guy named krtshadow. He might want you to read it. He might want you to review it.

He might be me.

Just might.

Mr. Karyhead wins....

...a big boatload of internet sprinkles.

(Seriously, there was no REAL prize, other than my respect, which will stand you for a few drinks in my neck, just get north, boy.)

However Mr. Disc Champion, you succeeded where others failed, and your knowledge of the pop culture that pertains to me gives you mad ups in my book. Just get up to Sox country and you'll know how we treat friends.

Everyone else, go buy Tenacious D's album RIGHT NOW. I don't know if we can relate without it.

Brain Aneurysm!!

So you all know, the show went very well. Better than well, we had a lot of fun, and our audience seemed to have a good time too.

All day I'd been chugging down tea to help my voice. I'm pretty much a complete coffee person, so the tea was a welcome soother to my throat. It wasn't until an hour before the show when I wondered why I was so freaked out, pacing, sweating, heart racingly freaked out, that I realized said tea was caffeinated. I must have had twelve gallons of the stuff through the day. Good times.

My partner and I were both terribly nervous beforehand, but we settled in fairly quick. Hammerbone likes to do a min-set, then have their guests do their set, then they finish off the night. It's a nice way to do things, imho. Usually openers play to the four or five people who made the mistake of showing up on time. We had a decently packed bar to play to. We did a bunch of covers with a couple originals tossed in. crowd favorites seemed to be the Violent Femmes "Country Death Song" for mandolin and guitar, the White stripes "Little Ghost", and our totally basic version of The Band's "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down."

The thing I was afraid of most, and this'll sound stupid, was between-song-banter. I'm a pretty funny, entertaining guy, but I can't necessarily do it on command. I hoped desperately we wouldn't be those weird guys on stage. Thankfully, the entertaining muscle was fully flexing that night. It also helped that Game 2 of the World Series was on TV. Asking for a score made it easy to get set up.

Our friends all had good things to say, and the owner actually asked us to come back to do our own show. Weird. This was all for fun.

I've been asked by a couple of the theatrical folk about the difference between doing musicals and being 'in the band.' I'll try to answer here as best I can. It's a different animal from theatre and film in many ways.

First, you have to get the right people together. Whether you're writing your own material or doing covers, the right mix is essential. It's fine to be in a show with someone you can barely stand for three months, being in a band for at least a year can take its' toll on friendships. Usually there isn't someone who's 'the director' that you go to with issues. Someone might be more or less in a leadership role but it's far more egalitarian than any stage show. The right mix of personalities isn't necessarily obvious. It's far deeper than musical ability as well. The most creative band I was ever in we almost all disliked each other, but a new song was written every week, and we were good. Comb through the histroies of your favorite bands and you'll see at least half the best were fueled by their internal strife. If you're just out ot play, you don't want that. Make sure your goals are the same.

Second, practice, kid, practice. Your rehearsals are more important than you think. Any time you get together yoiu need a clear idea of what both you personally and as a group need to get done. Don't be satisfied with less than what you need. The reason my show last week went so well was because my boy J and I have been playing together afte hours for years, and for the week running up to the show we were playing together for two to fours a day. That was for eight songs, most of which we both already knew. If you aren't tight and something goes wrong you're toast. Mostly, for that first minute on stage, when you don't know if you 're gonna fall apart or not.

What I experienced at our sound check was frightening. Being on stage was new. Dealing with mics and sound mixes was weird. I could hear myself through the PA and that's a whole different sound than I was prepared for. Not that it was bad, just that it wasn't how we'd rehearsed, and I'd have to learn mic technique over again in the first song. Fortunately I knew J, who's WAY more talented musically than I am, would be rock solid next to me. So I would have to be for him too. Pretty soon I was having fun being able to hear myself again. So practice, kid, practice.

Third, have fun. It can't be more simple than that. If you aren't having fun at it and it's not your job, why are you doing it? You can have just as much fun playing to four people as you can to four hundred if you approach it with heart.

I think that's it. Any more questions, I'll be glad to attempt an answer.

(Special prize to anyone who knows where the last two entry title came from.)

What T-Shirt do I Wear?! What T-Shirt do I Wear?!

I have a gig tonight. It's been so long since I've said that it's almost funny to hear it coming from me. Nothing special or huge. A friend of mine was asked to be the opener for a pair of fellas we know called Hammerbone. He then asked me to play with him, as we are fond of closng bars then going back to my house to pound on instruments to the same five or six songs over and over. Of course I agreed. So for the past week we've been getting together to hammer out a set list and play together when sober, which is something that never really happened before.

I'm mildly terrifed and somewhat excited. It'll be fun to do it again and it's been a loooong time, more than ten years, since I played out. Fortunately nearly everyone who will be at this show will be people we know, mos tof whom have been to my house after the bar closes to hang out and pound on instruments, so they know what they're getting.

What doesn't help is that I woke up this morning sick, sick, sick. Throat thing, this sucks. Long day of doing nothing and drinking tea.

So if you're in Northamptin tonight and lookin for some hot fun swing by Silent Cal's on Pleasant St after ten. We'll be there. Drink a lot first.

P.S. Go take a listen to Hammerbone on their myspace page. Them boys is top notch.

I love the smell of death in the air

Seriously, I've been writing posts for the last month, just all in my head. Then I get too lazy to TYPE them.

Not a ton of things going on. I was just invited to be in another Emerson project, which is way cool. Cool script, very weird and twisted. So it's totally inline with me.

I finally finished all seven weddings this weekend. So all of you out there know, any invitations to nuptials in the next twelve weeks will be RSVP'd with a letter bomb. Okay, probably a stink bomb, but a bomb nonetheless. (Let's see Homeland Security work on that one.)

I've had a fire lit under me by a musician friend in the last couple weeks, which means I keep trying to lock myself into my 'studio' and hammer away at stuff I've been too afraid to finish. We'll see what happens.

Saw Across the Universe this weekend. Any level of Beatle's fandom will suffice. Amazing movie. Unless of course, you're a purist. Then you might not like it. Happily, I feel no such slavish loyalty to the source material.

Hopefully I'll have more to tell you when I feel more interesting.

It stands for Hates People

I had a laptop. It wasn't great, but it was nice. It allowed me to play some of my older games when I was at work (I'm totally a gaming addict, and I don't care) and I could get the real internet and not the crappy work internet that doesn't let you do anything actually useful. I could write on it, stay connected, you know, it did the things computers do.

Then it died.

I won't go into details. Really, I can't because it makes me physically ill to think about it, but basically HP sucks the big one. Service and Support should really be Shitting on Suckers. Not only was it impossible to understand them, but just when you think the next call can't get any worse, they went and screwed it up more. I took it to someone and they told me what I didn't want but needed to hear: she's dead, Jim. Cost more to fix than replace. that was more than a week ago.

TODAY I get a call from a Customer Service Manager from here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Here's what I basically told him:

"While I do not hold you personally responsible, your company's claims of caring about your customers is completely invalid. If I had to wait this long to reach someone who could understadn me, you've failed. The BBB already has my complaint. I even sucked it up and bought a new HP from Best Buy and guess what. I'm in the parking lot right now to return it. It runs like a donkey, it already locked up twice. I contacted your crappy tech support a week ago and haven't heard from them. Thank you, HP, for sending me back to Dell."

To Best Buy's credit, they didn't even try to charge a restocking fee.

In lighter news, I saw the lady friend's production of Baby yesterday. Amazing. God, that girl's good. I barely even liked the music before yesterday, despite auditioning for it. It's also interesting to be at a cast party for a show you weren't in. I've done this before, but this is the first time I've really thought about this. Every production has its own secret language, sayings and instances that you had to be a part of to understand. I didn't know it, and I miss it.

Lord please, don't give me the theater bug again. I'm barely done with all the $%^&ing weddings.

Also, welcome Stephon to my list of blogs. Just looking at how long you've had it, I'll still be trying to catch up on your blog when I'm having my first bypass.

Wake up with a YARRR!

What did you do for International Talk Like a Pirate Day? I'm stuck working, but you should drink rum and wear an eyepatch. I pitched in by getting everyone else here to talk like a pirate. "Poop deck" jokes never get old.

Some of the movies I've been in are nearing completion. Let the salivating begin. This brings me to...

A Letter to Directors/Filmmakers from the "Talent"

Part III: Post Production

So now my part is pretty much done. Other than some things I'll get to later, you really don't need me anymore, do you? I've said my lines, emoted my...emotions. We've been up ridiculously late hours together, eaten bad food together, joked, argued, and hopefully had a good time.

Please don't forget about me.

To date I can think of one, that's right one, director who has given me or any of a cast updates on their own. As far as it seems to me there are two times a director contacts the cast.

1. We bug them for an update.
2. We're needed to fix something. (Reshoots, ADR)

I'm an understanding guy. The rush and excitement of production is over, it's just you alone with your footage. Sometimes a lot of footage. We all have bills to pay or classes to pass. I didn't do it for money or fame, so there's no real deadline for me. I understand that there are snags. Computer snafus alone can lengthen a project by weeks. I get it.

Email isn't hard.

Once a month, once every six weeks, I don't care. A simple mass email, "Still working on it, haven't forgotten it," will work. If you have to abandon it I'll be disappointed but am I going to put a gun to your head and make you finish it?

On the subject of reshoots and ADR, all I want is some heads up time. Really, after not talking to me for a year don't ask me if I'm free in two days to shoot more stuff two hours away. I might say no on principle alone. (I'm not saying this happened, but I'm not saying it didn't.) What if I grew my hair out? Shaved it? Lost my right arm and half my head in a freak train accident? Got a tattoo of green rhinoceros on my face? These are possibilities. A little lead time is kind of necessary.

So, updates and lead time. What does that leave us with?

COPY

Yeah, that's what I want. I didn't drive all over, stay up through the middle of the night, take vacation days, or get myself sick so you could get an A in your film class. I did it so I could act, and learn from that acting. And maybe, if we all pulled off something nice, have something for a reel. So I need something tangible. It's called a DVD.

(I certainly do hope you got an A though.)

Another thing that would be nice is some kind of feedback. How was I to have around? Would you recommend me? Where can I improve? You might find this hard to believe, but asking me the same questions might be useful to you. Some of us have been doing this for a long time. We might have some insights you can take along with you.

Remember, actors are a strange community. You as the filmmaker/director might feel that the power is in your hands when it comes to casting your next project, but if I'm respected among my peers and feel that you don't hold up your end of the bargain, you might find it hard when you're looking to fill your next roles. I'm just sayin'.

Well, I hope this has all been helpful. Don't take it too hard if you feel I've ranted. I'm not bitter. This whole 'letter' has been a list of things I've wanted to say to different people at different periods. I hope some directors out there read this, and by reading it gain a little insight into how the 'actor creature' works. We're fun, really.

And to the actors out there who read this, feel free to add your thoughts or suggestions to this letter. Write your own, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Come to think of it, directors too.

Now I'm off to hoist the mainsail ye' scurvy skalawags, there be a bit o' a meal waitn fer me.

YAR!!

I promised some description of the actual shooting of this movie, so I'll at least give you some of my thoughts.

First: Boy they spend money like it grows on trees. To think in any other business the kind of delays that they weren't fazed by, that cost them tens of thousands of dollars...it just wouldn't happen. I suppose when you HAVE money it isn't such a big deal.

Second: The 'stars.' They were good. Very good. Better than I've seen from people out here in the wilderness of Western MA? Can't really say so. Makes a fella wonder what would happen if he took the big shot at it.

Third: The PA's and AD's. You know, everything I've heard and read about being an extra made me leery of them. I gotta tell ya, they were AWESOME. They were never less than positive and usually seemed to be having a really good time. I was mentioning this to a PA (or extra wrangler, as I call them in my head) who was over and above cool and he said, "Hey, we're making movies. It's supposed to be a fun job. Us guys want it to be fun for everyone."

There was a band in some of these scenes, and they hired a real band, but the band never actually plays anything. The horn section couldn't...well...not play when they were together all that time. In holding they'd do a name-that-tune of your favorite movie themes and TV shows. Personal favorite: The Simpsons and the Star Wars Cantina. Every now and agian they'd get...into it. Next thing you know there's a full on Cajun horn jam happening. When the doors burst open you expected hellfire and damnation from the AD, but he couldn't get the smile off his face it was so much fun. So he'd clap for them and then plead for quiet. Good times.

I'm not sure how or why but I made, apparently, a favorable impression on the casting director. More work. Sweeeet.

Oh yeah, the shameless hitting on of young ladies reached a peak on the last day. Whoa. Now I wasn't cruising for the ladies on the shoot, but I felt like taking some of these guys by the shoulders and telling them to get some game or get the hell off the field. I would, really I would, tell you some of these openers but I just don't think you'd believe me. (Here's a tip fellas, don't start a come-on with, "I'm not coming on to you but...") Ah, the smell of desperation.

In both an effort to keep posting and an influx of new things to write about, I have stuff to tell you.

My extra experience on this set has been almost completely the opposite of my last one. It's a big movie, with big names, and apparently well run. There are things to do, food to eat, and chairs to sit on. Most importantly, there are people whom I enjoy being around. (Is that the right use of whom?)

Unfortunately for me, Boston is a two hour ride each way. Unless it's between 630 and 900 in the morning. Then it's a three hour drive. I got there late the first day, freaking out. No need, there were still twenty people in line waiting to sign in. Originally I thought this was a smaller scene but there were close to three hundred extras there. My first thought was, fine. It'll be a good experience to learn what these big sets are about. I ran into one acquaintance from a movie I did in November, he's since become SAG. Something of a raise of the eyebrow there. I haven't actually been pursuing the unions yet, but this guy, well, let's say I realized that it wasn't WHAT you know. Turns out there were a sh$tload of SAGers there. (Duh) All of them local. I felt like I'd just pulled my head out of the sand.

I settled in for a long day of sitting around. I had my book and was looking for a place to sit when I walked by a PA who tapped me and said to go out to another spot to learn the next scene. Cooool. Not an upgrade or anything. Just a brief bit that would be an integral part of a scene where they needed a bunch of extras. (Background Artists, as some people put it, all I can do is shake my head) After that a big scene was about to go up and they started pairingus off as couples. That's when I met my first snarky companion. E, as we'll call her, was tons of fun. As completely sarcastic, fun, and funny to be around as the best I've met. She already knew everyone on the crew and some of the producers, and had a bunch of experience in doing these things, so it was great to pick her brain and realize most of my preconceptions were pretty much on the mark. We bonded in our annoyance at the pretentious SAG extras and the camera-whoring, upgrade-seeking non-unioners like myself. Hm, let me explain.

