Spanking the Chicken

I went to Union Square today to take pics for the 2nd edition of "New York City: Through My Eyes" hosted by Louie the Cabbie, a little slide show/learning channel-esque thing I'm doing for my neices upstate, so that they can get an idea of what the city looks like, where I live, what I do, and just to let them know that I think about them. Its kind of uncomfortable doing this however, as I feel incredibly like a tourist carrying my camcorder around, taking snap shots of buildings and such. I'm really weird sometimes, as I can be incredibly obnoxious or outlandish in front of people and incredibly shy and reserved at other times. For this I'm a little too shy and I usually try to get a picture off quickly enough so that no one sees me doing so. Maybe by the third time, I'll be comfortable enough to take my time with it. Because I'd like to start taking some interesting shots as I can't help but have some intrigue about photography. I also got my rent money out of the bank and bought a pair of much better looking shoes. The shoes I'm not sure about yet, they might not be cushiony enough. They gotta be comfortable or my feet get all fucked up. I was also looking for a new pair of sunglasses, but I couldnt find any. I guess I'm really particular with shoes and sunglasses. But I do love Union Square. Anyway...

Recently I learned that is probably a good idea to wash chicken before you cook it. I'm not quite sold on the idea, but I've started doing it anyway. May I remind you, free-range chicken only for me. The reason I am not entirely sold on this practise is because you're simply rinsing it with hot water. Can that REALLY remove bacteria or whatnot, and wouldn't it just be killed when the chicken is cooked. The thing is I hate handling raw chicken. It's slimy! But what I've come to find is that after you rinse it, it's not so slimy, so...maybe there is something to it.

Besides a slight relapse of about 4 cigarettes yesterday I'm not doing so bad at quitting. Considering this is like the worst fucking time to try to quit, I am kind of using that as if I can quit now, I surely gots willpower. It's been a week (ignoring yesterday, just give me yesterday!)

And last but not least I checked out prices on Ipods and mp3 players today. I had an mp3 player last year and it just kind of stopped working on me, and I think it's getting near the time to invest in another. I gotta say I don't really understand why the Ipod is generally 50 bucks more expensive than a typical mp3 player. Is it the brand? The popularity? Cause I'm above that shit. Or is it actual quality? Well, I figure if I can continue not smoking, in two months I will have saved enough money to buy myself whatever I decide. Unless of course my phone goes on me. This is likely. Yesterday I leapt into a closing train, because like hell I was going to wait for the next one and my phone flew out of my jacket and hit the floor. It was non-responsive until I got home and then for some reason when I plugged it in, all the bells, whistles and lights started up. I suspect it will blow up in my pocket sometime soon and leave with hideously disfigured...more hideously disfigured. Oh the horror!!!

Just a Trim

Yes, I deleted the last post and part of another. Though I try to be as honest as I can in my blogs, I don't want every blog I write to have that "woe is me" bullshit to it. My life's pretty sucky right now, I'm sure you got that from my previous blog. No point in dragging you all through it. So, I think I'm going to try to restrict my blog to good times, progression, and insights.

.... And when I run out of them, I'll just sucker punch you and run.

Small Coincidences

Monday and Tuesday I was standing-in on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Now recently I watched the entire 2nd season of Arrested Development, so it was kind of weird that the guy I was standing-in for was David Cross, the ambiguously gay married brother on the show. It was good to be on set, it's one of my favorite sets and they were busy/long days. The other coincidence was about Jesus. No not Jesus Jesus, but the background Jesus, who also produces music and raps. Well a while ago we were talking about hip hop music on set and he starting rapping for me. Actually he was all up in my grill doing this rap and it was kind of uncomfortable and kind of funny. Well we found eachother on Myspace and the produced song that he had rapped for me that day was on his myspace page. And oh did the memories become much more vivid. So if I've told you this story, you can now listen and the story comes full circle.

From Clancy

I've gone back and forth about writing here lately, because I didn't want my blogs to seem directed at anyone in particular. But above all this my blog is for me, to clear my head, to work things out, to try to make sense of things, to remember them.

