AL IN CHI

Officially a Chicagoan.

2009-12-07T20:29:00.001-08:00

I've been living in Chicago for about 2 months now and I feel like I can finally call myself a Chicagoan. I know my way around, I have a home, a job, and am looking into the acting scene. To make sure this blog entry doesn't end up being 300 pages long, I'll try and keep things concise.

The four of us looked at different neighborhoods before moving here and liked a few. While walking through Roscoe Village, we happened upon a small rental property place. We walked in, talked to a nice woman and told her what we were looking for. As luck would have it, she said she had "the perfect place". Indeed, it was perfect, but we wanted to look at a few more just in case. After looking at about 15 different apartments around the north side, we decided that the first place was the best and we seized the opportunity.

We got a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom place that is completely rehabbed to the studs. It's all hardwood flooring, new appliances, marble countertops, central air and heat, a deck of our own, etc. We've since gone through a few hitches here and there, but it's now fully furnished with our stuff and as we would like it. The apartment is in Rogers Park, which is the farthest North and East neighborhood of Chicago before you go into the suburbs. It's one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Chicago, is less claustrophobic than others, and is right on the lake with accessible beaches. We also live a half block from "The El" which makes transportation really simple. Right down the street is also an Irish Pub, Wine Shop, Italian Restaurant, and Bagel/Deli. Needless to say, it was a perfect fit for us and I'm glad it turned out the way it did. The only downside is that it takes awhile to get to downtown, but then again 40-45 minutes isn't that long.

For the first month and a half we all were looking for jobs round the clock. Kelly found one first at a pet grooming place as a receptionist. Ryan then got hired as a personal trainer at Bally. Then I was offered a position at Bakers Square and Whole Foods Market, while Carroll got a job at World Market. I ended up taking the job with Whole Foods instead of Bakers Square because it was easier to get to and has better benefits. It would have been nice to finally be a server, but Whole Foods was too good to pass up. I must also stress how difficult it was to get a job however. Carroll and I must have applied for easily over 200 jobs combined and finally got offers after a month and a half. In the end, I'm grateful to have a job in this tough economic time.

The job itself is actually quite taxing. I'm a cashier and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. Mostly because it's a lot numbers and products to memorize and identify. It also makes it more difficult for me because I don't consider myself a "foodie". Therefore I'm learning a lot of fruits and vegetables that I've never even heard of. Then throw in that it's THE leading company for organic foods so the selection is quite eclectic. What's nice is that they pay is great, the company really takes care of its employees, my co-workers are really friendly, and they offer incredible benefits. To top it off, it's on the Fortune 500 top 100 companies to work for... now that's saying something!

Besides all that, I'm spending a lot of time watching movies, playing piano, writing music, reading, and slowly trying to get into the acting scene. Originally I was going to just focus on Film/Commercial work in Chicago, but I've recently come to the decision that it would be in my best interests to do any acting that is out there, rather than limit myself. Although I know that film is ultimately where I see myself, the need to act (period) is more important to me at this point. Therefore I'm gonna start auditioning for what I can and just see where it takes me.

Here's to Chicago, Acting, The Oscar Film Season, Christmas Music, and Snow!

Summer Fly, Bye

2009-08-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, summer has come and it has flown by so far. In terms of my life, nothing too drastic has happened, which explains why there hasn't been a blog entry in FOREVER.

Work is work, I'm just going through the motions at this point. I've always believed (for me) that in life jobs have a course that they run and I know when that time has come. I think that if I weren't moving to Chicago, I would now be hitting that plateau. It's not that the job is terrible (I actually enjoy it for the most part), it's just as time passes I slowly go insane for not being able to act.

THEREFORE, I've been filling my time with just that. Since I'll be moving to Chicago in mid-October, I figured I should be getting my ducks in a row as an actor. So, I went through tons of monologues from plays and have narrowed it down to 6 that I will start memorizing. On the flip side, I want to learn a few movie monologues as well. That way I will be able to hit the floor running. I know that Chicago will be a hurricane when I first get there, so I want to be as prepared as I can possibly be. In terms of the move, we plan on taking two trips down to Chicago and in that time hopefully be able to narrow it down to a neighborhood or two. Once that is done, it will just be a matter of finding "the one".

Besides the imminent move, life at home is kinda stressful. My older sister and her two kids have moved in with us. Her husband is moving down from Minnesota once he can find a job down here. The problem with this is that it adds a different dynamic to the house. It's a lot more hectic with two "mothers" and a 1-year-old and an autistic 8-year-old. Not to mention that I live in the "loft" of the house so that my younger brother could have his own room and my sister and nephews could live in the basement. This gets tiring VERY QUICKLY. The main problem is that I work nights which is the opposite from the rest of my family, and because of this I never get much sleep with my family up early. In the end, I'm just ready to get out of here and get "my life" going again. This time in my life definitely feels like a pit stop, and I feel the pit stop is becoming too long.

In my extra time I've been really getting into song writing again. I've written 80% of music for a song that I really like so far, and am slowly developing the last lyrics and writing the music on the piano. It truly feels like a song that works for me and once I'm finished I'll definitely have to record it. I've also been really dedicated to my workout routines since I've moved here and it is definitely showing. I'm in the greatest shape of my life and feel good about my body. Ideally I'd like to put on a few more pounds and tone the body a little more and I'll be at where I want to be.

And then in two and half months I'll be where I logistically want to be: Chicago.

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

:)

Four's Company

2009-04-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well, there has been a slight change in my plans for Chicago.

Fortunately, it is for the better.

:)

A few weeks back, a friend of mine emailed me and suggested that her and her boyfriend (also a good friend of mine) were looking into moving to Chicago. Originally they wanted to move to NYC. But since that was such a big jump for them, and a lot more expensive, they were think of alternate destinations. They are both actors and her boyfriend was looking into possibly accepting theatre work at other places across the Midwest. She knew that Carroll and I were moving to Chicago in the fall and asked on my thoughts of them possibly moving down with us. After talking to Carroll, and the two of them discussing it in detail, we were all in agreement: The four of us would be moving down together to Chicago.

There are many details up in the air such as location, apartment, jobs, and the exact moving date, but all in all I'm excited about the future for all of us. It will be a nice balance to have all four of us living together. Not only are we all good friends, but we are ALL actors. I think this will be a great support system for us all. Furthermore, we will be able to live in a bigger apartment and hopefully pay less in rent. Carroll and I have been looking at possible neighborhoods and we have narrowed it down to 7 that we like. Our two favorites that stand out are Lincoln Square and Ravenswood. The other five that we like that are affordable, have a good crime rate, and are interesting in general are Andersonville, Buena Park, Edgewater, Roscoe Village, and St. Ben's.

Carroll is coming to visit this coming weekend, which should be a lot of fun. I got off of work, and we will spend times, chilling, seeing the city, watching movies, and talk about Chicago more in detail. The plan is that in another month or two, I'll visit Eau Claire (where the other two live) and we can talk in a group as to our plans for the fall. All we know for sure is that we will be moving some time in the fall. I'd be open to moving down a little earlier or a little later than October (which is the original plan), but nothing too extreme as they both have their disadvantages. If we move TOO early it will give us less time to save up money. If we move TOO late, it will very difficult to find jobs closer to the holidays.

Other than looking to the future, the present isn't too shabby as well. At work I got to witness something that one only dreams of: a co-worker/boss getting fired because she was bad at her job and disrespected everyone around her. That's the good news. The bad news is that we are left picking up the slack since she was the assistant manager. I now work 6 days a week until he hires someone else, and it's been starting to take it's toll. The nice thing with having two days off a week is that you get to have one day to catch up on things, run errands, etc. and the other day is for some R&R. However, with only one day off there isn't much time to relax.

Besides that, I recently got to go to the Cubs-Brewers game with my Dad on Easter. It was a great game, the Cubs won, and I couldn't have asked for more. The Cubs are doing well this year (as expected) and the Bulls are also in the playoffs. Also, the Bears traded for star quarterback Jay Cutler, so it's safe to say it's good to be a Chicago Sports Fan right now.

Peace Out Playa.

Goodbye LA... for now.

2009-03-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a LONG transition since I moved back to the Midwest this past November.

My brother and I moved in with my family who's new home is in Pewaukee, WI which is a western suburb of Milwaukee. We took a good month to wind down from the craziness of the move, spent time with family for the Holidays and started searching for a job shortly after. While I job searched, I spent most of my time cleaning/fixing up the new home (which still is FAR from being done). It took me much longer than I anticipated (doesn't it always?) to find a job, but I finally found one at a gas station pretty close to our home. It pays crap, but it makes up for it by giving me full time, which is real nice.

When I made the decision to move back the Midwest, I knew it wasn't Wisconsin that I'd make my final destination. I still am completely committed to being a film actor and therefore Wisconsin just won't cut it. HOWEVER, before I can make another big move, I need to save up money and resources which led me to my current job. The plan as of now is that in the fall after my sister's wedding, which will be sometime in October, my friend Carroll and I will be moving down to Chicago. It's the next best place in my mind if I'm not going to be in LA. It's still a great acting city and I'm really looking forward to moving there. Speaking of which... I'm a big follower of Roger Ebert's website and I recently posted on his blog and to my surprise... he commented back!!! Here's what went down:

Dear Roger,

As I look through the different sites such as Facebook and MySpace there is an area for "Heroes". I for one, say that you are one of mine. Your passion for the majesty of film is so very apparent in the words that you write in your reviews. Unfortunately, since I am merely at the age of 24, I didn't get to see much of Siskel, but I do see that IN YOU it's easy to tell what kind of a wonderful man he was.

Thank you, and I leave you with 2 questions: 1. Who are YOUR heroes? and 2. I'm moving to Chicago in the fall. As an actor, what area(s) would you suggest living in?

Ebert: Malkovich told me: "In New York, actors go to auditions. In Chicago, they go to work. The NYTimes and WSJournal have both called Chicago the best theater town in America.

