Woke up early - someone's birthday today! Pressie opening and general merriment before going to class.
First Spoon River class today and it turns out that 99% of the class have a little bit to learn about how to 'do' Spoon Rivers! Every word, every thought, every moment has a meaning which has to be expressed to its fullest. Nothing is casual (you could say that about all good acting) and everything is there for a reason. They are final statements from the grave, after all. If you could say only one thing, have one chance to say something from the grave and thereafter be silent for ever... what would you say? You have no idea because you're not dead, correct? But you can, of course, imagine what you would say. Remember, you're looking for real human acts of doing or emotion - things you can actually do. Each verse is told from the grave but just passed residents of a town. That's what we have to do in this class (and the ones over the coming months). Speak these and mean them as if they are the last chance we'll ever have to speak about anything to anyone. That's not just emoting... it's working out EXACTLY what each person was saying (that's not the same thing as reading into the text - don't do that! Good playwrights have written everything down for you... it's called the script and stage directions! Don't write your own story about what you think they meant! Don't read between the lines! Only bad actors and deconstructionalists do that). The meaning behind every thought, every moment. Personalising every moment from one's own life and/or one's imagination (or any mixture thereof) and applying them to the Spoon River story and experiencing the emotion so that one can feel and express the words just as the original storyteller meant it. Good class - lots of hard work to come!
Off to the callback for the commercial in SM. Was kept waiting just over an hour which means that we'll all get compensated (SAG rules say that you can only keep their members waiting a certain period). Anyway, I went in and the room had four others in there: the director, two associates (client or producer, not sure which) and the cameraguy. I wouldn't exactly say that I 'met' them as we weren't introduced! No worries though as you can't stand on ceremony at these things. Ran through the original audition skit and added another one. Took some adjustments from the director and ran the scene a couple more times. He was very specific and tried some different things. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not. You really don't know whether or not you nailed until (or 'if' of course) you book it! There were 5 or 6 others going up for my role and we were all very different (ages, race etc.) which probably meant that they really didn't know what they were after and were trying different things. Let's hope I convinced them to go 'my' way!
Back home, more fun and games, more pressies and a little bit of cake!

Well, bugger me, first audition with the new agent... and I have a callback tomorrow. Hilarious! Hopefully, the planets will align tonight and we'll have a national in the bag by tomorrow night! Then we'll call the old agent and let them know not to book me for any theatrical work on the shoot days (oh yes, that's going to happen - nothing in four months.. counting...) and call the old old agent and let them know it wasn't a good idea not to renew their licence. Such bitterness I know... and I've probably jinxed it with all the bad karma contained in those few lines of writing but, dear reader, I don't care. I'm Mr Positive 23 and a half hours a day so I'm taking a half hour break.
Had a good day today. School for the munchkin this morning so caught up on reading... both scenes for class, the script for VI as well as the script I have a readthrough for on Sunday, Spoon River for class tomorrow and a brief refresh for the SAL callbacks at the end of the month.
Also spoke to SG today (the director/writer of VI) and he has a new producer attached to the project who sounds like an angel made man. Last thing he did was completely debunk some crazy woman who was trying to muscle in on the film with tales of money and connections, all of which turned out to be false but the producer had to make some calls to some A list and their managers to find out for sure. But he did and another LA flake is history! Three more investors checking out the script as well as one of the Broadway producers of that well known Monty P musical... Marvelous!
Class was great and was filled with some brand new newbies just moved up from beginning. There were only three old timers including myself and a few of the not so newbie but still newbie, if you see what I mean. Turns out I'm gonna head on up to Advanced as of Monday so I am really looking forward to that. More intense, more stuff to learn, more things to explore... can't wait. The next stage in the career...
M & I wrapped some pressies for someone's big day tomorrow. Ahhh

When in Rome, you do as the Romans do... Well, we all were in the spirit of the 4th today and we went to a friend's house for a BBQ and a wonderful afternoon of fun and chat. It nice to see the colonies still have fun celebrating our lot leaving the USA. I suppose you have to let them have a day all to themselves don't you!

stuff and nonsense today.
I want to be the first to wish everyone a Happy 4th... with a Union Flag!


As a pressie to the friendly colonials checking out my ramblings, checkout KCRW who have, very kindly, posted the entire original radio series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Enjoy!

Another scorcher today. I suppose I really will have to get used to it! Hit IKEA today to view the 4th July weekend sale. Hummm, a little disappointing, even for the 'palace of tat' but the meatballs more than made up for it. A few stops on the way home and into the run up to bath and bed for the littl'un. Always nice to have a few routines to one's life, isn't it!
Against my better judgment, we gave 'Prime' a second chance and was glad we did. Great little film, albeit once the viewer has watched the first 20 minutes. The performances really warmed up, as did the script, the direction, the acting etc. etc. Really super little film. True, it's not the heaviest thing ever to have hit the screen but it was a nice story. MS & UT were outstanding, always affected, always true to each moment, always working off each other. A real joy to watch.
Link for toady...
Apparently a large chunk of space rock just missed the planet today. When I say "just missed", I mean 268,873 miles which is 'just missed' in space terms. Oh, it was also traveling at 39,000 mph! The funny thing is that while people are running around worried about their job and the state of things in general, filling their lives with 'unimportant' things, a large chunk of rock which they don't even know exists could wipe them and everything else out in a moment. They' won't get cell coverage or have the opportunity to drive their Escalade like a complete and utter dickhead then, that's for sure.
Australia's Prime Minister calls for Big Brother to be axed. Hear hear! Thank heavens someone has the sense to voice an opinion about the piece of crap which has appeared way too much over the years and around the world. In this case, it's because of an alleged sexual assault but how about killing it off because it's a pile of poo? If you watch this shite, you really need to get out more. Stop watching other people's (empty) lives and work at making something of your own.
The thing that really makes my blood boil is this...
Journalist David Willis is taking six months off from the BBC to try to make it as an actor in Hollywood. In this particular article, he's 'consulting' Ivana C. If this guy really thinks he's going to be able to do anything in 6 months, he's very, very sadly mistaken. Added to that, publisising his futile attempt not only belittles what the serious pro thesps are doing here, it encourages other ambitious but ultimately naive chumps to board the bus and head West for Hollywood not having the slightest clue what to do when they get here. The annoying thing is that he's actually the BBC's Los Angeles correspondent and really should know better...

Not a footie fan but, dear o dear, England out of the World Cup again! And on penalties, again. It came down to luck and the goalies. Portugal's was better, that's all. I know for a fact that 90% of England's population will be in mourning for at least 3 months. Out for another 4 years, boo hoo, let's move on.
Braved the heat today and took the monkey to Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. The thermometer on the car's dashboard said 99 degress. Yep, that's hot. It was like walking around inside an oven. Munchkin seemed to enjoy it though.
It is beautiful, really beautiful. Ice cream on the way home. Perfect. Chatted to my sis and bro for the first time in a long time today and caught up.