Happy Holidays

I just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays! I'm currently in Goa, India surrounded by sand, surf, sun, and way too many raver hippies.

From Drop Box

Guaranteed Ways to Get in Shape

So after weeks of reduced portions and 10 days in the freezing cold of Tibetan Tagong, China I'm back down to my fighting weight. I've got some visible ab definition, and my man-boobies are a thing of dark and soon to be repressed history. I've got a pretty fast metabolism and youth on my side so for me to lose weight is certainly not as tough as it is for some people - howevever, it's still work. Here are some things that have helped me.

1. Public Nudity: I'm filming a nude scene (no floppy bits visible) in India. This means that that whenever someone get's curious and types "Donovan Keith Nude" into google, they'll get a still-frame from the movie of me in the buff. If I'm going to be haunted by this scene for years to come, I might as well look good. I've used the threat of public nudity in the past to great effect as well, I put on 25lbs of muscle over a period of 6months because I knew I would be scrutinized by every gay man in the Castro when I performed in "Take Me Out". Take Me Out is a play about baseball - but for most audience members it's a play about a shower scene. If public nudity doesn't scare you, then maybe you don't need to get in better shape - you seem to think you're just fine the way you are.


2. Meaningful Goal: "Lose 10 lbs" is not a meaningul goal. 10 lbs is just an abstract number, and you could lose more muscle than fat making your situation worse than it already is. Try these goals on for size "I want to see my abdominal muscles before I'm videotaped with my shirt off." or "I want to lose 2 inches off my waist so that I can fit comfortably in my pants and I don't have to buy an entire new wardrobe, or take my box of fat pants out of storage - they're all pleated khakis."


3. Ambitious, but Realistic Deadline: If your goal is to simply get in better shape, it'll never happen. It's like a teacher assigning a paper but saying you can turn it in whenever you like. The last quarter of your Senior year that paper still won't be done and you'll be missing the credits needed for graduation. So give yourself a date to look foward to, for me that's Dec 18th when we land in India. Early in the trip I was drinking nightly and eating all I wanted, but as the 18th started approaching I actually got my act together. So another thing is to set smaller deadlines that are coming up fairly soon - if a deadline is too far away it's almost worse than not having one.


4. Accountability: If we're the only people we will disappoint with our actions or lack of actions - more times than not we'll find ourselves disappointed. Why? Well because in the grand scheme of things, we don't matter that much. But if your kids are going to cry themselves to sleep unless you go out and buy their Christmas presents, then you'll buy their Christmas presents I guarantee it. I've got pretty good accountability with this project in the form of Public Nudity, I've also got this blog, and a number of people in my life who I've told what my goals are.


5. A Buddy: I was a vegetarian for 2 years along with my father. Myself because I was headed to college and it seemed like the cool ethical thing to do. My dad for health reasons. but really, we did it for each other. The first week we might have done for ourselves, but anything past that point we did because we didn't want to disappoint each other. My sister and I once ran a half-marathon in SF. We both wanted to quit after 5 miles. But we never told each other. We kept running because we thought the other wanted to, and we ran at a much faster pace than either of us would have run at our own. So when it came time to pick my buddies for this project, I picked my father for weight loss, and I signed up for a half marathon with my sister. Seriously - find someone who will motivate you and whom you can help motivate and there's no end to what can be accomplished.

My friend Ilana Turner from Richard Seyd's Acting Class recently started on a weight loss plan of her own. She's using a tool called Flaab.com which is absolutely brilliant. It integrates just about everything I've talked about above in a very simple structure:

If you don't meet your weight loss goal by the time that you specify a significant sum of your money will be given to the person, organization, or thing you hate most in this world. For Ilana it's the girl who insulted her for being fat in middle school. For you it might be Kill the Whales or the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. If you put $500 on the table saying you will lose the weight by Feb 1 or the Puppy Killers Association of America will get the money, I guarantee you'll work harder than if you just make it one of your new year's resolutions.

Seriously, flaab.com is a brilliant concept and worth a look.

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.

The Peculiarities of a Birthday Abroad

Yesterday marked my 23rd year as an air-breathing human. The first half of my day was a self-pitious mess. I missed home, I lamented over the slow service and bad Pad Thai I received, and I pined for a better book to read. On the verge of being a total misty-eyed-mess I made my way to an internet cafe.

This internet cafe was a thing of beauty. For once I had broadband speeds that actually rivaled those at home. I was able to download and watch YouTube videos and clips of The Daily Show. Once my hungers for pop-culture were sated, I opened up Skype and began calling family and friends back home.

I don't have a cell phone on this trip, so there is no way for folks at home to contact me other than email. Which meant that it was up to me to give people an opportunity to sing me "Happy Birthday". Initially I would call, and chit chat about whatever - hoping that eventually my conversational partner would catch wise and sing me the birthday ballad.

By the time I called my sister Tamara the conversation went something like this:

DONOVAN

Hi Tam. Sorry to call you while you're at work. But since I had a good internet connection I figured I'd give you a buzz.

TAMARA

Oh, hi Bro. Let me just get somewhere that's not a cubicle.

DONOVAN
There's no point beating around the bush here. I'm calling to wish myself a happy birthday.