Where to live? Your first home should be temporary, while you get the lay of the land. Look for a place near the elevated tracks. Some less-expensive areas fairly close in are Rogers Park, Wicker Park, Bucktown, certain parts of Lincoln Park. As you meet other actors, ask them where they live. Maybe email a few theaters, like Organic, Wisdom Bridge, Body Politic. The DePaul theater school might have advice. Also Columbia College of Chicago.

Now I don't know about you, but if an idol of yours responded PERSONALLY I think you'd realize how big of a deal this was to me. Anywho...

Now that I'm going through the motions of working 40 hours a week and I have no friends in the area, I've had to find other ways to occupy my time. I've taken up learning Japanese, which is VERY challenging, but also very rewarding. It's a real slow proccess, but I really enjoy it. So far I've just finished learning Hiragana (one of Japanese's 3 character sets) and I'm using the computer program Rosetta Stone to supplement my learning. When I was younger I took French Immersion in school, when I got older I took Spanish in high school and college, but neither really interested me much. Japanese, however, I've always been fond of. I love the country, the culture, I'm a huge fan of anime, and I've had relatives that lived there for many years. So far so good, and I look forward to learning more.

Besides Japanese, I've recently taken up learning piano again. I took a piano class in college before I graduated and it's a skill I've always wanted to have and will also be a great tool for me to have as an actor/singer. I went online to Amazon and found a great deal on a keyboard, and I practice every once and awhile. It's also very rewarding, but SUPER frustrating when two hands are playing at once.

Other than that I recently joined Netflix which I absolulely LOVE. It's like being part of a special club and I have just about every movie ever made at my fingertips. It's a great deal and it has helped me catch up to films I've been meaning to watch over the years. On the subject of films, over the past few years I've been reviewing movies as a hobby of mine. Over time, I've found that I really enjoy it, and when I put the time in, I think I can write a pretty concise, and to-the-point review. I've been doing on Facebook this whole time, but I've recently wanted to branch out and have a page of my own just devoted to film reviews. Over the past two years I've reviewed EVERY movie I've seen in that time (which has to be over 200). Recently I've realized that I don't have the time/energy to keep up with this pace so I've decided to just review new films that I've seen in the theatre. Therefore, I just started another blogspot just for my film reviews which can be found here: http://liketheyusedto.blogspot.com/ I decided that I'm going to use a 4 star scale, only because it's the most used across the board from film critics. On facebook I've just been writing "as is" without a format per se, but I will start fledging them out more and make them as professional as I can make them. Eventually, I'd like to have my own website just devoted to film reviews that can catlogue them all in one database a la Roger Ebert. Until then, this will be a good place for me to get them down in one place.

Other than that, my life is pretty dull. Like LA, my social life is nil. But to make up for that I'm filling it with hobbies and interests that I believe will benefit me as a person and as an actor. I also have my family around which is really nice. Besides that I've been thinking heavily about my acting career and where I go from here. The plan is to move to Chicago and get involved in acting as much as possible. It's so much more accessible than LA and I think this will be a good thing for me. I want to dive right in, and do whatever acting I can. It will be nice to live with a good friend and in a city that I love. Beyond that I can't forsee. And I think that's as it should be. An actor's life is never predictable and I've come to accept that. I have a feeling that if things go as they should that I will most likely end up in LA some time in the future, but for now, my life is HERE. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'll leave you with my top 10 films of 2008.

10. Quantum of Solace
9. Appaloosa
8. Slumdog Millionaire
7. The Dark Knight
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. Doubt
4. The Reader
3. Australia
2. In Bruges
1. WALL-E

"Bounce"

2008-11-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Here's the music video I shot for the The Cab. The song is called "Bounce" and it aired on TRL on October 30. Look for me at :05, :54, 1:04, 1:58, 2:03, and finally at 2:52 when I get splattered with red paint!

A New Date And Song

2008-10-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well, It looks like I'll be moving back sooner than I expected.

My Dad called me the other day and tells me that he could really use the help from my brother and I on moving in to their new house in Pewaukee, WI. He asks me if it would be possible to move out there before our lease was up, and I told him we would prob have to pay more on the lease, and that I would check with out landlord. My landlord said it would be fine, we would just have to pay through the end of the lease and we could leave as soon as a month before our lease is up. I relayed this to my father and he said that he would send us some money to help pay for some of it. So, my brother and I put in our two weeks at our jobs and we plan on heading East on Wed, November 12!

The main challenges of moving so soon is that we need to get rid of our stuff, since we can't take most of it with us. So, we plan on donating most of it to Goodwill, and selling our mini-fridge and my mattress if possible. The real challenge is going to be selling my car in two weeks. We don't want to drive two cars over 2000 miles for two reasons: 1. It will be a boring trip driving alone, and 2. It would cost double the amount in gas. Therefore, I put my car on facebook and craigslist and I also put up flyers in town where possible. The problem with a city like LA is that practically NOWHERE lets you put up flyers. Not grocery stores, convenience stores, or even the library! So I put some up at my work, one Filipino grocer, and a laundromat.

I can definitely feel a sense of urgency and excitement knowing that i'm moving back in two weeks. My outlook looks brighter, and overall I'm in a much better mood. It was hard telling some co-workers that I'm leaving, but I know that it's for the better and there are good things to come.

*************

A couple months ago, when I was weighing my options and contemplating whether I should move back or not, I had an interesting experience. It was almost 1 am and I was driving home from working at Hollywood Video and I stopped at a stop sign that I've stopped at many times before. But that particular night I waited. I was so out of it that I was waiting as if I was at a stop light and waiting for it to turn green. I snapped out of it, had a little laugh and continued home.

The reason why this is relevant is because I started writing a song in the journal my brother got me for my birthday. I started writing it a few weeks ago, and lost track when I needed to write the bridge and finish the song, but finally last night at 1am I finished writing it. From the beginning I new what I wanted to call it, I just had to write the lyrics. Now it must be stated that I've never written a song in my life. Never. The desire had never arisen and I didn't think to write one until now. I also don't know how most people write their songs, but I took my own approach, and I'm happy with how it turned out. As I was writing the beginning verse of the song I couldn't help but create the tune along with it as I went. By the time I was done with the song, I knew that I was satisfied, and here is the finished product:

Waiting for the stop sign (to turn green)

You close your eyes and count to ten

Hoping that all of this soon will end

The problem with this approach is that it's wrong

Like a man and his alarm, you'll never get along

You're just waiting for the stop sign to turn green

Waiting for the moment you're forced to intervene

Strapped in for the ride, no fleeing from the scene

Yet you're waiting for the stop sign to turn green

Your mind is fried, nowhere to go

Your thoughts run wild, by now you know

Decisions don't get made all on their own

What's required of you's a choice, of yours and yours alone

Yet you're waiting for the stop sign to turn green

Waiting for the moment you're forced to intervene

Strapped in for the ride, no fleeing from the scene

Yet you're waiting for the stop sign to turn green

Life is a choice, after choice and choice and choice

Will you raise your voice, your voice?

And make some noise and noise and noise?

(with bridge)

No more waiting for the stop sign to turn green
Now is the moment, it's time to intervene
Strapped in for the ride, no fleeing from the scene
No more waiting for the stop sign to turn green

No more waiting for the stop sign to turn green

Cuz at the the end of the day, stop signs don't turn green

Movie Reviews of the Day:

High School Musical 3 - 4 stars

Aladdin - 5 stars

The Decision To Move

2008-10-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Last month on my birthday my brother Seth got me a few items, one of them being a paper journal to do with it what I please. As time went on, I never had the urge to pick it up and write anything let alone know what I was going to write. As the days went on, I started thinking more and more about the possibility of moving back to the Midwest. My brother had decided to move back, and the guy I was going to get an apartment with ended up flaking out on me and moving back to his hometown. I tried going on craiglist and facebook, but every place I found was too expensive. I prayed about the possiblity of moving daily, and it started weighing on my mind day in and day out. It kept me up at night and I didn't know what I should do.

12 days ago I was up late and an episode of Frasier came on TV. In the episode Frasier and his brother Niles are at the coffee shop and are trying to find an open table the entire episode, but every time they find one, someone beats them to it. They finally settle on sitting outside on the patio. Once there, Niles opens up their discussion by asking Frasier "Are you happy?". Frasier is taken aback a bit by this question and contemplates his response. Throughout the rest of the episode every time he tries to answer he gets interrupted by someone else, whether it be his father, their maid Daphne, or the waitress who keeps bringing his latte back to him repeatedly because Frasier says there is something "wrong with it" each time. He finally gets the opportunity to answer his brother, but the rain comes pouring down on them. They rush inside, Frasier becomes more irritated, and their father appears again this time pretending to be blind to guarantee them a table. As the sit down, they realize something is wrong with their father. They finally convince him to tell them why. He goes on to tell them that it was his birthday last week (which they had obviously forgotten). The instantly apologize and tell him that they are all going to go out to dinner and celebrate. As they all go to leave Niles says he will take Daphne and their father and they head out the door first. Before Frasier has a chance to get up, the waitress returns for the umteenth time stating all the changes she made to his latte to please him and asks him "Are You Happy?". Frasier pauses takes it all in, and says (mostly to himself), "You know, in the grand scheme of things... Yes I Am."

The show faded to black, I grabbed my journal, pen, and began writing:

There comes a point in every person's life when they must ask themselves if they are happy. When I think about what makes me happy, it always comes down to the simple things: family, friends, acting, random acts of kindness, and the LORD. Then I think about the things that are lacking in my life: money, a successful acting career, and a love of my OWN. People always ask, "What's the meaning of life?" I think the correct answer and response is "Heaven only knows". As we struggle to find our own meaning of these words, I truly think it comes down to happiness. As an actor, I struggle heavily with balancing a self-driven and challenging career pathway and at the same time trying to lead a "normal life", whatever that means... Moving to L.A. was a choice I made based on an opportunity presented to me. Having moved so often in my youth, making a jump to somewhere like L.A. wasn't a bid deal to me. I made adjustments and made it work. Having lived here for over 10 months now, I've seen enough to know what L.A. has in store for me if I were to stay here. At the end of the day, L.A. has one thing that I desire: the film industry. As I examine my life at 24, living in L.A. as an aspiring actor, I ask myself the simple question, "Am I Happy?" and the answer is "No." I think that I now realize that if someone answers with a "no" then they need to make a change in their life. I my case, I think it is to move back home to the Midwest. With this decision in grasp I must make sure that I don't fall into the trap of "settling"in life. I know that to the core, that is something I think that most people do in life, but it's not for me. I do think that life is what you make of it and that if I am to be happy I must keep it simple and take life one day at a time. I think that it's also good to remember that whenever I feel "down and out", that someone somewhere has it much harder than I do. I think that if we keep reminding ourselves this, we realize how insignificiant our problems are and that our blessings FAR outweigh our troubles. There is so much to be thankful for. So much that we needn't worry about the little things in life. Keep it simple, keep the faith, and when you can say you're truly happy, you'll know that it was all worth it.

