Oregon...

I decided to head up here to Oregon to audition for their Shakespeare Festival. My director from Marriage of Heaven and Hell started working up here and suggested it. To be honest, at the time it sounded as easy as friends out of the business saying, "you should get one of those shows on TV." Sure. No problem. I sent an e-mail.


Lo and behold they invited me to audition. They only hold open auditions twice and they are by invite only. Here's the other kicker: They are only here in Ashland, OR. I you are like I was then let me tell ya where Ashland is. It's in the Southwest corner of the state, about 15 miles North of the CA border. It's fairly hilly and very woody around here. I like it.

I booked the trip a little late, thanks to the disappearing feature film job. None the less I got everything booked and took off Fri about 3pm. I was a little startled to walk through the doorway in San Francisco to board my plane for Medford and decend stairs to the tarmack. Yes, I had to take the plane you see to your left. A Rockstar coffin. It was actually pretty cool. Imagine getting in an RV and then it goes airborn. Unless you are a world famous musician or a Kennedy, I recomend trying a puddle-hopper sometime. It was super fun.

It is really nice being up here. My last experience in OR was years back with a huge group from CSU. If this tells you anything as to time, some of us were excited about moving to London soon on that trip. Heh. Ashland is really nice, but I am certain it is infinitely better for those who are tired of the smog and congestion of a major city. I have walked all over town several times over now. My audition went great. I am always thrilled to just give everything I've got and be able to walk away content. For me, it's a 2 minute show. I love it. The reaction seemed good as well. But lets face it, even the guy selling you a lottery ticket can smile.

Whatever the outcome, this has been a much needed repreive from the hussle of CA. I am glad to get some fresh air and see genuine trees. Hell, there's even some snow peeking out at the top of a nearby mountain.

Third time is the Charm!

Oh happy day! Last night, after 14hrs I was checked out for my background work. I was a faceless person in the crowd for the NBC show Medium. The only true highlight for me during the day was getting blocked to follow closely a character, whose name I did not recognize. When she turned around, I was struck a little goofy to be standing right in front of Neve Camble.

However, the day was notable in that my work was under a Union booking. This provided my 3rd SAG voucher and made me eligible to join. In LA, I feel as though I just got my Golden Ticket to work here. Being SAGe, I can now submit much more confidently for representation. I am here for work and it seems being SAG is the only way to get it. Yes Viginia, there is a Satna Claus!

Looks like I will be hosting yet another bake sale!

Yes, it is ironic...

It has been an interesting time of self discovery as far as acting goes. The adventure of the feature film vs. the license plates was exciting. Sadly, it turned out to be a lesson for lesson's sake. The film folks were never that great about communication, calling with little or no information. Well, as soon as my head popped out of my ass and I said I was ready to commit to the project, all within the time I was offered to do just such a thing, they renegged. I was told via voicemail they were reading someone else for my part and would let me know. They way I grew up, that meant I would be contacted. In Hollywood, that means we won't talk to you again if we like this guy. The latter proved true.

While this could have been a real pisser, I am not so bummed. I got a serious priority check and feel grateful. The film folks were a little bent on the rehearsal process too. They insisted on several rehearsals, demanding perfect line reads even while sitting in an uncomfotable row with chairs next to each other. The email also seemed more to request perfection in every word than process. I tend to be more of a shoot from the hip guy, enjoying the keep it fresh approach. However, I also seldom feel a performance couldn't have been a little better.

How much preparation is enough and for me when is it too much? I know there are several actors (probably even on my block) that have trained extensively for what they do. I occassionally envy this knowledge. Then again, I watch their performances and wonder if they even realized they have dissected the life out of the character. I treasure my improv skills and always feel a connection in that I can react as my characters should the show veer from the text. I lso know I need to get some more training. Th desired result is to have the know-how and be able to use it sellectively, keeping the characters still fresh and in the moment.

