More umm..FYE

I forgot to mention Dave has a new entry in DeadLand.

My Umm... Day.

Eh. Laymen have the impression the artist's life is umm... exciting. OK, sometimes it is, sometimes it's amazingly busy. And then sometimes there are no phone calls coming in, there is no work, there is only aggravation. I've been in that second scenario too much lately. Nothing happening= nothing to talk about. Let me show you what I mean.

Today I woke up, ate some oatmeal, washed some dishes, went into the city, took money out of the bank for rent, went back to Astoria, cleaned my apartment thoroughly, ate dinner and here I am.

See it's very umm... very boring. Grinding's been going on all day, no it's not my teeth or said little gears in my head. I don't know what it is, don't really care, it's not like that will make it go away go away. Oh, I received in the mail today Life Aquatic. I ordered it the other day. Paid like 5 bucks for it!!! Nice huh? The case was a little distressed, so I exchanged the jackets with another dvd case in my collection, removed a little sticker from the disk and now it looks brand new!

"Chicago"...In a Little Place Called Rhinebeck

I traveled upstate today to a little place called Rhinebeck (I know some of you know where this is.) I went up there to watch a show and support a friend. The name of the place is the Center for Performing Arts. The name of the show was Chicago. Kat Murello plays Velma, one of the two leading ladies. Though I went to see a friend perform, I ended up thoroughly impressed by the entire cast. The production is amazing in the truest sense of the word. From costumes, sets to the singing, dancing and acting, all of it was outstanding. But don't take my word for it, a local newspaper describes the show as, "electric." I mean come on, what could be a better compliment for a show?? Now believe ME, you will not be able to take your eyes off the stage and you will curse the need to us mortals to blink.
I saw the Broadway version this year; it was good. But I can honestly say that the players of this modest community theater surpass the talents of most every actor I saw on Broadway. They explode vocally and the dance numbers have you wishing you were sitting in front of TIVO so you could rewind and play back that shit it's so good. It's humorous, it's sexy, it's exciting, it's even dramatic. I can honestly say that I am now a true Chicago fan...as in fanatic.
So please, if you live in the area, I encourage you to go see this production. If you want to see a Broadway quality show for 1/4 the price and be wildly entertained, this is it. It will leave you with a headful of songs for hours and hours.

For times and reservations go here: http://www.centerforperformingarts.org/

FYE

New/Old Song. With some vocals. Please enjoy.

audio:Time
by rec327

FYE

I wrote a new entry for Dead Land for all interested. Also Ramblebot has some new definitions and more are to come. Please enjoy.

Back to the Beginning

I'd have to say right now, the thing I enjoy doing the most (creatively) is writing for Dead Land. When I first started writing, it was in the form of short stories. Little science fiction or dark/bleek pieces usually. Then I started making films with Geoff and Zachary when I was about 15. Even though the first things we made weren't exactly scripted, like such classics as "I'm Trying To Get a Job" about a guy who contracted AIDS from his dog and ends up in a shoot out with an exec who won't hire him, only to be accidently shot by one of his own employees and given a grand send off (dumped out a second story bathroom window) or "My Dog is Dead" about a guy who goes to visit a greiving friend who just lost his dog, only to find out that the owner in fact ate his dog. Oddly enough that also ended with gunfire. Soon enough we needed scripts for our projects and I opted to take that responsibility. Ever since that point screenplays are all I have written. I spent so much time trying to master the screenplay format and dialogue, that I completely abadoned standand prose writing. So going back to it is refreshing and unrestrciting. Everything is scripts has to be blunt and concise; it's nice to just describe people and environments casually without worrying about "trimming the fat." I also love the idea of creating worlds, there's just endless roads to go down and again nothing restricting you. The short story format encourages drama, comedy, adventure... each new story presents the option to explore ranges. But perhaps the most fun part is collaborating with my friends, which constantly keeps it fresh and offers much more to the story than I could bring myself.
Speaking of friends, apparently Dave IS alive. I happened upon his blog today and there's an update. His trip is finished and he's stuck in Mass. Of course this is Dave, and I'm not quite certain that he'll be coming back to NYC.
There's not much else to report on, my day's aren't very exciting lately, writing, getting stuff out for the script and acting, eating, working out, fighting for sleep, recording some... of course my guitars desperately need new strings, recording that instrumental I posted, as I played rust was falling into my hand, I had to finally cover my hand in a piece of cloth because the string was tearing up my fingers, and you have to play much better as well for it to sound good. Well tomorrow I'll probably get some for my acoustic. Anyway... hoping I'm get at least one day of work this week.