I'm very pro-union, don't get me wrong. My entire professional life I've been a union member. I've been a shop steward. The protections that SAG get are hard earned and well deserved. It's the 'I'm SAG so everything's my way' attitude that kills me. I don't care about the union vs non-union lunch service line, I hate the woman who sits down at the table declaring it was an atrocity she had to wait for an extra half-hour in the SAG line for her salmon. Then there was the guy who demanded that the non-unioners get to the back of the line at the end of the day to turn in wardrobe. The PA's were kind of forced to do it at that point, I guess. Those are the people that make unions look bad. At least they were fun to scorn.

As a non-union actor, I know exactly what it's like to feel like the bottom of the barrel on the shoot. Last called, last taken care of. Everyone wants to join but no one's opening the doors. The fabled 'voucher' as the carrot on the stick we all chase. I know. I want it too. The pay difference alone is astonishing. But haranguing the crew, producers, and casting director aren't the way to get there. I overheard the casting director telling an assistant about a person form the day before who came to him and said, "I was here all day and didn't get used. I sat around until midnight, can I get a voucher?" Puh-leeze. I know I'll eventually get it. Of course it might take some time. I'd rather show myself as a good sport, easy to work with, and understanding when things go wrong. If you want me, come and get me. If you come in the room and you ask if people want to be in the scene, my hand will be raised. I will not harass the AD's to see if I'm (snort) needed.

Which brings me to Meatballs. These are the people you find on every set. The ones who are completely unaware that they are being asses, loud, pretentious or just plain idiots. The ones who shamelessly hit on every one who crosses their path. The ones who don't know how to *shut the fuck up* when you're supposed to be pantomiming clapping, then bark at another extar for dioing something wrong next to him. (I am totally not specifically referring to someone. Not at all. Really. Wouldn't dream of it.) The ones who see you reading your book but will never stop telling you another story. The ones who 'really shouldn't be here, it's beneathe me.'

By the end of day 2 E and I had assembled a group of snarky compadres. We had our corner, or table. If you weren't on of the Snarkalicious Crew and tried to sit at the table, or joing the discussion, you were given something of a brief trial period. Upon the slightest whiff of Meatball the whole crew became silent. No conversation. Not rude, just..nothing. Once we were oviously uninteresting or, more importantly to said Meatball, uninterested in them, they would move on, and we could continue our merry conversation. Our favorite was the difficulty of clear, concise directions. The AD comes in, "I need x people who were in the last scene in this area to get to set." All around the room:

"What did he say?"
"Was that where I was?"
"Was that the scene from today or yesterday?"
"You think I should just go?"
"I'm calling casting."

It reinforces my opinion that while a person might be intelligent, people as a group are pretty f%cking stupid. Despite all this (or because of it, I had lots of fodder to hone my sarcasm on) I really enjoyed the past three days.

Next...I'll talk about the actual shooting.

Oh yeah

How could I forget?

I booked my first professional movie. :)

Yeah, it's as an extra. Yeah, it's nonunion. But I did have to go get fitted for a costume. It's five days of work, on a film with some really big names. :) Not completely sure what I'll be doing, but it sounds as if it should be really interesting.

I'll let you know how it goes.

What's the Time...?

Or...

Children are Sticky

or...

The Fabulous Life of...

or...

Oh my god, it hurts

These were all titles of posts I meant to write. I have some updating to do, if you haven't noticed.

My week in L.A. was a ton of fun, and I should have posted every day, there was always a story to tell. But I was on vacation, and I was watching children, so no dice.

I was out there with my sister and her family. There's a 4 month old nephew ou tthere I have to imprint myself on, so my trip was to L.A. when it's really #$%^in hot. By far, I had the most painless flight out ever, and immediately passed ouot on arrival. This has less to do with fatigue than a jet lag survival mechanism. This time, however, it did not work. I was out of sorts that whole week. I've been back for five days and just now I'm getting my sh!t together. Getting old has its disadvantages. (this is the first half of the reason I chose the title for the post...keep reading)

The children were fun. Well, sort of. Don't get me wrong, they're two handsome boys, one 2 and the other an infant, but Nephew the Elder is in something called the Terrible Twos (I didn't think that was REAL) and Nephew the Younger apparently has more lung in his body than anything else. That kid could CRY. I was heartily impressed. I made sure to push my sister and brother in law out the door as often as possible cause really, how often do they get to go out on their own? You could see the hesitation at times. Can't blame her, we did grow up together. So I said, "What are they gonna do, cry at me? I'm bigger." See, uncles heartstrings are harder to pull. When it was bedtime, it was bedtime. Diapers were fun. By fun I mean not fun at all. Oh, and the trick to quieteing any kid down is the Disney movie about the fish. You can play it ad nauseam and they never get tired. Just like when I was a kid and HBO played Red Dawn five times a day. (Woooolveriiines...)

One night I got to go out with my fabulous friend Sharon. We had dinner in Studio City then hit Katana, where the beautiful people are. She's a ton of fun and a workhorse so if her headshot crosses your desk, use her.

The next day we went to the beach and I found out something about sunblock. Or at least incorrectly applied sunblock. I burned to the color of an angry tomato. This knocked me out for two days, which gave me enough time to burn through the last of the Harry Potter books, so now I can exorcise him from my life, until the next movie comes out. My sister used some of my downtime to leave me and the kids and go to some L.A. blogging parties. She's a blogger of some notoriety here.

My last full day we were just lounging around in the morning when she said her husband had volunteered to take the boys, so we could go out my last night in town. Cool, we said, then thought of almost nothing to do, until she was perusing the paper and said, "Hey, the Beastie Boys are playing tonight. You like them don't you?"

And that, my friends, was what time it was. Time to get...(oh yes)...Ill. Fantastic seats at the Greek Theatre, a wonderful place to see any show. Thousands of thirtysomethings singing along to Paul Revere, the Maestro, Intergalactic Planetary, Sabotage, and all you're favorites. Finally, after all these visits, I had a celebrity-ish sighting in the crowd, but who cared? My sister who likes them but is a bit less versed in Beastie lore had an amazing time watching all the sarcastic coolly apathetic L.A. hipsters go nuts.

And I missed my flight home. Not my fault, but missed nonetheless. To make up for it, the first half was first class. Not a bad deal.

You might be wondering where I've been. Why I haven't posted. You might be wondering if I care anymore. Well, I do. The simple fact is that I've had next to nothing to write about for you dear readers.

The Summer Wedding Marathon of '07 is officially over, thank Croesus. I'm heading out today to L.A. for a week to visit my sister and nephews. Good times. I just wish I was more rested. With work and all the other crap that's been the majority of my summer I would have preferred a cabin in the woods. Hell, a cave would do.

With broad-band access, of course.

Now I am Complete

I saw it. There are no words.

I felt like a kid again. Stupid lines, thin love story (who cares), huge gigantic robots battling in the street. AWESOME.

I'm not gonna say there was nothing wrong with it. It took a little while to get moving, and some of the action sequences were confusing, but who cares? Did I mention GIANT ROBOTS battling in the street?

Some will complain about the changes from the original cartoon. In the court of my opinion those complaints can be directed to the nearest cinderblock wall. It kept the spirit of the cartoon I watched as a kid from the cheesy Autobot lines to the bad post-action one liners. There was enough hilarity in it to keep it kid friendly. (Funny, though, no too many kids in the theater. Mostly 30-35 year olds. Hmmmm.)

And though I normally hate this, they left room for the sequel, which rumor has there will be at least two.

Sweeeeeeet.

Overheard in my local movie theater

"I'm not gonna lie to ya...I am f#cking pumped for this movie"

As heard by my lady friend every time we walk by the huge Transformers display. Said by yours truly. I am taking a big bath in dorkness and feel not one once of shame. I might have referred to it as a Transformers-gasm. When I say might I mean I say it all the time.

I have, at this point. This entire week with nothing to do. One audition for Baby and that's it. No overtime. No filming. Nothing.

So now I can get my house in decent shape, exercise, do some writing, play some music, have drinks with friends. It's gonna be nice. Until something happens, which always does. Liek Garrison Keiller says, "If you find yourself happy, just wait a few minutes."

Oooo, I can get a haircut! Now that Very Small Rooms is done shooting I can chop the mop. It's been way too long for three weeks now.

This past week has been nuts.



Loosely, worked all weekend, with that shoot on Saturday as well. As an update, the director said that she felt she got it (the scene I sucked in) and it'll do the picture justice. I was willing to go back and do it again the next day if she'd asked.



Monday through Wednesday night was shooting Very Small Rooms. During the days I was searching for, then seeing a new chiropractor because my back has been in excruciating pain the last two weeks and I'm too pig-headed to do anything about it. Wednesday was the longest, adn the hottest, but we pulled off some shots that were f^cking brilliant, seriously. These filmmakers are totally self taught. They don't know much of "the lingo" and have none of the jaded hipsterism I hate so much. But their vision and writing speaks for itself, and they've educated themselves well. Very proud of them.



So Wednesday night (Thursday morning) we finish at about 2:30am. Hour drive home. Must be in Fitchburg, MA by 9am for more Zombie University shooting. This was guerilla at its best. The normally quiet street we were shooting on was busy because of construction on some other street. The producer on the director disappeared for ten minutes, came back with a couple of "procured" orange cones and blocked off the section we needed to work in. Ah, the power of orange cones. The officers who drive by didn't even look twice. Unfortunately, I also had to be covered in blood during the noon day sun. Irish men like me don't take the sun too well, so I got burned as well as blood-soaked, but it seemed to have turned out well. Apparently my stock is rising in the zero-to-low budget, super-independent filmmaking community of New England.



Finally, last night, I got some decent sleep. Once this weekend is done I will have five, count 'em FIVE days with nothing on my schedule...



Yet.



A Letter to Directors/Filmmakers from the "Talent"

Part II: Production

So here we are...time to shoot! For me, obviously, this the most exciting time. This is where I put it all on the line. I want to deliver for you, so there's a couple things that'll make it easier for me.

1. A detailed schedule: Where and when should I be? Call times, directions to locations, personal costumes I need, this is great when it's all on one piece of paper if possible. When it comes to call times, I know it's easiest to just call everyone for the day, but if you know you aren't going to use me for at least the first four hours, make my call reasonably within that time frame. (I know you SAG folks get day rates and all that, I'm talking about us free actors out there.) I'll get the message that you respect my time, and I will respect yours as well. If I'm consistently late you should probably speak to me about that, or make my call time earlier. The less time I'm in holding the more fresh I am to perform well for you.

A shot list would be awesome. I almost never get these. Unless it's your directorial decision to keep the actors in the dark to get something you're looking for, the more information we get, the better. Some liaison between the cast and the production crew is awesome as well. Are we delayed? I understand delays completely, just let me know about them. But a shot list lets us know and prepare for where our characters are in the flow of the script, and maybe get in a little rehearsal time before that shot goes up.

Also, let me know before that day if I'm jumping off something, fighting someone, or getting covered in anything gooey, please.

2. A place to sit. I'm often surprised that this is overlooked. Before I get into it let me say this, I am amazed at almost every crew I've ever seen. You folks work tirelessly, around the clock at times, with little to no break. The boundless enthusiasm you show keeps me in check when I get cranky. I also understand that you're working this hard to make my shots look as good as they can, and I love you for it. I get irritated with actors far more often than I do with crews.

That said, give me a place with a chair. There's usually a lot of time where I have nothing to do, and nothing makes it longer than being uncomfortable. I'm not asking for a trailer with a masseuse (although I'd never turn that down) just a little corner to myself.

3. On Shooting and Pre-shot preparation. As actors, we need to find a flow, a way to convey the emotion you're looking for. In theater, more often than not, the flow is easy. We go from beginning to end, the arc is easy. For you, though, the shooting is done out of order, on different days, blah, blah, blah. We might need a minute or two. I know you spent an hour getting the lights right and you want to get the shot and move on, but I want to give you the best shot possible. Give me some advice beforehand. Consider what the shot is. Heavy? Emotional? I find it best in that situation if the crew keeps the mood down. I love to engage in on set tomfoolery as much as anyone, but if you want tears, I can't be cracking up. After the take, let me know how I did. Some of us need one sentence, some of us need a conversation. You'll figure it out quickly.

Oh yeah, what shooting ratio are you looking for? It helps me if I know you're paying out the ass for stock, so you want to use as little as possible. In that case, I'll try to nail it in one or two. If you're swimming in DV tapes and don't care, I'll experiment and give you a bunch of different things to choose from when you're editing.

4. On Divas, Whiners, Complainers, No-Shows, and Just Plain Difficult Actors. Um, beat them? Honestly I try not to be one of these, and I think I'm pretty succesful there. I try to complain only when I'm at the end of my rope, and try to do it in a way that's helpful to all involved. Some of my fellow actors drive me nuts, because they seem to think they're entitled to something just for showing up. The only thing I can think of is to mollify them as best you can, see if you can give them some task to busy them, yes them into submission, kill them with kindness, or send them packing. I'll try to help if I can.

That's all I can think of now. If I got nothin' else stay tuned for Part III: Post

(P.S. Does anybody care if I'm writing this? If not, I won't bore you with my opinions.)

Filming Very Small Rooms has also been a whirlwind tour of differing houses. Some, kinda gross. Others, mind boggling. Todays was mind boggling. Such a big beautiful house. It makes me sad because I think there's no way I can make the kind of money it takes to own and maintain something on that level.

I don't get much after-shoot time to hang out with everybody because it's either way too late or I have to go to work ASAP. One of the actors gave me a really nice complient today. She had watched some of the dailies and said she found me very subtle and believable. Then we had a nice conversation about my approach to acting, theater vs. film, and so on.

Then we went to shoot my character's climax. And I sucked. Sucked sucked sucked.

What, has it been that long already?

I always feel like I'm out here in blog world and just never get around to typing. I'm still keeping up with you all, though.

It's been a crazy, fun, rough couple of weeks. Filming "Very Small Rooms" has taken a lot out of me. A lot of late nights, some unexpected, most at least fun. this is a group that hasn't really been trained by anyone else, so they basically made up their own terms for things. At least they learned well.

Two of my best friends are getting married this summer. One more this fall. One of them we took care of two weeks ago. Great fun and almost a mini-vacation.

My shooting schedule meant I could attend precisely none of the Boston International Film Festival where December 31 is playing. That link finally gets you to a trailer.

I thought the next few days would bring some relaxation. Not so much. There's been so much crap going on.

It lives

Hey.

Long time, huh?

I know.

I never write, I never call. I'm a bad friend, blog.

There hasn't been much of note going on through May. Trying to work a ton, because I'm poor, and have a zillion weddings that I might have already complained about already. (But I'm REALLY excited for them! Good people, but all at once!?)

This week started filming of Very Small Rooms. Good people with a wickedly good sense of humor. Should be a good month.

Been working on a series of shorts with a friend. We'll be preproducing through June and most likely July. We hope they'll do good things.

Other than that, everyone, not much else.

But this is something I've been thinking about for a while. Hopefully this will get me to write more often. Time will tell.

A Letter to Directors/Filmmakers from the "Talent"
Note: This is for first-time, low-no budget, and student directors and filmmakers, based on several experiences I've had in the past few years.

Part I: Casting and Rehearsal
First, thank you for having me at your casting. I'm sure you're very excited about your project, and I'd like to join your enthusiasm. This should be easy to tell since I must have found out about your audition and contacted you in some way. Maybe you've seen my headshot and resume. Maybe I walked in off the street. Either way, I'm here, so that says something, right?

Now I know different directors like to audition in different ways. Some have sent me the entire script to read and asked me to choose a role I feel would be appropriate. Personally, I favor this approach. Having read the script beforehand I can know what kind of project I'm putting myself up for, and what I where I might best fit. Sometimes I'll get a few pages highlighting dofferent characters. Sometimes I'm asked for a monologue, sometimes it's a purely cold read. I'm not against any of these, sometimes they're even fun. If you like what you see, I'd sure like to hear that. Go ahead, ask me to do it again. Ask me to give you a different feel. Direct me, if you'd like. I want to show you what I'm capable of. Let's shoot the breeze for a minute if time allows. We can get used to each other, maybe even get a feel for how well we'd work together. But please, don't say something like, "you almost definitely have the part." Then I know someone will walk in after me and do a better job. You don't have to be mean if you didn't like the audition. A polite thank you is fine.

Now let's say I had a grrrrreat audition. We all clicked, I read well, I took direction, we had a good talk. Or even a decent audition. Or a horrible one. You know what I'm gonna do when I get home? Expect to hear from you. You've probably given me at least a rough idea of your production schedule, so I'm going to eye my calendar and try not to put anything in those days. That anything could be more hours at the day job, time with my family or friends, another acting gig. But I got to you first so I think it's only polite to wait to hear from you. I gotta tell ya, it stinks when I hear nothing at all. Even auditions I've felt badly about, it's be nice to get a call. Email is perfect if you feel uncomfortable telling someone they didn't get it. It can be as simple as, "thank you for auditioning, we couldn't find anything for you." You could even say why you didn't cast me if you feel it will help me as an actor. Some of us would like constructive advice. Either way, those days on my calendar can now open up, and I won't feel silly for holding them right up to the end. I've gotten some great emails and messages about why I didn't get cast and there were no hard feelings at all. I can tell you one thing, if I don't get any word from you, I'm most likely not going to audition for you again. Also, if someone I'm working with asks me, I'll be honest.

Now let's say you cast me. YAY! Good choice on your part! I must say, you have good taste. What would I like next? Well, a script would be just about awesome. You know you can email one of those, right? No? Well, you can, usually as a PDF. I'm sure someone can walk you through the steps. The other thing I'd really like to do is rehearse.

Now when I say rehearse I don't mean right before the shot. I mean before we ever put anything to film/tape. Let's get together, have a cup of coffee, chat about the script. I know as a writer that a solid actor will attempt to understand his or her role far better than I as the writer could. The actor will delve into much more detail, get immersed in the role. This I will promise to do to the best of my abilities but I might have some questions. A little one on one with you would be great. Plus getting together with the other actors will really help me. Let's all sot and talk about it. Unless there's an artistic reason for it I think it's a really bad idea to put a cast together for the first time on the shoot day.

I'm just sayin'.

Coming soon (i.e. when I get around to it) Part II: Production

The Big Lull

Haven't written in a while. Truth be told, I have nothing to report. With The Crucible finished and now that I've recovered I basically have to work my ass off through May to both refill my empty bank accounts and pay off all the favors I owe. Also, from May to July I have four weddings to attend, three of which are very close/family and two of which involve travel/hotel. I'm about to pull my hair out trying to figure it all out.

To make matters even more fun, June is basically tied up. Throughout the month I will be in a movie called Very Small Rooms, a UConn based film. I'm very excited about working on this film and I have a lot of confidence in the director and her team. And there's some money involved, which is really nice. It also means that between shooting, work, and my Best Friend Mike's wedding I will have maybe five days off, in which I will attempt to work.

The Boston International Film Festival has announced their schedule. This is the group I did the film December 31st with. The day they're showing it, I'm at Mike's wedding. So much for schmoozing with the bigwigs. Of course, I haven't seen any of it yet, and I really wouldn't want to roll in there without seeing something first. What if I suck?

Threads just had a screening this week. Of course, I had to work. It's not a final print, though.

The great thing about my work is that a lot of days (as in, not nights) I have off so my landlord/neighbor/friend-who's-ALSO-getting-married have rediscovered our love of tennis.

I guess that's it.

Crucible: Done

This could be long.

Normally I don't tell too many folks about this blog. The fewer people, the more I can write without limits. This is my little place where I can vent frustrations. But more often than not I find myself erasing a lot of my vents, for all kinds of reasons. I'd read them back to myself and think, "woah, kid. Take it easy." Sometimes I'm too self-absorbed. (HA! An actor calling himself self-absorbed. Welcome to redundancy, people.) Sometimes I fly off the handle. Sometimes I just don't want to be so damn negative, so I pull a lot of it down. The few things that stay are usually well reasoned and really reflect my frustrations. When they're directed at someone I know, and if that person happens to be you, please only take extremely small offense. I've probably said it to you before I put it here. Most likely if you keep reading you'll see me write something really nice about you, too. I try to appease the karma.

Current readers, help me out. Am I a prick?

On to the The Crucible...

The first weekend was, honestly, a slight downer. Performances were good. Great, actually. But I never got the idea that our audiences were pulled in by it. The comments that my friends made were sort of positive but never really hit praise. That's fine, I prefer honesty above all else. But I couldn't shake the feeling that we missed it somehow. Maybe we made each little piece so shiny the whole didn't hang together. (Does that even make sense?) Thursday morning's show did nothing to help. Sitting at the front of the house was about sixty 11-13 year olds. I can only imagine what I would have been like having been forced to sit in a chair for an hour and a half at a time to watch subject material that they probably couldn't have cared less about. They got pretty shifty, and there were plenty of conversations I could listen to from the stage. It was a pretty good rehearsal at least.

So we come in Friday night and I don't know if everybody felt it but I definitely sensed as a group we were looking to find that something. That something turned out to be our last three audiences.

They were incredible. I've found that doing a comedy is easy to gauge an audience. If they're laughing, you got em. Drama, though, is way harder to gauge. You have very little cues to tell you if your audience is getting it. Not this weekend. You could hear the tension, the reactions to the absurdity of it all. Those are the moments you keep.

As Hale, I share the final moments of the play on stage with Elizabeth. Those moments are heavy, HEAVY, HEAVY. Sometimes I felt myself manufacturing emotion to get there. (The school show, definitely.) Last weekend, thanks audience, didn't need to do a thing. Also, a huge thanks to Nick, the fella who played John Proctor. Moments I never had to make happen usually centered on him. He played Proctor with such awe-inspiring talent I was honored to have shared the stage with him. With all of them. Anyway, normally, his last moments on stage are for the audience, and for his wife. Last performance, he looked at me for a very small time.

He might as well have kicked me in the chest. Not a whisker of acting there. In my head, "Ah crap, that sonofabee got me. I'm gonna cry like a baby." Crying, open weeping, might or might not have actually happened. And that moment wouldn't leave. I go down to the green room post curtain call and I'm just standing there when Tess, our Mary Warren, comes and gives me this big hug because she watched it from the wings for the first time. I think, "Damn, again."