TAMARA
Huh? You're what?

DONOVAN

I'm calling to wish myself a happy birthday.

TAMARA
Happy Birthday Donovan!

Long Semi-Awkward Pause

TAMARA (Continued)
Do you want me to sing you the Birthday song or something?

DONOVAN

That would be most excellent.

TAMARA sings the Birthday song.

DONOVAN
Okay, well it was great talking to you, have a good day at work.

TAMARA

Okay, take care.

So pitiful was this display, that the kindly Brittish lady who was sitting next to me in the e-cafe wished me a Happy Birthday. She then explained that it was her son's 45th birthday and he'd just had a child. She then said "I sort of wish that I was home to be there with him. But to be honest, [being on vacation in Laos] is way better."

In retrospect it seems a horribly selfish a babyish thing to do. But it in all honesty, it made my day and bouyed my spirits to no end. It was good to talk to folks back home and feel like I was still connected to the rest of the world.

After all this Gabriel took me out to dinner where I had a Beer Lao and capped the night off with a Rotee, the Laosian Churro equivalent.

A good day. Thanks too all who talked and sent well wishes my way, It was greatly appreciated.

At The Massage Parlour

Yesterday I discovered that I had a knot in my left shoulder, so I went for a massage. Full body massages are about $3/hr in SE Asia and are generally pretty good. Apparently someone had coached my massage therapist that it was good to keep a small talk conversation going:

HER

What you name?

ME

Donovan. What is your name?

HER

Pawn.

pause.

PAWN

How old you?

DONOVAN

22.

PAWN

Oh. Me 19.

DONOVAN

Are you studying anywhere? School?

PAWN

Done study? You study?

DONOVAN

I'm done studying too.

The massage continues. Pawn starts on Donovan's right foot. More silence. Pawn grabs some of the hair on Donovan's shin and yanks.

DONOVAN

Ow!

PAWN

King Kong.

DONOVAN

Huh? Oh, yes. Hairy, yes my legs are hairy.

Silence

PAWN

King Kong no good.

Awkward silence

PAWN

All finished. You go now.

A swimmer swims, a writer writes, an actor... drinks coffee.

I have long admired Roger Ebert's writing. Due to a number of surgeries to treat his cancer Roger Ebert lost the ability to speak. In response, he seems to be writing more than ever. In addition to his regular movie reviews, he's started up a wonderful blog. In a recent post, he had this to say to an aspiring writer who wondered how to start:

Ebert: Actually, maybe I can help you. There is nothing you don't "get" because there is nothing to get. You are the writer. What you write is what is written. It is exactly right because it is exactly what you wrote. If someone else doesn't think so, fuck 'em. There is no objective goal, no objective right or wrong. Only the process. Your mind will set itself down in words. Do not criticize. Do not look back at every sentence. Just write. You have no idea where you are headed. Your words will lead you. This above all: Nothing is ever completed until it is started. Start. Don't look back. If at the end it doesn't meet your hopes, start again. Now you know more about your hopes.

So there you go folks. Get to it.

----------------------------

As an aside: what is an actor to do? Acting without an audience or a partner seems an exercise in absurdity. What does the daily work of an actor consist of?

Chronicles in Cleaning

Apparently it's possible to wash a shirt in a sink at night and have it dry before the next morning.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The Entirely UnSexy Side of (indie) Fim Production

This is a post that I dedicate to Prince who told me:

Don't come back all dirty and gross.

Continuity is something that you hear a lot about on a film set. Actors have to repeat the same motions and dialogue ad naseum so that they can be captured from different angles and focal lengths. To shoot one minute of finished film can easily take all day.

The way the "Around The World" project is currently structured, each 30 minute episode takes place over the course of a single day. What this means is that I'm in the same costume everyday that we're shooting a given episode. We've been shooting in Cambodia for about two weeks now.

In a major film or television show this isn't an issue. Sets are air-conditioned, every costume piece is purchased or constructed in triplicate and is regularly washed (Harrison Ford had over 20 identical hats for the latest Indiana Jones) . We're shooting outdoors in 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity - as well as hiking to all of our locations. To say that we sweat is something of an understatement. Unfortunately to get clothing laundered takes a couple days, which is to say: I've been wearing the exact shirt and pants for ~12 days - unwashed.

I shower twice daily, douse myself in baby powder, and run headlong for my clean change of clothes after the shooting days end. However, none of this has prevented me from developing a splotchy red heat rash on my back. Eeew. Eeew. Eeeeeew. Hydrocortozone cream is a Godsend .

Hmmm, it looks like my blog's readership just dropped to -4.

That being said, I am having the time of my life shooting this thing.

A new peer group can lead to a new way of thinking.

A few weeks ago when Loren and I were in Chiang Mai, Thailand we met a guy named Dave in the Air Asia ticket office. Dave was an anthropologist helping his girlfriend do research on Aquaculture in Southern Vietnam. We ended up spending the rest of the day with him, visiting temples, eating a variety of dishes at a phenomenal restaurant off the beaten path and all around having a good time.