Guitars All Around

Audio:Guitar Instrumental
by rec327

New song, instrumental, electric guitars... enjoy? First 5 or so seconds dead air. Oops.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Sometimes life here gets a little boring, I won't lie. I don't have any friends here that I hang out with. In fact it's pretty much always just me. Now, I'm not asking anyone to pull out tissues for me. Usually I'm pretty cool with it. I've always been a bit of a loner. But sometimes it gnaws on me and I get tired of listening to my own voice all day. That's kind of where I was today. So I decided to try Ditmars, just to get out. When I found Ditmars to still be electricity-challenged, I found myself wandering up to the train platform to Manhattan, not really knowing where I was headed, but certainly not wanting to go back to my apartment.
Long story short I ended up at a Borders: Books and Music. And there I stayed for the next three hours. Browsing, reading and the like. Finally I went up to the cashier with a current Ross Reports, and two movies... the sobering Elizabeth which features Cate Blanchett (whom I would considered in my top three favorites actresses) Geoffrey Rush and Joseph Fiennes also favorites of mine. And then.... um... Gremlins 2. It's a ridiculous movie, but it's one of those movies from childhood, like Beetlejuice or The Goonies, that hold a special place in my heart no matter how aged they are. (Though having watched it tonight, now I which I bought Goonies.) I made a brief inquiry about screenplay books because I han't seen any and that sent me to the basement, no not for punishment or shackles, but for about another hour of going through books. I chose two, even that I didn't find the particular one I was looking for, these intrigued me and I think will help me. Truth is I've had no technical training. Like most of the things in my life, I just picked it up and went with it. Of course I had written about seven of them now, and made a few into movies, so that's been a sort of learning process. Still I'm always interested in learning more and sometimes having techniques spelled out in a book generates more ideas in the whole development process. The second book was more focused on screenwriting as a career, which I am also always interested in learning more.
Now I wouldn't mind reading a "normal" book, but really I have no idea what I'd like to read at the moment. So that was my day. Perhaps not too exciting, but fulfilling enough for me. Borders was just what I needed. At least I now have some more resources to get my stuff out.

RAIN

I can honestly say that I have never seen rain come down like I did today. Slanting left then right, huge rivers outlining the edges of streets, booming thunder, great flashes of lightning. I stood on my patio and watched it all in awe. There was something incredibly refreshing about watching rain pour violently down.
I called the headshot place today. Of course I didn't start yelling and accusing. I'm just not like that. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. So I just called and said informed him of what's up. He offered to check up on the progress of delivery and I took him up on it. When he came back from hold he told me that the package had already been delivered and accepted. Yesterday. My sneaky land lady!! I opened my door to go upstairs and ask her about it and there was the package sitting on my stairway.
Am I happy with them? Yeah, mostly. My headshot is a little out of focus, which of course bugs me. I noticed it before, but I didnt think it would be noticeable on the 8X10. So now I am thinking of using a different pic for my color 8X10, because that is slightly out of focus as well. It's alright, I'll adjust. Sorry, that's all I got today.
I can't wait to hear certain news though.

"Now, was that civilized? No, clearly not. Fun, but in no sense civilized."

A little length to my day. Worked from 11:30pm to 1:15am. But it was a good day. I did stand-in all day. John Glover was on the show. You might remember him from Gremlins 2: A New Batch, or more recently the father of Lex Luther on Smallville. He is an interesting character actor and it was neat to have him on set. He is also very real. The scene went back and forth from interrogation room to observation room, one LONG-ASS scene. Anyway his character is being questioned, so he walks in and says hi to my right away. Now usually I don't say much to the principals, there are certain boundaries of respect that I just decide not to cross, but he was actually very conversational. He sat down at the table and broke out into some song and I told him that would work perfectly for his character, if he suddenly started singing a little tune to himself. Of course it wasn't, but he found it amusing I think. Later on I walked in and unneccesarily pretended I was the character of the captain (for whom I was standing in.) So I walked over, sat down, put aside a box of evidence, looked at him real hard and said, "ok, let's talk." Then as he was leaving for the night I told him to have a good night, he asked if I was coming back tomorrow, I said "unfortunately not, this is the end of us." He laughed and walked out. Such was my real experience with a somewhat successful actor. Much better than the you're an actor, and I'm happy just to say hi routine.
The day was good anyway. Stand-in is so much better than doing background. Being on set watching things happen, the acting, all the technicalities. And it's great to be a part of that process, even if I am just a tool. But when you think about it, everyone of the crew IS a tool, each with their singular design. So I don't real so bad. And the respect given is usually infinately better. I did quite a good job today I think and the crew and A.D. warmed up to me because of that. My only downfall was eating a turkey sandwich for lunch. Fuck you turkey, why do you make people sleepy. As I sat in a chair waiting I could feel it taking effect. My eyes closed for about 30 second until I heard, "cut!" and I opened them wide. Somehow that was all I needed and I was completely energized. Yeah, it was a good day.
The only thing that is pissing me off right now, is that I came home and there were no headshots or postcards waiting in front of my door. Motherfuckers, you're going to hear from me tomorrow. Count on that!
Now I've made myself an uncommonly strong screwdriver and letting everything slow down before I go beddy-bye.