At the end of the day, it came down to one thing for me: I'm not happy living in L.A. First, I don't like the people. Everyone here is so self-oriented and it's all about me, me, me! It gets old, and it's not a very nice social environment. Because of much of this, I don't have much of a social life at all. I've lived here for almost a year and don't really go out at all. A lot of it is because "going out" in LA means clubbing, etc. and that' just not for me. Being trapped in my apartment day in and day out and going out occasionally with my brother to see a film or grab some dinner really takes a toll on you . Second, I really hate the weather here. You wake up everyday knowing that it will warm and sunny every day of the year. It never so much as rains here, and I really miss having four season, especially winter and it's snow. Thirdly, and most importantly, I miss my friends and most of all Family. Living out here, I don't know how long it will take to get my big break. It could take 5, 10, 15 years and at that rate I would only get to see my family once a year because of the travel costs. My family means a lot to me and I don't like the idea of seeing them so infrequently. You never know how long you have with your parents and I want to spend as much time with them as I can.

I know that moving back will bring many challenges with it, but I know that I'd rather be in an environment that makes me happy and is conducive to my art. I also realize that things happen for a reason. I had no real intention of moving out here after college. But when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it. I think I've learned many things about myself, the world, and what I want out of life from living here, and that the next move for me is to head back to the Midwest. My short term plan is to move in with my family who just bought a house in Pewaukee, WI just outside of Milwaukee. I'll take some time off when I get there to visit friends and family in the Midwest and then get a job and go from there. I think that I will most likely make a move to Chicago and have the best of both worlds there. I can pursue film, tv, commercial, and theatre work there. Obviously the film/tv opportunities are nothing compared to Hollywood, but at least there are more options for different types of acting there. There is definitely a part of me that feels guilty for moving back after making such a sacrifice to move out here, but at the end of the day, every person has there priorities, and mine are taking me back to the Midwest on December 7th.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
The Duchess - 4 stars
Edward Scissorhands - 4.5 stars
Body of Lies - 4.5 stars
W. - 4.5 stars

There Will Be Blood

2008-09-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the student film I did through the LA Film School. There are two cuts. First the rough draft, second the finished product:

Crossroads... on my birthday

2008-09-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday and I thought "What better day to blog than on your birthday?".

As I turn 24, I don't have any fears of "getting certain things done before a certain age", but my current situation does call for action on my part. What has set things in motion is that my brother has officially decided to move back home once our lease is up on December 3rd. The only thing that will keep him here is if a great job lands in his lap, and since jobs don't land in people's laps too often, I must face the inevitable: I'm on my own come December 3rd.

The brutal facts about my situation are this:

I can't afford to live alone out here, it's just too expensive.
I need to find a roommate that I can trust
I need to find another apartment

I've thought a lot about what's going to happen if/when I can't find another roommate and an inexpensive place to live. The reality is that I would probably go from friend to friend's apartments and live off of them until a situation presents itself or possibly have to live out my car. You hear stories all about how actors lived out of their cars and went through hell (living-wise) until they made their big break. That's all good and fine, but I don't want to be that person. I don't want to subject myself to living out of my car or bumming off people day in and day out.

The fact of the matter is that, if I don't find a place to live and a person to live with, then I will most likely move back to the Midwest.

Moving back has always been in the back of my mind, solely for the purpose of "If things didn't work out here". In my heart I know that I want and need to be in LA pursuing my dream, but I also know that there comes a time in everyone's life when they need to put their own happiness ahead of certain desires and goals. Now I'm not smart or selfish enough to know just what that means for me, but I do know this: I miss my family and friends like crazy. I also really miss the Midwest and all things that come with it. Ever since I became an actor I always knew that what I wanted out of life was "To act for a living and support a family of my own". I've always known that if I can do that, I will be content in life. Now what that means, I'm not quite sure. I know that I want to do film acting, but I also know that life throws you curves and you have to deal with them.

Another philosophy I've always tried to live by is "I want to walk the path that God wants, not what I want." This is obviously easier said than done, and also hard to decipher what exactly it is that God wants for me. With that being said, I do know that when he reveals it to me, I will follow. If that means I am to stay here, so be it. But if it means for me to move back home, then I will oblige. I've always thought about moving back and how it would affect me. I don't want to get ahead of myself (especially since I don't know what can happen between now and December), but if I move back, I will make the most of my situation and from living in LA, and turn the page. I might live with my family for a bit, possibly move to Chicago, pursue more theatre and the smaller market of film/TV/commercial work there as well. And maybe I could move back to LA at a later date...

When it's all said and done, I have less than 3 months until my life drastically changes one way or another. I have decided to do less auditioning/acting and focus on working as much as possible so that I can save up money for when the lease is up. No decisions have to be made right now, and I like to think that the decision will be made for me, depending on my situation.

Movie Reviews of the Day:

A Few Good Men - 4.5 stars

Top Gun - 4 stars

The Wild One - 4 stars

Righteous Kill - 4 stars

Matrix Revolutions - 4 stars

Burn After Reading - 4.5 stars

Out of Africa - 5 stars

Appaloosa - 4.5 stars

The Waiting Game

2008-09-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

I think every person goes through a dry spell now and then... and it just so happens that mine is now.

There's not to much going on in my life right now. I'm kind of in a limbo. I haven't had an audition or shot something since the Cab music video. I've been submitting to a lot of things, but I just haven't been chosen to audition. I know that this time of year is the "down time" of Hollywood, but it would still be nice to be doing something other than working and chillin' at home. When not much is going on, my mind wanders, I miss my family and friends, and the loneliness settles in. It's times like these when I feel like I should be outsourcing my thoughts into something more creative such as a song or poem... Who knows, maybe I'll put pen to paper one of these days.

One thing that IS new is that I got promoted at Hollywood Video. It's obviously not a big deal, but I'll be a shift manager there now, with a little more pay and responsibility. Usually this would be something to be a little excited about, but when my mind is set on a film career and not climbing the Hollwood Video ladder I find it hard to jump for joy. Besides that, one of my good friends Carly is visiting from MN tomorrow and I'll get to spend the day with her. I always like it when friends are in town for obvious reasons. It's good to have home brought to me every once in awhile rather than the other way around. Hopefully I can just get out of the apartment for a change and do something fun.

Speaking of not getting out of the aparment... I don't have much of a social life. Ok, so it's non-existent. I can't be too hard on myself since I do work two jobs and I don't have much free time on the weekends. My "going out" consists of seeing a movie in the theatres every couple weeks with my brother. The rest of my downtime is spent in the apartment reading, watching the Cubs, playing video games, and watching movies. It would be nice to go out with friends and just socialize once in awhile, but I don't know many people and it's expensive going out. It's expensive enough just trying to "get by" out here. And if I'm not going out, I feel like I should be doing more to jumpstart my career. This is most evident when I watch the "making of's" after each movie I watch. It's so inspiring, motivating, and intimidating at the same time. I always hear about the way to succeed is not because you're the most talented, but because you're the most persistent. I always feel like I could be doing more, but it's hard when I'm waiting for my hair to grow out. As sad as it sounds, a lot of it rests on my hair. Once it's at the length I want, I can FINALLY get new head shots, sumbit with more current photos to projects, and go out and get an agent. I know that once this happens, I can "get myself" out there more. Until then, it's just a waiting game.

It doesn't help that my brother still hasn't decided whether he wants to move back or not, especially since our lease is up in less than 3 months...

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Once Upon A Time In Mexico - 4 stars
Vanilla Sky - 4.5 Stars
Jumper - 3 stars
Rent - 4.5 stars

Keep On Keeping On

2008-08-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

Before shooting the student project of There Will Be Blood, I was contacted by an old co-worker from Universal Studios about being in a short film that he wanted to make. I told him I'd be happy to do it. I was to play his son in the film and was a supporting role. We ended up shooting in Los Feliz, a ritzy neighborhood just North of Hollywood. The shoot that I was at was a huge manor that belonged to a Columban Father and a group of missionaries. The shoot was a lot of fun, and my friend that wrote, directed, and starred in it is from Wales and has an Irish theme to it. I met a lot of cool people and it will be fun to see the finished product. My friend Michael Patrick Breen has made his own Myspace for it and can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/thehollywoodset You can even look at production photos from the photo album there. It's Michael's first film and I hope it turns out well for him.

After a week of preparation, I went to the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood for a short rehearsal before our There Will Be Blood shoot two days later. It went as well as I could have expected, and then the following Monday I showed up for our shoot. I was under the impression that we were just going to be shooting on an actual stage but to my surprise they built an actual set of a church. The actor playing Daniel Plainview actually turned out to be a guy that went to UW:Eau Claire at one point when I went there and he said he even saw a couple shows I was in... what a small world? He admited he wasn't an actor, which didn't make me too happy, but once we started shooting and I gave him stuff to work off of, he turned it up a bit and wasn't too bad. We had a full crew on the shoot and the day went great. We did many takes/setups and towards the end of the shoot, there was a tour of people that came through, so we kindly asked them to fill in as part of the congregation and they obliged. Hopefully this is good karma. :) After the shoot was done, I was proud of what I did and was told that I could expect a copy in a few weeks. All in all, it was a great learning experience for me and will be great footage for my demo reel.

