Search Results for '"archives"'

Sportin’ the new doo

Published
by
david chiu
on Monday May 19, 2008
· Filed under: Acting
.

I was sitting there in Studio DNA perusing through this month’s GQ magazine noticing all the stylish short haircuts and decided it’s time to try a new look. In the past this would have been a big deal and my agents would look at me with disapproval telling me that I would now need to go get new headshots. But now that I no longer have commercial representation and I’m concentrating on producing my own shows it doesn’t matter as much anymore.

Hmmm. It is about time to get some new headshots…

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Cloverfield 5k Training Run

Published
by
david chiu
on Tuesday March 25, 2008
· Filed under: Fitness
.

5k : 32.35min. I was able to shave 1min off my last run by sprinting for 10 seconds after walking. I’m still not able to run the entire 5k, but I’ve vastly improved since the Navy Seals Fitness Challenge where it took me almost 20min to cover 1.5 miles. I’m also trying to change my running style to become a fore-foot striker and incorporate Pose running techniques. So I’m running about a mile on my forefoot and the rest of the time mid-foot staying conscious of where my feet land (so that I don’t over-stride) and listening to the sound of my feet as they hit the ground so that my feet are light and I’m not creating unnecessary friction between me and the ground.

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Getting Ripped With XFlowsion

Published
by
david chiu
on Sunday November 18, 2007
· Filed under: Fitness, Leaner
.

At the beginning of the year H and I were lucky enough to be chosen to participate in a new yoga/fitness system created by Eric Paskel called XFlowsion. For 30 days we did intense yoga/dance/martial arts 4 times a week and ate according to the XFlowsion diet (whole grains, veggies, fruits, etc, etc). By the end of the program I lost 11lbs. A month after the program I dropped another 9lbs and ended up at 163lbs / 14.5% bodyfat. Well Christmas has come early this year because Eric has moved to LA from Michigan and has offered 3 weeks of free XFlowsion classes to those who participated in the original program. The XFlowsion commercial will be re-shot, AND Eric will be opening up his own gym sometime in Jan/Feb. 

So H and I are back in XFlowsion boot-camp again. We started Friday. The schedule is Tues/Fri/Sat/Sun which means we just completed our 3rd XFlowsion class today. All I can say is that XFlowsion is one hell of a workout. H and I have been doing yoga at home and at various yoga centers, but nothing compares to Eric’s classes. By the end of each class I am absolutely exhausted. I never sweat as much in any other workout than XFlowsion. It takes a lot of concentration, strength, flexibility and endurance to get through his classes. It’s intense. But it’s as intense as you want it to be because Eric is so mellow. Each class is completely different too (other than the typical yoga down-dogs and chattarungas mixed in with everything). So now I’m starting off at my new weight of 163lbs/15% bodyfat and I’m hoping to get down to 10% bodyfat by Christmas. That means I need to lose 5% of my weight in bodyfat which would be 8lbs. To accomplish this I’m going to try to be even more precise with my nutrition. Using the Harris-Benedict principle, I can assess my basal metabolic rate — also known as BMR:

Men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

66 + (6.3 x 162) + (12.9 x 71) - (6.8 x 34) = 1771

I need to multiply this by 40% and add the total since I normally work out 3-4 times a week.

This means I need to eat 2,479 calories a day just to maintain my current body weight. So I need to create a caloric deficit be reducing calories. 1lb is roughly 3500 calories. So if I decrease my calories by 500/day I will lose 1lb a week. If I can also burn 500 calories a day I could lose 2lbs a week - which would put me 2lbs away from being 10% bodyfat in 3 weeks. The big challenge is that it is the holidays and H and I love food. That means on Thanksgiving we will not be following the diet. But luckily, Eric will have an XFlowsion class Friday morning to make up for our dietary “sins”.

Out of curiosity I asked Google how many calories Bikram yoga burns (it’s the closest I could think to XFlowsion). I know it it’s going to be different for everybody since it depends on your practice intensity and a lot of other factors, but from what I could find it sounds like it’s possible to burn 600-700 calories in an hour. So XFlowsion four times a week would be 2400 calories burned at the least. I will also be hitting the weights hard at the gym twice a week and have one day to rest and recover.

During this training period I also need to make sure I eat enough calories to keep my metabolism running high. That means I need to eat approx 400 calories a meal 5 times a day which would put me at 2000 calories which is roughly the 500 caloric deficit I need to burn fat.

So last time I lost 11lbs in 4 weeks doing XFlowsion 4x week and lifting on and off for that period of time while moderately following the XFlowsion diet. That means I should have no problem hitting 10% bodyfat in 3 weeks.

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Fixing Broken Archive Links After MT4 Upgrade

Published
by
david chiu
on Wednesday November 14, 2007
· Filed under: Technology
.