The Eraser

Thom Yorke has a solo album out. I've been trying to promote it on myspace by featuring his songs, but for some reason they won't play. So probably people assume he is selling blank CD's, but this is not the case, I assure you. I encourage you to check it out. There are a few songs to which I have grown attached (black swan, skip divided.)
It's a pretty late call tomorrow, 11:30, which is just beautiful. I am due in earlier than most, so I am hoping I get to stand-in. I haven't do it in a while and it's so much better than sitting in holding doing nothing. Tonight, I'm just chilling. Cocktails all around!

Ditmars Is Closed

I went into Ditmars today (Ditmars isn't so much a town as an area) and soon realized something was fishy. All the establishments had their gates down. At 5:30 pm? Something's up. Apparently it was all due to a power outage. This kind of crimped my plans, as I was out to get groceries, booze, complain to the library because they have yet to give me my card, buy a movie, and look for a rack for my shower. I had a lot of plans. And all of these places were closed. I had to blame someone. So I am blaming A/C users. They cranks their units on high and let them run 24/7. It's true! Even worse are the businesses, they crank their A/C's and leave their doors open. It's disgusting. I've even seen it on the news. They're bogging down the whole city. You damn A/C addicts!!!
Anyway, I managed to eventually find groceries and booze. Working tomorrow. Yay for me.

Insomniax Unite!

I got into bed around 3:30 am. I wasn't exactly tired, but I thought I could still get away with it. Then as I lied there tossing and turning, the sound of the fan annoying me, when usually it helps knock me out; I knew i just wasn't ready. So I turned on the TV. South Park was in its final moments, I'm not a huge fan, but beggars can't be choosers. Then Blind Date came on.. When it ended I got nervous and begged the program, "no, don't go, please...come back," but luckily Elimidate was on next. By the time the happy couple frenched their way to a happy ending, it was 5 am and the morning news was on. I watched for a bit and then tried for sleep again... eventually I got my wish. My schedule is fucked. I think I am just going to deprive myself of noozies today and see if that doesn't fix the problem... and buy a little drinky-drink to make me all cuddly crazed when the time comes.

Level 26

Not much of a plan for today. Didn't really feel like doing much after the overnighter and/or heat that continued on into today, and/or the massive headache I carried around much of the day. Finally I decided I'd play guitar, see if I couldn't record something.
There is an unavoidable consequence to suddenly guitar after not playing for a good while. Such a consequence is in the form of PAIN. Once your callouses wear off your fingertips, you're done for. Within 5 minutes you'll feel it, pain that is, and somewhat of a burning sensation. And I sat in front of my computer for about 4-5 hours playing, that's some pain tolerance right there or just stupidity jumbled with boredom. I had no real success, though I recorded another idea that has a 1:10 chance of seeing completion. I don't like not finishing things, I hate it actually, but when it comes to music, it has become routine for me. I've just recorded so many songs, I really need a sweeping urge to go all the way nowadays. I don't know, we'll see how I feel about the idea in a few days.
No calls for work, though I submitted to a few things online. Again, we'll see. Not a very exciting day. Oh, I made it to level 26 in tetris!! Huh?? Huh??

Don't Sweat It

Yeeeeeah, easier said than done when your dressed in a t-shirt, dress shirt, vest and bow tie, such as I was being a valet attendant. We were filming in midtown in front of a gentleman's club called Lace. Yeah... nice, huh? Since in the first shot it was my job to come out of the place, I got to sit inside where it's air conditioned. As I waited the ocassional stripper would come out and peek about, asking what was going on. The poor strippers, they weren't making any money, because there was no business. Maybe because there were a bunch of cameras out front. Can we say camera shy? Second time in a row filming in times square vicinity. Such a crazy place to try to manage pulling scenes together. Crowds, NY'ers who would rather spit on you than stand for 3 minutes for a take to end, crazies singing with no refrain. It was kind of fun being in a scene though in such chaos. The director began yelling at extras, because they were "acting." This basically means that they were trying to draw attention to themselves. It was a quick rehearsal and then a walk away lunch. I stopped by Gap for the first time since I quit and held hello to some people, then chowed on some pizza. The second scene I did my valet thing with the main actor. Basically walked up, accepted his tip as he told me to "keep his car close" and got inside. That was my moment, I had some technical questions I was hesitant about asking (because of all the yelling,) but I did nevertheless and thankfully my questions were appreciated as they had not been considered. The rest of the night I pretty much sat around and tried to get a handle on my body which was suffering from heat fatigue. I came home, threw my stuff down and stripped liked a Lace dancer. But it's kind of left me in a mood. Just hot and tired. Ready for a cold shower and a soft pillow.

PBS Serves It Up

By coincidence I was able to begin my research for my new script tonight. I turned on the boob tube and there was a program about Gene Kelly and his musicals. Oops! So now you know I am writing a musical. But you only know the half of it! Anyway the program was interesting and gave me an idea: a tap dance battle. Oh you're curious now, aren't you??

You Are Here?

It's been a looooooooong day of scrutinizing myself as much as possible. Now I am completely pussyjunked on the whole query letter thing. Maybe though some of you out there would like to read it and give me some feedback. Basically a query letter is supposed to be concise, selling your idea , demonstrating your writing ability but with subtlity and inform the agent of any background you have (a little humor if you can manage so without it being cheesy.) So take a look if you want and comment with any suggestions you might have. Appreciated.

********************************

Could it be that the hardships in life are really what take us to the happy ending?

I would like the opportunity to send you my new screenplay, You Are Here, an offbeat comedy that follows the misfortunes of five individuals. Harold is a human doormat one muddy boot away from a violent break-down. Unlucky in love Jill is headed for fairy tale tragedy when she falls for charms of Jack. Kris is a mortuary beautician looking for that special person at his high school reunion. However ten years ago Kris was a Kristie. Joe is a failure looking for the meaning of life and robbing at gun point. Kate is an outcast who looks for self-worth in her self-absorbed boyfriend. They are all about to learn an inevitable truth to life: there is no escaping it. But if you learn to accept it and pull through, you may just find what you’ve been missing.

I have been writing and producing my own films for the past nine years in upstate New York. I have made features varying in genre from thrillers to Medieval epics, requiring a full scale village and hundreds of extras. This has warranted me some local celebrity, having been featured in several newspapers and regional news (ok, so I’m grouped in with 4-H bulletins and square dancing contests.)

My aspirations for this script and my career are however much bigger. I consider You Are Here a real achievement for myself as a writer and I am looking for someone who will have a shared enthusiasm in bringing it to life. Any help you could give me I would greatly appreciate. My past productions can be seen at http://www.demarshstudios.com./ Thank you for your consideration.

Pussyjunked On The Query

I have been reading about query letters: what to do, what not to do, successes, failures, tips, tats all morning. I think I've reached full capacity. After a little rest I am going to try to form something out of the chaos.
Today I called casting to get my information for work tomorrow. Holding is oddly above a bar near Times Square that I've been to. Standard valet clothing. Sounds like a late call, but I am only in one scene, so we'll see. If I can get away with it, when I enter the car, I want to blare the music real loud and drive away.
Perhaps fate, but it was almost 4 this morning when I decided to turn of the TV before going to bed. And there Peter Gabriel was, about 10 years younger, on SNL performing Steam. A nice send off to dream land.

Win Some, Lose Some

The results are in. I won't be moving on to the final round of that screenwriting contest. Oh well. I've learned to take such things in stride. Oddly enough today I also received an email from someone who had read my script from the other contest. He wrote to tell me that my script was the best one he had the opportunity to read. He also praised the realism and quality of my dialogue as well as not taking the route of convention. It was incredibly kind of this person to take the time out to tell me he liked it. In my research I came across a quote that made my smile. "Writers are an insecure bunch, they crave validation, they crave feedback, they crave any shred of hope that will sustain them in their madness." AH! So true, so true, you got us.
At any rate my efforts remain strong, part of my research is for the purpose of rewriting my query letter. I think I can make improvements of it and hopefully it will make a difference in my response rate. "Keep moving, whatever happens, keep moving."

F'ing With People: It's What I do.

I noticed at some point that a background buddy was there on set. So coming back from set I went over and said, "let's dedicate tonight to fucking with people." He was all for it. At holding we sat outside on the steps with a few other people. He and I were trying to come up with a strategy to fucking with people and opportunity just walked right up to us. The guy was loud, not funny and very determined to be in out group. I took about minute of him talking before I started throwing comments his way. Then one of the other guys was checking out girl passers-by and said, "damn you can't even tell they're teens when you look at them for the waist down." I gave him a disgusted look and he said, "what, it's not like they're 14." To which I said, "right, but you wouldn't know cuz you were looking at them from the waist down." That's right you're not safe either. Then the other guy starts talking about The Simple Life and just doesn't stop. Meanwhile the dude and I are making fun of him constantly and laughing at him, cuz he's just a moron. He started talking about an episode where Paris Hilton is fascinated by a soup called cock soup. And I said how it was be funnier if it was cock chowder and the dude started saying, "that's cocksoup" instead of "that's bullshit." Then somehow we started betting him to do things for $10 and he was like, "I'll hit on a girl that passes for $10." To which I say, "big whoop! You can hit on a girl on the street, that just shows you're an ass. You should hit on a guy passing by." He said he'd do it for $50, but then we started to convince him to just do it. He sit on the step and act like an ass, but too quiet for people to actually hear him or he'd follow them for a second and run back to us. This got annoying real fast and I just started making much more.
Then the dude was telling me about this guy that liked to show everyone his SAG card and brag about it. So when he was close I started talking loudly about my SAG card and I whipped out. And this competely random guy walks over and starts on me about how it's the wrong color and outdated (which it is, new one is lost in the shuffle of residences I've lived in), I just played dumb. I was like "let me see what your SAG card look like. He wanted me to hand him mine and I said, "you're not going to steal it are you?" Then I tried grabbing his, but he wouldn't let go so I said, "you're not going to let go of it, are you." He said, "no." I think he thought I was going to grab it and run. So I used that. Later on I stared at him until he noticed. Then I looked down to his pocket, like I was fixing to get his card yet. I finally did encountered the other SAG card guy. He was adamant to the surrounding extras that a Times Square sign was alive, that the silhouetted figures were real workers (which of course they weren't.) But I decided to back him, so I said, "they ARE real." then turned toward the sign and turned back yelling, "one just waived to me, did you see him?" And I waived back. The guy actually believed me, he also believed me when I said James Marsden was Partick Dempsey, that I was non-SAG, that I get ALL my work from Craig's List and much more ridiculous stuff that I can't remember. At one point he started talking about Jenna Jameson and we asked what he thought about her. His response, "open." Dude and I were both like, "...ok." So the rest of the night, whenever we would normally respond with "cool" or "yeah, I hear ya" one of us would say "open" and the other would say, "wide open." I am sure some of this stuff is "you had to be there crap" but I just felt like sharing, but it was a fun time. Now I must go to BED! Whose schedule is fucked up? Mine is! Mine is!! (this entry has not been proof-read)