Just a day after the shoot, I got a call from the director of the music video I shot for The Cab a couple months ago. He explains that he wants to do reshoots for the video and he wants to bring me in as a featured extra. I of course oblige and tell him I will be there later that week. I showed up at the same studio as before in Hollywood not knowing how many people will be there along with me. I was the first to show up and the director (a young guy in his mid-twenties from Australia) tells me that it's just going to be me and three other girls. I joked with him saying, "ok... if I have to". One of the girls ended up flaking out at the last second so she was replaced with the husband of one of the other two girls. It was clear early on that the shoot was going to be very laid back as they did a starbucks run for all of us, provided a lounge with a flat screen tv and leather couches to relax on between takes, and provided a great lunch. Throughout the day we did different shots, and closeups on different actors each time. Towards the end of the shoot we had another paint fight and was a lot of fun, just as before. It was a great time, and I'm looing forward to the finished product, especially since I should get some good screen time in a shot or two. I talked to the director and went to The Cab's website and found out that it will be released the first week of October. Also on their website they are showing behind-the-scenes videos every Thursday until the video is released: http://thecabrock.com/ Also, this Friday I'll be shooting a commercial for State Farm and all I know so far is that it's going to be "stadium scene" whatever that means. Hopefully it will be somewhere cool like Dodger Stadium or Staples Center.

Besides acting stuff, my brother Seth and I got in a big argument the other day (it's bound to happen time and again when you live with a sibling). In the middle of the argument he mentions that he's thinking of moving back to the Midwest when our lease is up in December. After talking about it off and on for a week, he has decided if there's nothing really going for him here, that he wants to move back to the Midwest where he's more comfortable. He's at a crossroads in his life because he wants to write, but he also wants to be a journalist but the market is pretty bad right now, and he also has a hobby of cooking. He's thinking of going to school to be a chef or possibly going to graduate school to become a teacher. When it comes down to it, I just want him to make the most of where he is, and not settle in life like I believe most people do. The hardest part of all of this is that I will have lost a roommate. It's not set in stone that he's moving, but in the event that he does move, I'll be on my own. We were planning on moving to North Hollywood after the lease is up and I still plan on doing that, but I could never live out here on my own. It's just too expensive. That's where it gets difficult. I knew that something like this would happen sooner or later, and I just look at it as another test to pass on my way to success. My plan is that I can find someone from work at Universal that wants to room together and everything will work itself out from there.

Besides that, I'm thinking of selling my car. The transmission is a little iffy at points and I think it would be smart to sell it and get another car before it goes on me. I talked to my dad and he said that a possibility is that when I visit them this winter that I could switch cars with my sister and take her truck back to LA and use that instead. It's in great shape and would be a perfect match for me. The hard part about this is that I would have to drive it back to LA from WI which is over 2000 miles. That's about $500 in gas alone just to drive back and I don't think I'd be able to afford that.

With all that's going on, I know that there is never going to be a let-up for me. I chose to move out here and live this lifestyle and have to live with the sacrifices I have to make. I struggle a lot with the fact that so much of my focus is on my career and I wish I could just be a "normal" kid sometimes with more short term goals, going out with friends, dating, being with my family, etc. Unfortunately I know that this isn't quite in the cards for me. I know that if I'm out here, I'm here for one reason and I need to keep this focus to have progression rather than just settling for "good enough". At the end of the day I think there is only one thing to do:

Keep On Keeping On.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
High School Musical 2 - 4 stars
In Bruges - 5 stars
National Treasure: Book of Secrets - 3.5 stars
Rebel Without A Cause - 4.5 stars
Tropic Thunder - 4 stars
Super Size Me - 4 stars
Mission Impossible 3 - 4 stars
21 - 3.5 stars

Home, Engagement, Baby, Tornado, Tonsillitis, Eli Sunday, Earthquake... in that order

2008-07-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well, the past month has definitely been eventful.

First, I had the opportunity to fly back home to the Midwest because my older sister was having her second child. It had been over 6 months since I'd been home and I was really excited to get away from LA for awhile. First, I stayed with my family in IL for the first few days and while I was there my mother got a call from my younger sister on 4th of July saying that she got engaged to her boyfriend of 5 years! After the excitement, I then drove up to Eau Claire to see my old college town/friends. It was really nice to see familiar faces and be back in a college atmosphere. There was drinking, laughter, and best of all, friends. After the 2-day excursion there, I drove to the Twin Cities to see my sister and her baby. Weighing in at over 9 lbs, the world welcomed in a massive, strawberry blonde, Jameson Tennant. He was cute as can be, and was very chill when we were all oogling and holding him. After some time with the fam and the hospital, I headed over to a friend's place and got to see more friends from the cities. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see everyone that I would have liked to, but it was still great to see the people that I did.

Afterwards, 2 of my brothers and one of my sisters drove two trucks down to IL. About half way there, the truck I was driving started to smoke so we pulled over to a small town in Wisconson called Tomah. While at the gas station, I realized that there wasn't any radiator fluid in the car, so I went to buy some. Just as I was about to pour it in, it started pouring and the tornado sirens started going off. My sister and I ran to the gas station doors and they locked them on us and put up closed. After this shock, we ran to the other truck and the 4 of us crammed into the front seat of the the other truck and turned on the radio. To our dismay they said that tornadoes were touching down in the area and that there were 80 mph winds as well. After sitting in the shaking truck, scared out of mind, we decided we had two choices: we could sit in the truck and hope that nothing comes our way, or we could risk driving to the Walmart in the distance and hope that it was open. We decided to do the latter and as we got there, we quickly parked and ran inside the open doors of Walmart drenched from head to toe. After being inside for no more than 10 minutes we got called over the intercom to come to the front of the store. Our initial thought was that in our rush we parked in the handicapped parking spot, but once we reached the front, we were told that our truck had been damaged by the storm. We rushed out there, and saw that the back window of the truck had completely shattered from the storm and glass was littering the parking spot below. So, we ran back inside, took the broom and dustpan from Subway and proceeded to clean up the mess the best we can. After waiting the storm out, we went back to the other truck at the gas station and filled with it radiator fluid. As I went back to get another bottle, I saw what I wish everyone could witness: a man left his gas nozzle in his car and drove away. It completely broke off, he stopped, got out of the car looked at it on the ground, got back in the car, drove it off to the side, and sat for awhile. As I tried controlling my laughter, I told my sister to watch him if he tries to drive off. Of course, a few minutes later, he just takes off without telling anyone and my sister smartly took down his license plate to report later. After this "adventure" we were able to drive safely back to IL.

Overall, it was really nice to be back home and see family and friends. I had been in LA for so long and missed everyone so much, and all the little things about the Midwest that make it so great. Going out there, I felt that there might have been a chance that I would have realized how much I really belonged there instead of out in LA, but the opposite kind of happened. As much as I realize that I'd much rather live in the Midwest, it was a reaffirmation that I belong in LA right now. I saw what my life would/could be if I had stayed in the Midwest and I'm happier knowing that i'm sacrificing a lot to pursue my dream. And I know that if/when I succeed, it will mean that much more.

After a wondeful 8 days in the Midwest, we flew back to LA and returned to "the grind". Unfortunately, after being home for only a few days I got tonsillitis again, and had to go see the doctor. After getting tonsillitis for the third time in 9 months, I realize that I can't have it be a recurring problem, and I'm going to pursue getting regular health care. Apparently, I can apply for Health Way LA which provides free health care coverage to those with a low income, so here's hoping. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to audition much because of being sick, but one audition I was able to go to was for the student project of There Will Be Blood for the role of Eli Sunday. I read for them twice and after the second time, they said they were really impressed with the read and that I would hear from them one way or the other. As fate may have it, about a week afterwards I got an email saying that I got the part! For the first time out here, I feel really proud of getting cast in something. Mostly because I thought the audition went really well, and there were probably about 20 people that I beat out to get the role. It's also a great feeling because after watching There Will Be Blood in the theatres, Eli Sunday's role was one that I connected with and knew was a role that I wanted to play. Luckily, I know get my chance. On August 11, we are shooting, and as far as I know, we're shooting the church scene between Eli Sunday and Daniel Plainview.

And last but not least, this morning I woke up to a loud noise that I thought was one of the maintenance men outside cleaning with a leaf blower. But as the sound got louder and I saw my bed shaking, I knew that I was experiencing my first earthquake. My first instinct was to get away from the window and check on my brother to make sure he was ok. He was, and as I was just about to head to the baththub for safety, I realized that's where you go for a tornado, not an earthquake. By this time, the earthquake died down and we turned on the news to check it out. It turned out to be a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that came from about 30 miles SE of where we live. The most impressive thing was that we read that it could be felt all the way to Vegas and San Diego.

Since moving out here, I've said that the two things that I have to experience to really feel like a Californian is 1. an earthquake, and 2. see a celebrity. With the first down, I almost checked off number 2 when I was working at Universal Studios the other day. They were having the premiere of the new Mummy movie and as I went on break at 4pm, there was a banner on the inside of the park saying that Brendan Fraser was going to be at the Mummy ride. As I contemplated seeing a celebrity vs. eating food, I chose food.

Silly me.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Braveheart - 4.5 stars
The Bucket List - 3.5 stars
The Dark Knight - 4.5 stars
WALL-E - 5 stars
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - 4 stars
Mamma Mia! - 4 stars

I need to buy a planner.

2008-06-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well well... And I thought I was busy before.

Since joining those two casting sites, I've gotten many auditions. I had another audition at the LA Film School for a student film that was a psychological thriller. The audition went well. I peformed a monologue for them and they had me do an imrov scene of my own where I got home and had to watch a video of me comitting murder. All in all it was a good experience and I did the best I could. I didn't get cast from my first audition from the NYFA, but I did get a call from another girl that was there saying that she wanted me to be in her student film. I called in sick to Universal and showed up last Saturday for the shoot. I only had two days to memorize the student film, but since it was a short film, it wasn't too bad. The shoot was in West LA, which I've never been to before. Once I got there, I met everyone (who all turned out to be reall nice) and were all about the same age as me. We shot the film in about 6 hours and was a lot of fun. It was a horror film about a group of college age kids who gets killed by a serial killer. I played the lead guy, which was pretty cool. After the shoot, we all went out for dinner and ice cream and a few of the girls drove me on the famous Rodeo Drive and showed me a few well known spots. All in all, it was a lot of fun, and was a great experience. Her film will be shown at Warner Brothers Studios on July 3rd which just so happens to be the day I fly out to Illinois... frick. It would have been really cool to see it on the big screen.

