Published on Sunday August 31, 2003 .
The improv went really well today! I felt that I have redeemed myself from my last 2 performances which were pretty mediocre. The scene worked well because it showed a regular guy excitedly preparing for a romantic dinner, but this guy happens to be a little over-conscious about cleanliness and germs. With the music playing in the background and me singing while wearing rubber gloves and cleaning it allowed me to be more dynamic onstage. When Shannon showed up we were able to have a pretty responsive and reactive dialogue. I also kept in mind my relationship with her and to really relate to her as if she was my sister. It worked really well. My only note was that I tended to try to explain things instead of being present in the moment and expressing how I felt or responding to her emotions. This was also one of my major notes last year as well. I guess it stems from my real life behaviour of always trying to talk my way out of emotional situations instead of dealing with it.
I’ll have to fix that.
Published on Saturday August 30, 2003 .
“Dinner”
(an improvised scene.)
Featured Impediment: OCD/Germ Phobia - performed by me.
Synopsis:
I am playing myself with an OCD germ phobia condition. Shannon and I are brother and sister. A couple days ago Shannon overheard me talking to mom saying that I thoght she was a loser. What I don’t realize is that she is coming over tonight to confront me. The scene starts with me on stage setting up a romantic dinner while listening to music.
Published on Friday August 29, 2003 .
Yesterday I was listening to the “B-Side” on 100.3 The Beat with K-Sly and Eric Cubiche and got a little offended. They were trying to get a listener to call in to claim his prize. When K-Sly mentioned the listeners last name was Chow, this prompted a stereotypical Chinese accent from Eric Cubiche, “You bang my head, I bang your wife!” and K-Sly joining in with racial innuendo.
WHAT THE HELL!?!? K-Sly is Asian as well and she is supporting the continuation of Asian stereotypes? Just because she is Korean, talks like she’s from the “hood”, and is a DJ on a popular hip-hop radio station in Los Angeles does not give her the right to make fun of Chinese people. Would it be acceptable for me to make fun of Koreans, or Japanese, or any other asian ethnic group? I think this is part of the problem. There is no real “togetherness” in the “Asian” community. Each Asian community view themselves apart, different, and/or superior to the other group. It’s a part of all our histories and ties to our Asian heritage and roots. Then there’s this whole “I’m more assimilated than you (therefore I’m better than you)” attitude perpetrated by some Asians (I’m guilty of that too).
Will there ever be a strong “Asian” community made up of different Asian ethnicities?
I don’t know.
Published on Friday August 29, 2003 · Filed under: Entertainment .
The pop princesses acknowledge each other with the standard european greeting.
I didn’t actually watch the VMAs. Heather and I were caught up watching season 2 AND 3 of The Sopranos.
Published on Thursday August 28, 2003 .
“I want you to call me next time so I can help you with your setup of your scene. I want to see you really fly and work from things that really allow you to act, be active and be deeply emotional.”
-(a highly paraphrased critique from my acting coach)
I bombed last night in class. It was pretty bad. Our scene quickly turned into a one-note “I hate you” cussing match. I didn’t react to the shock of my girlfriend treating me like dirt. I didn’t have a deep emotional relation to the fact that my mom had passed.
Tom stopped the scene pretty quickly since it was going nowhere. I felt horrible. It was a reminiscent feeling of the first time I did stand-up comedy and nobody laughed. Just stared.
Driving home from class it hit me:
I am EMOTIONALLY RETARDED.
Ok. Maybe I’m not severly retarded, but definitely exhibit symptoms of emotional retardation. This is what I’m realizing from the notes I’m getting from my acting coach and conversations with my wife.
I try to justify it in my mind by telling myself, “it’s because of my asian family upbringing and the ’show no emotion’ attitude”. But that’s a cop-out. A lot of it is just me. As my beautiful wife has gently pointed out, I disconnect from highly charged emotional situations, I’m passive aggressive, I don’t communicate my emotions or desires and I don’t show much emotion (other than anger - the acceptable manly emotion). I have that “white face, black heart” thing going on. This causes a lot of problems in my life AND in my acting. How am I suppose to express real emotion in acting if I don’t express it in real life?