The Screenplay Shuffle

Seeing as how I secured work for Monday, I decided I would reward myself by entering a screenplay contest. I just happened to come across one that looked really good. The only problem was that the deadline was today (well by that I mean yesterday now.) To make it more of a crunch, it was then 4:15 pm and the post office closes at 5pm. I went back and forth on whether I should attempt such madness until I said fuck it, I'm doing it! Now stop wasting time!And just went to. So I printed out the application, wrote a summary and a paragraph about my history, and the basics. Tucked it in an envelope and made off to the post office. It was a 35 minutes wait there, forced to listen to a woman attack person after fleeting person with humdrum dialogue (anything to connect with people) and a little girl scream and run around the floor. I don't think I had ever seen a child so loud and upset for no reason. With the emergency deadline completed I still needed to submit the screenplay electronically and pay for the entry. It was a quick bite to eat after that and then to the Times Sqaure-athon.
Sitting in holding I did some research on script stuff, query letters, agencies, festivals. I think I am going to concentrate of getting a manager first thing, try to acquire some representative. That certainly seems key. I also think I will rewrite my query letter, I'm just not sure what I want to do yet. I am going to do some more research for certain though.

I'm Back!!

Work for monday!! It's featured and I get to drive someone else's car possibly. I don't want to jinx myself, but it's GOOD to being working again!!! Booya!!

SNAGGLE-TOOTH HO

This morning I just slept and slept, until it wasn't morning anymore. I think I woke up around 12. Was this lack of will, laziness? NO! I am doing the overnighter tonight and I expect to be up until about 7 am tomorrow morning. And the only person I got along with the last time we shot the scene is not going to be there, so I am not expecting much in the way of entertainment.
I am starting to feel a slight loss of drive. I realized it this morning when I found myself watching Jerry Springer. I have been watching TV a lot lately rather than being productive. Even though I got to enjoy a woman calling a stripper the titled reference (which I vow to incorporate into a rap, because snaggle-tooth could have very easily been my name and we all know I'm a ho if you'd ever seen one), I am nipping the TV distraction in the bud. My headshots should be here soon, so that will give me plenty of work to do. But I also need to get back to sending out stuff for "You Are Here." The script is in prime shape I think after my re-writes and it's time to start researching production companies (non-actor established ones) and submitting to them as well as give the literary agent search another go. Perhaps tonight I will really take another look at my query letter and see where improvements can be made. I wish I could submit to more script contests but that will have to wait until work remains consistent a bit more.

The Times Square-athon

Move! Move Rick!! An arm, a leg, move something! Ah fuck it, it's a lazy day, enjoy it.
Yesterday I received a call from casting. Apparently they are reshooting a scene for Enchanted they did back in April. So tomorrow I am replaying that crazy April night in Times Square with 300 other extras. Though from what I understand it is going to broken up into several units. The only crappy thing is that I have to wear the same thing from April, which is jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt hoodie, and a pretty thick leather jacket. Mind you tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 90's. It's also going to be an overnighter. Oh well, it's work, right.
Well, that's not quite the ONLY thing that sucks about it. I received a call today from a casting agency I haven't been cast by yet, inviting me to work background on a commercial tomorrow. A commercial!!! SO much more money. But I can't back out of the times square-athon tomorrow. It just wouldn't be right. So hopefully I will hear from them again.

OD'ing with the AC'ing

I felt a little silly walking down the street, jacket in hand, the air so hot it warped everything in sight. But I knew, because I did my time working at a theater for a few months, that movie theaters completely over-d0 it with the air conditioning. The hotter it is outside the colder they make it inside. I had to do some walking to get to the theater and once I got there I wasn't quite sweating buckets, but I'm sure I was slippery. Within 15 minutes of the movie, I was snuggled inside my trusty jacket.
And the movie? Yeah you guessed it, Pirates. Generally I give it a thumbs up... besides a few too many cheasy references to jokes of the first film. It came off a bit less quirky than Curse of the Black Pearl, and with a darker tone unfortunately. The story and motives were a little more muddy as well. Those are my criticisms anyway. It was still FUN. There were still GREAT moments. And Bill Nighy!! Like Geoffrey Rush. A great character actor. I have to admit I've always been partial to character actors. I think it's the whole transformation thing. If I get the chance I will make an effort to do ALOT of character acting in my career. The effects were AMAZING! Much better than COTBP. Depp (whom I also consider a character actor) stayed true to his performance, even if some of the novelty of it has worn off.
After the movie, I look rather unsuccessful for a shower curtain. I have a stand-up shower and I haven't been able to fit a curtain that fits to it. I may have to adapt one myself (snip-snip.) Then I went grocery shopping. I decided to go all out for dinner. Since eating at the macaroni and cheese place, its been in my head to make a mac and cheese dish with cheddar, mozarella, goat cheese, tomato and fresh spinach. Tonight I am going to make that shit HAPPEN! With breaded chicken and beets!!
Got a email for the proofs of my headshot and postcard format. I called to change the text because I wasn't completely happy with it. Funny a couple of years ago, I probably would have let it go, now I tend to make sure I take care of stuff like that. I'm guessing they'll be here by the beginning of next week.

2 - 1 = -21

Though bogged down much of today by heat or/and hunger , I end it still thinking it was a good day. Worked way up around 125th sreet on the television series. Once again, I did absolutely no work today. Except today there was water bottle splashes, gin (the game), the internet briefly, cookies aimed at windows, cockroach sightings, twig throwing, hostile charades,"and BOOM, just like that."
There is another winner of the famed shamed hall of fame for extras. He will be up there tonight as soon as I finish here. He was involved in the hostile game of charades. He lost!!

Came home to three letters waiting. Two checks and one bill. The bill was for the biopsy (you remember the whole mouth thing?). Yeah, still paying apparently. The checks didn't even pay me enough to cover the bill.

That's it.

ASSMAN

Sienfeld is on. I still watch this show all the time. It's just so good. Kramer's riding around with the ASSMAN license plates right now.
Today was very much like yesterday, though I wasn't used at all. It really silly the reason, because I don't have bartending experience. Whatever, it was a pretty good day money wise. I had a roast beef sub for lunch. And sat around here and there. My biggest accomplishment was reaching level 25 on Tetris.
Working tomorrow on Kidnapped, a new tv program.
I'm pretty tired, sorry, just don't feel like going on about my day. Peace out.

Picking On My Pirates

I nearly forgot. Some one wrote a comment about Barnacles Three: A Pirate Chanty on youtube. "Pretty Crap" I'm assuming that is an insult. I erased it. I did debate it. I mean people have a right to call my stuff crap. But I erased it, because I don't need people telling me something I had no idea how to do, is crap. It's just not necessary. And it's not like the asshole paid to watch it anyway. In other words, "Fuck you, Pal."

In One Eye, Out the Other

Despite being EXTREMELY tired it was a good day. They added a wardrobe change (more money) and when I arrived they wanted us to use our bags as props (more money.) It was also quite a long day (uhh...more money.) I unfortunately forgot to put on deodorant, but today was really mild so this mishap wasn't a problem.
It was pretty simple. I did some walking, changed, went to another and waited around. Back to holding, walk-away lunch, change and more holding. Most of the day I spent in holding in fact. I kind of made a vow a few weeks ago to be continually productive whilst in holding. Productive in the most general meanings of it I guess. I forgot my writing book, so working on my script was a bust.
So I looked to the web for education. Somehow I got og Woolly Mammoths. Apparently scientists discovered that the Mammoths shared similar animo acid variances that dictated the color of their hair, meaning there were blondes, red heads and ravens. I also stumbled upon this huge effort by scientists to bring back this exstinct species. Something to do with genomes I think, sadly I didn't retain EVERYTHING I learned today. Another way that scientists suggested resurrecting the Mammoth is to find some ancient frozen Mammoth and impregnate the African (i think) elephant, which is the closest relative to the exstinct species and through generations they could develop a hybrid 88% Woolly Mammoth. Another interesting thing I discovered is that most mammals don't gray. And scientists don't really know why humans do, but dogs and cats do also, don't they??
Then I read about ants and how they make up 1/3 of the insect species catagorized. And and I learned so much more about them.
And THEN!! It was robots and cutting edge technologies. The military is apparently making cyborg sharps, using (magic?) to control the sharks perceptions, using the shark's unique senses and manipulating the shark's will like a remote control car. I personally find that disgusting and appalling!! I read about many different robots being developed, most still about 8 years from REALLY impressing me, but still stunning to learn about.
I read about directed energy guns, essential Star Trek phasers that are being developed. There are many many different kinds, again I can't really give a lesson on how these weapons work, but they can be set to merely stun or temporarily blind someone, create a temp. burning sensation under the skin and even kill some one. The hand held devices have the range of standard small arms and FAR better accuracy. Apparently the military is reluctant to use them. They want more testing to see if the non-lethal weapons have any long term negative effects on the people shot by them. WAIT A SECOND HERE!!!! negative effects like dying? You know what a BULLET does to you?? I don't know, maybe that's just how I think. Found a great quote from someone overseeing the project, "What I'm looking for is a way to shoot everybody and they're all ok." Aren't we all?
I started looking into cloning and then was called to set. But i did find out that apparently that dog who was claimed to be the product to stem cell cloning, was a hoax or something. Anyway, tomorrow I return to set. Today I was non-descript, tomorrow I will be a bartender. It's a nice enough set, one of the PA's stole a BG's bike and raced him to holding on it. Oh! for lunch... a chicken milano panini. YUMMMM!

The Call We've All Been Waiting For

A GOOD day! WORK!! WORK!! WORK!! I am booked tomorrow and Sunday on The Brave One. It's like a huge anvil of stress and discouragement has been lifted off my chest. AH!!! Very nice. It's just been a good day all around.
The think I have some sort of story line for my script now, a general skeleton to build off of anyway. So I don't feel so stuck any more, though I still need to do my research to give me a little more confidence and understanding of what I getting myself into. To give the genre the respect it deserves.

Coming Soon...

You know I'm gonna be going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest real soon. I haven't been to the movies in ages. I had planned on seeing X-Men: Last Stand, but I heard so many complaints on it that I just didn't bother. It's not that I'm a critic bitch. I like several movies that critics and box office didn't like much, ie. The Ladykillers, I heart Huckabees. But at 11 bucks a ticket I didn't feel like going against those odds. Pirates however seems to be on everyones good side. And there are just so many funny parts to the first film, I look forward to the revisit.
Trailers for "Super Ex-girlfriend" are already airing (that's right throwing a little assonance your way.) They filmed in NYC and it doesn't seen that long ago. I clearly remember the day one of my friends worked on the project, it was in Astoria and it couldn't have been than 7 or so months ago... I think. I'm just surprised to see it done.
My body is feeling my work-outs from the past two days. GOOD!

Frozen Ziti. Frozen Pie.

Hmmp. Not even really sure what to discuss. I'm not doing drugs or drinking during the day, but I really don't remember much of my day. Or rather I can't imagine what I could have done to fill up an entire do. I'll try to make a list and let's see is that seems enough to take up a day. Ok... ate breakfast, checked email and stuff, umm... did alot of looking online for work, talked online for a while, called around for work, talked on the phone a few times, worked-out, lunch, dinner, tv, video gamed... and that's about it. Hmmp.
I watched that MTV Gorillaz special on youtube. Damon Alburn and the animator guy came off a little... well ostentatious. Sure, its a likable quality in cartoon characters not so much in musicians. Don't get me wrong, I love Gorillaz and Damon Alburn, but you making music and cartoons, not saving the world. I dont know, maybe I'm just a little sore that they don't plan on a third album. EH!
I haven't found work yet. I am trying not to let this get me down too much. Just around the corner right? Today I learned that people who lived in the Depression tend to freeze foods that shouldn't be frozen.

Oral Paranoia

I beginning to think perhaps I am not out of the woods as far as my mouth is concerned. It's been 9 days since the surgery, my front teeth are still a little sensitive, there is still some swelling. And there just doesn't seem to be much day to day progress. I will have to contact my doctor in a few days if this continues.

Stir Crazy

My overwhelming lack of work is an agravating focal factor in my life right now. The days are becoming mundane and blurring into each other as one offers little distinction from the next. I'm trying to make use of this time. In the last two days I've updated my NYCastings resume to include my new headshots and submitted online to every casting director and talent agency possible. I've gone over postings with a fine tooth comb and submitted to anything that I might not have before. Today I ordered reproductions for my headshots and new postcards. I scanned Craigslist for acting or writing work. EH! I'm not liking it. Whom did I piss off?
I've decided to end my antibiotics days alcohol and cigarette free, finish it right you know. I worked out for the first time today in a while. Its not that I've been completely lazy, but the antibiotics have been giving me stomach pains and the general discomfort does not encourage excercise or eating sutible amounts for exertion.
I guess the main problem is that I am stuck in my writing. There are two reasons I am having trouble with my script. 1: I dont' have much of an idea that I want beyond the main concept and 2: The genre is foreign to me really. I am considering buying a book geared toward this genre and certainly watching classic movies of the genre. EH!
I found myself taking a completely unnecessary nap today, just because it was rainy and I was bored. EH!
I really want to put something positive in here. Oh! I was watching a bunch of Family Guy clips on youtube yesterday and they had the one where Stewie beats Brian mercilessly for his money. That made my day right there. Brian- "you're a freaking psychopath." Stewie (wipes off his hands and then throws the towel on Brian) "yeah, clean yourself up."
Fucking brilliant.