And yet, in Hollywood acting is so little about skill for most of us. The old adage of "who you know" is apt in any large city it would seem. It certainly helped in Chicago. Here it is the only way to even get seen. Contacts are the acting Google map. I am slowly backdooring my way towards my final SAG voucher. Contacts I have made on set with other PA's, AD's, and even a Gangboss are paying off. I feel at times like a whiney bitch continually playing out my delema of trying to get my final 3rd voucher. However, I deliver these plights as a challenge and am findin repeated mentions are gaining me allies. Our Gangboss on the Trojan job was a good friend (and fellow Bronco fan) and made a call for me. As it stands right now I will be called to do a SAG background job on Wed or Thur. I got the job by describing myself on the phone. By the by, try this once for practice so you don't feel as odd if ever asked. Just a suggestion I recently experienced. As for the job, I will cellebrate when the film is rolling.

Lastly, I depart this Fri for Ashland, OR for a huge Shakespeare festival audition. I am so excited to go, but have never put so much effort into just getting to an auditon. I drove from Chicago to Dtroit for a Second City audition once. So far that's it. To me getting this OR job would be a life-saver. I would get out of this spiritless, rainless city for a while and get to feel artistic again. More than anything I am excited to get up there and just try. I have always felt my tallent is tempered with a serious tenacity. Better, more skilled actors than I have long since given up the stage. I hang in there. It's the only thing I really want to do. So I keep showing up. I crash Wicked auditions with Flogging Molly songs.

By the by. It rained last weekend here. I can honestly say there are times when LA is beautiful.

The odd life

Just a real quick hit here as I find myself in such an odd spot. It's 12:26am. I just got up from attempting to sleep a tad after doing pick ups with my Production truck. I am about to leave for work. We are shooting a Trojan commercial featuring hot girls and pigs. Real and anamatronic. The same studio that built the Jurassic Park dinasaurs (and our GM robot from the controversial Super Bowl Commercial) has provided us with a dozen faux pigs. The spot is hillarious. It's a surreal life.

Ways to fix LA #1

Fixing the traffic jams here poses a seemingly difficult challenge. However, in true Stupie fashion I have devised a number of ideas that may help things some. They will be dispensed in intervals so as not to boggle your mind too much at once. Enjoy!

Solution 1:

Let's import a couple hundred cab drivers from New York and Chicago. They will not only benefit our fair metropolis by adding more options for comuters, but they will serve as great role models for this detrimentally laid back environment.

People here are so sun-drenched stupid they seem to forget where they are going while they are going there. This of course excludes the folks that are so sped up they believe their Audi's can really fly. The result of a few Kama-Cabbies on the road would serve to remind them the long peddal is for go. It would also serve us well by putting the propper fear of car back in the pedestrians.

They have cart blanche here. They are permitted to cross a street everywhere there is a corner. On top of this, they put in crosswalks in the middle of blocks, not nearly as big as those found in our cab training grounds. People here casually strole into traffic without even a glance up. They also indicate no hurry to get across said streets. Now I am not saying RUN, but a little kick to the step is a nice courtesy. A few weeks of being mowed down standing to close to the street will get these people walking with pupose again!

So, there is the fisrt plan to cure my town clotted arteries. Bring on the cabs that know what it's like to catch air when the rider says, "step on it."

California is Expensive

I am not usually one to keep stress to myself. I'd like to think I am not a bitcher, but I am aware when something is on my mind I usually let everyone know. That being said, many of you already are aware of my License Plate stress. Since I bought the Jeep in Colorado, I was not charged any sales tax at the time of purchase. This is also the time when you are awarded financing amounts. Ergo, If you buy the vehicle in the state you live, your taxes are added to your total and then they solicite for that amount to be financed. At least that is what I just learned.

California has a nice online estimate calculator which gave me my first scare a month ago. Apparently, I needed to pay ALL my sales tax on the Jeep at the time I wanted to get my licnese plates. This was calculated to be about $1600ish. That figure has kept me awake at night.

It has morphed into a tremendous monster. Here's how out of control this situation has gotten. I recently have been slammed with work. It is truly a blessing as not all of it is backbreaking. None the less, my license plate monster living in my brain is warping perspective on everything. I have that MUST FUCKING WORK ALL THE TIME mindset of the desparate. This is not entirely a problem in and of itself, but it can become one. Irealized that today.