Tonight I realized that the upgrade I did from MovableType 3 to MovableType 4 broke any and all links to my old articles once I had rebuilt my blog. The problem lies in the configuration option named “Basename Length” under Preferences->Blog Settings->Entries in MT4. The default value in MT4 is 30, whereas the default setting in MT3 was 15. Now I thought I could easily fix this by changing the value to 15 in MT4 and republishing my site, but that didn’t work. So instead I wrote this little PHP script to make copies of all my old archives articles and truncate the filenames to 15 characters. Now thinking about it, what I should have done - instead of making copies of the files, is create files with truncated filenames but that contain a PHP Header() directive that points at the current article with the 30 character filename. Anyway, here’s the script I wrote. Maybe it will help someone else. Be sure to CHMOD -R a+w archives/* before you run the script so that the script has permissions to create the new files. Then make sure you put the permissions back to what they should be when you’re done.

<?php


function changeext($directory, $verbose = false) {
$num = 0;
if($curdir = opendir($directory)) {
while($file = readdir($curdir)) {
if($file != '.' && $file != '..') {

$srcfile = $directory . '/' . $file;
$string  = "$file";
$str     = strlen($ext1);
$str++;
$newfile = substr($string, 0, 15);
$newfile = $newfile.'.php';
$dstfile = $directory . '/' . $newfile;

if (eregi("\.php",$file)&&(strlen($file)>19)) {
($srcfile, $dstfile);
//echo "copy $srcfile, $dstfile";
}

if(is_dir($srcfile)) {
$num += changeext($srcfile, $verbose);
}
}
}
closedir($curdir);
}
return $num;
}

changeext('archives',  'false');

?>

0 Comments

Dreamhost - Yet Another Bad Dream

Published
by
david chiu
on Saturday May 5, 2007
· Filed under: Technology
.

Dreamhost - my web hosting provider had another hiccup today. A file server crashed and had to be rebooted which resulted in all of my domains displaying a “bad_http_conf” error. They were quick in resolving the issue but I also had to go into each domain configuration and re-save the settings in order to get my domains back up and running. What a pain in the ass. Before Dreamhost I was hosting all of my domains at Aplus.net and never noticed any interruptions in service whatsoever, but they are overly strict with security on their domains and forbid certain things such as cron jobs and outside server connections. They also don’t offer as much as Dreamhost does. But I’m getting sick of all the service problems I’ve had at Dreamhost. I really want to switch to MediaTemple’s (dv) dedicated-virtual hosting plan but it would cost me twice as much and MediaTemple only offers 20gb for the entry level (dv) plan whereas Dreamhost offers 317gb of disc space - not that I even necessarily need all that much storage on my web server, but it’s nice to have. The big advantage of MediaTemple is that their (dv) servers are supposedly rock solid and have plenty of high-profile clients which trust in their uptime. But Dreamhost does offer more options per hosting plan. So for now I’m reluctantly staying at Dreamhost.

0 Comments

XFlowsion DVD’s now available!

Published
by
david chiu
on Tuesday April 24, 2007
· Filed under: Leaner
.

The XFlowsion DVD series is now available at xflowsion.com! What is XFlowsion? XFlowsion is an awesome mix of yoga, martial arts and dance taught by Eric Paskel. It’s perfect for people who have never done yoga before (like me). I personally lost 11lbs in 30 days by participating in a XFlowsion boot camp 4 times a week taught by Mr. XFlowsion himself - Eric Paskel. I’m now a yoga convert and have continued to take yoga classes (because there are no official XFlowsion classes in LA) and have lost an additional 10lbs. What’s unique about XFlowsion is the combination of isometric and plyometric moves along with the yoga stretching and aerobic moves which create an awesome way to stretch and strengthen core muscles while you get lean. Eric is also a great motivator and teacher with a straight-up no bullshit approach. I just hope that comes through in the DVD series. Much respect due.

0 Comments

No Pain No Gain

Published
by
david chiu
on Friday June 2, 2006
· Filed under: Life
.

I’m a mess right now. My mouth is very sore from the impromptu oral surgery I had done this afternoon. I went to the oral surgeon today to check my teeth because the left side of my jaw is a little swollen. I had my wisdom teeth removed about two months ago so I didn’t know why I might have swelling. I figured it was probably an infection where my wisdom tooth use to be. Well I was right. The doctor told me that I probably got food stuck back in there that caused an infection and now they had to clean it out. At first this didn’t sound too bad. I thought it might just mean a normal teeth cleaning. But 10min later I found myself across from a tray of needles, scalpel blades and suture string. Basically he had to go in and re-open my gum to clean out the infection then attach a tube to drain out the rest of it over the next few days. So now I have a freakin tube sewn into the side of my mouth. They said I would be a little sore, but they lied. After the anesthesia wore off I was in major pain and had to go home to take a vicaden that I had leftover from my wisdom teeth extraction. On top of all that, my hamstrings are really sore from the killer back workout I did the other day. I’m just a mess.

Sunday I’m back in scene study class and suppose to be doing a table read of the play “High Heels”. Sounds like a comedy. I’m not sure if I’ll be up to performing on Sunday.

2 Comments

Statistically Speaking

Published
by
david chiu
on Saturday April 15, 2006
· Filed under: Life
.

The authors of the book “Freakonomics” did a study on women who used online dating services and found that half of those women said they would date a man of a different race. But statistically they found that 97% of the replies of white women go to white men. So then they conducted a study on how much more money a man would have to make before he became popular to women of another race. What they found is that white women prefer white men, but respond equally to profiles from hispanic men if they make 77k+ more, black men if they make 154k+ and asian men if they made 247k more than their caucasian counterparts.

That’s sad. I’m sure stereotypes have something to do with it. Personally I feel like I won the lottery since I ended up marrying the hottest red-head in the office that every guy talked about!

Looking at this data, it’s also easy to see why Hollywood is still reluctant to feature strong asian leading men. Even though these statistics were taken from online dating services, I would say that this is the general attitude from the general public - that asian guys have to try harder in order to be respected in non-stereotypical roles. But I also find hope in this. I figure, if I was able to charm my way into the heart of my dream girl, why can’t I charm my way into the hearts of people in Hollywood and middle america?

I just need to keep working on self confidence. Here’s a good role-model: Bruce Lee.

1 Comment

The new plan.

Published
by
david chiu
on Monday February 13, 2006
· Filed under: On Stage
.

Out of frustration with the stagnant state of my acting career (and my failed eBay publicity stunt) I decided to meet with my theatrical agent for a little career counseling. I’ve been with the Ann Waugh Agency for almost 9 years now. Things started off pretty good with me booking a role on General Hospital and consistant auditions for film and TV roles. Over the years things have started to slow down and now my theatrical auditions are very few and far between. What I found out today was both encouraging and discouraging. Shelley told me that I am now the only one of my “type” that she represents. This is good because that means I will be the only person submitted by the agency for roles that match my exact type. But what is discouraging is that I’ve been submitted for around 16 projects since the beginning of this year but have not been called in for any auditions. Something is not working. So Shelley and I came up with the following action plan:

  • Post new photos on Actors Access, which is the online service the agency uses to do electronic submissions to projects.
  • Update resume on Actors Access
  • Send out postcards to casting directors
  • Get listed again on the EWP ACTS directory
  • Send a postcard/note to Gwen Hillier, one of the casting directors for General Hospital who has hired me twice in the past
  • Consider joining a well known theater group such as East West Players
  • Get listed in the directories for film schools such as the AFI and USC.

Ultimately it would be awesome to work with an up-and-coming USC film student who has vision and talent. Just imagine having the opportunity of working with the next Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino. This would be my first choice over some small role on a national TV show or major film.

The other option is of course to create my own opportunities - be the next Matt Damon or Vin Diesel who wrote and produced their own film which became the vehicle into Hollywood. Or use my web development skills and convergence knowledge to create some new media project that gains a lot of attention.

So that’s the plan - to do it all. A full brute-force attack on the Hollywood system.

0 Comments

Think Outside the Box

Published
by
david chiu
on Wednesday January 25, 2006
· Filed under: On Stage
.

UPDATE: I now have an official press release that I will be sending through the newswire and to different media outlets. The bad news is that PRWeb has rejected the press release stating that they no longer publish stories dealing with ebay auctions. I think this is a load of BS because if you search the PRWeb site for recent press releases concerning Ebay, it will turn up several articles within the last few days. In the meantime, I will be submitting the news release through eworldwire.com.

At the beginning of this year I had set a couple of goals for my acting career:

· Land a guest starring role on a prime time network tv show
· Land a supporting role in a major motion picture film
· Land a lead role in a feature length, high visibility indie film
· Get a manager who can help jump start my career

These goals seem pretty high especially since I can’t even remember the last time my agency sent me out for a theatrical audition. (ok I lie, it was last summer for a guest starring spot on Malcolm in the Middle) I’ve been really wanting to find a way to “make things happen”, to make that permanent transition from the office cubicle to the movie set. Anthony Robbins has been telling me for weeks that if I really focus and meditate on my goals I could make it happen. Just as he did with his own life in creating his motivational empire.

So for these past 2 weeks my mind has gone into over-time trying to devise ways to accomplish my goals and dreams - from becoming financially independent, to becoming that award winning actor I see in my mind. And I have come up with a few crazy ideas that just might work.

One of them is happening right now.

I decided to put myself on eBay and auction my acting skills to the highest bidder who would put me in a TV show or feature film. To up the ante I decided to donate the proceeds of the auction to charity. Crazy huh? I intended to just post the listing and leave it to “fate” to see if anything happened, but I started getting a lot of positive feedback from friends and family. They said I needed to get this in the press. So I started tweaking the listing and doing guerrilla PR by sending the link to various blogs and news sites. I started getting more hits and H urged me to send out a press release. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to spend $500+ on an official press release and distribution but then I found www.prfactory.org who would write and distribute my press release for $179. So that’s where it’s at now. An official press release is being drafted and will be sent out in a couple of days. Steve McCardell, the man behind PR Factory even mentioned how much he liked the idea.

So maybe I have something here? The chance to score an additional 15min of fame which if used properly, could jump start my career? It’s a chance. But that’s all I need.

0 Comments


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