That's The Way (uhhuh uhhuh I blog it)

Suggested Listening: Korobelniki as performed by the Alexandrov Red Army

At least I’m a monthly blog…

No links for this one, the home wi-fi is being wonky.

But anyway, hi. I’m an actor.

This past month has been extra busy. I got tons of offers (er…I asked nicely and they said “sure”) to work on student films at UCLA, and I’ve done 3 so far (4 this Sunday). The first three were done silently, with voiceover added later (their homework assignment was to do a voice over 1 minute film.)

My first film had me as a schizophrenic who was keeping a sleep diary. This one was particularly fun because I got to sit around in my sleep shirt and sweats all day in some dude’s dorm room and lie down. A lot. Thing is with filmmaking is that there’s a lot of waiting while other stuff gets done. A minute long film takes hours to get done. However, when you’re just chilling in this dudes bed…its not that bad. However when you have to do 4 or 5 takes of you taking your “medicine”…and its altoids…

Film no. 2 was a real confidence builder as I played a guy whose wife was just with him because he was rich. This, again, shot around the UCLA area (this girls apartment…across the street from an In-N-Out) (the more I write about this one the more it sounds like bad porn.) (this entry, just for typing “porn” will get at least 10000 hits. Google Analytics, for the win) It was an interesting film when it turned out, but what stuck with me was the bowl of spaghetti I had to eat over

And over

And over

No.3 is probably the reason why I can’t go back to UCLA for a while –heh heh-. Without going into to many details (innocuous film about a guy who loves his personal space) lets just say I kind of got pseudo arrested.

Ok, all I got was “written up” by the fine gentlemen of UC-PD but they didn’t see anything worth involving the LAPD with. One of the officers was really serious about our…infraction? The other 4 he called in for “backup” (like 4 dudes and a camera is really that big a deal) thought it was a joke and rolled their eyes taking down our info. Naturally, I got the serious dude.

So yah if you go to UCLA and want to hang out…sneak me around for a little bit.

On top of that I’m doin an acting class, which has been awesome. Its taught by an active director in the industry and she’s a vivacious New Yorker bent on getting you hired, but also making you better, which I need/want. It’s an awesome group of kids in the class (er most of them older than, uh, me, so not really kids) but they’re at all levels of actorship (word?), meaning some are working and paying their bills by doing it, or some are like me, just starting out. I have a kickass scene I’m working on right now from the play “The Little Dog Laughed.” Theatre nerds, I know you’re reading this. If you’re not a theatre nerd…ask your local theatre nerd. I’m gay…er…a gay actor (and kind of a manwhore if you read the play) who’s under pressure from his agent to keep the gay bits under cover while he breaks into the A-list. The scene is a really screwily (it’s a word now) written almost entirely breaking the 4th wall. We’re taking to the audience while simultaneously trying to sweet talk a playwright into letting us develop it into a film. The class’ feedback has been invaluable and I’m improving really well.

‘Course I haven’t really started working on the singing yet, for some reason. Apparently, I’m alright at it.

Tracy has become my new best friend, largely because I'm about to mooch the hell out of her for her dad's amazing Dodger season tickets. Ok, she's a great person and she's lovely...but these tickets are mindblowing. We went last week to a game (where the Dodgers won, weird right?) with new, at least part-time, Angelinos Will and Alexandra. Will, being my former boss, knows an uncomfortable amount of baseball and its an awesome guy to take in a game with. Tracy and Alex were girls on the other end of the aisle (lovely girls...but...yah me and Will mostly just threw sports at each other for 3 hours. awesome)

Did I mention these seats are sick?

Afterwards, we hit up this pretty hipster -IMEAN- cool bar (for real) themed off of, of all things, big foot. The staff all wear fake boy/girl scout outfits and have wildnerness themed drinks and atmosphere. Pretty groovy.