Lately I've had a strong urge to shave my head, change my name and just disappear into global vastness for some time. To just disconnect from everyone. Had I the money and no higher aspiration in life, I highly doubt it would just be a thought. This year has taken a lot out of me. I've lost two of the most important people in my life. The first was a best friend of ten years because of several disagreements. And though I suggested working out those differences, this friend instead stopped communicating with me completely. I considered this person not just a friend, but a sibling. And it's been tremendously difficult for me to simply remove his presence and forget that we had such a strong friendship for so long. I try to reason it with old generalized sayings like, "people change" but it just doesn't seem to validate it. And it's not really a matter of one person apologizing to the other, because it's very apparent that we each believe ours to be the better case. Perhaps in time, the issues won't seems quite as important and we will somehow reconnect. But the friendship will never be the same, it will never be as good as it once was. I grew up with this person, for many years he and I (and his brother)being the only ones that believed in our life goals, many times being the only ones to encourage each other, many times being the only ones to go to with personal crisises and if we ever return to friends, it's quite likely that it would be a watered-down version of our previous friendship.
And now I've lost another person, not from a fight, but because of a situation that could not be changed or was decided not to be changed, at this point the two seem to be blurry to me. It's safe to say this person was in many many ways closer to me than anyone has ever been in my life. I still can't reason much of it, from the incredible connection shared to the chance of us finding each other in such a large and random world in the first place. I'd rather not get into detail about this one, but suffice it to say we are not talking at this point. In honesty it is me, it is because I am not capable of it. I am far too hurt to pretend that being where we are at this point is ok with me. And I'm finding I'm even somewhat angry, I hate to be, but I have to accept that I am. I don't know if its at myself, the other person or just the situation. I guess it's a little of each. I know that will pass as I think it's more a devise of defense. But for right now, I cannot talk to this person, because I will only end up making things worse. And though I honestly don't know when we will be able to communicate again, I don't really want to ruin the possibility of it. I have so much accepting to do and it kills me. I know we won't be able to do many of the things that we had planned. Again I suspect that our friendship will never be as strong as it was, and that devastates me beyond comparison. But even if the hurt dissipates, there will always be walls now. There will always be a moment of awkwardness here and there. And there will always be the past. And what could have been.
I don't know how permanent these thoughts are; that wasn't the point of my writing them down. But looking at them as objectively as I can, that is what I think now. I feel very very much alone right now and I'm just trying to find some strength in that. Such is life I guess.

Incontinence Doesn't Have to Mean Incompetence

I have a crush on Tina Fey. She is spectular and she has a quiet yet undeniable presence. Because you know her work and you knows she's fucking hilarious. And she's damn hot in person. Alec Baldwin... HOLY SHIT!!! I have never had a hard time keeping a straight face on set before. But when he was doing his lines, it literally hurt not to laugh. Everytime they said cut, I looked over to the table and revered them both. I was so happy to be on set with them. Something I usually don't care all too much about.

Holding on the other hand was a much different story. I swear these were the worst extras I have ever seen. A good many were old woman. They bitched. They asked ever stupid question there is out there. One was saying how she should have brought her fur coat instead, which made her hate her instantly. Another reaked of old lady perfume, she sat right next me and then asked me what day it was while holding the day's newspaper in her hand. Another woman was told by wardrobe that her top wasn't good for the scene because it was black and white, and she began arguing with them that this was a nice jacket and she didn't understand why they didn't want her to use it. The finally brought her a top to wear instead. She put it on and then put the rejected top on over that and wore it to set. Everyone kept asking what the base rate was, something you should know if you work AT ALL. Someone made a big deal about filling out her personal information on her I-9. There was a sleezy, disgusting guy that was on my last set there hitting on every woman in sight. Another guy, who I decided to call Batman because he wore a utility belt of sorts around his waist. He was the type that wants attention constantly. So he'll announce completely absurd thing to no one in particular, like "well, I'm going to get some post cards done and then I'm going to read." I was stuck with the sleeze ball on set. He sat across from me at a table in a restaurant. He had a single headphone in his ear, playing music even when action was called, and he informed the props person he was going to eat his bread because it looked good. After the first take a PA came over and told him to remove the headphone and to leave his bread alone because he was making too much noise (after sleeze ball refused responsibility.) The two extras near me were whispering loudly during a take and the woman kept trying to snap pictures of the actors with her cell phone camera. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All this stuff nearly killed me. Of course this was following my last job, which was the most fun I've have in holding in a long time, so that might have had something to do with it. Man, I could have used the same back-up last night. Fortunately though I had my laptop and I used my time wisely. I finished the last part of my DEADLAND trilogy. That means it's time to return to my script. Keep up the good work...me.

Enough For An Army

Yay! I finally got booked for 30 Rock. Sounds like it's going to be a nice quicky in a cafe. Somehow I wasn't called for the entire first season. So even though this isn't any real achievement, it feels nice to finally be included.

There's really not much more to report. This last week has kind of been a blur. Really nothing special going on. I worked three days, all extreme hours, either extremely late or early and as far away from my apartment as you can get. Also they were nearly all straight 8's. So it wasn't a huge money week despite all that. I think I need to try to regulate my sleeping hours, because going to bed at 4am when it isn't needed, kind of puts me in a weird place during the day.

Yesterday I made two large dishes to feed me easily for the week, even with freezing half of it. I made a veggie lasagna that involved pesto, alfredo sauce and many many vegetable and then I made a chili destined for sour cream and fritos. I'm quite happy with myself as I tasted each last night and they're both pretty fucking tast-i-licious.

Today is for writing.

...ah hell, here they are.

Tar Nation

300: The Battle of Thermopylae

I nearly forgot to report. I went to watch 300 the other day with one of my old time Gap friends.

I went in expecting exactly what I got. I don't really know what to say about the movie. That doesn't make it bad, nor does it imply that I was disappointed. Its just, you can figure out what the movie is by watching the trailers. Amazing action sequences, highly stylized shots, steamline aesthetics everywhere, adrenaline inducing dialogue here and there. Much of the story told in narration which I thought gave it a somewhat awkward and I kinda thought was unnecessary. But then it turned out that its was being narrating because it was being told as a story, so I didn't mind that aspect so much. In fact looking back it gives the movie a word of mouth kind of storytelling so well established by ancient Greeks.

I read a review that criticized the historical inaccuracy of 300. It is of course based on the Battle of Thermopylae when Sparta went to head off a Persian invasion on Greek soil lead by Xerxes I. I found the review incredible harsh especially considering that the story is based on a graphic novel. No it doesn't address homosexuality in 480 B.C. accurately or democracy for that matter, its based on a fucking GRAPHIC NOVEL!!! It did do some really cool shit with blood flying through the air and decapitations. Really though, the events ARE pretty historically accurate according to historian record anyway. In fact I was rather surprised HOW accurate it was, because many of the actions and quotes seem mythical. And those things that ARE just too much, I can excuse as the art of storytelling.

So that's my review I guess. Dine in hell bitches.

A List of Movies I Am Terribly Ashamed To Own

I don't know how I ended up with SO many movies that are just -to put it bluntly- embarrassing to have in my collection. Most of them are stocking stuffers, some given to me for whatever reason, possibly after seeing similar bad movies I own. Some movies I bought. WHY. I do not know. Okay here we go. In no particular order.

1. Batman: The Movie (Adam West Style) - Actually I think this movie is HIGH LARRY US!! But technically it's a bad movie I guess.

2. Men In Black 2

3. Weekend At Bernies

4. Bad Boys 2

5. Boiling Point

6. Troy: This was was my fault, I had a gift card and nothing to spend it on. Please God forgive me. Just kidding I don't believe in you!! Haha. Suck it.

7. Gremlins 2: The New Batch

8. Brotherhood of the Wolf

9. Cellular

10. Van Helsing

Please Leave

The nightmare job I took last night turned into not so bad an evening. I knew of the PA's there from a movie I worked on called P.S. I Love You. So that was cool. Set was in Ghetto Town. I'm currently missing my NFT book so I can't tell you the exact area of Brooklyn it was in, but it was pretty near where I used to live. Which is Bushwick. Ah, Bushwick! You skanky little hoochie momma.

I was pretty sure my wardrobe and props were going to have production scolding me, since they weren't exactly what was asked for, but I just plain didn't have what they were asking for. But no one shouted in my ear and ordered situps out of me, instead I passed through inspection easily as the extra playing a homeless woman became the attention of both wardrobe women as her clothes didn't look very shabby. There was a lot of waiting around on set/holding toward the beginning of the day. It was obvious crew was waiting around for something or someone, but I just kept to myself and used the time to read. Another of the homeless type extras kept bothering me, coming over and telling me about how extra work was in Hollywood when HE lived there. You see, pretty much all the background on set were ignorant of SAG rules, and it's not that I am a stickler, but I just have learned the rules along the way and when someone asked a SAG question I answered. And that must have attracted this dirty, ratty old man to me. "Well when I lived in Hollywood" began almost all his sentences. All the while I am staring at his outgrown dirt caked fingernails. At one point I just said, "yeah, I know, I lived right near Hollywood myself." That shut him up for a bit... a bit, ignoring him proved much more effective.

