What's In Wisconsin?

An uneventful day. I am putting in an effort of getting out of my apartment every day. So today I went into the park and read for a while. It was forecasted to rain, but instead it was a mild 82 degrees and overcast just enough to read without being blinded by the pages.

So I've been invited to hunt down a 'werewolf' somewhere in Wisconsin with some close friends. As long as the timing is good and the transportation is there.... and I can retrieve my katana from upstate, I'll definately be going.

Memorial Day.... What do people do today anyway? Celebrate? BBQ's? Church?

Insomniac

The approaching 4 O'Clock hour suggests that I may be experiencing a bout of insomnia. At this hour there's not much left on TV, no one really left online, so it seems the only thing to do is either write a entry in my blog or a survey for myspace. Tonight I'll go with the blog, short be it as it may, since I haven't done much since my last.

What I did accomplish was writing a new DeadLand chapter. This one does not center on Thorne, but a new character by the name of Airi. She is an 8 year old Japanese girl (well the brain of anyway) with a giant, gorilla-like robot body. She can cause all kinds of destruction and likes to carry along a raggidy old stuffed animal with her. Exciting huh? Well, it's first on my "links" list should you care to read.

I went to the theater today to catch a couple of movies. The first was Shrek: The Third. Oh my fucking god, this movie was SO funny. I was hurting from laughing so much. Even though I find it mildly upsetting all the suggestive/adult-like material that is put into animated movies nowadays, they do it SO well it's hard to be an opponent. I thought the movie might be funny, but I wasn't expecting to clutch my ribs in agony due to the giggles.

The second movie was 28 Weeks Later. The movie started out strong, but somewhere it just lost my interest a little. It was still a fine movie for what it was. It was very realistic, I definately give it that. It was definately gory. But since it's a sequel I'm forced to ask myself the question: was it really necessary? No, I can't say it was.

Say Hello To Michael Jordan and ALF

It's been a dull day, I wasn't nearly as productive as I meant to be. I slept in rather late and then after a few hours I decided to lie down and fall asleep again. Maybe I can use the rest of the night to do something of value.

I admit I do like using the self-checkout aisle at the grocery store. Not because it's quicker or the lines are drastically shorter. No I like them because I think it's fun to check out my own food items. I enjoy scanning them, I enjoy searching for fruits and vegetable on the menu and weighing them, I enjoy not seeing the standard grimace of the cashier and smiling in attempt to make their day a little better. Fuck them. No one smiles for me.

I decided I need to name my fists. I'm not sure which way I want to go yet. I could use twin names like Castor and Pollux, associated names like Regis and Kelly or random names like Michael Jordan and ALF. I'm gonna give it some time and see which names stick.

While checking out online channels, I saw this ad for the History Channel and suddenly became really excited that I could watch shows from the channel online like other networks. If I were to get cable I would have the History Channel on more than any other I'm sure. But alas, the website only features short 3 minute clips of shit. So much for education.

I'm thinking I might watch a movie tomorrow. Either Bug or Pirates....... So many difficult choices to make.

As I was entering my apartment today, my landlady says what I thought was, "I have a medal for you." It turns out she only had "mail" for me. I really think I deserved that medal.

Pick A President

SNL's TV Funhouse

Subway Circus of Freaks

Well my stint of work is over. Today was only 9 or 10 hours long, it felt short in comparison. I've shown a few people on set some DCUP tunes. I gotta say their reactions surprise me. They listen and are completely into it and now when I see them they exclaim, "DCUP!" and try to throw out a lyric or two at me about fortunate cookies, or slapping asses or DCUP Land. I think everyone's got that inner rapper, which is why I think DCUP might be appealing. Plus they fucking rock! Some things I look forward to in the coming days: sleeping in, not shaving, dressing like a bum, no make-up, exercising. So far I have no work scheduled for next week, so we'll see where the week takes me.

I was on the train coming home tonight, we just hit a stop and suddenly the train car turns into this carnival. There was a human blog, a bearded lady, Willem Defoe, a giant woman, all this cackling and everyone was in this sort of constant motion. I was not on anything! What a bizarre ride home.

I plan to finish a Deadland post by tomorrow and World War Z by the weekend and then go back to my script which will by my focus for probably the next few days at least.

Here's something funny a friend told me about...go ahead trust me, click on it..

The Landlord

Oh shit! World War Z IS being produced into a movie!!!! What makes this even more funny is that apparently Brad Pitt's and Leo DiCaprio's production companies were in a bidding war for the rights. Of course I'm working in close quarters with DiCaprio all this week and I've even been desperate enough to bring my book onto set, because I am just sitting at a desk twindling my thumbs. I guess his prod. company lost out, so maybe I should hide it when I go onto set from now on....or I could throw it at him and then turn and play innocent.

World War Z

Yeah, I just don't have any time home this week. I still have laundry out from Sunday. It's horrible. But it's a great money week!!! Set is pretty typical and rather boring. These are all interier office shots and I spend much of my time in holding. However this gives me time to read and write. I'm about 2/3'rds of the way done with World War Z, which is a fucking awesome book, that is amazingly comprehesive and realistic and visual and fresh... I gotta see if they are going to turn it into a film. It's screaming film adaptation!!! I even got some writing done today, not for my script but for Deadland. I'm sure reading a zombie book has something to do with that. Tomorrow should be my last day on this set....we'll see.

30 going on 13

Yeah, I just referenced a chick flick...
Friday I went in for my haircut for Revolutionary Road. The one I feared. It turned out I had all reason to fear it. As I stepped into the trailer, the hairdresser asks me, "you're okay with a 1950's haircut right?" When I remarked thast casting had told me I was only receiving a trim, well...he didn't like that. But it was the fucking truth, they had told more people that than just me. He offered me the option of returning on Monday as I told him I had a commitment during the weekend that required my current look. I took him up on the offered and jetted out of there. When I returned Monday I received the creepiest haircut I've ever had in my life. The stylist was wearing a statue of David apron that positioned all of David's naked features in place with the stylist's. So that meant David's little stone pecker would occassionally brush up against me. Ehhh. Disgusting. It wasn't a very good day. I wasn't very happy to shave my goatee off and I wasn't happy about the back and sides of my head being shaved off into a ridiculous haircut. Mainly because it fucks up shooting my Brek parts for a good long while. Yeah, not happy at all.

This week is pretty much taken up by work. Everyday the routine of wardrobe/makeup/hair line waiting, shaving twice a day, wearing pants up to me rib cage. It's uneventful on set. Though i'm complaining alot, I am REALLY happy to be working. It was much needed. And I even have a fair amount of people here I know and a few friends that I am glad to be stuck here with. The days are relatively easy, giving me time to read and write. The food is decent, the crafty table plentiful, the crew is nice. I had a piece of cheesecake yesterday that was !!!!!!!!!amazing!!!!!!!! It's actually a SWEET gig. I'm just used to having so much free time now, I'm spoiled. Yeah, people actually DO need to work for a living Rick! As if that's what this could be called.

Misc.

--Yesteryday I was sitting unsucessfully trying NOT to listen to a nearby conversation between a man and woman. The two were having the most awkward conversation I've ever heard. Both of them clearly did NOT like eachother, but the continued to talk to eachother. Each sentence adding more and more to the mutual dislike they shared. After I while I began to wonder if they were both just completely and utterly socially inept and perhaps they were REALLY flirting with each other, but both were too self-obsessed to make it so obvious.

--I sat down on the subway yesterday, in the vicinity of a hobo. It verily amazes me how potent human odor can get. I'm surprised more hobos don't use their body odor for evil, maybe they just don't realize the power they possess.

-- Heroes I'm not sure how I feel about the season finale yet, I watched it last night, kind of. It didn't have my full attention as I was eating dinner and such. At this point, I'd have to say I wasn't terribly impressed or disappointed by it. But Hiro killing Sylar was about as anticlimactic as it gets.

The Great Escape

Ok... where was I? Sunday we shot a BTS scene at Ariel's apartment. We had recruited two actresses from Craigslist to portray Ariel's Translator and vocal coach. Both woman confirmed they would be there, so after we had moved the furniture (a.k.a.set) pieces into position and set up cameras and lighting, we were just sitting around waiting for them while eating pizza with a couple of friends who were helping out. The first actresses showed up just as we finished our slices. Rosemary, playing the role of the vocal coach. She came in with a fun smile, enthusiasm and immediately showed Ariel and me some wardrobe options. Then other actress came a few minutes later. Debbie, playing the role of the translator. She in contrast was nervous, quiet and awkward. (Now I'd like to point out that I could tell she was weird right from her headshot.) We offered both some food as Ariel and I had both purchased snacks and beverages. While Ariel was reiterating the scene breakdown and the intention of the video, I continued to set up. Then either Ariel or I suggested that we play DCUP Land for them, so they get a feel for what we were about. And so the applause began over the radio. I must say I really wasn't paying attention, so some of this story gets foggy, but I remember while I was setting up wondering where Debbie was. At first I assumed she was in the bathroom changing. Then when I noticed the bathroom door open, I thought, "maybe she's in Ariel's roommate's bedroom changing." After a while Ariel began to wonder too. And soon someone asked what we were all probably thinking. "Where did Debbie go?"