As we walked around the city we kept seeing signs for walk-in dentists. Bill, our other companion and a doctor, told us that the dental work in Thailand was great and that if there was any work we needed done, we might as well do it in Chiang Mai. Being image conscious products of Los Angeles culture, $100 for 1hr tooth whitening was too good a deal to pass up. Dave even perked up a little at the prospect - he had teeth, he drank coffee, why not?! It came to pass that there were only two dentists open at 8pm with seats available for teeth whitening, so Dave missed out.

When I ran into Dave a couple weeks later, he remarked "It's suprising how quickly your thought processes can change when you're with a different peer group. When I was hanging out with you and Loren, I somehow thought that getting my teeth whitened was the absolute perfect thing to do - forgetting that I didn't even have $100 to do it with."

Which made me think of a few things about my thinking that have shifted since my arrival:

• Safety: In the states, I am safety conscious to a point that could be characterized as psychotic paranoia. Anyone who has seen me do a speedy silly walk across the street to avoid a car 3 blocks away is well away of this. Well, since I've arrived I've had to give up:
• Seatbelts - Most cabs don't have them, and if they do they don't work.
• Helmets - Nobody wears them in Cambodia, so there's not sense waiting for a moto driver that has one for you; he doesn't exist.
• Sanitation:
• Soap - over here, soap is practically nonexistant. You're lucky to find running water, and when you do you're even luckier to find a hand towel.
• Toilet Paper - TP is now to be used as a napkin, hand towel, tissue, almost everything except toilet paper. A lot of toilets don't have TP, have to bring your own.

Well, there are plenty more things that have changed, but this is all I have time for at the moment. Perhaps I'll start a regular feature: stuff that was weird but now is par de rigeur.

Cute or Tasty?

It is fairly well established, that predators are inclined to first attack the young and sickly prey animals.

Humans have an in-built cuteness detector. It probably has something to do with head to body ratio. Regardless, I find myself scrunching my face up and saying "Awwww! Isn't that the cutest..." puppy, kitten, water buffalo. Water buffalo?! Yes, I saw a cute water buffalo today.

So my question is this: Do tigers recognize that an animal is cute and thus young and thus edible and thus delicious? Or are we the only animals with cute detectors? Or better still: at what point did our ability to detect the easiest prey get transmogrified in our positive emotional reactions to "cute" animals?

These are the things keeping me up nights folks.

Travel Affords Time to Read

The television in my latest hotel room has no cable. This has afforded me ample time to read, something at home I always aspire to do more of. So far on this trip I have read:

1. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
2. A Very Short History of the World by Geoffrey Blainey
3. The Gum Thief by Douglas Copeland
4. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers
5. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
7. And a few pages of some horrendous novel I bought in an airport and later threw away.

Bonfire of the Vanities is my runaway favorite, but they're all worth a read except for "Life Expectancy". Pure dross, unless you love narratives about psychotic clowns.

Socially Starved While Never Alone

Despite both being brown haired graduates of UC Santa Cruz's Film program Gabriel and I are fundamentally different people. Evidence:

1. We do not share the same atoms.
2. Gabriel's hair is curly, while mine is floppy.
3. I get anxious in solitude while Gabriel craves it.

We find ourselves in an interesting position, we spend over 12hrs a day with each other. We are both experiencing social anxiety for different reasons. He, because there's no escaping social interaction. Me, because I don't find myself in a variety of different social circles with regularity.

Please note: Gabriel and I are getting along swimmingly. No drama, no attempted strangling, and our friendship remains intact.

At home, I have different friends for different activities, and many days where multiple activities are planned. If the interval between conversational partners grows too long I find myself in a glum state of mind. To illustrate: I once attended a party in college wearing a pair of wings - I was... wait for it... A social butterfly. At first I thought I was wearing the costume ironically, it wasn't until I catalogued the events of the evening to myself later that night that I realized that the costume had been worn in earnest.

Moral of the story: I was quite happy to be shooting scenes with Scott today.

Enough with the ancient engineering marvels!

I've been shooting scenes for "The Untitled Around The World Project" in Angkor, Cambodia. Angkor Wat is a phenomenal construction, it's apparently the largest religious site in the world. It's vast to the point of being vastly vast. It's basically this huge compound constructed entirely out of carefully cut stacked and carved stone. There's no mortar or cement, inertia is the only thing keeping the walls up and in position.


The thing is, we've been scouting locations and shooting in Angkor (home to tens of these temples) for a week now. As beautiful and astounding as these structures are, I'd be glad to have some time where I'm not schvitzing like a kinnish as I schlep myself up the catywampus stairs.

Oh the stairs. As we all know, stairs are deeper than they are high. This integral part of their design is in place so that our feet can find purchase and security as we ascend and descend. Well, the ancient Kmher (Cambodians) hadn't worked that out, or at least didn't care. It's not uncommon to climb up a 15' flight of stairs with each step being 18" high and only 4" deep. It's basically like rock climbing with a really easy (but still potentially deadly if untethered) slope.

If this seems unnecessarily glum of me, I have it on good authority that anyone who travels through Europe for an extended period gets tired of visiting castles and looking at rennaissance paintings. That said, these locations photograph beautifully. I'll post pictures once I sort out my digital camera e-cafe blues. Despite an eensie budget, this project is going to have some of the most beautiful backdrops ever committed to film (ok HDV tape).

