June 4, 2005
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Cocky S.O.B.
It’ll be interesting to see how the “Poseidon Adventure” turns out. Because out of any role I’ve ever done — this was the one that consumed me with the most fear. And in hind-sight I think it was a combination of the dialogue and a bit of cockiness.
Everything started out great. I was prepared. Knew all of my Military jargon lines filled with stuff like: “U.S. Fifth Fleet Operations”, “British Intelligence Branch” and “AWACS Radar Sweep”.
Then the actor opposite me started flubbing his military lines – a lot. While off camera, I fed him my lines perfectly. And because I was having no problems with my lines, I have to admit I thought to myself, ”Yes! I am the man!”… until the cameras turned onto me for my closeups:
Director: “And… Action”!
Me: “….. (silence)”
Director: “Okay cut.”
Me: (thinking) “Alright, you had this before. It’s ‘U.S. Fifth Fleet Operations Center, U.S. Fifth Fleet Operations Center’ — there, you’ve got it. “
Director: “And… Action”!
Me: “This is U.S. Fifth Feet… U.S. Fifth Feets… U.S. Fifth Street…”
Director: “Okay cut.”
Me: (thinking) “Oh, for the love of God, what is the matter with you?!? Whoever wrote this stuff is sick — why couldn’t it be the freakin’ Second or Third fleet?!? Okay, ‘U.S. 5th Fleet’ — visualize it as a number and not as a word. Come on, don’t mess up, don’t mess up…”
Holy Cow. That was the war zone in my head during the entire 2 days of shooting – with a crew of about 60 looking on. I had to resort to pulling all the tricks in the book like the number visualization thing. The way I was totally on my game for all of those Alltel dialogue changes? Well, it was the total opposite for this gig.
Eventually we got the entire thing but only through bits and pieces — I feel bad for whoever’s got to edit this thing. So when the performance airs and it looks wooden or stilted, you’ll know why.
I’m sure if you asked any eyewitnesses on the set, they’d probably say it wasn’t as bad as what I just described but anything less than 100% is unacceptable and unprofessional in my book.
As I said before, in hindsight I really think it was a combo of the military dialogue that had to be so precise and rapid-fire. There was no room for error or improvisation because the word ”AWACS” is very different than the word, “AJAX”. That combined with making the rookie mistake of self-critiquing during the work… just as Maverick in “Top Gun” is never, ever supposed to leave his wingman… in Acting: “You’re never, ever supposed to think you’re kicking butt in the middle of a scene”.
Comments (17)
must have been nerve wracking… can’t wait to see it! ha ha =)
*Linda
That’s some pretty good advice, but I’m sure that’s happened to PLENTY of people. Best of Luck! <3 Nancy
at least u can remember lines…. for my drama group… i have an actual part now and i’m freaking out because i cant remember my lines!
don’t worry… could be worst… you could have been saying “fifth fleet” as if you had a lisp. Don’t worry about it… yeah, self-critiquing is not a good thing to do, it tends to place you in the wrong zone… oh well, live and learn right?
Did you see Swimming to Cambodia by Spalding Grey? He has a whole section of his monologue about having to remember technical jargon for his role in The Killing Fields. I think he uses a similar method to your visulization technique.
I am sooo looking forward to seeing all your new projects !!!
hi..when are u going to speak at uc berkeley!?!?!?
ay its all good~! keep it up =D
That sucks Parry
But don’t be too hard on yourself, every actor has a bad day. I know it’s hard when you have high expectations for yourself.
hahah, here I am “rushing to sooth your ego”. It’s ok, Parry. You’re still great!
Happens everyone. How dare they make it 5th so poor Parry had issues. Where’s the humanity??
…ok, seriously. You live, you learn. You’ll get ‘em next time.
acting sounds tough. when i watch a movie i don’t really imagine how hard acting is (all i see is, “ooh a pretty face on tv, wow lucky them, they get all this publicity”) but u’re awesome so no worries!
hey parry, i don’t mean to sound stalker-ish. but i (in the midst of trying to write a paper) took a break and i looked more closely at one of your entries. about the people who criticized you on the imdb message board? they’re dumb. some people just try to bring down others b/c they have nothing better to do with their lives.
