February 18, 2006
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In & Out of ”The Zone”
The Women’s Snowboardcross and Men’s Half Pipe events particularly caught my attention during these Winter Olympic Games.
Opening with a huge lead, American Lindsey Jacobellis fell and lost a sure gold medal in the Snowboardcross yesterday by doing a subconscious, pre-
celebratory “method air” (a technically difficult showboat trick) in the final stretch of her race. The trick was unnecessary as the Snowboardcross is a racing event and awards no style points. She managed to recover and glide in for the Silver.
In the Men’s Half Pipe (an event that does reward big tricks) I watched several athletes rock into the halfpipe, start off with a set of soaring jumps and land each cleanly. Then on their last jump, they either wiped out or didn’t land clean — dashing their hopes of an Olympic medal.
I think any actor can painfully empathize relating the situations above to any previous audition experiences.
I can almost “hear” the thoughts that must’ve been going through Jacobellis and each Half Pipe boarder’s mind at the tail end of their respective competitions:
“A gold medal… a gold medal… I’ve got a gold… Whoa! … Aw, crap.”
“Nice landing. That one was good too. Oh man, one more. Just one more…. I’m gonna medal, I’m gonna medal…” and — Wipeout.
A
t auditions, when you’re almost through all 10 pages of material — a tiny thought will sometimes pop into the head:
“You’re doin’ well. You’re almost done. This part’s yours, man — you’re…” and then you flub a line. Then you think, “Stop it. Get out of your head” – and then you trip up on the next line while thinking about the previous line you messed up on.
As much as we’d like to think we’re always focused and prepared – that stuff just happens sometimes when the pressure’s on. Hence, chalking another situation up to the phrase, “You’re your own worst Enemy”. Which is why it’s so thrilling when we do see anything executed flawlessly in spite of one’s own persistent and invading thoughts.
But heck, Jacobellis still got a Silver Medal for all her time and preparation…
I just wish there was something for second place in acting besides getting your parking stub validated (… and oftentimes, not even that.)
Comments (16)
totally.
haha your great man “sigh” 20 year olds dont know how to block out their egos
i heard shes show boated before so maybe she ll learn
I Finally saw the Awards Show the AXA oh man it was so entertaining i dunno i guess the people who made fun of it did not watch it it was such a pleasure to watch i just wish i was asian! ha i feel like ive missed out on so much history im just a typical white American
The medals look like CDs…
Perry. I FINALLY got to see better luck tomorrow and you are absolutely awesome! ps. you look a lot like my pastor at my church.
they say you should either win gold or bronze…. gold… you came out on top…. bronze… is just behind the other two but you got a medal…. silver… always asked “what happened?”… haha we all know what happened to Jacobellis.
their medals look like…CDs. How odd!
Insightful, as always. Thanks Parry!
There is a second place in acting. The group calls themselves Theatre…oh god…I can see people slamming me now
With things like the olympics and auditions (and portfolios, in my case) the most important time to perform is also the one where you are also most likely to mess up. I wish there was some way to rearrange the universe so people could be judged on times when there isn’t so much pressure.
By the way, the nemo sushi is very cute.
Yeah, that’s really got to hurt. I think you put an interesting perspective on it – your own – by pointing out that for many of us, there is no award for second place.
parry,
it was amazing seeing you again today. i cant believe you actually remembered me from when i was that little pubescent girl in boston who couldnt stop drooling over you. haha. the whole time i was nervous that you wouldnt, and was trying to think of things that would tickle your memory, like the beautiful teeth comment.
but i am sooo glad you did! the feeling was overwhelming, and im truly touched, because you clearly are not completely self-involved and detached from the rest of the world like so many hollywood divas. haha. you totally made my day!
it’s crazy how the next time we met was 3000 miles away from our first encounter. do you just have an insanely good memory?!
im crossing my fingers for your (last) thursday’s audition.
i’ll check back on your xanga if you post the results.
take care!
peace & balance,
<3sahra
winter olympics… havent watched that much..
saw you at ucla today in Asian Am class, although i didnt get to hear you speak
best of luck with everything!
hihihihih!! i saw you at ucla today. i think its great what you are doing for asian americans in media!!! keep up the hard work~! you have alot of young people in my generation who will support all the asian amercans in media~!!
<3 yume MUAH!! *hugs*
i saw the jacobellis fall and i was totally wondering what was going through her mind…ouch!
There is a way to stop getting in your own way, calm your nerves, make you feel instantly relaxed, and peform better. It’s called drugs. A lot of actors and athletes use them. Personally, I consider it cheating. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that some of the best actors/performers of our time were addicts. It’s a high stress high pressure environment. Isn’t that funny? You’d think that casting directors would be greatful when we mess up. “Hey, at least we know they’re not on drugs…” but they don’t care. They just want perfection and don’t care at what cost.
I would liken that method air not as a difficult trick for Lindsay.. but more as a trick that she probably lands 99 times out of a 100. it was more of a situation of sh!t happens.