I have been cast in a feature film (indy) as a lead. I went to my first rehearsal today still unsure what was exactly going on. One minute I was to be called-back, then that cancelled, then they were trying to schedule rehearsals. I never heard the words, "we want to cast you." Consequently I went in a shade skeptical. My monster took control when they outlined how much time they want to rehearse and then the shoot schedule. From my entrance to acting I have been given several bit parts and must confess the time commitment is always the redemption. I will not have that this time. I am one of 5 lead characters and will have multiple days of shooting. The monster heard only, "you will not work and will be worse than broke, you will not have enough to live."

I asked to stay after the rehearsal and talked with the director. I told him I did not think I was their guy. I needed to work badly right now. He listened and then without needing to offered a reality check for me. This is a lead role in a feature film. That does not come around often in this town. He added that money is good and needed, but it should not deter from what is in your heart to do.

I remembered moving back to Chicago at one point after a tour without enough money to get an apartment, just because I had an indy film shoot scheduled. I also remember living for about a month on the food I took home from my two jobs, rather than throwing it out at the end of the day.

Suddenly the light was turned on. This monster had to go. I went directly to the DMV to begin my exersism. I had just what it would take to pay my estimate. I am also intimidated by government paperwork. This was a two fold good time coming. I kid you not, at 4pm on a Tue, I walked into the DMV and to the counter right away. No time to collect myself. The woman I spoke to was very helpful, constantly repeating in a thick Russian accent what I needed to do. I paid my $1690 and had just 45minutes to go get my Smog Test (a CA right of passage) and get my vehical "verified" at anouther location. After another $50 at the gas station down the street, I was comforted to know my Jeep is not responsible for excessively smogging. I was also out of time for the day.

The end result here. I have a temp tag in my window for CA (plus the CO tag in the plate holder). I paid more for my license plates today than I have paid for anything else ever (without using credit cards). The monster looks a bit stupid and I feel a booster shot of direction was administered. I am still a bit freaked, but that I think wiill always be there so long as my priority is acting and not money directly.

None the less, please attend my Bake Sale fundraiser later this month!

Easter evolution

So, here it is Easter! I remember being so excited for Easter as a kid because there would be a basket of sweets and a gift or two perhaps. Plus the fun of looking for eggs we had carefully dyed to unrecognizable shades trying to get those vivid Crayola colors on the box. Ah, youth.

The holiday sort of dropped from my importance radar when the baskets stopped and I was more interested in eating eggs than searching for them. That is until college. Easter was one of those holidays that presented a connundrum for those of us away from home. It wasn't so big that you had better make it home to be with your family, but big enough you felt odd doing your laundry alone. My friends developed an idea one year. Pot luck easter brunch and a video scavenger hunt. Now the food was good (Cory introduced us to Idaho Egg Pie) and the hunt was good (Cody and Tanya laid a challenging course), but we felt there was more. Each year thereafter we came back together and added to our tradition a bit more. Brunch evolved from pot-luck to just Cory makes Idaho Egg Pie. The hunt evolved as a couple of us rotated (briefly) through the roles of planners and our locations shifted from the secure, easy streets of Ft. Collins to the less predictable Chicago terraine. We even ditched the hunt for a while as we were certain plastic, clue eggs would never stay where they were hidden and opted for a White-Elephant style basket exchange. That was an interesting year or two. Imagine giving an Easter basket that is supposed to be a suprise. It essentially results in a row of trash bags in the livingroom while we eat Idaho Egg Pie. Very festive.

Our hunts were resurrected and Tanya and Cody continued to impress us. We had a tradition. These things always change, end, evolve, etc. Before so many of us had left the Windy City we had already agreed that it was time to let some of it go. It was tough. The thrill of developing a tradition with friends is great, but we have seem also how they can become difficult too. We have enjoyed many years together, and continue to stay close. Who is to say what traditions will emerge now that we are in all 4 time zones? I started calling my family every Sun when I moved away in 2000, just to stay close and have consistency. Maybe I'll add some more numbers to that list. Maybe we will return to Vegas in a year. Maybe we will continue to converge on Estes to wear kilts every Sept. Who knows? We grow, we change, we continue to care about each other.

This year I am in Hollywood. I went out to eat this morning with some birds of my feather, if you will. Tonight I will be joining my former cast from Marriage of Heave and Hell for a post run cast party. Mexican food in Burbank. It's not the same as skipping races across the oval at CSU, but it will have to do this year. I am about to make some of those calls too.

Have some Idaho Egg Pie for me friends!