Mouth Cicles

Since I don't really have anything going on tomorrow, I plan to do as much online submitting as possible, since 1: everywhere is closed tomorrow and 2: I don't have actual reproductions of the headshots yet. Wednesday I am ordering my headshots, so I can get going with sending out the new and improved as soon as possible.
Then I guess I will focus on some writing... oh and I could use a shave.
My mouth is slowly healing, it seems slow anyway. My mouth has been screwed up for more than a week, so the abnormality has become normal, making it diffucult for me to judge the progress. While I was away I began tonguing what I thought was dead skin hanging from the wound, which distrubed me some and made me nervous of eating. Since I was without my trusty mirror, this remained a question for a few days. Luckily today I discovered that it's actually just more stitching that hasn't come out yet. Pheww! Huh?

The Getaway: Fire and Blood

The weekend away was good times. It's encredibly cheap to take the train to New Jersey. I invaded the Kalju household and returned here this afternoon. It was fun to just pack the bare essentials (which I do every time I travel) and go away for an undetermined amount of time. The visit consisted of a lot of walking around a lake (which I believe is actually river) where "life" was a recurring theme, sitting in a kitchen with his sizely family eating food, food and more food, playing violent video games and mastermining more Dead Land concepts.
Some of us went to the beach yesterday to take on the ocean. To our surprise the very hot day did not necessarily mean the sea was inviting. I walked up to the tide and after a few minutes of the surf hitting my feet, they become unyieldly stumps, completely numb. I then buried my feet in the got sand and repeated the cycle.
We also walked down the boardwalk to see if hobos stilled lived under the stilted building. We didn't see any, but we did stumble onto this awkward grouping of band and audience. We past it and then doubled back out of curiousity. The audience wasn't clapping in unison, there was a brass band that was replaced by a 400 pound black dude at the keyboard and a singer who lost all her papers due to the wind and belted out Christian themed songs. Another guy was holding a flag that read the slogan, "Fire and Blood." Most of the everyone involved wore some kind of uniform, all with shoulder plates bearing the letter "S" and some kind of ranking. And some held what could have very likely been bibles. We were in a rush to figure out just who these people were. And then they revealed themselves. They were the Salvation Army. This discovery made us rethink the originization and its purpose and brought about so many ideas for Dead Land.
Last night we were going to invade a neighbors pool but once we arrived there, it began to downpour and the need for a pool kind of went away. Ended the night with a Simpsons marathon. The visit has left me a little sad that my friends are so spread out and mostly unreachable. Hmmp... oh well.

Top 25 Percentile

It's been overall a good day. I received an email telling me that I have qualified for the quarter finals in one of the screenplay contests I entered. This is a big contest with writers submitting from all over the country as well as 39 foreign countries. They had about 2,500 people that entered the contest and now it's been narrowed down to about 600. I'm telling you this because I am really thrilledto be included in the winning 25% that are left. I'm not really considering making it through the next cut, but this is certainly a validation that I appreciate. I just finished revisions to the script that I sent in. Damn it, how I wish I could send the newer version in.
The other good news for today was finding out my headshots were done. So I took a trip into the city to accomplish many tasks. The last of these was hitting up a new restaurant that specializes in macoroni and cheese, yeah you heard me. I got there just in time. As I ordered my goat cheese mac and cheese, a long line formed after me that stretched outside of the place. Because it was so crowded I had it to go, deciding I would go to Union Square to sit and enjoy my meal. And I did. I sat at a bench and ate, while I texted the friend who told me about the place to praise my dinner, and enjoyed the percussion performace behind me. That was about the excitement of my day.
Fraiser is on right now...oh, Eddie!!!
I plan on going to go Kalju's this weekend while he is here. Actually I am quite excited about it. Oh, you want to see one of the shots? OK.

I'm sorry, I can't help but being sexy.

The Shortest Day Ever

I got a call from casting the night of my oral surgery thing. It was for the Chris Rock movie, "I Think I Love My Wife." I was a little reluctant to do it, because I really didn't know how I was going to feel the next day...but I took it, because work is rare there days. The stages were in Queens, which is great. That is the great thing about living in Queens!!! Most of the studios are right here! It was a great day. I knew many of the crew from some of the more long-running gigs I've had and they were all calling out my name and happy to see me. Sat for a few minutes. When they asked for people who hadn't been seen yet, I raised my hand quickly and went to set. The set was an elevator. They needed four people, I was the fifth so I backed off. They then called for the fifth person. That's me! I stepped in. They gave me the only direction, I was to exit the elevator on a cue, passing Chris Rock as he was on the phone. Yeah that's right Chris Rocks got the hell out of my way. We did maybe four takes, a BOOM!!, checking the gate. The scene was done. I sat in holding for maybe 30 more minutes and then I was out. I "worked" a grand total of 2 hours. So that comes out to about 60 bucks an hour. I was really thankful for this short day, since I am limited to eating only soft foods for the next week or so, and there was basically nothing there I could eat. Apparently Chris Rock was later sighted at White Castle. You rock Chris Rock.