Awesome cast party. This is a show where with such a big cast (22) usually there's someone in it that you don't click with. Not here. Both on and off stage everyone got along with each other fantastically. Even putting up with me. This experience has been truly, overwhelmingly positive and none of my complaints or qualms are gonna stick with me as long as the gratitude I have towards these people.

Morning comes hard

We're performing The Crucible for a couple of schools tomorrow. At 9:15 am. Call time? 7:45. That isn't even right. Then on with the rest of the run.

We were received well, at least as well as a show like this can be. Family and friends told me, "great performance, too bad we hate The Crucible." Sigh. I guess you can't blame them for that one. It starts off down and takes you on a three hour trip farther downward. There's no light moments. The very few brief ones you can find are instantly crushed by the next line. I guess it's a love it or hate it thing.

One thing I've always hated are matinees. Hate hate hate them. The one saving grace to them is all the senior folks who come out to them. They're always a treat.

The performances themselves were great. Lots of tasty moments on and off stage. Great things I'll remember for years.

I don't want to get up in the morning.

Opening Night

The thrill of opening night. If you haven't done it, you wouldn't know. If you have, I don't need to describe it to you. I always try to steal a second on stage before the house opens, just a second of quiet.

Last night was exactly the performance I was hoping for. Everybody ramped it up a notch. The audience was smallish, but we were received more than extremely well. I couldn't be happier. At that last moment before the lights die, I knew without a doubt that I am glad, truly, deeply glad, to have been a part of this show.

Now let's hope I don't screw the pooch in the next week and a half.

Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, you are one of the undead, so I guess that already disqualifies you on the lucky scale. So, uh, ok...do you feel less unlucky, punk?

Sing along everybody!

Because it's THRILLER!

Thriller night...

Me=Badass

Do you smell something funny? Cause I smell something funny.

(That swamp was a real swamp and it stank like hell.)

This is where I get one of my favorite lines ever. "Hell's army has risen." I am sooooo Ash

This is my jaunty eyepatch look:

Chunks

(I have no idea how, but my format goes all screwy when I post pics. Sorry for the mess.)

I was compelled to read through a bunch of my blog last week. I must apologize to you all. I had no idea there were so many spelling/grammatical errors. I'm something of a tyrant about that. Mostly it's because I type and hit publish as fast as I can when I write entries, fire-and-forget. If I read too much I'll have to edit. If I have to edit, fuggedaboutit, I'll hate it, delete, and then you'll never know what's going on in the life of krt, will you?

So today I went through the whole thing with a big red (metaphorical) pencil and fixed it. I'm sure if you've read it already there is no need to check back. I did this because I have a lot of time on my hands.

I have a lot of time on my hands because I got the dreaded nasty stomach virus. I won't go into all the gory details, but it's been a pretty nasty three days laid out on the couch or bed. Not. A. Good. Time.

Here's some stills from December 31st. That's the one where I met my friend B.

Here we are 'brute-forcing' our way through a scene.

B and I bullsh^tting betwixt scenes.

Cast and director of December 31st.

My first extra experience

...is blessedly over. I don't know how so many folks put up with so much crap for so long for so little money. Boggles the mind, I tell you.

(Some of you who read this do quite a bit of extra work, I know. Is this similar to your first experiences?)

Of course, I can't tell you what it was for. Suffice to say, it won't be seen in this country. I 'auditioned' for a spot several weeks ago. I didn't hear anything from the casting office, so I figured I wouldn't keep those days blocked off anymore. I got the call Friday that I was 'hand selected' for the shoot Monday night. Balls. This means a huge schedule workaround, favors called in, long work hours, and headaches.

I'm told what wardrobe to bring. Of course, I own none of this stuff, so I have to go shopping. Honestly, if people didn't buy me clothes to wear I'd be the lamest dresser around. I have no concept of clothes other than comfort and covering the naughty bits when littl'uns are around. So I shop.

I'm at work yesterday when I get the call saying that I need more stuff. Great. Oh, that was four hours before I was supposed to be there. Luckily, a friend nearby had some stuff I could use, and I'm off.

Now I'm pretty much expecting that 'hand selected' means 'in the pile' and I wasn't disappointed. There were at least 200 people there. Probably more. Wardrobe checked my other outfit and decided it was 'too wintery.' At least, I thought, the stuff I bought will go to good use.

No one told me it was an outside shoot.

Thank the stars my friend loaned me the 'too wintery' stuff cause when the cameras weren't rolling, it was on. One quick setup right after I arrive then back to holding.

Holding I must talk about. As an extra newbie, I spoke very little, taking it all in. There seemed to be a lot of friends from other shoots there. I didn't know it was a hobby for some folks. Everyone had their 'in' to Hollywood or Broadway, and were just waiting for it to come through. And, I love this part, there seemed to be a loudmouth meatball for every 30 people. I sat for two hours pretending to read a book, listening to this one cat. He was without doubt the most full of sh$t person I have ever heard in my life, and I've heard a lot of bullsh%tters in my day. This guy started off a group conversation, then latched on to anything that was said and was a complete expert on it. In quick retrospect, he pontificated about 300, the original Spartans (He was completely wrong, I know because I've read more about them than just the Wikipedia entry.), Japan's Bushido code (again, horribly wrong), how to make it as an extra, the disadvantages of volunteering, his great success as a standup, how much you should be paid, called out another comic and berated him for not performing in front of us all (not that he did any of his own material) and civil service/emergency services (once again, completely wrong). I wished someone was watching me. I could not read my book because every time his mouth opened, the dumbest thing came out of it, even dumber than the last thing. I was either wide eyed or shaking my head.

But here's what gets me most. The reason he was able to do this for several hours was because...i still can't believe it myself...people were listening to him. REALLY. Like, he held court for two hours and people sat there in thrall as if they came to the Greek forum to listen to Plato or some sh^t. Boggles. The. Mind.

Finally we're called to set. Outside. Basically cheering at a car. For four hours. In the cold. After two hours they started to say we could go back to holding to warm up, but realized a bunch of people were ready to give up on the money and leave, so they decided against it. This was a non union shoot. OUR craft service was a cooler full of water and some assorted chips. THEIR craft service was, well, craft service. Three and a half hours in most of the crew takes a break and gets coffee and tea and pleasurably sips at it right in front of us. Bastards. Those four hours I had to stand in a group of meatballs who felt that apparently the dumbest thing to say was the perfect thing to shout. Sigh.

We finished around 1:30 am. I get lost in Boston, get pulled over because apparently being lost looks like you're drunk. Sweet talk not one but two state troopers out of a ticket and head home. Thank god for rumble strips. Bed: 4am.

I'm not so sure if I like extra work. I'm not so sure I like this casting office, especially after finding out that the money we're actually getting is less than half the money announced at the audition.

Hmmm...union?

Finally finished this blog. Read it.

There's always one...

Isn't it awesome when you wake up early, ready for the day ahead? You know, early enough to get a bunch of stuff done. Have an extra cup of coffee. Don't pay attention to that little worry that you've forgotten something important. The clock says you're just fine. Isn't it awesome when the realization that it's SPRING F&#%ING AHEAD time kind of sinks over you like someone cracked an egg on your head? Yeah, today, I was that guy.

I saw 300 yesterday. I've been waiting for this to come out since I heard about it way back in October. Not only is it one of the most ultimate-badass stories of all time, Zack Snyder directed it. I'm growing to love his work.