With my lack of emotional range in my acting exercises I have two career choices: comedian or action star. Problem is, I’m not all that funny, and my kung fu is pretty pitiful.
But I must be getting better. In the first year acting program I cried onstage. That was real emotion. And recently I even got choked up and shed a few tears in the “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Asian Men” performance. So I feel I am making progress.
I just need to work harder. Whatever it takes. I’m going to make this happen.
Published on Thursday August 28, 2003 .
My blog has been blogged by Volume of Interactions. You can read his kind review and participate in his “survey”… (vote YES dammit!)
Published on Wednesday August 27, 2003 .
(Dedicated to my beautiful and infinitely creative wife, Heather.)
My soul cries out to be heard.
My emotions long to fly.
My thoughts and ideas fight to free themselves from the solitude of my mind.
For all the years of my youth I’ve been enslaved to conformity.
Bound by stereotypes.
Trapped in a glass cage of mediocrity.
My subconscious dialogue always seemed to be
Like hypocrisy to the normalcy expected of me.
But now I shall break free
And fly with the wings God has given me
To soar higher into the clouds above the trees.
To see all the love and beauty that has always surrounded me.
I shall no longer let negative ideas put limits on me,
Or live within the perceptions people want to believe.
But will proceed to let loose my spirit
To create art,
To show emotion,
To reflect a little bit of humanity
So that others may also be free
From the invisible barriers that confines their spirits from infinite possibilities.
Published on Tuesday August 26, 2003 .
“The Next Morning”
(an improvised scene.)
Featured Impediment: a “hang over” - performed by Shannon.
Synopsis:
Shannon and I live together and have been dating for a year. Shannon has been out all night partying and drinking w/ friends. Alisha (one of her close friends) was drunk and told Shannon that she slept w/ me when Shannon and I first started going out. Alisha thought Shannon knew. She didn’t. It is now the next morning and Shannon is returning home. What she doesn’t know is that my mother passed away last night in the hospital after a long battle w/ cancer. The scene will open up with me on stage packing my suitcase getting ready for a later flight to meet my family.
Published on Tuesday August 26, 2003 .
Ever since I was a teenager, it was my fantasy to go to MIT (massachusetts institute of technology) - the ultimate school for engineering and creative thinking. I read many publications by Marvin Minksy and learned about the MIT Media Lab. I wanted to study Artificial Intelligence and become an entrepreneur, inventor, and researcher.
Unfortunately my grades sucked, I scored a 1050 on my SAT and now I’m a struggling actor.
But my admiration of MIT, the Media Lab and their work in technology live on. And now anyone can get an education from MIT for FREE. The catch? You don’t get a degree and the OpenCourseWare project is still in its beginning stages. But by 2006 MIT hopes to have all their coursework and lectures online for free. To share knowledge with the world.
Cool huh?
Published on Monday August 25, 2003 .
Here’s some inpspiration for the day:
Heather passed me this article from CNN about a 12-year old who is attending medical school at the University of Chicago and pursuing a PhD. Sho Yano has an IQ over 200, composed music when he was 4, scored a 1500 on his SAT, graduated from Chicago’s Loyola University, summa cum laude in three years, and wants to find the cure for cancer.
I also remember there was an article in Muscle and Fitness last year about Chris Langan - a genius bodybuilder with an IQ of over 200. While discussing theories about the universe he can bench 500-lbs and throw you out of a bar (he works as a bouncer as well).
Don’t you wish we could all reach our full potential?
WELL NOW YOU CAN!
Just send me four payments of $19.95 and I will send you my audio CD on reaching YOUR full potential!
(just kidding)
It’s only a one-time payment of $29.95…