My mom and I did our annual San Francisco trip over the past weekend and it was a welcome escape, especially for her with the up and coming 5th grade adventure. This time around we visited Alcatraz (along with our usual haunts and exploring habits) which was actually a pretty cool place to hit up. Apparently, the night tour is even better, but the place is so rich in history considering its very brief stint with PEOPLE on the island, let alone as a prison. Cori lives there now, and we hit up this awesome art exhibit entirely on the art and process of filmmaking in Pixar Animation Studios. Incredibly captivating and beautiful. I loved seeing the process, cori seeing the art, mom seeing how it all works together. It should be at the Oakland Museum of California (yes, there actually IS something in Oakland) till...the end of September? Cant remember, but it is a travelling exhibition and if it comes to your place, go see it.

And yes, San Francisco continues to be better than wherever you're reading this (unless, of course, you're in San Francisco. If you are, congratulations! Go have a drink to celebrate)

Ok, seriously, I’ll try and do this more.

But I’ve said this before.

I love you guys, though.

I Could Really Use a Blog Right Now...

Suggested Listening: Airplanes (Parts 1 and 2) by B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams off his new album B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray.

A month later…

San Francisco, yet again, for pride weekend. I don’t live there, why? I’d keep going but it would be more of the same San Francisco is the best place evaaarrr talk. I went this time with Frannie up in her car, Petunia, and…well more on Petunia later. My friend Cori now lives in San Francisco…so though Frannie now goes to med school in town, I still have a place to crash when I visit SF (which will be frequently, if I have my way with the world), even if it means sleeping on the carpet next to her inflatable mattress (bit snug of an apartment) (love ya, Cori)

I found myself house sitting for friends of ours while they were away on an anniversary cruise.

Their house has 3 stories, with a pool house, HD TV’s, jacuzzi tub, nestled up in the hills…

And a weird ass place to be alone in at night. (Sorry, guys) It’s a big place to have very dark and very quiet. When you live in someone else’s house for that long (two weeks) it’s strange to be surrounded by their stuff and pictures. They’re lovely people, but…in a house that’s not yours are a bit odd.

But living somewhere else than home is pretty awesome.

I slept in the room belong to their youngest son (18) because his bed was immensely plushy. ImmENSELY plushy. I don’t know if he’d be willing to call it plushy since he plays Hockey (now for your University of Alabama Frozen Tide) but it was very…very cushy. The room is very dark as well which helps with sleeping. I feel like I’m writing a 5th grade book report. “I slept in Scott’s bed. It was comfy. I thought his covers were colorful. There is a poster of Luc Robitaille next to his bed. He was a famous Hockey player.”

It wasn’t all fun and games at the house, of course. I mostly watched over their cats, Shammy and Smokey, making sure they didn’t plot to take over the world. Shammy was incredibly affectionate but mostly followed me around wondering where his family was. This was settled by one cat treat or two then he’d just cozy up somewhere while I did some work. Smokey, though, just watched me. They have a weight set in the house, which I used, and there he was…watching. TV? Watching. Breakfast? Watching.

And judging. You know its true.

Petunia is a pastel green Toyota Prius that my friend Frannie drives. Frannie went to Africa for a week to save the world, like she usually does, by working in a clinic. She left me in charge of her stuff, as she didn’t want it just sitting there for a month in a dodgy part of town with no one in the apartment. I hid her gadgets and things in our house and got to bound around in … well… a Prius I come from the Top Gear school of thought which holds that cars like the Prius are not cars at all, but, as professor Jeremy Clarkson points out, are essentially as fun to drive as a microwave oven…or a toaster. Driving Petunia was, for me, pretty enjoyable. It has fun little gadgets and is almost too convenient in terms of amenities. I taught petunia to answer my calls for me on my iPhone. And the fact that I only filled it up –once- while Frannie was gone for a whole month did strengthen its case in the automotive mind of…me. Get it going uphill and it doesn’t want to work, and it’s a bit pissy at how you start the engine, but over all it’s a fun car.

I’ll get one for someone else one day. What, did you think I changed on you? I took ONE quick spin to the store in Izzy, our IS-300 from Lexus, and got a 300 horsepower slap in the face for sleeping with another car who clearly can’t hold her road as well as other gals.

Haven't changed a bit.

Staying at the house gave me a first big gulp of freedom that I found very addicting. Of course, when freedom entails of HD televisions and bathtubs the size of small countries your vision gets a little distorted from the truth, but addicting nonetheless.