I think we've got about 4 more days left and then its on to Laos.

Panoramas From My Travels

Sien Reap, Cambodia

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Ton Sai, Thailand

Super Affordable, Ultra-Plush Medical Center. Bangkok, Thailand

Siem Reap: A homebody's attempt to travel

When I explained to my friend Loren that I had been spending a lot of time watching HBO with Gabriel, he sent the following email in response:

You idiot.

Venture out.

You will be filled with regret if you don't.
You have studied pantomime.
Keep a card for the hotel with you and you are fine.
Get out.
Go.

And so with that in mind, I have ventured into the world today. I logged my hotel's coordinates into my GPS device and started walking around. I got an area map from my hotel and found a little cafe where I ate breakfast. I found a Cambodian cooking class and signed up. I'm heading there now.

Even when travelling I can find it hard to break inertia. Here's hoping with practice it gets easier.

Phanam Pen, Asia's New Orleans

The outskirts of Phanam Pen penetrate into the heart of the city. Which is to say, there exists no line between city and shanty town, or if there is, the line is broad and permeable. The exception is the tourist and ex-patriate district on the riverfront. I felt an immediate affinity for the area - here is something I know, here is something safe.

The weather, the location, and even the French-colonial architecture make it feel like New Orleans. Gabriel and I split a bottle of white wine and ate at an upscale Thai restaurant. The wine buzz made me fall in love with the city.

It's a shame we only spent one night in Phanam Pen, it is a city that begs further exploration.

Cambodia: Shit Just Got Real

Cambodia would like to welcome you to the third world. The one where people are genuinely poor and no amount of cultural relativism can make these living conditions seem okay.

Gabriel and I took a bus from Saigon, Viet Nam to Phanam Pen, Cambodia. Almost immediately after crossing the border between the two countries, the differences were evident. In Viet Nam, most of the poorer people lived in cinderblock homes and had a motorized skooter (even if it had to be ridden simultaneously by all 5 family members). Whereas in Cambodia, it seems that everyone in the countryside is living in thatched shade covers made from what look like palm fronds. Everything is dirty, everything is dusty, and even the chatchkees wrapped in plastic that are being sold to tourists are sunbleached.

As I looked around and saw this, I said to Gabriel: "Shit just got real."

The nicer homes bordering the river are all on stilts. The regular rain and flooding seems to be the rationale.

Shooting in Vietnam

I keep finding myself in countries that I know next to nothing about. In part this is because of the nature of this project - I'm hopping from country to country, following clues. We don't get the guidebook for the next country until we're en route, and while we're on the plane, Gabriel is usually trying to find a decent hotel for us to stay in. So I show up, knowing (if I'm lucky) how to mispronounce the local equivalent of "thank you".

And so it was with Vietnam. Outside of movies about the Vietnam war (more exactly, the Vietnam-America war) I was pretty much entirely ignorant of the country. My dad was a photographer for the Navy during the war. Apparently he also worked as a life guard at Vung Tao, pulling drunk army out of the ocean. But outside of stories about how he tried to support the anti-war movement by dropping flyers from government aircraft he didn't really talk much about his time in Viet Nam.

I felt genuinely oogy about being a tourist in a country that we had been actively fighting in not too long ago. Gabriel attempted to assuage my fears, saying "Honestly Donovan, they're over it. It's like being a Japanese tourist in America."

Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as you probably know it) is home to some of the nastiest traffic I have ever witness in my life. The Los Angeles 405 is a dream compared to 5pm at any given traffic circle in Saigon. Everybody, everybody is on motorized skooters. Honda is the manufacturer of choice. To cross the street is to put your complete faith in the kindess of human beings; bikes and cars never stop, they just swerve to avoid. Correction: motos will swerve, but a car will end you.

Blergh - I'm having a hell of a time writing this post. Perhaps I'll start with the present and add recollections as they occur.

The Absent Blogger

Hello All,

It appears I've been too busy living my life of late to catalogue it. At least that's what I've been telling myself. But the truth is, it's just so much easier to consume media (HBO, Prince's Blog, etc) than it is to create. So this is me getting back on the horse. I'll be throwing up some posts about my travels, sorry if they all don't relate specifically to acting. Probably best to post anything than let this blog wither any further.
All the best,

Donovan

Preparing to Play Myself

I'm currently in Bangkok, Thailand waiting for my Vietnamese visa to come through. Gabriel and I have shot a couple promo videos for the "Untitled Around The World Project" as well as a camera test in some beautiful caves near Krabi.

I'm essentially playing a version of myself in the film, the lead character is named "Donovan" and since I'm improvising my way through the film it's about as close to me as I'll get. Gabriel often describes the project as "an archaeological mystery series. Think Indiana Jones with a very very low budget."

At some point I asked Gabriel if I should bone up on history for any of the specific regions we would be visiting. He told me not to worry about it - that was until he found out I never took a world history class. Most of my historical knowledge is from the unit on Egypt taught by my 6th grade teacher: Ms. Culpepper at Longfellow Arts & Technology middle school.

This being an archaeological mystery, Gabriel explained, it would be prudent for you to know some things about history like the order of the Greek, Roman, & Egyptian empires.