On Monday I got a call asking me if I could do a commercial shoot for Cellular South, which is apparently the largest cell phone company in the Southern U.S. I took off from work at Hollywood Video and headed out to Castaic, CA (about 25 minutes North of LA). We had to be there at 5 am and 2 busses carried about 90 extras another 45 minutes to Lancaster where we pulled up to a cow herding ranch area. We get out and are in a desert area at the base of some mountains/hills. It got very warm and there were dung beetles swarming the ground and dried cow pies every few feet. The conditions obviously weren't the greatest but we made due. The concept of the commercial was that we were going to all line up and play a game of "telephone" were we go down the line and ask "Where's my keys?" and reply "Where you left them." We did this at several locations and wrapped after about 11 hours. It was an interesting experience and I met a cool girl while shooting there.

Also during the shoot, I got 2 calls asking me to audition for Bingo America, a bingo trivia game show and Solitary 3.0, a reality show on Fox. I'll be auditioning for them next week, so that should be a lot of fun. Then today, I got another call to audition for a student project that's going to do scenes from Back to the Future and I'll be reading for Marty which should be a lot of fun. I think it would be really cool to do. If I get cast, we'll be shooting on an actual soundstage with a full crew. In reality, I just think it would cool to play McFly. :)

The only bad news to report is that the alternator went out on my car and I had to have it replaced for $150. Man, I hate cars. You know how people ask what special ability you'd want? I would definitely want the ability to teleport anywhere in the world. It would be the coolest.

And save on gas.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
The Incredible Hulk (2008) - 3.5 stars
The Happening - 3 stars
Music and Lyrics - 3.5 stars
Lawrence of Arabia - 4.5 stars
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 4 stars

The Cubs, The Cab, The Career

2008-06-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I was right. I've been very busy.

I went to two Cubs games with Seth and they won both times. :) I'm working out 3 days a week (much to my own disdain) but I realize I need to put on the weight. I also got a call from Virgo and they wanted me to replace a guy for a music video for the band called The Cab. I got someone to cover at work and quickly booked the job (mostly because it was a good rate: $175 for 12 hours). I had never heard of the band before so I decided to look them up. All I found out was they are a punk/pop rock band from Vegas. After arriving on set for the music video, I realized it was going to be a good shoot. All I knew going into the shoot was that I was going to get splattered with paint....

There were about 25 of us in this music video (for the song "Bounce) plus the 5 guys in the band. Right before we went on set we were told that The Cab is actually going to be a "big deal" in the music industry and that Pete Wentz (the lead singer of Fallout Boy) and the VP of the record label was there. I go on to find out that The Cab is good friends with Fallout Boy and Panic at the Disco!. Once we get on set I see the band: a group of 5 guys all very short and around 19, 20 years old. The funniest part was that the piano player looked EXACTLY like Zac Efron which was pretty funny. (We all called him Zac behind his back). All of us were wearing tight punk rock white clothes from head to toe and we were given champagne glasses full of different colored paint and were told to be "unimpressed" with the band as they played in front of us. At the end of a long shoot, we got to have a huge paint fight which fulfilled all the kiddish desires inside all of us. It was a blast, and overall I'm super excited to see the finished product which should be released sometime soon. It was also surreal being so close and shooting the breeze with these young band members knowing that in a matter of months they are going to be millionaires. At least it will be cool to say I was a part of the beginning.

I also finally "bit the bullet" and joined the online casting sites LA Casting and ActorsAccess. They are both great sites and I look forward to using them everyday to try and find work. After a few days of setting up my accounts, I submitted myself to as much as I could that fit my profile. Overall I sumbitted for about 15 projects. That same night I got a message from a student film saying that they wanted me to come in for an audition the following morning. After a few minutes of hesitation I quickly realized that I need to start auditioning as soon as possible. Driving to the audition the following morning was a little exciting/nerve-wracking. I was going to the New York Film Academy in LA for my audition and the reality of what I was doing settled in. I went up to the fifth floor to a suite and was greeted by two friendly girls. There was already one girl there ready to audition so we were paired up. We ran over our lines once in the hall, then went in to do the audition. It went ok, they said we did well, thanked us for coming in and that they would contact us soon if we were chosen. After that I felt a real sense of accomplishment in going to my first LA audition and I look forward to what comes in the future.

The one thing that I quickly realized after that was that it's going to be VERY difficult trying to balance 2 jobs and trying to find time to audition and shoot different projects. I think I'll have to weigh my options and see what's best for me in the coming weeks/months. I will most likely have to cut my time down between both my jobs or quit one of them all together. But I still have time to figure things out between now and then.

Busy indeed.

Movie Reviews of the Day:

Clerks - 4 stars

Tekkonkinkret - 3 stars

Back... TO THE FUTURE!!!

2008-05-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

The next month and a half should be exciting.

I just bought tickets to see the Cubs play the Dodgers next Thursday at Dodger Stadium (which I'm stoked about). Then, my schedule is going to change at Universal Studios and I will only be working 5 days a week between my two jobs instead of 6. That will free me up some more and I'll finally be able to submit myself for auditions and such. Speaking of, I've been putting off joining the online casting sites because I want to get new headshots and have my "image" ready to get out there when it's all good and ready. Out here, it's all about the finished product that you're selling. If I submit my old headshots with short hair and they call me into those auditions and I show up not looking like the picture, they will not be pleased.

Even so... I realize I'm getting too ansy.

Even though my hair won't be as long as I want it to be, and I won't have new headshots by that point, I realize that I've been putting it off to long and I just need to jump in. I mean, what's the worst case scenario? That I'm actually going to get auditions?!?!

I think I can live with that.

Also, my older sister is pregnant with her second child and she is due July 9th. My brother and I figured what better time to visit the Midwest and see my family and friends? So, on July 3rd we'll be flying out to Chicago until the 11th. I'm really looking forward to being back home and seeing familiar faces. it will be nice to see my family, new nephew/niece, and return to my college town and see friends again. I'm curious to see how I'll feel being back home after being what feels like "exiled" in California for the past 6 months. Since I'm used to moving and revisiting places over the years, my guess is that it will feel just as I left it. Regardless, it will be a great break from the craziness of life in LA.

Life hasn't changed in the past few weeks. I'm working, working, and working. My hair is growing. I got my stimulus check which was great. Same old, same old. But it's what is needed right now. Some days are better than others. The best ones are when I can just sit in solace and take in my surroundings and have perspective of where my life is right now and where I want it to be in the future.

Oh, I bought workout bench and a weight set and I've gone back to my workout routine from last summer so that I can try and gain some more weight/muscle. Since I have a freakishly high metabolism (it might have something to do with being born 9 weeks premature...) it's very hard for me to gain weight. And when I do gain it, it goes to my stomach and chin. Man, I hate it. Right now I'm at 150-152 lbs and my goal is to be at 165. If I could get to that weight range, I would be pleased and it would give me more of an average build and increase my opportunities for roles in the future. It's funny to have to worry about all these things, but I've learned that since your basically selling "yourself" in this business, all of these things come in to play ten-fold.

Finally, I think i've find another comparison to what I want my hair to look like:

Laugh if you must.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
The Mist - 4 stars
Speed Racer - 4 stars
The Savages - 4.5 stars
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - 4 stars
Silk - 4 stars
27 Dresses - 3 stars
Kingdom of Heaven - 4.5 stars

"There is no future in the past."

2008-05-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who coined this phrase, but I think it's very appropriate at this time in my life.

As I listen to "Everything I Own" by NSYNC I'm brought back to the yesteryears of my life. I know I'm young (a mere 23) but I think I finally hit the stage that most hit out of college. I'd give an arm and a leg to just have one more summer back in college, full of drinking, friends, volleyball, etc. However, this isn't in the cards for me. I'm creeping up on the 6 month mark of being in California. 6 MONTHS?!?! Yup, it sure has flown by. As I could get up and move back at any given moment, I know that it's not what is called for in my life. I want to be a film actor, and to do this, I have to sacrifice a lot of things. I had to give up being near family, friends, a different climate, different culture, etc. to come out here. Lately it's been hitting me hard.

As I go through old pictures, online journals, emails, facebook messages, I'm reminded of times, places, and people that I miss like crazy, and I can't help but think of the many "what if's?". When it comes down to it though, I know that this isn't healthy. I have to face the fact that I've made the choices in my life and have to live with the outcome. The fact is that I'm in LA, pursuing acting and need to make the most of what I have. period. Unfortunately, it's not that easy sometimes. Day in day out, I go through the same thing, working as much as possible. At least in a little while I'll be able to sign up for casting sites and start auditioning. I know once I can start doing that, things will change for the good. At least it will be a welcome change.

I'm finally getting my tax returns and soon enough my stimulus check, so that will be a very welcome cash flow. My hair is growing out slowly but surely, and soon enough I'll get new headshots. I truly believe that once I get myself "out there" things will happen and that it's just a matter of time. The question is how long it will take. Who knows?

God probably.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Sleuth - 4.5 stars
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - 4 stars
Iron Man - 4.5 stars
Ed Wood - 4 stars
Dan in Real Life - 4.5 stars

Oh, and I did simple guesstimation and math and I've seen over 1,000 films in my lifetime. Thats pretty cool I guess.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

2008-04-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well as the title suggests, it's back to reality in the life of Aaron Matthew Loy.

Not too much to report here. I'm trying to work as much as I can, save as much as I can, do whatever as much as I can. It's been hard to save money lately since random things have cropped up. I needed to get new shoes because my current ones are too worn in and the soles are completely worn in to the point that my joints have been really hurting. So I went to the local Skecher's store and bought two pairs of shoes. Unfortunately on my way out I was greeted by a ticket for $40 for an expired meter. Needless to say, I was unpleased.

Later on this past week I tried turning on my TV and it shorted out on me. To quote Sarah Chalke in Scrubs "Frick on a stick with a brick". Since I use my TV to watch the news and more importantly, movies, I needed to get a new one. So I went to my local Goodwill and found a decent one for $40 which worked out pretty well. With that being said, I need to keep on saving for future spendings. Speaking of future spendings, I will need to spend money on new headshots, new clothes, and signing up for acting websites. It turns out that acting websites are all the rage in LA and are the best way for an actor to get auditions without an agent. Since they have heavy fees to join and monthly/annual billing I have to make sure I have the money to sign up for the best ones.

I've also decided to grow my hair out. I've grown it out in college always wore it down. After much thought I've decided that I'm gonna grow it out kinda like Val Kilmer/Robert Downey Jr-ish which is more up than down. Since I want to do this, I need new headshots and have to wait for my hair to grow out. I went to a local barber in Studio City called Floyd's Barber Shop which is pretty cool. It's run by a bunch of punk-rock people and they are all friendly, and give you a neck shave and massage after each cut. All in all, my hair will probably be at the length I want in about 2-3 months. Once that time comes, I will probably get my headshots done with one of my friends who just started up her own photography business, KLiK Photography: http://klikphotography.com/home photography.com/home photography.com/home

So basically right now I'm in a waiting game. I'm just gonna keep my head down, go through the motions, and hit acting hard once that time comes around.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Interview - 4 stars
The Forbidden Kingdom -4.5 stars
Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4 stars
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - 4 stars
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - 4 stars
The Ten Commandments: The Musical - 4 stars
Hitman - 3.5 stars

A Break From The Norm

2008-04-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

My brother Noah came to visit this week and every day was an adventure.

On the day Noah got into town, my other brother Seth's car was stolen in the night. Since I was at work, Noah had to rent a car (a whopping $400 for a week!) just to have a ride. My brother reported the car stolen and waited to see if it would turn up one day. On Monday we went to Universal Studios which was a lot of fun. I always enjoying bringing people there when it's their first time. Afterwards we met up with my friends Jenni (who was in town) and Alicia and Jenni's friend Brad at The Cheesecake Factory. On Tuesday, we met up with Brad and Jenni for brunch at a diner in Sherman Oaks and then drove on Mulholland Dr to see the vista in the Hollywood Hills. It was a great view of the city and the Hollywood sign. There's a perfect spot out on a hill with a ginormous bench that you can sit on. That night I had to work and Seth and Noah went to a concert downtown. Wednesday we drove around Van Nuys, introducing Noah to some places around here and then I worked.

Thursday I got my co-worker to cover for me so I could go to the taping of two shows of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. As a side note, I think Craig Ferguson is the funniest man on television and by far the best late night talk show host... with Conan coming in second. It was an amazing feeling being in the studio in person when I'm so used to watching the show on my TV every night. The first thing I noticed is that it's a very small studio. It only holds 116 people which is a huge drop from what the other talk show hosts have. Every other late night talk show has at least over 300. We were told that this is because Craig likes to feel like he is with family when he does his show and he likes the smaller environment. Anyway, after being "warmed up" by the pre-show guy Craig came on set and it was a surreal feeling. The first two things I noticed about him were that he seemed smaller and much older in person than on TV. Go figure. The first taping was a little "meh". There wasn't a lot of energy from the audience and the guests were Betty White and Kristen Bell. Kristen Bell by the way seemed a little too thing and her face was more "alien-y" than I remember. The second taping was much more fun. At the top of the show, I pointed to him with both hands and he pointed back to me as the show opened and he used it on the camera which was a very cool feeling knowing that I instigated it. Christina Applegate, Britanny Snow, and Jackie Chan were on the second taping and by far Jackie Chan was the coolest to see. We all gave him a standing ovation and he seemed very humbled and genuine during the taping. Overall, he seems like a very cool guy. At the end of the two shows, I was kind of light headed from all the laughing because they really stress that we are "show enhancers" and that we need to laugh and clap as much as possible to highlight the show. It was as great experience and I'm really glad I was able to do it.

On Friday, we decided to go the beach, and after debating which of the eleventy-billion beaches in Southern California to go to, we decided on Malibu beach. It was a little out of the way but had a great scenic drive to it, and the beach itself turned out to be beautiful. Once there, we immediately noticed that the ocean was only about 60 degrees which kind of sucked because we wanted to go in the water more. Since it was that cold, we wouldn't really swim in it. Instead we layed out on the beach for hours , relaxed, played some catch, and after being thoroughly tanned/burnt we took off. The Dodgers happened to be in town, so Noah was kind enough to get us tickets for the game. I absolutely LOVE baseball and I feel like a little kid everytime I'm in a ballpark. Dodger Stadium was no exception and it was great to be in a ballpark again. Unfortunately, it felt different being in a ballpark in LA opposed to other ballparks around the U.S. Everyone in the park seemed less interested in the game and more interested in other things like talking, hitting beach balls around, arguing with eachother, etc. Who knows, I guess that's Los Angeles for ya. The game was fairly entertaining from a fan't perspective. It was close all game until the Padres pulled ahead at the end and ended up winning by a couple of runs.

On Saturday I had to work at Universal and half way through my shift I was told to report to "Charles". Basically, he is one of the head guys and when you're sent there it's the equivalent to being sent to the principal's office and you know you're in trouble. All in all, it felt very juvenile and I had no idea why I was going to see him. Once I was there, he tells me to sit down in a very authoritative and mean tone. Also in the room is a Union Representative who is monitoring the meeting. Charles goes on to tell me that I'm being given 7 disciplining points for failing to log out on my computer 2 months ago and that someone else used the computer under my name. After him telling me this, I immediately tell him that it is false and what really happened. He basically gets furious with me and that I'm wrong and that what I'm saying is "impossible!". Me being the person I am, wasn't willing to back down and I told him I wasn't going to be given points for something I didn't do. In our department when you're give 15 points your fired and they were giving me 7 alone for what "suppposedly" happened. After 30 minutes of heated debate, he tells me that I need to sign saying that we had the meeting and that if I wanted to fight it I would have to contact my Union Representative and then another woman who if she believes that my story has enough weight to it, she will submit it and I will have to "fight" my own case to get the points removed. In the end, I was furious for what happened and I told him I'm not going to be given points for something I didn't do. That night we stayed in, relaxed, and watched a movie.

Sunday I worked again, and as fate would have it, my drawer was over $20 at the end of my shift and I'm going to be given more "points". But I have a hard time agreeing that I should be given 3 points for being over $20 especially when I made over $14,000 alone that day. Whatever. Can you tell I'm bitter? Later that day, Seth got a call saying that the Police found his car and when the guy crashed it when they were trying to pull it over. Seth proceeded to pick the car up and there was a bunch of damage to the front and side passenger door. At least he got his car back...

On Monday, we saw Noah off and it was sad to see him go. I can tell he enjoyed a break from his job back home, and for us it was really nice to have a friendly face around especially when we're so busy working and don't have much of a social life out here. In other news, I finally bought a mattress to sleep on. My back was hurting too much and I knew I couldn't wait any longer. So, I took advice from a co-worker of mine and bought a rebuild one from a small hispanic furniture store. It definitely feels great to sleep in a real bed.

Imagine that.

Oh, and the Sprint commercial I was an extra in has just aired on TV. It's exciting seeing the finsihed product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6DORwBzuA

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 4.5 stars
The Matador - 4 stars
For Your Consideration - 4 stars

Fast Food Acting

2008-04-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's official.

I'm bad at updating my blog.

My excuse is that I'm working a lot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing... I definitely need the money. I work on average 6 days a week, sometimes 7, but it doesn't seem that bad because I either work days or nights, so I have part of the day open (which feels like a lot coming from a theatre student). On the flip side, I'm definitely getting the itch to act. It's really frustrating not being able to act. As I've been telling my friends, I didn't move to LA to work two jobs and not act. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as going to the nearest acting store and saying "Hi, I'd like a big acting break, with a side of extra acting connections. Oh and could you supersize it to a leading role in a major motion picture?"

If only.

I've met some really cool people at Universal, and as time has gone on, I've realized that I don't mind working there much as I did when I first started. I'm getting a hang of it, and it's not that bad of money (comparitively speaking) because of the commission. A few of my co-workers from there came over the other night and we had a good time drinking and hanging out. Apart from a little drama, it was good time to be had and my first real "break" from the mundane. Also, because of enjoying Universal, I'm not quite sure what to do about my work situation. I need to make money, but I need to pursue acting at the same time. I think I've come to the conclusion that I might just keep both jobs and just work 4 days between them so that I'll have 3 days out of the week to pursue an agent, do extra work, and any other acting stuff. The only other option is that one of the guys from Universal has a connection with a production company called Wildcard Productions (http://wildcardproductions.net/). His half-sister is the founder of the company and it's really starting to take off. In May it will have it's own financial backing and my friend said that he might be able to get me a PA job. He also will probably be a PA and he says that it pays great ($750 a week). Not bad, even if it is bitch work. At least it would bring me closer to "the business". I would be able to make connections and who knows, I might get acting work out of it. I haven't decided one way or the other, but it's nice to have another option.

Outside of work, right now is a good time because a lot of family/friends are/have been visiting. Just last week my friend Rachel was in town with the family that she Nanny's for. I got to meet up with her (very briefly unforunately) and it was nice to see a familiar face. Then, earlier this week my uncle from Japan who is now a professor at Xavier was in town for business and my brother and I met up with him in Redondo Beach. It was a blast eating my the shore and talking life/politics/philosophy. He even gave us a copy of his newest book: http://www.amazon.com/Money-Sex-War-Karma-Revolution/dp/0861715586/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207258632&sr=8-1. Also, next week one of my other brothers Noah is coming into town on vacation. We plan on going to a concert, go to a taping of Craig Ferguson :) , going to Universal, and seeing my friend Maggie's Musical Revue. On top of that, my good friend Jenni is also visiting next week and I will meet up with her.

All in all, life isn't too shabby at the moment. I'm working paycheck to paycheck, but at least I'm getting by. Now I just need to figure out how to get some acting in there somewhere...

Oh, and here's a word of advice: 4 Months is too long to sleep on an air mattress.

Especially when it has a hole in it.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
The Darjeeling Limited - 4 stars
Eastern Promises - 4 stars

Universal Health Care, Firefighter On Loan

2008-03-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been so sick that you're even sick in your dreams? Well, I have.

And it was not fun.

When I last left off my adventures, I was preparing to start training at Universal Studios. I had my first day of new hire paperwork where we did just what it sounds like. Next was my first day of orientation, and it was a pretty good time. I was basically paid for 8 hours of lecture, watching videos, playing "Universal Bingo", getting an hour to eat lunch and roam the theme park and ride some rides. The coolese thing about Universal that became very apparent to me is that Universal really has the feeling of being part of a team or a family, which is a pretty good feeling. Once training began, there was more of the same. As a ticket seller, I was grouped with other ticket sellers and we had a lot of classroom sessions consiting of lecturing, videos, and games. Overall, training lasted 4 8-hour days and was pretty exhausting. You take a lot in and are expected to memorize a lot in a short amount of time. Luckily, I met some pretty cool people during training which really helped. The final 2 days were on-the-job training in the ticket booth, which was really stressful and hectic (especially since the people that trained us were new trainers). On the last day of training, we had to show up and be tested in the booth, and then have a written test at the end of the day. If we passed both, then we were hired. Luckily, things went OK for me and I was officially hired! Of the people that trained with me, one guy decided that it was too much for him, and another guy didn't make the cut.

Excited that I had finally found a second job, I waited until the following day to see if I was going to be put on the schedule. To my suprise, I was put on the following weekend. Things were going pretty well for me and I was happy with my good fortune... until Wednesday of that week came around. My throat started feeling sore. I gave it a day to see if it was going to get better, but unfortunately it got much worse. Since I don't have health insurance (struggling actor remember?), I was unsure of where to go for a checkup but I realized that I had to see someone since my jobs rely heavily on my speaking voice. After checking around, I was told of a clinic by my apartment that is pretty inexpensive. After visiting there, I'm told that I have to come the following morning at 5am, get a ticket, come back at 7, wait to be called, and THEN be seen. After waiting 3 and a half hours, I was finally seen, and to my misfortune the doctor told me that I had tonsillitis. I wasn't too surprised because my symptoms were similar to when I had tonsillitis last fall, but it was bad news nonetheless. On my way to the in-clinic pharmacy I was told that there is a low-income program that I may qualify for. I go to the 4th floor to apply and to my dismay, I qualified and was told that I would have free healt care and prescriptions for a full year! On top op that, I was told that if I needed to get my tonsills removed because of recurring problems, that as long as it was an outpatient procedure, that it would be covered for free. This is really good news because that would normally cost thousands of dollars. But I'll cross that bridge if/when I have to.

After taking what I've dubbed "The Wonder Drug" aka Amoxicillin, I was hoping for a quick recovery. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. My tonsils became much worse and I got really really sick. It's the second sickest I've ever been in my life, with the first being when I had mono in high school. I was so sick, that even in one of my dreams I was with my family, and I was sick in my dream! Talk about crappy. The worst part was that I was supposed to start my first three days at Universal that weekend but I was to sick to go in. Unfotunately, one of the bad things about Universal is that they aren't very flexible. They have a point system for when you're late, call in, etc. and when you reach X amount of points you're terminated. After calling in for the first day, I soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it in the next two days. Work goes on to tell me that I need to bring in a doctor's note to excuse my days missed, so unfortunately, I had to go back to the clinic and wait 4 HOURS just to be seen by a doctor and get a doctor's note.

After 5 VERY LONG days, I finally showed signs of recovery and was well enough to at least return to Hollywood Video. In the middle of the week, I got a call from Virgo Talent asking if I could shoot a commercial for Sprint. Luckily I was free on the day of the shoot and confirmed the job. After calling the appropriate number I was given the information for the day of the shoot. The shoot was going to be in downtown LA and I was going to be playing a firefighter. It's not everday you can play a firefighter, so I was pretty excited. So, I woke up at 5am the following morning and made it to the location at about 6:30, about and hour before my call time. It was a little intimidating at first knowing that it was my first experience on a professional set around actors that have been doing this all the time. I was first greeted by one of the biggest perks to doing commercial acting: full service catering. There was a team of people running a catering truck that would make breakfast to order. After eating some fresh fruit and juice, we were herded into the another area to sign in. Next, we waited until we would be called to do wardrobe and makeup and I ended up meeting some interesting people and we chatted for a bit. The first thing that I noticed about my surroundings was that everyone knew everyone. I guess it's true that it's a small business and it would make sense for people to know eachother if they do this all the time. I also noticed that the union actors had a little smugness to them, much like I saw when I was auditioning in NYC. After waiting an hour or two, non-union actors were finally called and I was fitted in full firefighter garb and makeup. It was a lot of fun and I was excited to start the shoot.

I was also given a storyboard for the commercial and heard that the premise for the commercial was "What if firefighters ruled the world". Apparently there was a group of different Sprint commercials being shot with different professions and ours was the firefighter one. It was also cool having the entire surrounding building and streets blocked off for the shoot, it felt really exciting/professional. After waiting a bit more, we finally went on set. We were led into a giant room that was built/dressed to look like congress and the principle actors were up front as if the judges ruling over the proceedings. There was everything you could imagine from a Hollywood set: Director, AD, PA's, gaffers, lighters, techies, cameras, a crane, the whole nine yards. One thing became very clear: it was mass chaos. It didn't help that there were 75 firefighters that needed to be instructed and kept under control. After a long set-up we were ready get our first shots of the day. As we started, I noticed two things: the lead actor was terrible, and the director was very unorganized. I find out that the 3 principle actors in front aren't actors at all, they are actual firefighters and they were cast for that main reason. Unfortunately, it became painfully clear that this was a HUGE mistake. The main guy had a whopping 6 lines in the entire commercial with call and response between him and us firefighters, and he just couldn't get them right. He would forget lines, mix them up, paraphrase, improvise, etc. To make things worse, he's in front of 75 actors and he is getting nervous, embarassed, sweaty on top of it all. We finally get our lunch break and we file out to our fully-catered meal.

It was quite refreshing being in the middle of downtown LA and eating steak, lamb, potatoes, and pasta for lunch, but I won't complain. As I'm finishing up my lunch, I get a phone call from a restricted number and pick up. A man asks for me and I tell him that it's me speaking and he goes on to ask me if I'm aware that I'm 3 months overdue on my student loan and that I owe $777. I'm speechless as I hear this and I tell him that it's not possible because I consolidated all my loans so that something like this wouldn't happen. He goes on to tell me that it's a private loan and that it can't be consolidated and I should have been told this when I consolidated my loans. He also goes on to tell me that if I don't pay my late fees that the entire loan will have to be paid: $27,000. He then has the gall to ask me, "can you pay it?" and I laugh at him and reply no. I ask him why I haven't been told about this and haven't gotten anything in the mail or any phone calls and he ask me if I still live at my Illinois address and I tell him that I moved. He then tells me it's my fault that I didn't tell them that I moved. But I insisted that I couldn't call someone to tell them I'm moving when I didn't know I had the loan in the first place. He then gives me his name and number and tells me to call him ASAP to start paying everything off.

I hang up and return to set in a complete daze. I was super confused at what had just happened and at the terrible timing of everything. I was finally getting by financially and starting to get my foot in the door of Hollywood and this was the last thing I needed. I really felt my career flash before my eyes and the reality sunk in that if this loan thing was for real that I would have to move back to the Midwest. There's just no way that I could afford to pay an extra $250 every month on top of all my expenses of living in LA. I decide to just get through the commercial and call my Dad as soon as possible to see if I can clear everything up. The rest of the commercial started to be come tedious and extremely frustrating. The main guy kept screwing up take after take and they even had to wipe his face of sweat and put a fan on him between each take to cool him down. We end up staying 3 and a half hours later than planned and get out of there at 10:55pm after starting the day out at 6:30am. All in all, it was a great experience to be introduced to the professional world and to meet some cool people. There were two men in particular, in their early 50's that I became good friends with and they gave me great advice and connections in the business. One guy told me that my best bet would be to quit one of my jobs and pursue acting stuff on the side in my free time. He gave me numbers to other agencies to check out and that more extra work would be a great way to get started.

The following day, I called my Dad as soon as I could to talk about my loan situation. After talking to him about it, he said he would call the guy and try and get to the bottom of it, because apparently the man on the phone said my Dad was on the loan as well. The reason that the loan seemed fishy in the first place was because he said it was for $27,000 and I know that I didn't take out that much on top of the other loans I had. Luckily, my dad emailed me after talking to the guy and apparently the total was for the combined loans from my sister, brother, and myself, not just me. This was a huge relief to hear, as it was the difference between me having to move back home or staying in LA.

After finally kicking my sickness and 2 weeks later, I was able to return to Universal. Or should I say "start" at Universal. It was a crappy situation having been trained, and hired, and then having to wait 2 weeks for my first day of work. A lot of the stuff I had learned and memorized was a bit fuzzy and I had to try and retain as much as possible for my first day on the job. After showing up, I am confronted with the fact that it is now Sprng Break and that we are at "peak time" at Universal Studios which means that there are a lot of visitors. All in all, I felt comfortable in the job, but there were still a lot of issues throughout the day. At one point, my computer crashed without telling me and then at the end of my shift my drawer was over $64. They had to call a LP specialist to figure out what went wrong and then when I went to Inventory Control with my coupons from throughout the day, I was apparenty over 8 coupons as well. It was frustrating, but I was just glad to have gotten through my first day of work. Afterwards, I met up with 2 girls that I trained with and we went into the park, hung out, and went on a few rides.