I’m at home right now, and from the looks of it will be for a bit longer. 1) the economy. 2) …


Twooooo…


It might not be such a bad idea for what I want to do. That being acting. While living on my own I got a great jump on what I hope to be my future profession. I interviewed actors that our family knows on how to get started, what to expect, what comes first, etc, and I went out and did them.

Except headshots. I don’t know why, but that just hasn’t happened yet. What has happened is an agent workshop, getting signed up for two student films (more on the way) and getting myself into an acting class and workshop out here, all in a weeks time.

What if I took a year, just one year, and sacrificed my dignity to be the guy who “lives with his parents” (I love them to pieces, don't get the wrong idea. They're awesome people) and just worked on performing. Workshops, auditions, work somehow, somewhere, singing, theatre, commericals... After a year I’ll have experience coming out of every crack of my start-up empire while gaining a reputation as being hard working. Every actor friend has said this about LA: most people are lazy in trying to get work, experience is key, and the more effort I can devote to being an actor, the better.

As long as I keep positive, and hard working…

I’m a Sarah Lawrence alum, and I feel like taking over the world.

Narf.

Blog for my Head

Suggested Listening: A quiet room. all the lights off. eyes closed. ... wait wait wait read THEN do that.

or just put on the title track for this blog in this case: "Place for my Head" by Linkin Park off their album Hybrid Theory

A quick guide to why I turn into the Hulk’s jerky younger brother:

Ever had a migraine before?

I have.

And I’m to the point of where nothing has really worked. So, I’m going to passive aggressively write about them behind their backs.

I hate migraines. Imagine if someone was slowly driving a railroad spike into your head…and then running a train over it.

I’ve had them since I was young. When I was a toddler, after being exposed to some bright light of some sorts, I’d scream in pain, throw up, and pass out.

To counteract the seriousness of that statement, click here

They’re freaky because they’re only on one side, which seems like an annoying way to hurt a head. You’d think that you’d want to hurt the whole of the head, but… instead I get to hold half of my head during one of them.

A migraine starts out, fundamentally, because I didn’t do something right. Either: I watched too much of a screen (at work on a computer, a movie, TV etc), I didn’t eat, I DID eat, or I was underneath a large shift in barometric pressure. Ok, “my fault” is an exaggeration…living in Bronxville gave me hell on that last one. Well, the whole east coast does that to me. It’s the price I paid for living in a place with snow and awesome thunderstorms.

See I can feel one coming on right now. Indicators that … uh… I might have a migraine are as follows:

I think it’s raining. This is called an “aura.” Some people get funky visions and lights and I…think its raining. It looks like it, its really strange.

I turn into a jerk ... well, sort of. My brain starts getting less oxygen in a migraine…I think, and it starts to act funny. One way is that I get really cranky and pessimistic in a hurry.

Other signs: holding my head, wincing in pain, whatever…

So I’ve been trying to get myself off of taking so much pain meds (again, click here to laugh). I’ve found a couple of things: First off, running.

Actually, I’m going to do that right now, be right back.

(something to pass the time)

Alright, back. Awesome. … headache’s still around, on to step two:

Tea! A couple of years ago in order to help myself with --- studying --- I started experimenting with tea. That came out wrong, but now I love tea. Well, along with working out, I noticed that I got a whole lot less migraines. I’m addicted to this stuff called “Vanilla Almond” by … cant remember right now…

See that’s another sign of migraine. Strange losses in brain function. I get…it looks like I’ve had a few too many, except I’m REALLY not having a fun time at this bar.


That made sense in my head

Which hurts

Ow.

Blogging by a Moment

Suggested Listening: Sky is Falling by Lifehouse off their album Stanley Climbfall

Hello, from the edge of the World.

I’ve been pretty busy lately. First off, I was in a few shows at once, which was wonderful, sure, but meant that any spare time I had went towards either the show or the work I had to make up because of the show.

I was in Into the Woods, which is a pretty popular show as it turns out. I had never heard of it (well, sort of) but it was a pretty fun one to be in. I ended up being the lead, which was a bit of a surprise (seeing that I had never really heard of it before being cast in it.) The play essentially is a mashing together of children's fairy tales. My role, the Baker, is the straight man of the play around which the world slowly crumbles.

Heh.

It was really fun; we had a great cast in it. For what we could pull out of the space (it was really small) it was a good production. Caitie, our director, put the play into a modern New York setting, which gave it a whole new dimension.

Sorry if I’m rushing some of the parts of this entry. There are lots to talk about. I got behind, obviously. This was my last conference work period ever which was mind-blowing. You’d think by this point I’d have been better at it. I was, a little, but still had to spend most of my time working on my projects.

Also because I was in two other shows, song night and comedy night, which meant I got back to my room at around 1030. Not a good time to start working.

Song night was a final project, of sorts, for my class “singers workshop”; a class that works on stage presence and song…interpretation? Sort of a how to sing a song master class: more than just standing up there and singing it. The song class set list was essentially every SLC’s student’s ipod on shuffle. We had Broadway, opera (technically operetta) R&B, 80’s and 90’s pop, Motown, you name it. I wanted to expand my genres of song outside of my usual jazz and blues so I did At Last (originally sung by Etta James) and Prelude --> Let's Get Lifted by John Legend, essentially two R&B tunes.

…Oh and we did a TV medley. My song was Let's Go To The Mall from How I Met Your Mother.

Yup

Comedy night was the final project, so to speak, of comedy class with Christine Farrell. I actually took this class for many reasons. It was mostly to learn how to work an audience as a singer, but also to help me break out of my rather hard shell of introversion (which isn’t fun). Both happened, and apparently I’m pretty funny…or something. People laughed at my stuff, but everyone in the class was violently talented so that was fun.

Dancing around the tooopiiiic I obviously have to cooooverrr in this poooost…


I graduated.

Holy S&@*.

Obviously, I know what all my friends two years ago were going through. All of it. Especially since I was stubborn (or something) and went back to LA with the idea to act or perform or something like that. There are now 5 people I know in the LA area…but that’s another story. Almost everyone is back east, some in the south, some just plain not in the country. In LA? Not that many, and I don’t like starting from scratch again.

Back to topic

I graduated.

Hoooooooly S@$%

So I’m living out here with this bright idea to leave New York. I don’t wanna live in New York, but …

No I don’t want to.

holys@*%

The OCC was helpful, if not a bit confused that the words “I wanna be an actor, but not here in NYC” came out of my mouth. They were actually really enthusiastic that I had said that since it’s apparently impossible to start up as an actor in NYC. Not like LA is a walk in the park.

I feel pressured to feel excited about it, and I did feel excited when I actually got my diploma (I felt like running very fast in one direction before they realized they made a mistake or something.) I guess, though, I'm more nervous than anything else. I’ve been aiming to get more confident about what I do and how I do it. Even buying starbucks.

Starbucks employee: Hi! Welcome to Starbucks, what would you like to get?
We Didn’t Start The Blog: A Tall Hot Cocoa, Surrah!
S.E. : Ah. … ok…
WDSTB: no whipped cream, plz

I was never much for big ceremonies, let alone graduation. Birthdays are small for me, and my high school graduation was 45 minutes long. Yup. So, the two hours under the tent listening to people say its gonna be ok was a bit…off for me. Also I was REALLY sick for some reason.

It’s strange. I feel like I’m …floating or something. I wanna get going but … on what? Acting and Singing? Sure I mean I liiike it but I’m not sold on it.

All I know is:

I really don’t wanna get shot at.

I really, REALLY don’t wanna teach. I’m not a good teacher. No questions about this, ask anyone who’s played video games with me…

WDSTB: Ok so X is crouch, Y is change weapon, left trigger is look at the map, and right trigger is shoot.
Dude: ok.

I’m not organized that way to be a teacher. God knows if you throw me in a classroom with new and excited minds what they’d get of the lesson plan because, well, I just plain forget the important stuff.

(20 minutes later)
WDSTB: Oh! B is Reload! Forgot to tell you…

Just imagine me ‘forgetting’ to tell a bunch of 3rd graders that you cant divide by zero or whatever I learned in 3rd grade… other than that no Katelyn doesn’t have a crush on me.


What I do want to do is pretty straight forward. Travel, have a place in San Francisco (would be really awesome), probably live in LA, awesome if near a beach, travel some more, own a car,

I mean I can sing pretty well, act…okish? I feel like I wanna build those parts of my life.

Im just floating though.

On top of all that, I just don’t wanna let myself down.

Kinda didn’t know where this one was going. Pray, I guess, if you’re into that. If not, send money. I need some.

I’ll be doing something…soon

--Christian

Meanwhile...

Hey guys,

I'm still here, but buried in work. Those out there who are SLC alums know what I'm going through.

I still love you, but not more than work right now by default.

CJ

The Answer My Friend is Blogging in the Wind

Suggested Listening: "Come Fly With Me" as performed by Michael Buble off of his self titled album

Granted: I have never seen wind that strong. I mean this stuff was serious. One person tried to get into the airport terminal and it took him 3 minutes and two people to get the door open.

I was stuck in JFK for 12 hours. There’s not much to do in JFK…for 12 hours. I played some peggle and did some reading, and other than that, nothing much…except wait.

Thing is, everyone else airline wise had canceled flights that Saturday night. I don’t blame them. I was getting texts from Sarah Lawrence about how trees were down on campus and power was out. (Apparently a whole damn pole fell down too) Jetblue, Delta, American, United, and Southwest out of LaGuardia had all canceled.

Except terminal 4 airlines were steadfast in their desire to fly that night. El Al was still going to Tel Aviv, Asiana was still going to Seoul, LOT to Warsaw, KLM to Amsterdam, Aer Lingus to Dublin, Qatar to Abu Dhabi, Virgin Atlantic to London-Heathrow…

And Virgin America to Los Angeles and San Francisco. We were the party terminal at the airport that night.

INTERIOR: Party. Several airlines are standing around with various drinks. Jetblue enters with a folded copy of the Wall Street Journal under one arm and a coke in another.

JETBLUE
(in a nice dress shirt, sleeves rolled up)
Guys, I’m not fully sure I can make it out tonight, I think I’m gonna cash it in.

DELTA
(in a fine pressed suit, smoking, conservative haircut)
There’s no chance I could fly tonight

AMERICAN, UNITED, and SOUTHWEST all grunt in approval.

VIRGIN AMERICA
(wearing black cocktail dress, hair disheveled, drink in hand, visibly intoxicated)
Hhhhhhaaaaay guuuuys. So, OH MY GOD its wiiindy, right?! WOOO! But I still wanna Flllllllllyyyyyy! I can fly! I’m an aaaeerrroplaaneeeee (grins wide while stretching out her arms as if wings) wheeeeeeeee

Goes back to making out with AER LINGUS


You get my point. My airline was clearly the woo girl of the airlines. El Al, Asiana, all those international airlines were merely scoffing at American wind in the corner and remarking how us yanks have never seen wind like in Haifa, the Persian Gulf, …errr…Poland…and I think KLM was just off in the corner with Virgin Atlantic having a joint. My friend of mine, Alanna, who just flew El Al on a birthright trip pointed out that El Al wasn’t scared of the weather; it was the weather that was scared of El Al.

But my airline clearly was blitzed on a bit too many vodka-red bulls to think they could fly that night. My flight was supposed to leave at 4, which was delayed to 6 which then was “attention passengers on flight 411 to Los Angeles and flight 25 to San Francisco we have some updates for you…”

My plane was refueling on an airbase in upstate New York. San Francisco’s bird was in Philadelphia. At 8 my flight was still in upstate new york and the SFO flight was in DC. At 10 the SFO plane was on its way and in a holding pattern, our plane was STILL at the base.

SFO’s flight got out at 11 30 pm or so. I finally got on my flight at 3 am. (12 hours = 2 pm to 3 am with daylight savings time taken into account)

I don’t have much of a reason to complain, as this article details what happened on the flight I was supposed to get on.

Well now I’m home and covered in cats. They have a tendency to try and push me off my bed, or at least re arrange me so that they can sleep with me. It doesn’t really work and I largely just end up twisted in knots and a bit too warm. This break has consisted of:

Working on resumes
Working on conference work
Working on lines
Food poisoning on St Patrick’s Day (hence…no real stories from then. Big thanks to Cori and Frannie for taking care of me though. It was pretty impressive what my stomach was doing to me) (by the way, start your shenanigans at least before 9 pm anywhere for st pats. Also no having ice cream before your celebrations)
Petting animals.

Sadie has learned a new…trick. My dad is tremendously focused on trying to get her to stay out of the kitchen, which hasn’t been working. She does, however, gently step out of the kitchen now whenever he says, “get out!” … then she walks back in when he turns his back.

DAD
Get out!

(Sadie exits the kitchen and sits at the door)

(beat)

(the sound of dog steps behind dad is heard)

SADIE
I did it! I got out of the kitchen! I get a cookie now

DAD
NO! Bad dog!

SADIE
I’m sitting. (wags tail)

She looks so pleased to get out of the kitchen but doesn’t exactly get the premise of stay out. She’s still good. Still sleeps by my bed when the parents are out of the house. Guarding me or something. More than I can say about the cats which just try to take over the bed.


Sadie says hi

--me


VIRGIN AMERICA

WOOOOOO!

Tonight, Blog Again

Suggested Listening: Olympic Fanfare and Theme from the 1984 Olympics by John Williams (off his Greatest Hits album)

I freakin LOVE the Olympics, especially the winter ones. I’m sitting up here in the Pub watching it. The Pub is a student center ish place on campus where you can get food (not that healthy though) and watch TV.

Like the Olympics. Downhill skiing is on, and then later on Bobsled, my favorite. (when I finished this blog: ski jumping, aerials, and ice dancing)

Granted NBC’s coverage is really slanted toward the Americans. According to my brother, CBC, the Canadian broadcasting network provides awesome coverage showing pretty much all the athletes.

So in the past few weeks the following has happened: I got cast in Into the Woods as The Baker, which is a pretty big damn deal, apparently. As I’m sure I’ve told you before I don’t know much about theatre. People are pretty excited to see I’m the baker, but I’m just trying to figure out what happens in the play itself. I haven’t gotten a script yet. That happens here.

I went skiing in Vermont last weekend with my dad and BC. BC is a long time family friend of ours going back to when Dad was in college (so pre my family but you know.)

Waitwaitwiat first off I busted up the shoulder again. I threw a snowball during our first snow day this year. That’s how. I spent my snow day at Lawrence Hospital. Yay.

You know that kinda sucks. I get a snow day and I get to spend it in the hospital. I really, really want the shoulder to start cooperating.

Huff…I did have a concert though. Got a lot of "aww" points for performing with my band in a sling.

It’s difficult to remain on the positive side of things when your shoulder keeps coming out. It’s better to have a positive and proactive attitude but when you keep breaking it’s a bit rough. Also I miss working out.

RIGHT so skiing was great (I used my sports brace). Vermont hills are very gentle-ish and easy to learn on (also pretty powdery). New Zealand hills, by contrast, have one “easy” section and then a various selection of cliffs to choose from if you want to ski with someone other than toddlers. We went to a smaller hill near the big resort of Stowe called Bolton Valley. Since this was Presidents’ Day weekend it was nice to just have locals around instead of the onslaught of New Englanders. This gave us more space to ski, which was good for my dad who fell. A lot. a couple of times directly in front of me giving me an unexpected buckeye to maneuver around. He also ran into me. No, literally.

There’s a battery out in a smoke detector or motion detector somewhere in my house at SLC. Its beeping every 5 minutes or so (for 1 minute between beeps, 3 beep a cycle.) ( it made sense in my head) so sitting in my room reading and all of a sudden –beep………beeeeep…….beeeeep- makes our place sound like a submarine. I sit to myself and giggle between beeps pretending:

Beeeep
“Con, SONAR new contact bearing 070. Designate master 2-8”
“Con- Eye man battle stations torpedo rig for ultra quiet. “ –sirens sound-
Beeeep

I promise you it’s the same beep.

Ow. Shoulder. It still is pretty sore, but I’ll make it work!

Stay Positive, readers,

Chris