Eventually we shoot and I got paired up with Norah Jones' (who is acting in the film) personal assistant, who was pulled into the scene because there were so few BG. We did about a thousand takes and then it was time to move to the next location. Well dirty old man and another girl was released. I was a little jealous, but at the same time I was starting to think it might be a good money night, since it was the last day of filming and every now and then a crew guy would pass by moping, "It's gonna be a LONG night."

Then we moved to an excellent holding area. Padded seat. Crafty a foot away. Bathrooms a few feet away. An outlet I was secretely keeping for when things died down. And best of all a TV!!! The rest of the night was fine enough. I ate, watched American Idol with the rest of the room as they shouted and laughed at the singers and/or judges. On PBS, there was an awesome interview between John Lennon and Mich Jagger, and then Lennon got on stage with Eric Clapton and Keith Richard and rocked out. This awesome moment was followed by an instrument that went array when Yoko Ono joined in and began wailing out of tune indiscernable sounds. It was painful to EVERYONE that listened, and I swear I saw every band member crack a smile at some point. The night ended much earlier than I thought, I was home by about 2am.

Today I woke up to aluminum scraping against concrete and an elecretic saw as the house is getting a bit of a make over. And I've been hearing it ever since. I really wish I had spent more time outside today as it was incredibly mild (70 degrees) but I had things I had to do. First and most importantly I secured a bar to film part of the DCUP Land video in. I am completely on DCUP's good side now. Then I went to the hardware store to buy supplied to fix up my bathroom. This effort was halfway successful, the soap tray that broke rather mysteriously a few month back is now in one piece. The shower on the other hand, did not come out nearly as well as I wanted. Of course the problem wasn't so much with my skill level as it was with the shower itself. It's got problems. Big problems.

I also meant to make up some new meals today, one being Chicken Marsala (free range chicken y'all!!) That I never got to sadly, but after some nonesense I end up with the day off tomorrow. And that is when I will strike!!!

:(

Heroes is on break until mid April or so. Just as I have become hooked on the show, it up and walks out on me. Hmmp. I'm left with so much unresolve.

Furthermore I was completely pussyjunked today. Ah, let us not forget how versatile a word pussyjunk is!! I was cornswabbled in other words. I was called to work on a film tomorrow. I agreed, and then I hear its a night shoot (not a huge deal), its exterior (ok, that sucks), and its filming in Brooklyn (oh, come ON!!!). I'm really not that happy about it. Kinda wishing I didn't get the call or I was otherwise occupied tomorrow. So I expect the experience tomorrow to rather suck, but what are ya gonna do. Suck it up, that's what.

Great for Picnics! Fun for All Ages!

I was doing a bit of research for my latest Deadland entry when somehow I came across this. The video captivates!! I encourage.

The Amazing Portable...

Like a Dope Fiend

I found myself somewhat obsessed with the show Heroes yesterday. In fact I watched episodes 2-16 online throughout the duration of the day, it was nearly 10 hours of back to back episodes... okay, fine completely obessed. Its like X-Men meets Highlander. If everyone carried around swords I'd be in absolute bliss. I finished off the episodes today and now I am all caught up. There's nothing really else to report

EXCEPT!

A new Dead Land! from me.

DEAD LAND

Back to the Slab

When you're lying under a sheet on a cold metal mortuary slab, you kind of have to, for a moment consider, what the real thing would be like. Nothing, of course. When the real thing happens, it won't be an experience at all. Cuz I'll be dead. But still I had to think. I'll be here, just like this, maybe my back will be positioned a little differently, maybe my head, my heart won't be beating, I won't have to try holding my breath, I won't be conscious of the people looking down at me, my eye won't be twitching and some ugly things are gonna be done to me. I don't know, didn't seem to bother me that much. I credit that to the book "Stiff" and several misc. moments of self-realization.

Yeah, I was standing-in for a dead guy for part of the day. I didn't need to hold my breath, I just felt like it. It was a long and boring day. I was in holding for the first four hours and then on set for the next nine hours. The whole time I was thinking of how I couldn't wait to get home to eat either of the dishes I made yesterday, or take a hot shower or get that fucking popcorn kernel unstuck from my teeth (man, that drives me fucking crazy.)

One of my least favorite extras was there today. I call him dick wipe (long story) and everything he says comes out sprinkled with smug pretentiousness. Ugh, I can't stand him... and today I had to work with him. There was another guy there, whom I have worked with before. It's funny how people transform with the people they are around. Before I thought this guy was alright. Though today he and dick wipe were talking and the this guy was a total ass, so I didn't really bother talking to anyone. I just kept to myself, headphones on, and wrote the holding area period away.