Don’t worry too much about it man, i know exactly how you feel. About a month ago, i had to give a speech to the class, but i forgot the entire thing when i finally stood up. I was also kind of cocky, having spent the entire day before memorizing it. Also, ironically enough, it was about George S. Patton, a military like figure, so i was also planning on giving it in a sharp, militaristic manner. But don’t worry too much about it, it happens to people. Even extremely talented actors. ^-^
Hey Parry
Greenzap has now official begun as of June 1st, I was amazed by their cool website, I just logged into my account for the first time on Sunday morning. Expecting to have like $200. waiting for me because of the emails I sent out and alot of my friends preregistering to get $25 for free. I was really hopeing for that extra $200 cash. When instead I recieved $2824.00 in cash, and $756.00 in webcash I like almost fainted. Here I am expecting only $200. but I recieved a little over $3500. just for doing nothing. Several of my friends have sent me their mission support letters, looks like I’ll be zapping them some support. The cool part of it is, I’ve already started buying a few things with my money on ebay, it actually works. To all my friends, sign up now, theres no catch, you just need a valid email address, no creditcard or checking info required for the Free $25. They don’t even ask for your social security number. click on this link and get $25 to use anywhere online.
http://www.greenzap.com/$25just2preregister
If you have already preregistered, hurry up and log into your account, you have $25. waiting for you, if you don’t want it, email me the money. Roastedcat@hotmail.com I’ll be sure to help out a few friends going on Missions this summer. Folks when your logged into your account, go to the community member tab, your see something that is very Cool, you’ll see every greenzap member connected by somebody who introduced them to greenzap. And Folks they are in the thousands. I get a kick out that page, that is so cool….Don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself.
Jery
Hey Parry,
Keep up the work and hope you get good parts. Here is a link to a script that is very good if it ever got made – it features two ABC’s in the story, a female and male, and one of them is one of the main characters. They are written as real second generation people and the male even gets a romantic story going on. Worth a read: http://www.wga.org/WrittenBy/0704/Triumvirate.html
How does the Greenzap thingy work exactly? So what can you do with the free $25 you get for signing up? Can you say, go to Amazon.com and order a CD with it? And what is the difference between “Webcash” and “Cash?” Would greatly appreciate if anyone can clarify. Thanks.
“How does the Greenzap thingy work exactly? So what can you do with the free $25 you get for signing up? Can you say, go to Amazon.com and order a CD with it? And what is the difference between “Webcash” and “Cash?” Would greatly appreciate if anyone can clarify. Thanks.” (ParryFan)
You basically first click on this link I’ve created: There is no catch, it just takes 2 to 3 minutes of your time just to look at, you aren’t giving any vital creditcard info or checking info, or social security number away that is a concern of identy theft.
http://www.greenzap.com/$25just2preregister
You just fill out your name and address and telephone number and email address, and just for signing up you recieved $25 in webcash. What Webcash is, it’s basically virtual money. You can spend it over the summer when many of the online business start opening up. Overstock.com, target.com, netflicks.com…etc. You can use the webcash to buy goods online or pay your ebay fees with this virtual money. Now how you recieve cash is, you create a link and send it out to everyone of your friends, everyone who signs up gets $25. webcash, you get $5. it breaks down to $4 cash, $1. webcash, I’m still trying to figure out the math, because I personally enrolled 67 members, and when I logged into my account I recieved over $2800. cash, and $756 webcash, I think they are paying me also on a percentage on every members my friends sign up. The great things is if you decide to become member vertified, by adding a checking account and transfering $100. You’ll become a Gold status member, and will recieve up to $30 for every Gold member who signs up. (Personally I think it’s every member because when I look at all the new registered members in my account, they show a different dollar amount added to my account and they aren’t even vertified yet)
I remember reading in one of Parry’s Xanga posts, he says pay yourself first, I remember him saying he opened up an Ing direct account, to get $2.80% interest, plus $25 for signing up. You can’t beat that, everyone is offering something these days just to get new members, Bank of America online offers $25. Inc Direct offers $25. just to sign up. Gozing.com offers cash for taking online surveys, some companies offer free Ipods, and other free merchandise. Greenzap is just doing the same, offering $25 just to sign up. Heck you can sign up everyone of your family members who have their own email address, they can live at the same address. However, they don’t ask for any type of creditcard info or SS# only a checking account # if you decide to go Gold. Going Gold is worth it because it will mean more extra money added to your account.
When you become a member check out the Community tab, and theres a link that lets you see every member that is connected to Greenzap. I like clicking on this page, it’s just fun to see everyone connected by everyone else. And the larger your community, you’ll see every member on that page which is amazing.
I hope this info helps you out, the biggest killer is procrastination. Be a risk taker and enjoy the free gifts that life has to offer before they are gone.
Jery
tahaha…u r a funny guy too