Fiji Update 2

So far two days in and now that it's established that I am drenched in blood from a severed head, from now on I have to keep the continuity.  Which means that for half the shoot they have to re-apply the sticky stuff everyday.  And because it's made out of syrup, the bugs are having a feast.  The good thing is that the work isn't too tough and it's extremely liberating just making lines up. 

The production is full of Australian and Fiji crew, so I'm going to come away with an Ozzie accent before this is over.  At 4pm, the cast and crew breaks for an afternoon tea break which consists of high tea and little sandwiches--it's adorable.

The best part is coming back to the hotel at night and just meeting all the new people who travel through.  There are so many young kids who are 17 or 18 that are such adventurers on their own here.  I'm like, at 17, I was watching re-runs of "Batman".  The next day off is Friday, your Thursday and I'll be going to hang on a uninhabited island with all inclusive drinks for the day.  

FIJI UPDATE

I'm here in balmy Fiji.  Took a lot to just get to a terminal, get a phone card to call home, get used to the different voltage and plugs but I'm finally settled in.

I arrived yesterday but it already seems like a week.  Time moves like molasses here.  I joked that the old timers here who are 80 probably feel like they're 150.  When you're cut off from the cell phone and computer--you realize how much time you've really got on your hands.

The cast is great so far.  No prima donnas yet.  I'm part of a group of college kids who gets chased around by this Sabretooth Tiger.  Of course, in actual age, I am the oldest of the group and have to kiss my 17 year-old co-star in a scene next week.  Poor girl, she's probably freaked out being kissed by an old man.

The ceremonial drink here is Kava.  Looks like muddy water, tastes like it and it's very disrespectful not to drink it when offered.  It's made from the properties of cocaine, so it can make you a bit loopy if you drink too much.

Everyone here greets you with "BULLAH"!  Which means "Hello".  The thing is everyone says it all the time.  If it were a drinking game, you'd be wasted in the first 5 minutes.

The town has a lot of great carved stuff but I've already had to use my New Yorker street smarts to bat off all the shiesters trying to hustle for a buck.  A few hours ago, a few guys were leading me to an internet cafe but instead, led me into a tiny room above an alleyway to drink their super-strong Kava.  They had already commandeered 2 poor Americans.  With my imagination, I could picture the Americans passed out, naked and penniless 3 hours later.  So I booked outta there fast.  Only when I exited, there was another dude wanting to lead me to some place different.

Tomorrow I start my first day of work.  They're getting the messy parts out of the way first so I'll start of the morning getting my entire body sprayed with fake blood from a decapitated head.  Sigh.  Guess I've gotta earn this vacation somehow.

Hoping to travel, island hop and eat more awesome cuisine while I'm here.  I had some awesome Indian food already.  More to come later!  Sorry no pictures to upload until I get back!

When I got back from traveling to the East Coast on Sunday, I was looking forward to just hanging out this week and ease into Turkey Day on Thursday.

Then in true fashion of this business, the calls started coming in out of nowhere on Monday night.  One was for a callback on one of my favorite shows "Entourage", another for a TV pilot audition and then an offer for a TV movie that shoots in Fiji for three weeks, leaving this Thursday!  The production needed someone asap, they saw my demo tape and made a straight offer without having to audition. 

Now, after seeing these photos of the hotel I'll be in, it may seem like a no-brainer whether or not to accept the gig but I was having a heckuva time making the decision and changing my mind every 5 minutes.  A LOT of sleep was lost.

Here was my "Con" List:

1) The project is "'Jurassic Park' meets a Sabretooth Tiger" scheduled to air on the Sci-Fi Channel,  so it's not exactly going to be Shakespeare.  Wait, I don't really dig Shakespeare so... it's not exactly going to be Soderbergh. 2) I wouldn't be able to audition for the play "Proof" in L.A. that I've been dying to do for months.  3) If I'm good enough to get an offer, I should be good enough to get a better offer from a project I'm really into. 4) Your career is based upon the number of times you say "no".  It'll send a message to my agents about the projects I'm interested in.

Here was my "Pro" List:

1) The Money.

Now even though the "Pro" List is dramatically shorter, it weighs more heavily.  Because 1) I just bought a new house 2) I'll be renting out my current home and need to make improvements for renters 3) My wife is pregnant with our first born.  All three reasons will arrive in April 2005.