The day was pretty blah. I did some more writing while waiting on set using my sides as the parchment. Waiting for the subway home, a service train passed by and I suddenly really really wanted to jump on it. I didn't, but I think I might have to someday. Someday soon?

I didn't get to purchase Borat today! boo!

My phone died and when I got home there was a message on it. Not a good message, not at all. I don't really know what is going on, because I was only given hints, but things in my family seems to be getting more and more screwed up. And I think things just took a sharp turn for the worst.

:(

Peter O'Toole Kicking Ass

So yeah... our team for cash4cadavers, team 112, or more commonly known as Peter O'Toole: Team Captain is #10 on the score board!!! This is fucking awesome. 10th place out of 123 teams!!! I am so proud of us and so excited. And I am looking forward to winning our side bet and scoring a free dinner.

Keep 'em coming (or going rather.)

Tasty Extravaganza!

I prepared some meals for the week today. Chicken Pot Pie and chicken/veggie/noodle soup. Fortunately both turned out quite well. I also made them in great quantities, so I imagine I'll be eating them ALL week long if not longer. The soup? Chicken, bow tie pasta, carrots, corn, yellow onion, portabella mushroom and tomato. Its very hearty and quite zesty.

I also bought an artichoke today. I'm not sure what I am going to do with it yet. But I hear they are really yummy. I'm thinking I'll stuff it, bake it...olive oil and garlic are gonna be in equation somewhere too.

Yet another quiet day. Did some recording. Exercised. The cooking of course. Um...I don't remember anything else. Damn.

Back to work tomorrow!

I watched the 2nd episode of Black Donnelly's tonight. I'm still liking it. I worked on this episode, so it was cool to see the big picture after having read on that day the sides. I also saw myself wheeling out that damn dead body. Ah...good times!

False Alarm...again

Well I was supposed to do some acting today in a friend's video, but it didnt happen. So instead it was a quiet day. I mostly wrote and watched lots of internet TV. I figured out the reason why I haven't quite gotten into the whole internet TV thing. It requires my full attention. Usually when I have the TV on, I am doing something else, and so the TV has about 50 percent of my attention. Anyway, I caught up almost all the way on 30 Rock and I watched a little Heroes.

I tried baking banana bread. First, I don't like baking. I can get into cooking, but baking no. Furthermore, banana bread is pretty much the only thing I bother baking because I sometimes don't get to them before they ripen. However the last few times I have tried making it, I've consistanly fucked up. Usually the problem is my confusion between baking powder and baking soda. Apparently it's important. Oh well, fuck banana bread, who needs it.

I hear fishsticks are all the rage now. And what the heck was Stephen Sondheim doing on the Simpsons tonight??

New Slang

Sometimes a song is just a song until you hear that song at just the right moment and suddenly this song vacuums that moment into a time capsule and suddenly there is a meaning and memory to it. Say for instance you're falling asleep after a perfect day and just as you snuggle into the covers you hear "New Slang" from the Shins playing.

Yeah, that would do it.

Just a Bit East of New York

East New York. High crime rate, poor housing, gangs, let's film there!!!

That's right, straight into ghetto land is where I went today, where the winter theme is broken bottles of 40's every 20 or so yards on the sidewalks and gangsta types harassing fly under age hunnies passing by. The kind of place Brekken Brek grew out of a ways back.

The morning started out perfect, then transitioned into a"today sucks, I'm cold, I'm soaked, and I'm going to be like this all day" kind of thing. I was doing stand-in outside, in the fucking pouring rain, first in a junk yard of sorts, then elsewhere, and then it stopped raining, but the temperature dropped and wind came in and left me wishing I had brought my winter hat along. Then the sun broke through and holy shit people, my day was suddenly good again!!! I have to say I did barely any work today, it was one of those productions that don't do much with their stand-ins. So I made crafty my business. This is the assortment of foods I ate. Reeses peanut butter cereal and organic milk, two pieces of artisan bread with cream cheese, pistachios, an apple, a bottled water of course, and a grilled meunster cheese sandwich I made with a sandwhich maker they had!!! Ah!!!! A hard day of work.

She Won't Take No For An Answer

I've seen doggy porn, and then I've seen doggy porn. But this doggy porn doesn't leave me feeling cheap. Feel free to feature this masterpiece on your own blog!!