And then I thought to myself immediately. "Debbie fucking split." And split Debbie did. I don't know when. I'm not sure if anyone does. Apparently she told one of my friends she had to go out for a bit. And then she never was seen of again. To be honest I'm not sure what pulled her out the door. I'm guessing it was the song. The fucking ridiculous thing is that Ariel was VERY specific about what this project was, going as far as transcribing the entire thing for them. So she KNEW what she was walking in to. Maybe she just looked at us as a bunch of kids. If that's the case she's an idiot. She's an idiot anyway...and weird. At any rate we had one of our friends fill in and adjusted Rosemary's role to fit. Rosemary was AMAZING. She was sharp and funny and the perfect contrast to the new rap consultant we had. The scene came out even better than expected.

After we wrapped, Ariel noticed a voicemail on her phone. From Debbie the Dropout. "I'm sorry, this project just wasn't for me."

We've already moved on, bitch. As a great dog once said, "If you ain't gonna sniff it, step off!"

Rosemary, Ariel, Americk Makin' Sum Motha Fuckin' Magic!

Post - Ponement

Tomorrow, I swear, just not enough time today!!

DCUP Land Is No Myth

Well we did it! This weekend Ariel and I began filming DCUP Land.
(I'm going to break character for the first time and own up to my Brek side, otherwise this will just get too confusing.)

Saturday we shot at the boxing gym for Ariel Starbody's scene. It went pretty smooth. We had two other actors helping us out, (The Boxing Coach - Joe and The Announcer - Collin. Both were incredible and great to work with. And the scene came out great (even though we lost some of it because of my stupid mistake.) I wish I was more in the mood to write right now but I'm exhausted. Anyway we got all the shots done and an interview for the behind the scenes done in two and a half hours.
After that we shot another behind the scenes clip that came out actually better than I anticipated due to a couple of last minute ad-libs from both Ariel and Brek.

Sunday we started at the bar. We didn't really think we could shoot there that day so we lucked out big time!! The lighting was a bit more complicated because it was so dark. The shots were a little complicated as well, one having my sinking a ball at the pool table while checking out Starbody's ass. Not as easy as it seems!!! The bartender was incredibly good to us and the place is highly underrated as it boasts both a pool table and a dart board. It's called the Remote Sports Bar, its in Astoria. Check that shit out, yo.

Immediately after we went to Ariel's apartment to shoot a BTS scene with two actresses we recruited through Craig's list. You know what, this story is too good to get lazy about and I know I will if I tell it right now, so I'm going to write again when I am less tired.

Here are some pictures in the meantime, I included some of my story boards for shits and giggles....

About To Spit Shit To The Percussion

Oh we are getting close now!!! The first official DCUP shoot is on Saturday as I've said once or twice before. Today Ariel and I spent the whole day hunting down the last of the items needed for this weekend's filming. Most of the things were for her part, since that is what this weekend it mostly about. We spent ALOT of time wandering the city looking for the most random props and such. And I must say I spent a generous amount of time wig consulting and I'm just going take a guess, but I'd say Ariel has amount 6 different wigs now for the video. Also made a microphone out of the least expected materials. Bought a camera case that is just perfect. And walked about oh.... 60 blocks. Damn it, why isn't it Friday night already?!?!

I finally got around to watching the last episode of Heroes. I gotta say it was my least favorite one to date. It just seems contrived and at times awkward. Hiro becomes a samurai is a few hours? And that whole throw myself in front of the bullet sacrifice just looked clumsy!! I hope the season finale steps it up a bit.

Tomorrow morning I go to get the hair cut. I am hoping they don't do anything too extreme. I need this hair at least for the weekend.

I'm gonna cut you open like a Tauntaun

I've already forgotten what I worked on yesterday. Oh, wait! I remember! Rescue Me. I had trouble remembering because I barely did anything in the way of work. For the most part I sat with my head on the table or I read World War Z. I saw a friend I hadn't worked with since my Mad Men days, a tv pilot I did stand-in for, which was by the way picked up, but moved its production to LA. So no work prospects there. When he said he didn't recognize me with a goatee I explained to him why i had the goatee. I then showed him some DCUP tunes, as he was curious. I'm real happy that everyone seems to be diggin' DCUP Land, since it is DCUP's magnum opus to date and it is about to have its own music video.
We have SO much shooting planned for the weekend!!! I can't wait.
Friday I have to get my hair cut for next week. I'll be working 4 days on the movie Revolutionary Road, which is set in the 1950's I believe. Last week I attending the fitting for my costumes. The plus side is I get a free hair cut, rather I get PAID for the hair cut. The down side is if I get called for work Friday I'm screwed, also I am hoping they don't cut it too short since we are filming the following two days.
Today though, today I'm just sitting around so far. I've resorted to watching online episodes of My Name Is Earl and re-watching episodes of 30 Rock (which is where I found that gem of a line I used as my title.) This is only until I get some motivation. Which...should...be...arriving...ANY...moment..........

Zombie Warfare

Weather and sickness are proving themselves worthy obstacles in the filming of DCUP Land. Most every attempt we've made so far has been squashed. We DID however manage to film a small bit of Ariel's verse the other day. 1 second long kind of small, but it came out quite well and its seems everyone's happy with it. Even small victories are reason for celebration no? We also shot a behind the scenes bit featuring Brekken 360. The important part is that we continue to make advances. And regardless of these initial setbacks, all else seems to be falling into place for the video.

I don't really know what else to say. When you go without working for long periods of time life tends to become a little obscure, days of the week matter little, most days resemble the prior day and the one following. It's just a weird thing. So that's kind of where I am.

Today I just did all the catch-up chores neglected during the week such as putting my apartment in order, grocery shopping, laundry, blah blah blah. It was all kind of blah today, but I DID manage to get a decent amount of stuff done.

Tomorrow though I am finally working. It's an early call, and I'm hoping a long day. Perhaps I will bring my laptop and attempt some writing, at the very least a book for reading. I started World War Z the other day.

What Can Brown Do For You?

Wow, that was an uncomfortable position to be in. We're on set of the DCUP Land video Saturday, me, Brek and the crew and Ariel Starbody had yet to arrive. So Brek is on the phone non-stop leaving her voicemail after voicemail, screaming at her, insulting her, threatening her, telling her she better be on set in 30 minutes or he was going to piss on her drum set back at the studio. Still no word from Ariel Starbody. 30 more minutes pass and Brek punches out three crew members, spits on my shoes and walks out. Needless to say we didn't get any filming done. Apparently Ariel's Vespa broke down on the highway and the nearest garage didn't have any parts for her model. Go figure. Two hours late, she shows up stumbling out the passenger side of a UPS truck drunk. But by then we were all packed up and Brek was at the shooting range cooling down.

I guess they made up, lets hope so.... for the sake of DCUP Land.

3..2..1..

TOMORROW!!!! How's that song go? Oh yeah!!! "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!" I love the feeling right before filming, it always been one of the best moments in the process. Everything coming together yet everything still up in the air. Ariel and I have done an excellent job, in my opinion, of making this music video the best it can possibly be. We have a variety of locations secured, i.e. a boxing ring, a bar in Queens, we have actors all set up, we have props, equipment and little movie magic items that will hopefully will allow us our vision, a couple of good friends helping out, costumes, wigs! It's an extravaganza baby!!! And the party starts tomorrow! I think I am prepared, I think I am ready for this! I highly suspect its going to be incredibly fun. And I am pretty sure it should come out fucking awesome, because I have total faith in my colleagues and hell even myself.

Today I'm just going over my dialect book to capture a few of the subtilties of the New York dialect. Then I'll probably do a few more lighting tests. Brek was gracious enough to stop by this morning for a few tests. This is how that came out...











DCUP Land! DCUP Land! DCUP Land!!

Trials and Tribulations

Today was not an easy day. It should have been. But it most certainly was not. The idea was to take a quick trip to Home Depot on 59th and 3rd, pick up the cable I need for the lights for the DCUP Land video, hit the grocery store on the way back and do some lighting tests in the apartment. Well this all happened just not in the efficiently smooth way I saw it in my head. Home Depot disappointed for the 2nd time in one week. They did not have the cables. I guess I should explain what I was looking for. You see when you're making a production with no budget, you seek out the cheapest ways to make the image look as good as possible. For instance the lighting is extremely costly. So instead you take stock in Chinese Lanterns which can serve the purpose for the most part if used properly. The problem is you need to find these little fuckers and then assemble them. Unfortunately the place I bought my light from didn't have the cable/socket things with them, so I had to go again looking for them. Because Home Depot sucks I had to go down to Chinatown once again and search for some store for about an hour. Apparently as I found out today Broadway and West Broadway are NOT the same. But before I found that out I was walking in circles going crazy. Finally I found the place, The Pearl River Market, which is an AWESOME asian store with everything there from clothing to statues to tableware to weaponary to gongs to lights to musical instruments. If I had the means, I would have taken a whole lotta Japan out of that store! But I didn't so I grabbed my wire sets and power outlet strip and got the hell out of there. Unfortunately I forgot to grab the lightbulbs I wanted at Home Depot. The enery savers. This idea I was really proud of. You see because Chinses lanterns are made out of thin paper, they have a tendency to burn up when in contact with regular bulbs because the bulbs burn so hot. But the energy savers, they don't burn nearly as hot as just as bright. So I can actually get better light with less risk of fiery surprise.

From there I went back into Queens to check out prices on t-shirts at a local store, then to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for a Thai dish. However, I forgot a certain ingredient so I had to turn right back around once I reached my place and head out again to get it. The ingredient was brown sugar and the brown sugar I bought happened to come in the form of an indestructable brick. I tried microwaving a bit of it, and forgot that sugar burns and smells awful!!! Then I finally cut through it. To be honest I thought the dinner was going to turn out horrible, but I kept giving it my all and it ended up pretty damn good. Room for improvement, but still good.

Then it was on to the lighting tests. Since it was just me, I had to put a few screws in the ceiling to position the lights. Long story short I gave myself a quick self-taught lesson on lighting and the results seem pretty good. I plan on doing some more work with it tomorrow and well as some dialect stuff for Saturday and then I'll be set I think. More on this tomorrow.

All Things DCUP

It's been a busy day in some sense. I spent the day cleaning and painting and designing. I guess most of the day was spent working on this...

I had to paint all those fucking Japanese characters. I've never tried doing Japanese calligraphy before. Though I didn't find it terribly difficult (mind you I wasn't doing in correct form), the fact that I had to paint the characters onto a fabric made it a very slow and less than exact process. But between last night and today I finished the job. Why would I spend several hours painting the Japanese alphabet onto my partition? Well that's a good question. It's for the DCUP video, well for something relating to the video anyway. I'm trying to get everything together and/or done for the official start date (this Saturday). Fortunately (and unfortunately) I'm not getting ANY calls for work this week so I have plenty of time.

When I finished this project, I moved onto another, the official DCUP t-shirt. Much of the detail

is lost in this rendering, but you get the idea. You know, I really don't think DCUP knows how lucky they are to have such a dedicated fan as me. Well I know they don't. Brek seems to think I am his personal doormat, but it's all cool. I am happy to help out, cuz I consider it an honor. Anyway, that's life now. Not much else is going on. I caught up with Heroes yesterday. The show has me completely drawn in. So much goddamn suspense!!!

Ok, tomorrow I NEED to write, I need to fucking sit down and plow through this fucking impossible scene I'm stuck on and then I'll be ok.

Shit cocksucker motherfucker bitch ass shitting son of a bitch fuckface MOTHA FUCKIN SHIT SHIT SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!

HSBC you fucking prick ass suckas!!! You blew it, you fucking sent me flying! It's over, I'm finding a new bank and leaving you in the fucking dust you bunch of misguiding, uninformed assholes!

Woman on the subway, packing into the car when it's too crowded to fit your fat ass. Don't look at me with that coy fucking smile. I don't find it funny that you're making five people a little too up close and personal to me than I'd like. I don't find it cute at all. And if I was a better person I'd put my foot into your back and lounge kick that fat ass off the train, so everyone can breath again.

Breath....breath....breath....phewwww....again....phewwww....ok...ok....alright....I'm ok. Sorry everyone.

Where you from?

I've since taken this dialect test again, this time giving it more consideration and the results changed. Though it says that I do not have an accent, I know some on my words are a bit ...regional, or maybe its just me. Instance my "for" sounds a lot like "fur" conversationally....

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Inland North
The Northeast
The West
The South
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz