Monkey had his first day of school today. Wow, he's growing up fast. Dropped him off and he couldn't wait to get started. Indeed, when I went back to pick him up, he didn't want to come home! I think he's going to settle in just fine although you should have seen him getting up this morning. He did not want to get out of bed. He was still woozy on his way in the car. Very funny!
The rest of Friday was fairly lazy by all accounts on this, the weekend the whole of America celebrates kicking us Brits out. Well, we came back, didn't we! Hoorah! I have nothing against Independence Day at all. I mean maybe, just maybe, after a couple of hundred years, you'd think they could LET IT GO! Just kidding!
The most exciting thing today was a haircut. Yes, I know, I live on the edge!
Bon weekend, dear reader.

Spoon River class today - telling jokes!! After weeks and weeks of trauma, heartache and generally gut-wrenching emotion living out stories from the LAPD and NAM, we had two hours of making each other laugh. It was great but it did have a point. Jokes are ministories with a beginning, middle and end. They have details and a point. The delivery is mostly unrehearsed and spontaneous. It's basically the best lead in we can have to the first class we'll actually be telling Spoon River stories next week.
Home with the monkey and popped back out again to see my new agent. Filled out some paperwork and chatted through my various skills and preferences as far as tobacco, alcohol and unethical or unecological products. Basically I'll advertise anything but it doesn't mean I support it or will purchase it in real life. I'm not rich enough yet to turn down work but when that time comes, I'll be refusing to advertise Marlboro and Hummer like the best of 'em. 'Til then, those ads may be the ones to ensure that I make the rent in a particular month. "Oh, you have no morals, you've sold out" I hear you scream. I have plenty of morals, people, but, as I said, I can't afford to prioritise them over rent and food money. So get off your soapbox, come to LA and you make a living as an actor whilst upholding your high moral values, buddy! See how long you manage to eat for!
Anyhoo, home from the agent, grabbed some clothes and off to my audition for Dom's pizza. Playing an uptight British maitre d. Had a little skit to do and had some fun. Was told by the asst CD that I'd made strong choices and done an excellent job. He was nice and he probably says that to everyone. Hey ho. Let's wait for the callback...
Picked up the missus and the munchkin from a friend and then went to have some dins (out and about - oooooh, nice!). The littl'un had a meltdown so came home and put him to bed pretty sharpish. He was a tired little treasure!
Surfed the tv channels for a minute or two and caught the first episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Oh my goodness, what a cheap pile of crap. Yes it's on FX but even so, I can't believe the writing was so lame. The part I saw was some guy pretending to be a war vet in a wheelchair chatting to two of his mates and then going to a club to try and get some girls. First of all, the line delivery was just that, a very obvious delivery of lines and secondly, how bad can comedy writing be? Hey, I might be an old geezer and out of touch but I know what's funny. This wasn't funny. Maybe I happened to see the weakest five minutes in the show, I don't know. If this is the first one in the series, it either has to push the ante up 'mulcho' or be cancelled before the end of the season. My money's on the latter.

