I might checkout “Soul Plane” this weekend ’cause a friend of mine from the acting studio is in it. He plays a bartender in the movie and also happens to be in the trailers. Big props to Chemin who is always hustlin’! You might also recognize Chemin from the tabloids after the J. Lo/Ben Affleck wedding that never happened. A bunch of tabloids featured pictures of Chemin with J. Lo in miami suggesting that they were together. He thought the whole thing was pretty funny.
0 CommentsMonthly Archive for May, 2004
Tonight our performance of “She Stoops to Conquer” was a lot stronger than last week. We incorporated a lot of the notes Tom gave us concerning our actions and really carving out the characters. Unfortunately the performance and the characters are still not where Tom wants them to be. He said that I had the basic character down but that I’m playing the character externally and not as fluid as he should be. He also worked a lot with the transitions between my lines/reactions and my partners lines/reactions. I completely understand what he wants with the character but sometimes it’s just hard to all the specific notes of the performance on-the-fly. It will take practice. I keep telling myself that I’m going to videotape myself doing the lines so I can see and hear my performance, but I always get too busy.
1 CommentI always find it interesting as to the types of people you find in different gyms. I belong to 24 Hour Fitness and I now find myself going to two different gyms - one in Santa Monica near my job and one in Korea town near my house. At the (newer/larger) gym in Santa Monica you will mostly find the aerobic type of person who likes to spend time doing cardio on the machines. There are plenty of people who lift weights too but most people seem friendly enough. At the gym in Korea town, the vibe is a little more serious and you will find a lot of well built asian guys pumping iron trying to prove their manhood.
Now every gym seems to have their share of freak - there are those guys who scream, moan, or otherwise make strange noises as they try to impress everyone with how much weight they’re lifting. Then you have those other guys who strike body-builder poses in the mirror or who are always lifting up their shirts trying to show off their abs. Well at our gym in Korea town we just happen to have the wierd martial artist korean guy who walks in wearing kung fu gear and likes to practice kicks and punches against the pad on the cable machine. Tonight he actually was throwing kicks out in the open as people passed him. Honestly it’s pretty funny and sad. This poor old man is trying to get attention or trying to prove something.
Maybe he just needs a hug.
1 CommentThis past weekend I watched two very different kind of movies - “in america” and “You Got Served“. “in america” is a beautiful movie about tragedy, hope and renewal that was beautifully acted by talented actors. This is the kind of movie I feel my acting studio has been training us for. Then I watched “You Got Served”. After watching 30mins of horrible acting I started fast-forwarding to the dance scenes. Luckily, the dance scenes were some of the most incredible dance sequences I have ever seen!
(background info: I love anything related to movement - dance, martial arts, stepping, etc. Part of me wishes I would have studied dance and become a choreographer.)
The dance moves were amazing and made you want to jump out of your seat and scream “OH!” The dancers and choreography were completely bad-ass. Now I want to get back into a dance class and capoeira class.
What is Capoeira?
One of the most amazing martial arts styles you will ever see. It’s a brazilian style of martial arts which is very acrobatic and practiced in the form of a dance. It’s something that has to be seen.
Go rent or buy “Only the Strong“.
Then checkout greek step.
0 CommentsI was surfing the web today and decided to check out what new movie trailers are playing over at Quicktime.com. When I went to the site I noticed this movie trailer with the wierd title “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle“. Out of curiosity I clicked the the link and…
BAM!!!
There was John Cho staring right at me!
I actually know John Cho from East West Players Network (now ACTS) and used to bump into him occasionally at EWPN/ACTS functions and past auditions over the years. Now here he is getting top billing in a mainstream movie! Good for him!
(Congrats John!)
Now I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous. So I’ll just put it out there. I’m jealous! It is kinda ridiculous for me to be jealous really, because John and I are very different and would RARELY be considered for the same role (unless the role just stated “Asian male” - plus now he has major credits). But a part of me is envious. When I arrived in LA in 1997 that’s when John started getting his break in the industry. John always had this great personality which worked well in acting - and he was/is a good actor with great comedic timing. As for me, well in hindsight my acting skills back then were poor. I had plenty of good opportunities come my way (Touched by an Angel, Fast and the Furious, Crossing Jordan, Biker Boyz, a couple of TV pilots, All My Children, A Day Without a Mexican, etc, etc, etc) but honestly I wasn’t ready. So a big congrats to John Cho. It is exciting to see Asian men starting to get a break in Hollywood. It’s about time. I hope this movie does well at the box office ’cause if it does it will open up even more opportunities for other Asian actors as well!
As for me, well I will continue to “hone my craft” as my acting coach would say, so that when the next opportunity comes knocking at the door I will be ready!
(after reading this entry again I fear I’m being a little too honest. oh well. i’m keepin it real. so keep in mind that i’m an artist and i’m sensitive about my $hit)
2 CommentsYesterday I received a call from Tom asking if I would be willing to work on my scene, “She Stoops to Conquer” with another classmate. I accepted.
What this means is that now I will have to juggle two rehersals every week and I will also have to perform the scene twice every Wednesday night. But on the flip side this also means I will get twice the instruction. This is important because there are basically six weeks left in the program. I can’t believe it! I will be completing the two year acting program in SIX WEEKS!
Anyway…
Today I went by David LaPorte’s studio to pickup the last proof sheet from my recent commercial photo shoot. The photos look great! After picking up the proof sheet I rushed over to my commercial agency to deliver the proofs to my agent. When I pulled into the parking lot I reached into my bag…. and realized I forgot to bring the rest of the proofs!!!!!! How stupid! I just spent a half hour driving into North Hollywood for nothing!
Well, there’s nothing I could do about it so I turned around and headed back to work. I’ll deliver the proofs tomorrow.
Tonight I did the table reading in class in full costume - knickers, lacy billowy shirt and all. It was HOT! I was sweating! We had a good performance though. Tom spent the time helping us carve out our characters more - giving them more depth and personality. It was great. This scene is going to be hilarious when were done. It just so happens that during class the director of “Legally Blonde 2” showed up to watch. I guess he was a student of the studio at one point and time. None of us knew who he was until Tom told us after he left. Tom told us that this is why we always need to be on top of our game because you never know who could be watching.
0 CommentsFollowing the recent E3 Expo in Los Angeles, CNN is running a story about the continuing convergence of videogames and Hollywood. The good part is that this means more jobs for actors and entertainment professionals in this brave new world.
0 Comments…for a “Made for TV” movie. Only problem is that Heather and I spent $22 tonight to see it in a theater. The dialogue was very soap-opera melodramatic and a lot of the scenes seemed contrived. At times I felt Troy was a Gladiator/Braveheart wannabe. I spent most of the movie almost laughing at the dialogue and not really caring about any of the characters. Live or die, I didn’t care. Although, there were a couple of action sequences - including the extended fight scene with Brad Pitt - that were pretty good. Brad Pitt is definitely charismatic and interesting to watch but I regret that I spent $22 to see this epic. This is definitely a rental.
BTW, I’m not the only one who feels this way about the movie. There were plenty of other people who laughed at some of the dialogue and made negative comments about the movie after the credits started rolling.
0 CommentsHere’s a summary of my weekend:
» Friday
I went to a new sports nutrition store called n101 to pickup a bunch of supplements for Heather recommended to her by her trainer. The place is a non-descript structure hidden in Hollywood down a side street but the people who run it are very nice and knowledgable and they have a wide selection of products at very good prices.
That night I made the mistake of finding, downloading and watching the gruesome Nick Berg video. Heather and I both watched it and were very much affected by it.
» Saturday
My morning was filled watching Shakesperean and Restoration scenes in class. A very nice comic relief from the “real world”. Later that night we watched “The Wizard of Oz” on DVD. An endearing piece of Hollywood history. We also spent time watching the “Featurettes” on the DVD and were amazed at how talented all the actors were.
» Sunday
After a one-hour killer session at the gym we ran around town doing errands - Home Depot to get paint samples for our house, Trader Joe’s for food etc, etc. We were going to go see Troy but it got too late. We will see it Monday instead.
A reader recently asked me about finding a legitimate modeling agency here in Los Angeles. After doing some research on the internet I found a couple links:
http://www.modelingscams.org/
A great wealth of information on modeling scams and what to look out for.
http://www.modelnetwork.com/theagencies/index.html
An online directory of modeling agencies worldwide.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/model.htm
The official FTC guide on modeling scams.
“…you’ll probably find yourself in an office filled with lots of other model and actor hopefuls. Then the spiel starts. What you thought was a job interview with a talent agency turns into a high-pressure sales pitch for modeling or acting classes, or for “screen tests” or “photo shoots” that can range in price from several hundred to several thousand dollars.” This is a great statement by the FTC that is very true! Don’t believe the hype!
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