Thus, when we stepped into a bookstore to buy the Lonely Planet's guide to Vietnam, I picked up a copy of Geoffrey Blainey's "A Very Short History of the World". So far so good, we all started out in Africa and over time migrated elsewhere. That's as far as I've gotten.

Me Petting a Tiger

Click the title to see the embedded video.

In Memorium: Peter Alfonso Quesada

My good friend and mentor Peter Quesada died on Sept 6, 2008. He was 73 years old.

Peter was a truly remarkable human being. One of those worldly and kind individuals we all aspire to be someday but will probably never become.

I first met Peter as I was taking one of my usual ten minute walks from my apartment in Thai Town to my car in Los Feliz. I was carrying a garment bag with clothes for an audition, or some such silliness when an elderly Mexican man said "Hello!" from the porch of his apartment complex. I said "Hello" back and then he said

"We don't get many cymbalists around these parts. Good instrument the cymbal. Important."
The best I could offer was a "Huh?".
"Your bag, I thought it was a case for cymbals." So he then asked me what instrument I played.
I cribbed a line from a Beatle and said other than 3-chords on ukulele "I play the fool."

Peter then invited me to sit on the porch with him and talk. I politely declined and said that I had to be off to an audition. "Oh, so you're an actor! I'm an actor myself. It's a good thing to be an actor. Important."

I would continue to see Peter after that, I eventually accepted his offer to sit on the porch with him and talk for a while. Peter was a tremendous storyteller, and he would talk to me about his life. It was one of the most remarkable I had ever heard.

Peter grew up in a Mexican-Jewish neighborhood. His parents spoke Spanish, his neighbors spoke Yiddish, and at school his teachers spoke in English. He spoke all three fluently. By the time I met him he spoke: Spanish, English, Yiddish, Japanese, French, German, and some Arabic. Truth be told, I fear I'm forgetting some.

He was also a voracious reader. His apartment was lined wall to wall with books. Novels, histories, religious texts. A favorite joke of his was to say, in a graven voice "I have a problem. I have a very serious addiction... I'm addicted to books. I can't get enough of them. But as addictions go, I could do worse."

He played a mean classical violin and once conducted the LA Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl. The achievement he was perhaps most proud of (beyond his children) was the creation of the Barrio Symphony. He put classical instruments in the hands of children who would not otherwise have seen them - and united kids from different neighborhoods and cultures through the universal language of music.

Peter was the first to admit that he was not without fault. In his earlier years he was an alcoholic and philanderer. But when I met him, he was a very active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He had battled his inner demons, come out victorious, and was doing everything he could to help others along the same path. We talked at length about his struggles - how he wanted desperately to reconnect with those of his children he had estranged.

As his cancer advanced, and his ability to care for himself decreased his family came to him and gave him the support he needed. He moved from Hollywood to Arizona to stay with one of his grandchildren. When I would call him he was constantly surrounded with great-grandchildren whom he adored and who adored him. He presented one of his great grand-sons with a violin and was giving him lessons - (in a Yiddish accent just for kicks) "This one. He shows promise."

I will leave you with a few of Peter's words - these shared with a group of children he has just presented with their first musical instruments:

I don't think I'd be able to see the Pyramids if it hadn't been for my violin. It's wonderful. Another thing I want to say to you, boys and girls, you continue with your instruments and they become your magic carpet. What do I mean by this? Well, as a boy, I started about the same age you all did. I have been to Egypt. I have been to Jerusalem. I have been to Europe, France, London. I have been to China, Japan, the Philippines, South America, Latin America, Mexico. I just got back from Dearborn, Michigan where we were all snowed in -- as far away as Dearborn, yeah.

But the thing is, what took me there? My violin. My violin took me there. I got to see the Pyramids because of my violin. I got to see Jerusalem because of my violin. I even got to see the Hawaiian Islands because of my violin. Stay with your violin and God will continue to bless you with many, many blessings, but number one, it will make you happy. Those who hear you will be very happy.

Te quiero padre.

Arrived in Bangkok

After about 48hrs with no sleep, I drove to the fox lot to pick up Loren. To say that I was frazzled doesn't begin to state the magnitude of my duress. We got to the airport and they made me check my bag - I was definitely worried about it making it to Bangkok safely.

After over a week of nonstop anxiety about packing and preparing, it was good to be leaving. Even if there were things that should have been done, there was no way to do them - so there's some relief in that. It was an an incredible feeling of release.

Made it to our hotel in Bangkok. No hot water, and the #1 rule printed on the hotel regs: "No prostitutes in guest room".

Click for pictures.

IDEA: Accent Repository

In an earlier post I told you about a great dialect reference. Well, thanks to karthik (one of my readers), I now know of another. The International Dialects of English Archive.

I'm using this site as my crash course in australian dialects - apparently my character needs one.

Leaving for Bangkok in less than 24hrs.

The adventure begins starting tomorrow! Award winning filmmaker, and my friend, Gabriel Fleming has asked me to star in his next film. It's an improvised Indiana-Jones/Davinci Code style thriller mystery that takes place around the globe. The film is such a mystery and the format so improvised that I don't even know where we're going! Gabriel gave me a list of countries to investigate but I don't know anything about the plot or what is going to happen to me. Now that's an adventure!

I've started up another blog for Gabriel and I to post production updates. Definitely add it to your blog roll as this will be one heck of a ride.

I'll continue to post more personal and acting-related entries to this blog, but most of the photos of tropical locales and arid deserts will be on The Around the World Film Blog.

R.I.P. Don LaFontaine

Evaluating Headshots with Google Spreadsheet Survey

At some point every actor has to pick their primary headshot. The selection process can be hellacious. Most photo sessions nowadays result in 200 potential headshots. Once you go through that list and eliminate all the pictures with your eyes closed or a bug on your face you've got about 150 left. Go through that again, and select all the shots you're willing to show other people and you've got about 30 left.

It's usually at this point that actors send out a blanket email to friends, teachers, and family asking them to pick their favorite. The problem is that a photo could be their favorite for any number of reasons: you look the silliest, you look the cutest, you look the most like a specific character type. So it is usually best to solicit opinion with some guiding questions. The problem is, with 30 shots most people get tired after giving you specific feedback on the first 7 and just give up.

Enter: Google Spreadsheet Survey

My friend Nikki just sent out a request for feedback on 7 of her favorite shots from her session with my friend Dianna. Instead of writing general feedback on the shots I liked, I made a form that allows for the easy input of information about each shot. Now Nikki has access to some pretty good metrics on the quality of each shot.

Being Respectful vs Being Right

Being the child of teachers, I put a high value on education. Traditional American public schooling inculcates the concept that there is a "right" answer to most questions. I bought into this part and parcel, I wanted to be right all the time. I was that kid. The one who always had his hand up or who was shouting out the answer while the teacher was patiently trying to draw it out of other students. "Can someone - other than Donovan - answer the question?"

A lot, perhaps an unhealthy amount, of my sense of self-worth is wrapped up in my successes as a student. What I'm realizing is that the qualities that made me a good student at times make me a less than great person to be around. I get trapped in the binary implied by rightness: If I'm right, someone else must be wrong. If something is wrong, it must be corrected.

A few examples from my life:
The Trigger: A teacher mispronounces or uses a word incorrectly.
My Response: After verifying my correctness using a google search on my phone, through furrowed brow I ask "Did you mean ________?"

The Trigger: A director is setting up for a shot, that makes no rational sense to me.
My Response: "Does this violate the 180 degree rule?"

The Trigger: As a child I was in a spelling be and the word "shop" came up.
My Response: It was all I could do not to spell the word "shoppe". I envisioned the scene where the judge would tell me I was wrong, but I would then retort "Ah, but I am also correct, it is the Old English spelling go look it up!"

Some days I convince myself this is a form of altruism - No one likes being wrong, I'm only helping them to be right. But really what I'm doing is calling into question their capability - often in front of others.

When I'm really crafty, I tell myself I'm asking because I want to be sure that I'm right. When all I really do is establish myself as a snoot.

Well folks, this is profoundly disrespectful. I'm working to bite my tongue. If I don't, I know this sort of behavior will one day come to bite me in the ass.

How does this relate to acting? Well the lesson of the day is this:
Acting should be my only focus on set, I'm not to question anyone else's judgement. It is not my place to do so. In those instances where I'm questioning whether someone else knows what they're doing, I'm probably wrong about the issue and I'm wasting energy that could be spent improving my job performance.

Oh and never say "I told you so" to a loved one. If you feel the impulse, focus a little more on loving them and a little less on being right.

Dare to Do

I found this passage from a 1910 speech by Theodore Roosevelt at techcrunch.com, but I feel that the sentiment is apropos to the work of an actor:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat

Consistent Feedback = Time Re-evaluate

Tonight in my on-camera class at Actor's Certified Training I worked on a scene from "As Good as it Gets". The basic procedure most most scene work in class goes something like this:

1. Sides are assigned.
2. Memorize and prepare sides at home w/o direction.
3. Present your interpretation of the material.
4. Get directed moment by moment through the scene.
1. Directions sound like: Tilt your head to the right, look up, deliver "garden" more slowly and at the end tilt your head to the left.
5. Do a final rehearsal of the scene, following the direction exactly.
6. Leave the room and come back in and do the scene as if you were at an audition.

The feedback on my work in steps 1-5 is positive. During the feedback round after step 6 (coming in to audition) my teacher, Tim, said to me:
"Now this has happened a few times now. What the hell happened? It's not about capability - you've got the chops. I just question your judgement. It's like I'm seeing two different actors. I love your work when you're Donovan, but when you come in to audition you're work is completely different and its not as good."

I attempted to respond to this by saying when I'm working in class all of my focus is dedicated to the very technical aspects of moving my head, my eyes, and saying my lines with the correct pace and pitch to match my direction. However when I prepare for the audition, I take all of the very technical direction and try to infuse it with a thought process.

It was at this time that Tim posed the following question to the class. "Knowing what Donovan does in class, and then seeing the audition he just turned in. If you were to see that in a theater, would you ask for your money back?"

Each and every one of my classmates proceeded to say (some with more hesitation than others) "I'd want my money back."

It seems that when I attempt to "act" I ruin what is otherwise a good performance. The problem here is that I have fun when I "act" but I derive no pleasure from systematically hitting my marks and playing the director's notes.

I feel like this feedback dovetails into a note I got in Richard Seyd's ongoing class. After my final in-class performance of "American Buffalo" Richard told me:
"What's interesting about this run is that I saw so much more depth in your work than I usually do. Usually when you're playing an action I can only see the action you are playing and the fact that you are playing an action. However here, where there was no expectation of what you 'should' be doing each moment was much more emotionally full. There were much more colors in this work."

This feedback is all well and good - but it didn't stop me from screaming not nice words of frustration at the top of my lungs as soon as my silver car-door closed. Only to look out the window to see that my classmates could see.

I've yet to fully process what this means, but there is work to be done. If only to let go.

Skype for The International Film Actor

As you may or may not know, I'm about to embark on a quest around the world with my good friend Gabriel Fleming. We're making a film together, that for now I will call "The Around the World Film". I'm set to fly out of LAX and into Bangkok on September 5th. I'm extremely excited about this trip, but for various reasons it's important that I maintain contact with those living in what will be far away countries.

To that end I began investigating all manner of communication methods: international cell phone, satellite phone, reanimated passenger pigeons. In the end I settled on using a little program called Skype. So long as I have an internet connection, I can make phone calls to folks in the U.S. for next to nothing. So far in my testing (incl. a call to Budapest) the sound quality has been impeccable.

So if you're looking for a cheap solution to international calls and you don't mind being locked to a computer: Skype (or the similar Gizmo Project) is a good bet.

A breakdown of their pricing plans:
$2.99/month buys you unlimited calling to land lines in the U.S. from anywhere in the world.
$9.99/month buys you unlimited calling to over 30 countries internationally including the US.

It is such a surreal world we live in now - the internet is really going to great lengths to connect all of us into a very real global community.

PT Anderson & Daniel-Day Lewis on Charlie Rose

"There Will Be Blood" was one of my favorite films of 2007 and Daniel-Day Lewis' portrayal or Daniel Plainview sets the bar for embodied characterization. I stumbled upon an hour-long interview with Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson. Definitely worth watching:

The Drama of the Olympic Games

I'm don't usually like to watch sports. I watch the Super Bowl mostly for the guacamole, taquitos, and mini quiches. The one real exception to this is the olympics - I absolutely adore the olympics. I always have, even as a little kid I'd watch the track and field events and then during the commercial breaks I'd turn on my NES and play "Nintendo Track and Field", sprinting furiously in place to win the digital race.

I think the reason that I enjoy the Olympics is that they are inherently dramatic. The drama being that there are hundreds of athletes passionately pursuing their objectives (to win the Gold) for themselves and their country. In direct opposition to the strength of their objectives is the passion with which their competitors are pursuing the Gold. If that's not dramatic conflict, I don't know what is.

In addition, most Olympic athletes are amateurs, so these are people competing purely out of love of what they are doing and an incredible desire to be the very best at what they do.

The Olympics are also a nexus of great tragedy and the courage to overcome extreme adversity. This Visa commercial featuring runner Derek Redmond captures the very heart of what I'm talking about

The first time I saw it I wept. Wept. At a damned Visa Commercial.

I feel like most actors could learn a little something about focus, dedication, and courage from Olympic Athletes.

Michael Caine on Doing Nothing

From RogerEbert.com:

"The hardest thing for an actor to do is to do nothing," he says. "You're not just standing there while Pele's playing with the ball. You have to project your interest. There's no such thing as a shot where you're not acting. That goes back for me to my days on the stage . . . I was standing there once and my director shouted, 'What's the matter with you!' Nothing, I said, 'That's the bloody trouble! You should be standing there with 1,000 possible lines jammed into your brain, trying to decide which one to use. Nobody just stands around thinking nothing -- except a bad actor without lines.'

"I've always remembered that. It helps me to look interested. I don't worry about the last shot, or the next shot. I concentrate. Every shot gets a clean slate. And when a shot is over, I wipe it out absolutely. Tell a joke or something. If you worry about how you looked, how well you did, you'll go insane. You can never tell until you see the scene on a screen."

How Michael Caine Chooses His Roles

From RogerEbert.com:

[Michael Caine's] rules for accepting a role, he says, are simple:

1. Good director, even if unknown.

2. Good screenplay.

3. Good location, and can bring my family. If I open a script and the hero is trekking through darkest Africa, I close the script. Budapest is a nice location: I have my hotel in Buda-or is it Pest? - and I'm bringing my family over, and I enjoy the apple strudel.

Reflections on One Year in Los Angeles

August 1st marks my one year anniversary with LA. Before the move, I promised myself that I wouldn't reconsider what I'm doing here until 3 years had passed. My fear was that as year one rounded the bend I would be running home crying out "They're mean momma, they're so very very mean! I wanna come back home, where it's safe and the people are good!" The 3 year forced internment was designed to keep me from acting on those fight or flight instincts.

Well, I'm happy to say that even after taking time to reflect on my first year in LA I have no desire to run home to momma. I honestly want to stay here and work towards making a living as a film/TV actor. Things have not been entirely easy, but they haven't been entirely difficult either.

