As I was walking to my car this afternoon I noticed this girl sitting at the corner Starbucks talking to two guys and having a good time. She looked very familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. Then it hit me. It was Nicole Richie from “The Simple Life“. Now to be honest, I’m not 100% sure it was her, but I wouldn’t doubt that it was since the MTV studios are down the street.
1 CommentMonthly Archive for January, 2004
Tonight I told Tom my three choices of characters from the Spoon River Anthology. Tom thought I should play Edmund Pollard. Edmund Pollard is a guy who lived through life cautiously and is now speaking from the grave telling people to live life to the fullest. His monologue is very poetic and passionate. It sounds very interesting and I look forward to working on it. The downside to playing this character is that Tom wants me to wear a toga for the piece.
A toga???
Tonight Tom told us that an actor is cast in a specific role/character because the actor has the look, personality and behavioural traits that fit a specific character. We were encouraged to take a hard/realistic look at ourselves and really imagine what kind of roles/characters would fit us. Looking at my training up to now I have been assigned romantic leads or “take charge” characters. Does this mean the studio views me as a leading man type of actor? Very cool. In my acting “career” I have been sent out on a lot of commercial auditions as a “hip and cool” character. Theatrically I have auditioned for a lot of “asian gangsta/thug” roles (Fast and the Furious, Biker Boys, Crossing Jordan, etc, etc). Hmmm….
1 CommentTonight I have been working on breaking down three monologues from Edgar Lee Master’s “Spoon River Anthology“. Our assignment for class tomorrow is to pick three characters we are interested in acting and break down their monologues using the script analysis, character interpritation technique we were taught a couple of months ago. Tomorrow each person will read the three monologues they have chosen in front of the class and Tom will work with each individual in dissecting the monologues. He will also make the suggestion of which character he wishes us to work on.
I have chosen the characters Benjamin Fraser, Yee Bow and Archibald Higbie.
0 CommentsI just received notice that I have been accepted into the Master’s Class at the Joanne Baron/DW Brown acting studio. The Master’s Class is being taught by Joanne Baron - who studied under William Esper. William Esper was a student of the great Sanford Meisner.
The play I will be working from is “The Woolgatherer” by William Mastrosimone. My character is a truck driver with a jersey accent. I wonder if I will have to do the accent? If so, I’ll have to watch some episodes of “The Sopranos”…
Honestly I am a little nervous about the class. It’s a “master’s class” which means I have to come full force with everything I have learned at the studio. I don’t want to dissapoint my partner or Joanne (the head of the studio and from what I heard, a brilliant teacher) with a poor performance. This means I have a lot of work ahead of me. This is going to be a great growing experience and I am nervously excited about the whole thing.
1 CommentI went to the gym this afternoon and busted through a plateau by benching two 65lb dumbbells (130lbs total). Previously I had trouble benching two 60lbs weights (120lbs). If I had a spotter I would have attempted two 70lb dumbbells. I think what helped is that I did 10min of cardio before starting my chest workout.
Heather and I were watching another episode of the “Discovery Health Body Challenge 2” the other day and I was inspired to see the challengers participating in a 5k mud run. It looked like a lot of fun. I think Heather and I are going to try to enter in a few competitions this year for fitness, fun and charity.
0 CommentsTonight Allura and I finished our scene from “The Country Girl” with strong performances. We received good remarks from our acting coach and the class. It feels good to be able to finish on a strong note although it feels a little strange that we will no longer be performing the scene since we have been working on it twice a week for three months.
There were a lot of good performances tonight and everyone is looking forward to the next stage in our training.
0 CommentsAt the beginning of last year I shaved my head. I initially wanted to go for the “shaolin monk” look but chickened out and went for the “military” look. This was a big deal. I had spent 3 years growing my hair long and getting it cut twice a month at Jose Eber - a very expensive salon on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills (this was during the dot-com days when we all had money).
When people asked why I shaved my head, I would answer “this is the deconstruction of self image to find myself as an artist”. (Actually I only said that to my wife and a couple friends - all who know that I’m a little strange.)
Now it’s a new year and I got a haircut today. I wanted to once again change my hairstyle and try something different. Nothing drastic like last year, just something different. So I surrendered myself to my stylist’s hands. He ended up cutting my hair shorter, but not too short. It looks good. My manager (aka. my wife) also approves.
(I just tried taking a photo to post here, but I look horrible so I’ll have to post one later…)
Tomorrow I go to get my eyebrows done. Hollywood is about image and as an actor you are promoting yourself as a product so you need to look your best. It’s just part of the game.
It’s interesting how much I’ve changed throughout the years. In the next couple of days I’m hoping to get all my old headshots online to give people a good laugh. Especially my “modeling” photos.
0 CommentsToday at the MacWorld Expo Steve Jobs announced the introduction of the Mini iPod which has a capacity of 4gb, is smaller than most cell phones, comes in a variety of colors, is customizable and costs $250. Get one NOW!!!
0 CommentsYou cannot fit an iron or steel pipe to an existing copper plumbing system. Fitting these two materials together will cause a chemical reaction which will rust the iron/steel pipe. Instead you must use copper or brass.
Home Depot is your friend.
I dream of the day my house is no longer a construction zone but a completed living space. Until then it kinda represents my life and my acting career - a project always in construction with visions of grandeur and potential for greatness and beauty. The “bones” are there they just need to be built upon.
0 CommentsTonight I’m really going to take some time to create my goals for 2004. So far, things are off to a good start with one of my poems being published in a new independent literary magazine and my photo is being used for a book cover. I also bought my first 30×32 jeans. Last year I was pushing close to size 34!!!
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