Called the hotel to tell them that I wasn't going to come in tonight as I'd had a better offer (i.e. umemplymnt benefits). I've never, in my life, ever collected unemplymt but, having run the numbers, it makes absolutely no sense to work a job which would actually pay me two thirds of what the state will. I'm no sponger and I'll work a hard day as much as the next man but I cannot ascertain the benefits of working all night, 5 days a week, miss my missus and my kid, go to class three times a week to train for what I'm really here to do, try and go to auditions and not look like shit for having had no sleep, no time to rehearse with scene partners and other acting partners etc, etc. No sense. And, what happens when I book acting work? I'm screwed! No time to sleep as I'll be working all day and all night. Add to that the failing quality of life I would no doubt start experiencing and you have a pretty good open and shut case for not working in a hotel for 12.50 an hour during the night. 'Nuff said. I'll set my sights higher if I do have to take any non acting work.
Class was great today. I was really pleased with my activity as it, and my preparation, really worked on my gut and filled me up. I was D's roommate and he really affected me. Had a 'very good, really true to real life, dealing with each other and the activities' from S. Excellent! Very pleased with that. Ced's activity was dressing himself up in plastic bags... why? well, he's French so that's basically all you need to know...
Made some calls. TR's office in NY called me to let me know that the SAL callbacks had indeed been rescheduled for end of July, start of August. They forwarded me the callback sides and dots (I've already learned the song!!). I have the funniest scenes to do in the callbacks - I am going to have a lot of fun when they come around. Can't wait. I have an audition tomorrow, the first thru my new agent. It's amazing, isn't it, that my agent before last was sending me out 3 or 4 times a week, my last agent managed 4 times in four months and I've been with my new agent 3 days and I already have my first audition. That says to me that they're either extremely fortunate or they are working very hard for me. Well, let's give it some time and we'll se, won't we.
Called D Chan (A stunt guy I know) to ask for an agent referral but his cell was disconnected and his home phone just rings out. Thought maybe he'd left town but checked IMDB and he's working on Pirates of the C III so I give him a few months and try again.
Called my mate K to ask about some DJ work he may be able to fit me up with and we'll chat again over the weekend.
Watched 'Prime' with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep and was absolutely appalled at the quality of the story (dull and formulaic), the writing (how original to have the exposition told during a shrink session and keep referring to the same session again and again), the acting (very suspect - lots of action suggesting emotions rather than the actors actually trusting themselves or giving the audience any credit of intelligence. Also most of the male lead's lines look way over rehearsed, preconceived and totally unbelievable), the directing (also very suspect, the actors really didn't look that comfortable), cinematography (also dull and formulaic, same shots you've seen not a thousand times, not a millions times but 10 million times and they weren't framed that well either), the production (fair enough, probably a smallish budget, maybe 5-10 million but still, it looked 'cheap'), the casting (who was the main lead and that guy in the car with him at the start, horrible), etc etc. BUT, the guy did write and direct (which I've always thought was a recipe for disaster - how is a writer going to be objective about his work when directing it?). I hated being the writer, director and actor in my own film but no bugger else was going to do it so I had to.
Switched the film off after 20 minutes. Couldn't stand it.
Didn't get the Getty job as the director's after big beefy guys for his chaps. That ain't me! Can't help that so couldn't have got cast no matter what I had done at the audition. Can't fix what isn't broke!

Up with the lark and off to set for a day's work on An AC. Yep, even I do a little bit of background to fill in the rent now and then but I don't make it a habit. But, it was a nice set and a great crew. It was, however, incredibly hot and stuffy and the holding didn't have an a/c. We were all melting. I was categorised as an attorney and ended up sitting right next to Ms. Keener as her defence! No kidding, of all the places I could've ended up on set, I was a foot away from her. Funny though, you would think I would be seen in all the shots but of the three or four setups I was in, the camera was either just behind me, shooting across me or featuring my arm in the side of the frame! Hey ho! The wonderful world of the background artiste. It was amazing to be alongside her during her preparation and working through her scenes. If you don't know the true story on which the film is based, I would suggest you google it. You'll then find out that the events really weren't that pretty. The courtroom sequences which were filmed today were pretty harrowing with the group of kids convicted alongside Ms Keener's character absolutely distraught, sobbing and moaning when their verdicts were read out. The kids were superb and very humble too. Makes a change for LA.
Ms. Keener introduced herself to me and was very nice on set. I also apologised to her when we wrapped for being such a crap defence lawyer and her losing the case. It was the closest I could get to a joke but she laughed and said that she'd had a great day.
As anyone who does background regularly will tell you, there was an AWFUL lot of sitting around but the food was good! And, of course, a feature film set is amazingly interesting to be on. Added to that, the atmosphere was palpable today - you could feel the tension of the subject matter. Slipped just over 12 hours into O/T which adds quite a few extra bucks. Nice. Oh, for some reason, Siobhan Fallon was wondering around the set today. I don't think she's in the cast so she must have a mate or two working. Never seen her blond before... she looks great.

Start of another week in sunny LA.
Off to class after rehearsing with M. The scene went well, loads of energy but missed some of the moments. We'll do it again in a few weeks. Prob starting advanced in a couple of weeks too. Very cool. Called my new agent to let him know that the photos are up on LAC in his name.
Worked out that the new job with the hotel pays less than I can get on umemp so I'm going to call them tomorrow to say no thanks. There's really no point in taking a night job which pays 12.50 an hour when I can focus on what I'm here to do without screwing up my nights. Need to call umemp tomorrow to make sure I'm eligible!

Another day in the 100s! Arrrrrghhhhhhh! This SoCal weather is killing me!
Off to a birthday party with the littl'un at TT in GP. Train rides, cake, pizza, fun, games and Play-Doh. Can't do better than that!
A pretty lazzzzzy Sunday....