Wins:
-I have acted in enough students films to craft a reel that gives an accurate representation of my current skill level (for better or worse).
-I have learned a great deal about how this town functions, specifically I know a great deal more about the business of being an actor.
-I have fallen in with a wonderful group of loving and supportive friends.
-I have interviewed with multiple commercial/theatrical agents and signed with a manager.
-I dipped my toe into the LA Scene and had many a Hollywood moment: playboy mansion, film premiere, fundraising galas.
-I booked the lead in a film that will take me around the globe - how f-ing cool is that?!
-I've taken a huge number of acting and career classes.
-I found a way to live my life without dipping into savings; it certainly took long enough though.
-I can actually get places without my GPS unit.

Blehs:
-Outside of background, I have not done any paid work as an actor.
-I don't yet have an agent.
-I have yet to audition for any mainstream TV/Film projects.

The wins definitely outweigh the blehs, and for that I am extremely grateful. Here's hoping the pattern continues this next year.

Thanks to you, dear readers, for tracking my progress - knowing you're out there serves to motivate me and give me strength in times of doubt.

SAG Background Rates

At the bottom of this post you'll find more information on the SAG daily background rates and bumps.

I've started doing some background (extra) work as a means of earning extra income. Most of my day consists of re-applying sunscreen and sitting quietly while I wait to be called to set. Of a 12 hour day, I'd say that 8 hours are spent waiting to wait on set. Regardless, the money is pretty good, especially considering that I'm often able to do freelance projects while in holding.

I'm using a calling service to secure work - basically an agent for extras who you pay a monthly fixed fee. Most calling services charge about $50-70/mo. My friend Mimi (an extremely talented actress) works at Jessica's A-List and they've hooked me up with plenty of work.

As I find myself often curious about these things while I'm on set, I've decided to repost the pertinent pay information regarding background pay rates.

SAG Background Performer Day Rate Table
$130/8hr or $16.25/hr

Hour	Hourly Rate	Subtotal
1	$16.25	$130	Standard Rate
2	$16.25	$130
3	$16.25	$130
4	$16.25	$130
5	$16.25	$130
6	$16.25	$130
7	$16.25	$130
8	$16.25	$130
9	$24.375	$154.375	Time x 1.5
10	$24.375	$178.75
12	$24.375	$203.125
13	$32.5	$235.625	Double Time
14	$32.5	$268.125
15	$32.5	$300.625
16	$130	$430.625	Golden Time
17	$130	$560.625
18	$130	$690.625
19	$130	$820.625
20	$130	$950.625

Go See The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker will serve as a serious kick in the ass to anyone who likes to call themselves an actor. RIP Heath. What a God damned shame.

Apathetic actors kinda take on the AMPTP

The entire industry is anxious about a potential SAG strike. That is, the entire industry except almost every actor I talk to. I am consistently surprised by how little my fellow actors know about the current state of negotiations between the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Perhaps it's because there's very little difference between a strike and no strike for most actors - less than 5% of SAG members are employed on sets at any given time. Still it's very difficult for SAG to exert leverage in negotiations with the AMPTP when so many of its members are ignorant and apathetic to what is going on.

To bring everyone up to speed:
Every three years SAG (and just about every other creative union WGA, DGA, AFTRA, etc.) negotiates a new general contract with the AMPTP which ensures a specific base level of pay and other financial, medical, and pension benefits to performers.

SAG has a number of points it is trying to negotiate, but the most significant come in the form of jurisdiction over and residuals in "New Media" or as SAG President Alan Rosenberg recently coined it, "Now Media". The reason for this is simple - the internet is the next big distribution platform, SAG missed the boat on DVDs and now wants to ensure that its members will be fairly compensated for the use of their image in the form of new media residuals. Residuals are payments to actors for the rebroadcast of tv shows and films - they are vitally important to the livelihood of the average working actor at the Co-Star/Guest-Star level.

The current contract between SAG and the AMPTP expired on July 1st. At that time the AMPTP issued SAG its "Best, Last, and Final Offer". The contract proposed by the AMPTP essentially follows the template established by the DGA 6-months ago. Both the WGA and now AFTRA have ratified similar contracts. This contract would essentially lock SAG out of future made-for-internet productions (SAG jurisdiction would start at $15k min productions) and prevent actors from receiving significant residuals for the ongoing use of their image.

SAG has said that they don't want to strike, although many suspect they take this position because they aren't certain they can get the 75% of the membership to vote 'Yes' on a strike authorization ballot. Regardless of whether SAG is striking, film production has essentially shut down because insurance companies aren't willing to issue completion bonds until SAG and the AMPTP have a signed contract.

There has been a lot of other drama and hullabaloo surrounding these negotiations (search: AFTRA vs SAG) but what is clear is this: if SAG is not successful in negotiating a better contract than the AMPTPs most recent offer, it is unlikely SAG members will ever see internet residuals on the scale they are used to in traditional media. That is to say: in the long run it will be just that much harder to make a living as a film/television actor.

For ongoing coverage of the SAG/AMPTP negotiations I can't recommend Nikki Finke's "Deadline Hollywood Daily" enough.