So I re-read the project.  There's nothing in it stereotypical that would make me ill and I think I can put my own spin on the character to stand out in the show.  Also I called the theatre company doing "Proof" and will be auditioning today.  Another reason on the "Con" list was that I was going to miss my wife's 3D ultrasound on Monday, where we discover the baby's sex and see his/her face for the first time -- no longer a problem, since we're going in today to do it. 

And these are how the decisions are made.  Very rarely is it a no-brainer but a lot of times weighing your real life needs versus what you can stomach creatively - that's how I came to the decision of doing the Dell Commercial.  You choose your battles.  I think my agents were actually surprised I said "Yes", so hopefully it means they're aware of what I'd normally say "Yes" to under normal circumstances. 

I suppose it's a good thing that I already had Turkey Day a week early with the East Coast family because by tomorrow, I'll be saying what I'm thankful for in the Pacific Rim drinking Mai-Tai's!

"An Intro, Middle and Conclusion"

So I'm back in LA after my East Coast stint for The College of NJ.  Here is a panoramic view of what I saw.  As you can see for some reason, one side of the audience was having a lot more fun than the other.

It was a terrific crowd.  However, this time around, I re-organized the flow and thoughts of my usual presentation.  Mostly because for my potential gig at SUNY Stony Brook in Dec, the organizer (who went to my H.S.) mentioned that my former H.S. English Teacher, Mr. McKenna, might attend. 

I mean, this is the man who is entirely responsible for cultivating my writing and getting me tapped into my creative side.  He drilled the differences between, "There", "They're", and "Their" into my head.  "Your" and "You're".  "It's" and "Its".  So I sure as heck want to make sure my thoughts and ideas are on point when he's there! 

So I re-wrote my whole speech in essay form with an Intro, Middle and Conclusion, backed up all my statements with examples and addressed any potential questions before they could be raised -- just the way he taught me to do.

And whadda ya know?  The revamped speech held the audience better.  I was able to keep an audience retention rate of 99% for the whole 2 1/2 hours.  Usually I lose a chunk of people due to studying or pure boredom from me rambling on,  I suppose.  Thanks Mr. McKenna!

I didn't have time for a memorable meal this time since there were no restaurants whatsoever around campus but I did learn a new vocab word: "Sesquicentennial"  -- It means 150 years.  That's what The College of New Jersey is celebrating next year.  You learn something new everyday and some things, like essay writing, stay with you for a lifetime!

THE PLAN

So this was my battle plan last Friday when I had 4 auditions from 10am-5:30pm all over Los Angeles in a 40 mile radius.

Four headshots, each image appropriate for the character of each role. 

Four resumes, either for theatrical (TV/Film) or Commercial.

Each script all broken down, choices made and memorized -- directly under their respective headshot/resume.

Mapquest directions on the bottom left, mapping out the quickest route from one casting office to the other. 

Changes of clothing hung in the car for each role, since they were all very different characters. 

A packed cooler full of drinks, food and candy to keep my up energy thoughout the day.

Went in, kicked butt on all four of them and definetly left the casting people/producers with good impressions.  And after all that and 10 + hours in the car, how many of the roles did I book? 

Zero.  Ouch. 

Now go back out there, ask for more of the same the next week.  Repeat for eight years and rinse.  Now that my friends, is how you develop a thick skin and pay your dues.

Speaking gig at The College of NJ went awesome and I'll upload pics next time!

"Doctor", "Doctor" 

I wonder if anyone who's seen "BLT" has given this guy any hassle. 

Perry Shen, MD

If it's any consolation Perry Shen, MD, you're the doctor that my parents always wanted.  And they're very proud of you.  

 

Plus I have no clue as to what any of your Clinical and Research Interests mean.

Well, I'm now off to speak at The College of New Jersey's "Experience Asia Month" on Thurs, Nov 18 at 8pm in The Allen Drawing Room.  Stop on by if you're in the area!

I See Scary Kids

Sometimes children can look as cute as a button (left).

But have a child with either really white-blond hair with a blank stare ("Children of the Corn"), standing by him/herself in a hallway at night and running away from you "Nightmare on Elm Street") or a pasty faced boy meow-ing like a cat like in "The Grudge" can be some downright scary crap (right).

I haven't seen "The Grudge" yet, largely because of the "feline" boy in the trailers.

Sung Kang and I will be at the Wilshire Ebell Theater tonight (Nov 13) as judges for KOLLABORATION .  It's this huge talent show showcasing Asian-American acts.  Mostly dance/hip-hop from what I can read on their site. 

Here's my public service to the acts today:  Fox Searchlight is looking for an asian male dancer to be a lead in the film "Kid Bang" for the role of "WOW".

Wow is tricky and fast, a brilliant dancer.  Described as being "Moulin Rouge" meets "8 Mile", the film centers on the world of underground dance competitions.  All actors for "Wow" must be excellent dancers and have exceptional skill with weapons and knives (7 speeches & 4 lines, 11 scenes). 

Send your pic/resume into Shani Ginsberg - 5225 Wilshire Blvd, Ste. 300, Los Angeles, CA 90036 -- but if you tell them you got it from me, I will find and hunt you down --- I'm not joking.  This is privledged information, so serious inquires only. 

I thought this would be a great opportunity to help out the cause for AA performers but I can also see it biting me in the butt if the production is flooded with inquires that are anything but serious.  So use your own good judgement please. 

Stop to say "hi" if you're there tonight!

HISTORY

Some sad news as writer, Iris Chang was discovered dead yesterday in her car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her head.

In 1997, Chang wrote the non-fiction book, "The Rape of Nanking", which described the rape, torture and killing of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers during the late 1930s.  A death toll perhaps more than The Holocaust and exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.  It was an event that very few, including myself, were aware of growing up with American History books. 

When I picked up the book 7 years ago, I always felt the subject would make a compelling film, if done the right way.  A Chinese version of "Schindler's List" of sorts.  Chang's book even tells of John Rabe, a Nazi, who broke orders and secretly saved over 300,000 Chinese from the massacre -- just as Oskar Schindler did for the Jews.  So I was ecstatic when Iris and I began emailing after she saw "BLT" last year and we began discussing that possibility.  She said there was some promise when the book came out but interest was waning with the studios. 

When you read this book and look through all the photos, you'll have one of those, "I can't believe I've lived so long without hearing about this" moments -- which I've only had on two prior occasions:

1) 8 years ago when I first heard about the Japanese US Internment Camps of WWII.  Where the US Government imprisoned all Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the US, after the Pearl Harbor attack. 

2) When I learned about 442nd Regiment, the most decorated fighting unit in United States history -- comprising all of Japanese-American troops (which will be the subject matter of "Only the Brave", a film due out next year). 

An excerpt reads(Warning: Extremely Graphic): "An estimated 20,000-80,000 Chinese women were raped.  Many soldiers went beyond rape to disembowel women, slice off their breasts, nail them alive to walls.  Fathers were forced to rape their daughters and sons their mothers as other family members watched.  Not only did live burials, castration, the carving of organs and the roasting of people become routine, but more diabolical tortures were practiced."  From then on, I realized that we always need to be leerier about who's writing the history books. 

Iris was suffering from depression while doing research for a new book.  She is survived by her husband and two year-old son.  In a note to her family, she asked to be remembered as the person she was before she became ill - "engaged with life, committed to her causes, her writing and her family."  

Iris was one of those people filling in the gaps of history.  It's a huge loss.

"HOUSE" HUNTING

There's a great website I use to visit certain Television home exteriors that have become iconic in pop culture.  The best of the "bunch" was seeing the "Brady Bunch" house in the middle of this suburban neighborhood.

Located on: 11222 Dilling St, Studio City CA

And then the "Walsh House" from "Beverly Hills, 90210".  Located on: 1675 E. Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA

Or perhaps Kelly and Donna's pad on the beach when they were living on their own, located on: 3500 The Strand, Hermosa Beach, CA

Or even the home that houses the witches of the WB's "Charmed", located on: 1329 Carroll Ave., Los Angles CA.

Or the abode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" located on: 1313 Lota Drive, Torrance CA.

There are lots more on the site from Wayne Manor in the "Batman" series, the batcave location, "Happy Days" home, etc:

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/TVlocations6.shtml

These places are a lot more fun to take out-of-towners because I could point to any large mansion and say, "Vin Diesel" lives there and no one would be the wiser.  With the homes above, most of them are going to be recognizable if they've seen the show. 

One disclaimer.  Please respect that all of the homes are private property.  Look but don't touch.  Obviously Brandon Walsh will not answer the door to the 90210 home -- I've already tried.  Jk.     However, I did find him in Vancouver.

 So if you're ever in town, go onto Mapquest and have a Happy Hunting.