I'm excited to say this flick absolutely gave me everything I wanted. Great drama, awesome action. (I was not there for the oiled-mostly-naked dudes thing.) Oscar-worthy? No. This is a highly stylized movie. Nothing is left for granted. Almost every shot is some kind of effect shot. I know some people think it's overkill, but I for one loved it. It was a great action movie sandwich that I greedily ate every bite of.

Can't wait for Hot Fuzz.

The Crucible still proves to be great fun. Just so everyone knows, I am having immense fun and I'm being fulfilled in my 'serious' drama quota. I just crack funny all the time at rehearsal cause, um, that's what I do. Funny stuff appears in front of me all the time. I just seem to be the only one who notices.

Case in point. There's a line in the show that goes something like, "she screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear." (Now, so you know, there is absolutely NO way for you to get the full impact of my interpretation without me standing in front of you to give you the sound effets.) The second time I heard it I had to bend down and put my hands on my knees to get my breath back. That's how hard I was laughing. Seriously. When put upon for an explanation I had to describe what I just saw in the theater of the mind. Picture an attractive young girl standing in the middle of a cow pasture. (This is the actual girl in our show, so you can't REALLY picture her until I post something up here.) Honking. That's the only word I can use to describe the sound that comes to my mind. Off in the corner of the pasture are two giant bulls, horns, nose rings and all, crying quietly. One bull wipes a tear out of the corner of his eye saying, "oh man, that takes me back." For some reason during rehearsals this kind of thing springs to my mind EVERY THREE SECONDS.

Mind you, these are all blocking rehearsals. I hate them. They're necessary, but so is proctology and I don't know anyone who's marked on their calendar "proctology appointment" and put a smiley face next to it. So to ease the pain, I am the laughing gas.

I'd also like to say that this is a phenomenally well cast show. It's never easy to cast well in community theater. Lately it seems even harder around here. This show, everyone is doing super well in their roles. Originally I was mildly disappointed not to get the lead, but the more I watch the cast the more I realize I am exactly where I need to be, and maybe I was just caught up in the "gotta get the lead" race. Which is stupid.

Oh yeah, you can find information about our performances here. So if you're in the neighborhood of Western Massachusetts in April, come see a great show.

Almost finished reading Contact. I loved the movie, but man, did they get it wrong. I watched it recently to make sure and yeah, they got it wrong.

Random randomness

I have to remind myself to update this thing more often. It's kind of hypocritical of me to go bullshit over someone else leaving their blog neglected when I can't be bothered to update my own.

So, for the both of you who are reading...

I recently updated my recording hardware. I got this. It's a smaller hardware version of the stuff I used to use, but insanely more robust software. ProTools. Pretty much the standard for computer based music production. (Please, no flame wars, everybody has their own opinion.) The learning curve this time around has been incredible. So much stuff.

So, yeah, I'm kind of a musician. Not like professional or anything. Haven't been in a band in years, but I love writing my own stuff and don't really care if no one ever hears it. So I'm willing to fork over a ton of cash for all these expensive toys.

Of course, I should also be working on more of the seven other projects I have going on.

The Crucible is going well. Fairly soon the off book stuff will start to come around. Mostly I'm still trying to turn it into a one-man comedy show. Many thanks to the extraordinary patience of the cast and director for not killing me. Sometimes the shit that bubbles up to the surface I just can't keep in. (In my mind, apparently, witch hunts are hilarious.)

I was tapped to run a camera for a training video for some corporate thing. I learned several things:

A) running a live camera is BORING. I'd much rather shoot a narrative.
B) corporate America pays a lot of money to send people to seminars so they can learn the obvious.
C) beer is so much better after spending a day shooting boring talkin-bout-nuthin all day long.

Overheard in a bar last night, "Dear broccoli, why do you look like a cartoon fart?" I totally heard that. I wanted to check and see if I was mistaken, maybe I just heard it wrong. I was getting out of my seat to inquire about the accuracy of my hearing when I realized I didn't WANT to know if I heard it wrong. And really, what kind of an explanation can you get that justifies a statement like that? No, I thought, better leave it alone. I'd rather sit here and contemplate, muse, and wonder about broccoli lookin like...well, you know, than hear that it was something innocuous.

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. Hm. I liked the HBO special better. But the extras are totally worth the price.

Sorry it's been so long

It's taken a while for anything of real interest to happen. I don't want to post just for the sake of posting, but I was given a verbal beating by a reader for not updating frequently enough. Hopefully this will assuage the thirsty readers.

The Crucible has been going well. By going well I mean we've finally completed basic blocking. When I think about blocking a show I wonder if I might have more fun sticking a pencil in my eye whilst pondering the latest fashions in eye-patches than have to block another damn show. I know it must be done, like the dentist, but I dread both equally. My survival technique has been to turn The Crucible into a one man comedy show.

Oh yes, it can be done. Much to the consternation of some castmates, but sorry, I can't even think about character and acting when we have to stop every line. Just give me the basic movements and let's get on with it, dig?

I've noticed a change in my style a bit. Assuming that a) I actually had a style before and b)there is evidence of a style now. A couple months ago I read How to Stop Acting by Michael Shurtleff. I took a lot of it to heart. I also take every acting method I learn about with a grain of salt. It seems like each one I learn about ends up at some point telling you that The Process is more important than The Product. I'm really not into zealotry of just about any kind, so when I read that it doesn't matter if the audience doesn't get it as long as it's true I go a little fuzzy. But I take something from each book I read. This one helped me free myself up from too much thinking, which is a habit I have. I read this book right before I really got busy with doing film, and it really helped me to be in the moment when we were shooting, especially when it was hectic. It seems that it's influenced my stage acting as well. Where I usually was rehearsing for the perfect delivery each time, now I'm goin with what my gut's telling me, reacting not to what my brain tells me is my character's arc, just doing it and letting the audience piece it together. It's wonderfully freeing.

Sorry about the rant. If it even made sense.

Got cast in another movie. This one's UConn based and I'm pretty psyched for it, but the shoot is a couple months off. This is another audition I totally nailed when I was so sick with the flu I could barely stand. I'm sensing a pattern. I also got a call from someone I've never heard of who was given my number to see if I could fill a last minute role. Unfortunately I was unavailable for it, but hey, it proves the point, be nice to everybody, cause you never know when it'll pay off. Feed your karma.

A pin in my balloon

I didn't get cast in a film I was looking forward to. Sounded neat, had a ton of potential. I got the audition through people I'd worked with before. The audition went well, at least I thought it did, and it sounded as if I had the part by the time I walked out the door.

Got the email yesterday. Thanks for coming, but sorry.

First, I was just amazed to hear one way or the other. Very rarely have I gotten any kind of word from the director/production crew if I don't get cast. At least I know now, and don't have to wonder if my schedule is going to be juggled again. (This reminds me of something I need to write later. Don't let me forget, blog.)

Seems like lately I've had some fairy-tale casting. I haven't been turned down for much, if anything, in the last three months. I really thought I had this one in the bag. It's a nice attitude check. I certainly don't take it personally, and I'm not upset at all. (Mildly relieved I don't have to "make that weekend work.")

I have been lazy to the extreme. By lazy I mean I only spend two hours a day learning Dreamweaver, one hour on Final Cut, and two hours trying to get my home studio working again. (Curse Aardvark Audio for going bankrupt!) I really should be cranking out some product, REALLY need to be writing again.

Really need to kick myself in the ass.

It's way too cold for self-ass kicking though. Definitely weather for watching ALL of The Sopranos.

Super cool days like this make me smile

It actually started yesterday when I got to hang out with my two sisters and my nephew, who is currently approaching the ripe age of two. The sister that owns (?) him lives in L.A. so I don't get to see them very often. The last time I saw the little man he was still a non-walking, mostly drooling baby. Now he has legs that run and run and run. I didn't expect him to do anything other than run away from the scary man who hadn't shaved in five days, but he got right down to the business of counting for me. He can recognize his name when written down, knows the alphabet, and can recognize the planets. It's amazingly hilarious (and somewhat humbling) to hear him say Jupiter, "Dert-der-der." (He knows them, but that mouth coordination could use some work.) I'm pretty sure at that age I was realizing that my fingers could fit in my nose, and wasn't that an awesome discovery?

Today I put two more gigs of RAM in my desktop. I haven't even loaded the games that bog this beast down and I'm still excited.

Had to shoot pickups for Threads today. Made it to the Emerson studio and there were two of my favorite crew people there, Lucinda and Adam, and Adam's got his computer tuned in to this very blog. (I forget that people I know actually read it. Come to think of it, I never realize people read it as I write this. Uh...hi folks!) We hung out for a little while as everybody else filtered in. Great to see everybody again. They recharge my batteries. Make me realize how much fun/angst/love/pain/laughter/frustration/creation this whole thing is.

Adam, who's cutting the movie, said quite a few nice things about the job I did in the film. (Thanks Adam!) I got to see some of the original footage. I can honestly say I freaked myself out. There are some pretty heavy scenes in this flick. I put a lot into them. A LOT. It's nice, albeit mildly frightening, to see that what I was going for actually happened.

The day went pretty quickly, everything was fairly simple and laid out well. Ah, the magic of film. Some closeups for a bedroom scene were accomplished with a wooden box, a sheet, a pillow, and some black cloth draped over some chairs. I didn't even need to take my pants off. (...that sounds so wrong) A few other quick shots and we were chillin'. Left with more notices of auditions and, hopefully, offers of parts. As I walked back through the Common to get to my car I couldn't get the smile off my face.

Finished up by meeting a friend at the movies to see Smokin' Aces, which was surprisingly good, despite the drubbing the critics gave it. Sure, it's not The Godfather, but it was escapist fun done well.

Now if only I didn't have to go to work tomorrow...

Two super cool web things...

..I've found recently.

Flight of the Conchords. You can see their performances here. I recommend you start with "Jenny." A friend of mine sat me down to watch it because it reminded her of My Best Friend Mike and my penchant for sitting on my porch and making up songs as we go along. (Incidentally, his one known talent is the ability to insert the word "Motherfucker" into any song. Yeah, sure, anybody can but not like this dude.) I was howling. HOWLING.

I also realize that everyone in the world might already know about these guys and I'm just the last to get on the train.

The other thing is What is Joppa? There's a great article on them here. I love the homegrown attitude they have. I love that it works. I love that people are starting to watch them. There's a debate a friend and I have about the increasing affordability of making movies/recording music. He argues that it will ultimately dilute the talent pool, making it harder for dedicated and talented artists to stand out. I argue that if anything it will make the dedicated and talented stand out more. The recent glut of badly made online movies and lo-no budget films illustrates the juxtaposition quite clearly. Well thought out entertainment like Joppa, in contrast, allows you to appreciate well done projects even more.

Oh yeah, I saw The Hitcher remake. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that bad. It just wasn't all that good. In fact, it's basically the same movie as the original, with a couple playing C. Thomas Howell's part. Basically it's all bones and no meat. It has pretty much the exact structure of the original, without any of the tension, or any real sense of empathy for the hitcher. And I'd love to have been on set to see the dynamics, because I've never seen two people playing a romantic couple look less interested in each other.

Top Chef is making me ill. Did anyone else hear that Marcel was attacked by a crazed fan?

24 rocks.

Sore!

Ow.

First day snowboarding yesterday. Gotta make use of this stupid pass, now that we finally have some snow. I didn't get a chance to go last year at all, so I was pretty nervous yesterday. Fortunately I made it through the day all limbs intact. So much fun. Today will be an inside day, however. Having not used those muscles in some time, everything hurts.

Went from there to the first read-through of The Crucible. Methinks we have a very fine cast, indeed. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together. I have to find a new voice for Hale, though. What keeps coming out of me naturally is way too low for my throat. Reverend Hale as portrayed by Clint Eastwood. Interesting maybe, but no thanks.

Working with several filmmaker friends has got me started in the research/learning game. Time I'm not spending at either of my jobs or acting is now being spent on learning:

a) Final Cut
b) Dreamweaver
c) studying for an A+ cert

Because I have too much time on my hands.
(cue Dennis DeYoung)

Ok, for all you who wanted me to fix the computer, I'm actually almost done getting it all back in. The one smart thing I did was to print out the first completed draft. All I really had to do was remember some restructuring and I was there.

On the "throw out your first three scripts" thing I say nay! I've got a bunch of other ideas to start hammering into some shape of script, sure, but I wrote this one first because I LOVE THIS STORY. Whether I get it right out of the gate or have to redo the whole damn thing later, I will tell this story.

Saw the Equity tour of Chicago last night. Wow. It isn't my absolute favorite show but I'll watch it given the opportunity, especially if it's going to be done well. Man, was it done well. I'll have to check my program for some but I know Christopher McDonald played Billy Flynn and Ron Orbach played Amos. The rest had equally amazing pedigrees. Super well done. I really enjoyed Roxie. She had this bubbly, giggly thing going on that was way different than the soulless, evil that so many others try to portray her with. Really happy I saw it.

There's another one of those teaser trailers here. Under "selected works" there's a second teaser for Cillian. With my snazzy English accent.

Ok, I'm really not happy with this. The Hitcher is being remade. (That's the link to the REAL movie.) Why would you do that? The Hitcher is one of the best road/suspense movies ever made. You have no chance of doing better. None. It doesn't matter that I like Sean Bean, and would like to see him play more "good guys" every now and then (he always gets portrayed as the slug), it just won't work.

Why must Hollywood do this? Look what's been done to every remake, with the notable exception of the remake of Dawn of the Dead. That was awesome. Every single one has flopped. Every single one has been skewered by critics and fans alike. Sure, they got some teenagers money for a couple weekends, but they didn't really DO anything.

Grrr. I gotta go. I'm gonna re-write Red Dawn before anyone else gets to it.

Happy New Year, My Script is Gone

My laptop crashed.

I have three computers, but only the laptop had the whole of my first feature length screenplay. I've been in the heavy editing mode, trying to figure out if the thing is worth a damn. Last week, I got the Blue Screen of Death.

Another Windows re-install. I should become a Mac person. Of course, a repair wouldn't work. Safe mode wouldn't work. For complete hilarity, the flash drive I just bought (specifically for keeping my writing safe) hadn't actually had the script loaded onto it yet.

The good news. I had sixty pages of the first iteration on my office computer, so THAT most certainly went into the new flash drive. Also, after I finished the first draft (actually the second draft, but that's a long story) I printed it, so I could red-pen edit the thing. I have all those notes.

The bad news. Typing all the little changes from page one to page sixty is a royal pain in the ass. Also, I was on my third pass and stopped writing changes, just typing them into the computer, so all those are gone. I did some huge scene re-ordering, but I seem to be remembering that fairly well.

Sometimes I think it'll never get done. Actually, I know it'll never be DONE, but complete enough to show to people.

I hang my head in sorrow.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year, everyone.