EBA Presents: The Drunkard's Border Town Dilemma

I just finished designing the Promotional Materials for East Bay Arts High School's production of "The Drunkard's Border Town Dilemmas". It's a melodrama set on the Texas / Mexico border in 1850. I'm really excited to see the show. Break a leg guys!

Some Scams are Good Deals

A sucker is born every minute and there are acting-scams-a-plenty for those suckers to fall prey to. I'd like to think I'm not one of those suckers, but I'm pretty sure I am. Optimism and the belief that everyone is working towards the collective good make me an easy mark.

As a result I get emails for paid workshops, marketing schemes, life coaching, and water divination all the time. I'm pretty good about passing those up, but I just can't say no to a free class. I mean really, free and education, how can it get any better?

I just signed up for a free scene-work session at the Steppenwolf West School in Los Angeles. The class is intended as an orientation to the school, their teaching style, and no doubt to serve as a soft-sell for their paid classes.

Having just run my budget numbers (after signing up for a way-too-expensive annual dojo membership) I can afford this workshop, but I can't afford to sign up for another acting class. Here's hoping I have the self-control to take an awesome free workshop and not sign a check before I leave.

Using Google Reader for Targeted Submissions

If you are still viewing the web by going to all of your favorite websites separately in the hopes that one of them will be updated - prepare to completely shift the way you interact with the web. Enter: Google Reader

Just watch the video below for a full introduction:

This is really great for actors (or regular folks) who are looking for jobs by using craigslist. You can assemble a few RSS feeds based on searches you regularly perform  - just perform the search, click on the RSS button at the bottom of your page, go to google reader and you'll immediately see if there are any new roles right for you.

Here are some example feeds you might subscribe to:

A shotgun approach:

"Paid Film Actor 18-25 No Nudity" the feed

More targeted:

"Film Actor Geeky/Nerdy" the feed

Your exact market:

"Crispin Glover" the feed

The more targeted your market, the less likely you'll see a feed update. But when you do, you'll know that you absolutely need to submit ASAP.

I Desperately Need an Accountability Partner

This isn't so much an informative blog post as it is a plea for help. My life once again mirrors the not so nice elements of this post: endless TV, living off my tax-refund; the whole nine yards. I need a work-partner of sorts. I have rediscovered that when there is noone I am directly accountable to, I don't work.

You may be wondering how this whole accountability partner system works. Well it's really quite simple. Throughout the day the partners check in with each other at set times to discuss their respective work tasks and their progress towards completing them. These check-ins can occur in person, over the phone, via SMS, or instant messaging. The important thing is that both people are actively trying to use the system - if it's clear that one partner isn't working on their tasks or isn't motivated to check-in, it all falls apart.

Do you need an accountability partner in your life? If so, please contact me ASAP.

Get Your Ideas Out Into The World

A great short video on why it's important to get your ideas out into the world:

Objective: Volunteer. Obstacle: Massive Bureaucracy

I've been feeling a little down of late for any number of reasons, but mostly from lack of daily interaction with other human beings. I decided that I should do some volunteer work to get my people fix and help some folks out along the way. I went online and found a number of websites that direct you to various not-for-profit organizations that need volunteers. After my stint in China where I was functionally illiterate, I thought that a literacy assistance program would be a great place for me to volunteer my time.

I figured I would find a library or an adult school, offer my services, and show up during tutoring hours and read with folks. Instead I'm slowly marching through what feels like an endless sea of bureaucracy. Before I can actually volunteer my time I have to go through the following:

1. Find a volunteer opportunity.
   
2. Contact the organization.
   
3. Fill out online application.
   
4. Attend in-person training and evaluation.
   
5. Fill out a paper application.
   
6. Apply for background check.
   
7. Sign photo release.
   
8. Get TB test.
   
9. Fill out LAUSD volunteer application.
   
10. Get fingerprinted.
    
11. Wait 1-6 weeks for approval.
12. Contact service provider partner & setup an appointment.
    
13. Receive information packet regarding the SPP site.
    
14. Inform another agency of my intended volunteer schedule.
    
15. Await confirmation of schedule.
    
16. Attend first tutoring session.
    
17. Talk with lead teacher about goals and resources.
    
18. Begin Tutoring.
    
19. Attend additional ongoing training.
    
20. Log hours tutored and report to literacy organization on a monthly basis.

This is absurd. Absolutely absurd. It shouldn't take 18 steps before a person has the opportunity to help someone else out. This is a more convoluted process than a job application. I want to participate in a literacy program, and I will go through these steps to do so, but this is just beyond the pale.

Anyone out there have a lead on some good volunteer opportunities that don't involve quite so many hoops?

EDIT: Forgot to include that I also need two letters of recommendation. Seriously?!

Does inspiration lead to action?

I'm beginning to wonder whether inspirational talks lead to anything beyond an audience feeling inspired.

One of my favorite pastimes is to watch videos on TED.com. The TED videos are a series of recorded lectures from the Annual Technology Engineering & Design conference. The people featured in these videos are some of the most amazing, thought-provoking, and inspiring folks you could ever hope to meet.

I could watch TED videos all day long. In fact, sometimes I do, and that's the problem. By watching amazing people do amazing things, my empathetic emotional response gives me all those same feelings of awesomeness without any of the outlay. I get all the benefit of their labor with none of the effort.

It's been said that actors are valuable to the world because they do what the rest of the world can't or won't allow themselves to do. Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia unifies the Arabs to fight the Turks, Michael C Hall as Dexter murders serial killers, and Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview sacrifices everything in his life for the sake of success. Through these performances, the audience is able to experience what the extremes of life would be like, without leaving the safety of the choices they have made.

Which makes me wonder - Do inspiring performances create a better world? Or do they simply allow us to feel like we've accomplished something even when we haven't?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments for this post. For now, I'll leave you with some of my favorite TED talks:

The Jansen creates walking sculptures:

Al Gore on Climate Change:

Jill Bolte Taylor shares the experience of her stroke: