Improve Your Dialect Work: Learn IPA

If you've ever had difficulty understanding someone who speaks the same language as you but has a strong regional dialect (Louisiana, Cockney, etc), then you understand that while words are spelled the same way around the world, they are pronounced in completely different ways.

An American might say:

Park the car in Harvard yard.

While a person from England might say something more akin to:

Pahk thee cah in Hahvuhd Yahd.

One of the keys to dialect work is breaking down the differences in how specific sounds are pronounced. If you've ever taken a dialect class you were probably introduced to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It's an alphabet created by linguists in order to accurately record different dialects exactly as they sound - not how they're spelled.

Unfortunately, IPA can be difficult to learn, especially if you're just working on your own.

Which is why I was so excited when I found "Sephonics", it's a freeware PC program that helps you quickly get up to speed with the English subset of IPA. Definitely worth a look from any actor serious about improving their dialect work. The following is text lifted from the Sephonics website:

Sephonics includes seven different exercises for practising English
pronounciation and the phonetic alphabet, including a phonetic memory game to
relax between the lessons! There are also exercises where you learn to match a
sound to a phonetic sign, transcribe from phonetic text to ordinary text, and
much more! Sephonics is freeware.
Sephonics requires Windows 95 / 98
/ NT / 2000 / XP or better.

Becoming More Worldly: Learning Geography Online

Most folks in my life know that I have a horrid sense of direction, in the physical/literal sense. While the goals of my life are sometimes amorphous, they are still more distinct than my knowledge of how to get to a local bar without first driving past my apartment.

As I travel more and more of the world, my ignorance of countries, capitals, and key facts is becoming more than a little embarrassing. To that end, I've searched the web for tools to help me learn geography. The following is a listing of the items I found most useful:

• Shepard Software's Online Geography Tutorials & Quizzes - This is probably the best resource I've found to date. Quizzes are offered in levels of increasing difficulty, starting first with a tutorial that identifies the countries and ending with a quiz where you drag, rotate, size, and name countries onto a blank map.
• Setera - This is a free program that you can install on your computer. This quizzing features are nice, and include country flags and capitals. However it really assumes a prior knowledge of country names and geography.

I was hoping to find a "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" equivalent for adults. As yet, no joy.

Do you have any tips on how to quickly learn more about world geography, history, and culture? I feel like I must have slept through those classes in elementary school, and I didn't take them in high school. Comments are welcome.

Donovan Talks to Animals

Just like Marky Mark on SNL, I too can talk to animals:




Watch it on YouTube.

Cabin Fever Management Plan

I've been traveling through Asia for a little over two months now and I have to admit that despite all of my movement I'm getting pretty stir crazy. I miss my girlfriend, friends, family, apartment, and cooking for myself. Whenever we aren't shooting I'm in the e-cafe stalking people on facebook or obsessively refreshing my Google Reader for new posts - even though it auto-refreshes. I have all too much time to feel sorry for myself and lament my not-so-piteous situation.

Recently I got something of a reality check. I did some serious reflection, and I've realized that I'm only happy when I have too much to do. So, I've laid out a series of goals:

Fitness:
Get into camera-ready shape before we shoot the scene with implied nudity in India. This means running, isometric exercises, and laying off the booze and steamed pork buns.

Work:
Freelance projects - if I've got enough time to write enough emails to creep even good friends out I've got enough time to work. I'm going to complete the two freelance projects I still have outstanding from before my trip.

Cultural:
Learn about where I am - geography, history, culture.
Learn passable Mandarin - just enough to get around and not feel like a total loser.

Personal / Creative:
Write a play - I've got a lot of thoughts, many of them conflicting. I might as well let that become dialogue and a socially acceptable outlet for my extroverted leanings in a land where I don't have many folks to talk to.
Learn a monologue or 3 - Shakespeare wrote some eloquent stuff, and I'd do well to know more of it.

I'll get more specific with deadlines, etc as time progresses, but for now it's progress just to write out my intention to do more.

Photos From Cambodia & Laos

I've finally had time and a fast enough internet connection to upload some photos. The following are slide shows w/ captions (click on the title of this post if you aren't seeing them).

Clowning as Universal Language

In my current hotel room, there are 130 television channels. All but one of them is in a language other than English. The one English-Language channel is all news, all the time. So, as you can imagine, it takes a while for me to settle on a channel I can convince myself is actually a productive thing to watch (why must I always be productive, even in my relaxation?).

Somewhere around channel 73 I found a rebroadcast of a Cirque Du Soleil style circus. Some things are universal and don't require language; a person so flexible they essentially turn themselves inside out will be compelling no matter where you're from. Then came the clowns - totally universal, totally understandable, all of it accomplished through a very clear articulation of their emotional state. Or as some might describe it: hammy acting.

As I was treating myself with a little retail therapy (Price in Yuan * 0.15 = Price in Dollars) I found myself doing clown-style pantomime in order to articulate my thoughts. "Yes, yes, the Jacket is nice. But it is expensive and I don't need it. Whereas I do need the pants. Also, you gave me a good deal on the pants, but it is clear you are trying to screw me on the jacket. A matching pair is not so important to me. I will just go. Oh, a good deal? Well then, I would be more than happy to buy the jacket. Thank you." Of this stream of consciousness, only the last phrase was vocalized as Xia Xia (sp?).

While there may not be a place for clown acting in most films, nor theater, there is a place for it: haggling in a foreign language. After I'd leave, I'd hear anyone who had seen the exchange say "Wai-low" and then laugh. Directly translated Wai-low means something like "white devil", but I've been assured it's not a bad thing.

But those sparks of laughter are a wonderful thing. The following is a quote from the Pi Clowns' website:

We believe that laughter has the ability to strengthen communities and heal the individual. As the Dali Lama stated, The best way I can describe enlightenment is spontaneous laughter.

I'll leave you with a little video from Pi Clowns - some friends of mine in SF who formed a clowning troupe after college. They're having a great time and making fun and funny theater.

China: Currently Under Construction

So our 7 hour bus ride ended up taking 16 hours. Roads are being constructed all over the place. Above is a picture of the backup of vehicles at the 1st landslide, waiting for the bull-dozers to move the boulders out of our path.

That said, it was the shortest 16hr bus ride of my life. The terrain is absolutely gorgeous and I was well-fed. I gorged myself on pork buns, fried dough-ey things, and all manner of dimsum and crackers.

Days without seeing another white person (except Gabe): 1 and counting.

The Pink Light District

So, the Red Light district in the little town I'm in is actually the Pink Light District. It's a really curious setup. There are tons and tons of little hair salons going down the main strip of town. In each hair salon are two to three women, most relatively attractive and in their 20s. These are legit hair studios, with the swivel chairs, clippers, Barbisol, et al. However in the back of every salon are 2-3 single beds behind a curtain.

Gabriel and I have been trying to figure out why it is these two businesses are combined:

• A person needs a haircut once every two weeks, and apparently the services of a prostitute on a similar schedule.


• The women are trying to recession proof their businesses. When people stop seeing prostitutes they start dating, and everybody that's anybody gets a haircut before a first date.


• It takes a long time to become a great hairstylist, so it's necessary to turn tricks before you learn the tricks of the haircutting trade.

I honestly can't figure it out. But if these salons/brothels are anything like the "Happy Smiles Restaurant" back in the states that serves donuts/chinese food/burgers/smoothies - one would do well to keep his/her distance. A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Chinese Food

Gabriel and I ordered lunch yesterday by pointing at the raw elements of what we wanted to eat in the kitchen of a restaurant. We have resorted to pointed and smiling or frowning a lot, we can't read the menus or speak the language. We had the choice of a live fish in a tank, a dried and salted cut of pork, or a blue-ish plucked chicken residing in the fridge. We pointed at the chicken and at the giant basket of steamed rice and hoped for the best.

Ten minutes later we got a heaping bowl of chicken, stir-fried with garlic and green onions. It looked big enough to feed a family of 6. We were also given a bowl of rice larger than both of our heads combined - and Gabe can have some fluffy-ass hair.

On further inspection, I discovered that we had an entire chicken in our chicken stirfry. Feet, wings, head, beak, skin and bones. Apparently they just chop the whole bird up without first deboning it. So every bite had to be taken gingerly for fear of cutting our mouths on a shard of chicken bone.

Later that evening I found myself throwing up for the first time in Asia. Followed by an equally enjoyable experience from the other end. On this evening, the porcelin God to which I prayed was a squat toilet in a hotel in the Red Light district (but $12 for a hotel room is a good price).

Lest you get the wrong impression from my past 3 posts - I'm actually enjoying it here. I'm finally in a situation foreign to the point that I can celebrate the experience instead of lamenting how the American-style breakfast isn't "quite right".

1st Ammendment Rights

Okay folks, say what you will about the US Governement, but at least when you do a Google Image Search for "United States" you don't get a picture that looks like this:


The images that aren't coming up have all been blocked by the Great FireWall of China.

China, Oh China!

So I am currently somewhere in China, where exactly I do not know. Some place North of Laos and South of the North Pole.

When I first entered China I could only think of Disney Land. Everything was so shiny and new, colors were bright and sidewalks were a mile wide. Then I slowly came to realize, I was in Disney Land, China. It was the happiest place on earth if you were Chinese.

Unlike the Asian countries I have been in up 'til now, China's economy is not based on tourism. In two days, Gabriel and I have only seen one other white person - and none of the locals speak English. I know it's a silly thing to be shocked by, but I've been able to get by with "hello" and "thank you" in the local language in every other country up 'til now. To have someone say something in Chinese - then say it louder 'cause you just don't get it, then laugh 'cause you don't get it, then take a photo of you to share with friends - is frustrating.

So now I'm trying to teach myself Mandarin, but if any of you have heard me sing you'll know that a tonal language will be a challenge. Language is such a wacky thing, I'm surrounded by people making sounds that convey thoughts and emotion but it makes absolutely no sense to me. It's a wonder we ever learn our primary language and it leads me to suspect we aren't the only creatures on this planet who have developed language - we just can't understand the dolphins yet.

Also, there isn't really any English signage around. Not even the cute stuff that you'll find at http://www.engrish.com/ For the first time since age 4, I'm illiterate. If you ever felt like your education was a lot of wasted years - let me be the first to disagree. I can think of few goals more important than a literacy education for every person on this planet.

Things that are now very difficult because I can't read Chinese:

• Reading a menu and ordering food at a restaurant.


• Determining where I am on a map.


• Finding a Chinese phrase book.


• Finding a toilet without having to mime peeing to a stranger.


• Buying shampoo & conditioner, not shampoo and shampoo or conditioner and conditioner.


• The list goes on.

More to come...

The Paradox of Good Acting

It is an unfortunate paradox in acting that the more an actor feels like they're doing a good job, the more likely it is their work is unusable.

The exact whys of this are unclear to me. Perhaps it's that the more an actor does, the more they feel like they are accomplishing something like good acting. Until it's not enough to experience the moment in a scene, but you have to experience the experience of experiencing the moment. With that sort of self-concious removal from what's going on - it's no wonder that most actors doing a role behave like no person that has ever existed in the real world.

A recent conversation with Gabriel that led to something of a breakthrough:

GABRIEL
Okay, so just walk down the path. See the footprint. Squat down, say "People" then keep walking on the path... Whenever you're ready.

Donovan thinks through every moment in the story leading up to this point. He now know his character is tired, lonely, losing hope.

GABRIEL
Okay, whenever you're ready.

Donovan walks down the path. His posture is rigid, his face strained with hours of walking, his chest heaves with labored breathing. He SEES the footprint. He squats. He looks up.

DONOVAN
(Joyously) People.

GABRIEL
Yeah. You're giving me way too much here. Just walk down the path, squat down, and say "People". Give me like 10 percent of that.

Donovan walks down the path. His posture is rigid, his countenance stoic, he breathes audibly. He SEES the footprint. He squats. He looks up.

DONOVAN
(Optimistically) People.

GABRIEL
Yeah. That's still way too much. Stop thinking. When people are walking they're looking in front of them and the most they're thinking is "there's a spider", "don't step on that rock", they aren't thinking of every moment that led up to that.

DONOVAN
Okay, I've got it. Can I have 30 secs to prep?

GABRIEL
Sure. Whenever you're ready.

Donovan goes to the top of the path, he does a sensory inventory trying to enliven each of his senses to his environment.

He walks down the path. He sees the leaves, he is aware of the smell of the trees, he hears the birds, he feels the cool air flowing over his skin - his head turning to follow each of this things. He sees a footprint. He squats, he studies the details of the tread, he touches the footprint with his finger.

DONOVAN
(Meaningfully) People.

GABRIEL
Donovan, what the fuck? What were you doing? People don't walk like that through the jungle. Here, come here. Watch the tape.

Donovan watches the tape.

DONOVAN
So what's the issue, was the pause before the squat too deliberate?

GABRIEL (frustrated)

Okay. Try this for me. Stop acting. Don't think about the character, don't think about what's happening in the story. Just look at the ground in front of you, walk down the path, look at the footprint, pause, squat down, and say "People". Don't worry about the emotion, just say the word.

DONOVAN (frustrated)
Okay, I'll try it.

Donovan walks down the path. He sees the footprint. He squats down. He says people.

GABRIEL
That's great! That's it. That's exactly what I wanted.

DONOVAN
Really? That was it?

GABRIEL
Yep.

DONOVAN (Upset)
But I don't feel like I'm doing my job.

GABRIEL
You're making this way harder than it is. Seriously, stop acting. Stop worrying about everything your character has gone through. Stop preparing before every take. You know the character by now, you know the situation, now you can just live it. Just do these things, do them as you would do them. Acting is so incredibly easy, stop making it so hard for yourself.

DONOVAN
Okay. If that's what you want.

And so, that's what I've been doing. I was initially frustrated and felt like everything I was doing was rubbish. I didn't feel like there was enough going on - I wasn't coursing with emotion. It wasn't the least bit fun. But a funny thing happened, Gabriel wanted fewer takes. I was doing a lot less "work" and felt a lot more like I was just walking through life. The simplicity of it became enjoyable.

I've only been working in this new way for a few days, but I feel like there's something to it.

I Do My Own Stunts

After watching the horror movie "Room 1308" with me and witnessing my hours long panic attack that followed, my good friend Chandra dubbed me a "cryin' ass little bitch." This should give some indication as to the level of my adventurousness and capacity for risk taking.

When Gabriel and I meet people in our travels and try to explain the film, the conversation goes something like this.

PERSON
So what is the film about?

DONOVAN
It's like Indiana Jones if Indiana Jones was a total wuss.

GABRIEL
That's not how it was written... But that's what it became once I cast Donovan.

Knowing all that, you and I are both surprised to find that I'm doing all my own stunts. So far I have:

• Ridden on the back of a motorcycle at high speeds without a helmet over bumpy and muddy terrain at night.
• Ridden on the back of a skooter in the rain dodging in and out of traffic and through narrow alleys full of people, dogs, and cats.
• Crossed incredibly busy streets in Vietnam without looking as much as a prudent person would - about 50 times.
• Crossed a river with semi-rapid waters that reached my underwear - in the middle of the night never having seen it during the day.
• Slid down a muddy jungle path on my butt, limbs akimbo.

To be fair, Gabriel is the Ginger Rogers to my Fred Astaire. He has to do all the same stuff except backwards and with a camera in his hand.

While the above list of stunts might make you question why the word "stunts" wasn't surrounded in question marks of irony - it's not a bad list of accomplishments for a cryin' ass little bitch.

Politicians Are Humans Too

My acting teacher Richard Seyd has said more than once that "everyone has an interesting life story" - and this is true. The most seemingly boring person working the most droll of jobs has a unique and compelling life story. The key is to look below what they project to the world - that's the mask they wear to keep themselves safe. It's a mask we all wear, be it our silly sense of humor, biting sarcasm, quick temper, or cool demeanor.

That's why politicians are almost universally despised as liars and cheats. They are wearing a mask on top of a mask - and its painfully obvious to everyone. Even as a strong supporter of one presidential candidate I often asked myself if there was "any there there"?

Well Newsweek has done a bang-up job of reporting and they've answered the question. For once we get to see a more human, sensitive, flawed aspect of the presidential candidates. It's the sort of rich portrayal I'm used to hearing on This American Life or B-Side Radio. They published...

a seven-part in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign, consisting of exclusive behind-the-scenes reporting from the McCain and Obama camps assembled by a special team of reporters who were granted year-long access on the condition that none of their findings appear until after Election Day.

Definitely worth a read.

An Election Abroad

First, a confession: I did not cast a ballot in the most recent election. I tried very hard to vote. I spent many hours in the attempt. I submitted my voter registration paperwork by mail and the internet more than four times. I submitted paperwork to vote as a permanent absentee, twice. I even filled out an online form to get my ballot sent to my parents house while paying for the internet by the minute in Cambodia. No ballot ever made it to my parents' home in the Bay Area. In fact, checking on lavote.net, I was never successfully registered. I started this process months ago - still no joy.

Despite being unable to participate, I was eager to follow the election. Gabriel and I retired to our separate hotel rooms to watch Recount to get in the mood for the following day's election coverage. The next morning we met at 8am to watch the East Coast polls close. We went to a restaurant friendly to foreigners, asked if we could turn on their TV, and then watched outsider's coverage of the election by the BBC. CNN was not available.

After a couple hours of watching, we were joined by a Canadian. Then two American guys, one of them a former UCSC student. As news of Obama's victory got out, the crowd at the restaurant grew. Based on a very unscientific sampling - it seems that folks from around the world are happy to see Obama as president.

The highlight of Obama's speech - his girls are getting a puppy. If I had known this during the primary the Clinton v Obama debate would have been much easier for me to sort out.

Then I went to an internet cafe to check the status of California's propositions...

Proposition 8 passed. Ouch. Next I found a map at latimes.com that broke down the vote by county. San Francisco voted No on Prop 8 in an overwhelming manner. No surprise. But Los Angeles County passed it, and not by a slim margin. I can almost understand it in the mostly agrarian Central Valley where not everyone knows and interacts with openly gay people on a regular basis, But LA? Seriously - in a land of entertainment populated by actors, costumers, makeup artists, and hair stylists Prop 8 managed to pass. Gays allow this town to run, it's not about marriage folks, it's about equal rights.

Two steps forward and one step back.