Now that the smoke seems to have cleared from the craziness of the past month I still have a few decisions to make. One big one is what to do with my jobs. I spent so much time trying to find a second job but now that I have it, I think it would probably be in my best interest to do more extra work and pursuing acting with my free time. I got about $175 for my Sprint commercial and even if I shoot one or two commercials a week, it will more than make up for having one less job (The average commercial I would get paid anywhere from $100-$125). On top of it all, I would be doing what I want to do: act. On a side note, I found out that Union actors get paid hundreds of dollars to do extra work and that a lot of them do it just for the easy money and are in a sense "selling out" instead of pursuing their career of really acting. I definitely want to avoid that from happening to me at all costs. Regardless, the problem is that I don't know which job to quit. Universal is nice because it pays more and I could pick up extra shifts here and there, but they are very unflexible with taking days off. Hollywood Video is nice because they are flexible, I get free movies, I really enjoy the environment, but they don't pay as much. I'll most likely just work the next month or so to make up for lack of funds and then by that point I will be able to decide which is in my better interests to quit.

I'm not sure whether the Sprint commercial is national or regional but considering it's a big company like Sprint and it's one of a few commercials in the set, I'm pretty sure that it's national. It will be a lot of fun just to see the finished product.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Forrest Gump - 5 stars
Ocean's Eleven - 4.5 stars
Becoming Jane - 4 stars
Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli) - 4.5 stars
Penelope - 4 stars
The Apartment - 5 stars
Lust, Caution - 4.5 stars

Winds of change... question mark?

2008-02-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

So about a week has passed, and once again it's been quite eventful (in a good way this time).

First of all, my car is finally in working order. Knock on wood, nothing will happen from here on out and I can have a reliable source of transportation. The only real thing wrong with the car I've noticed is that the radio is a bit messed up. When I try and scan the stations, it just keeps on scanning without recognizing any stations. Since it has a tape deck, I decided to buy one of those cassette adapters to plug into my Zune (microsoft's version of the Ipod) and listen to music that way.

Last Thursday night, I got off the phone with a friend and got a call from Universal Studios. My first thought was that they made a mistake and that they wanted me to be a tour guide. Unfortunately, so such luck. The woman had called to see if I was interested in any other positions with them. I was like... "maybe... what are they?". She goes on to tell me that they have openings for different positons: ride operator, park attendant, valet parking, ticket sales, etc." She then asks me if I want to apply for them and I say "I guess". So she proceeds to tell me to come in the next morning for an interview. I do, and after arriving there, I have a group interview with 2 other guys in front of a kind middle-aged Universal hiring guy. He starts asking us the obligatory interview questions and then tells us the positions that he has available: food vendor, park attendant, and patio host. At the end of the interview he asks us individually if the jobs appeal to us. Without hesitation I tell him that while I could see myself doing all of the jobs, that none of them really sparked my interest.

I proceed to tell him that I was told about an opening as a valet parker and he tells me that that could be a possibility. After realizing that I would have to drive rich bastard stick shift cars, risking the chance of recking them, and that I didn't have a California license yet, I decided it probably wasn't the best fit for me. The man then takes me aside for an indivual interview and I tell him that I'm interested in being a ticket seller. He agrees that it would be a good fit for me and tells me the perks of the job. Unfortunately it only pays $8 an hour (minimum wage in CA) but that's because Universal is a union job and that's how all the positions start out and you work your way up. He then tells me that it's only one of two jobs in all of Universal where you work in an air-conditioned building and you get to sit. Plus, for every upsell that you do for premium-type tickets you get an extra dollar and you can make an extra $100 a week, which sounds good to me. He then has me take a math test telling me that I have to place high to pass. Luckily, I get all of them right and he has me do another interview with someone from ticket sales. The guy interviewing me was probably mid-twenties, hispanic, and clearly gay. He was very cordial, friendly and asked the typical interview questions. In the end, he asks me to "sell" him something in the room to see how good of a salesperson I am. I choose to sell him my folder and it goes well. In the end, he offers me a job on the spot and I take it!

In the end, tomorrow, I have my new hire paperwork, then 5 days of orientation/training stuff and will start working shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, until Spring Break time, I'm not officially put on the schedule and have to call in any days that I want to work and hope that shifts become available from people calling in sick and other things. I'm really happy that something worked out though, and I can start getting closer to 40 hours between Universal Studios and Hollywood Video. I will be working at Universal during the weeknights and at Universal (when I can) during the mornings and weekends.

Next, after realizing that I needed to start getting my foot in the door with "the business" I decided to join a talent agency that my friend Maggie is in called Virgo Talent. They're a simple agency that does the middle ground work of getting you work as an extra for commercials and film. I drove to there office in downtown and after taking the wrong exit and an hour detour I reach their office right across the street from the LA Times. Seth and I walk in the building and we were greeted by a narrow art gallery. Above, a man is on the loft above us and comes down to greet me. Apparently they share the space with the gallery owners. After asking a few questions and taking my picture for there website and records I was on my way. How it works is that for every gig I book they take a flat fee of $10. The beauty is that every job pays at least $100 and they will never take more than $40 a month no matter how many gigs I get. Apparently about 80% of there extra work is for commercials and the average pay is $125, which still isn't that bad for a days work. I figure it's a good starting point for me and I can work myself up the system the old fashioned way. So long story short, I'll get a call each time I'm needed for extra work and I'll do the shoots that work for my schedule.

In other news, Seth looks like he will be working for a website called Mahalo.com He will be a freelance writer for articles there and get paid per article. He also had an interview to be a writer for police and other articles for a city news service, so hopefully everything will pan out for him soon and he can make decent money working two jobs.

Here's hoping that the next week will transition smoothly for me.

Movie Reviews of the Day:

The Insider - 4.5 stars

Platoon - 5 stars

Martian Child - 3.5 stars

Michael Clayton - 5 stars

In the Valley of Elah - 4.5 stars

Rendition - 4 stars

And so it goes...

2008-02-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

The past 10 days have been the most frustrating since I first got to LA. Things just haven't been going my way lately. And just when something seems to be going well... something bad happens again... (insert wavy-Wayne's World flashback effect)

After getting my car fixed, I was looking to the future and was happy knowing that I finally had a working car. The next day I took the car out to go run some errands, and after driving a couple of miles from my apartment towards Hollywood my car breaks down again. I instantly think to myself "here we go again, you have got to be kidding me". Especially since I just had the car fixed. To my luck, a kind hispanic man happened to be walking by and offered to help and try to get it started again. After try a few things, unfortunately it still wouldn't start up. I call my dad and he suggests putting gas in the car just in case the gas gauge is wrong and the tank is empty. So I walk down the street to the closes gas station and put an extra gallon of gas in the car. Unfortunately, the car still woudn't start so I called up my mechanic and he says he'll come get it in an hour and that I have to walk the keys to his shop. So, I ended up walking about 3 miles in the heat and it takes me about an hour just to reach his shop.

After looking at the car over the weekend, my mechanic Albert calls me and says that it's fixed. Apparently a wire had burnt out and it was caused by the relay switch being stuck on "on". At this point, I'm just thankful that it's fixed and he charges me another $130 for labor and parts. I pick up the car, take it work the next day and once I get there my co-workers look at me like I'm crazy and say "are you sure you work today?". I go to look at the schedule and to my dismay, my store manager had cut my hours from 30 hours to 18 including that day's shift, and to top it all of didn't tell me. I was happy that I was working 30 hours this week because I desperately need the money until I get a second job. But apparently my manager forgot to schedule this new girl she hired and had to take hours from me to give her hours. I take a deep breath, work a couple hours in place of one my workers who wanted to go to home early and returned home.

The next day, Tuesday, I get ready to take the car out once more to run a bunch of overdue errands. Seth came along and as we were entering the freeway, I joked to him that it was a fitting christening that I was taking my "now-working" car on the freeway. Unfortunately I spoke too soon. After only 15 seconds of driving my car on the freeway my car breaks down a third time. By this point, I couldn't believe my luck. Praying for an exit ramp to come soon, I cruised as far as I could until the car's momentum stopped. Luckily, a ramp came up and we barely made it to the light at the end of the ramp. Seth and I proceeded to push the dead car into a gas station and I call my dad... again. He can't believe it and says to call my mechanic again. So I call Albert....again. When I tell him what happened he simply couldn'y believe it. He tells me to put gas in the car just in case it's empty so I oblige and nothing changes. He tells me to stay put and that he would come and try to get it started. He comes, and of course he can't start it, so he tells me that he will have to come tow it later. He offers to drive us back to the apartment and I ask him if the car will be ok sitting there until the tow truck comes and he says it will be fine.

After reaching the apartment, Seth and I decided to run our errands with his car. After running to the bank, we head baack to Van Nuys, and I decide to stop by the car to get something from inside. I pull up to the car and I realize that the tow-guy is already there and I tell him I'm going to grab something from the car before he takes it to the shop. He then tells me that he's not taking it to the shop, he's impounding it. He goes on to say that he was called by the owner of the gas station to have it towed. Again, I couldn't believe my luck (or lack there of) and I plead to him to just help me out and keep driving. He turns out to be a huge prick about it and says that "someone has to pay him" and that either I get the owner to pay him or I have to pay him. I go to talk to the owner in hopes that he will understand my situation and he turns out to be just as much of an asshole as the tow-guy. He starts yelling at me and how everything is my fault. I explain my situation and how my mechanic said it would be fine to leave it until the tow-truck came. The owner then tells me that my mechanic is "stupid" and further insults me. The owner and I go to the tow-truck guy and I continue to plead to them to cut me a break and understand my situation. The tow-guy then insists that he has to get paid or he's taking the car and I ask him how much it would be. He then has the gall to ask me "how much do you have?". At this point I was completely disgusted with the both of them. What kind of person is so vindictive and selfish to ask someone that in that situation? I don't tell him and he says that he usually charges $125 but if I gave him $60 cash that he would leave the car. I accept my fate and give him the cash and he leaves the car on a side street. The most frustrating part of this whole ordeal was how rude the both of them were and how unhelping they wanted to be. I guess that's the one most infuriating thing about LA. People are only out to help themselves and it's super hard to find someone who wants to help you out. Anyway, I digress.

I then call my mechanic to explain the situation and he had to flag his tow-guy down and tell him to pick the car up from the new location. When this was all said and done I couldn't believe this was happening to me. To this point, I've already spent an extra $500 fixing this car up twice and both times it breaks down the next day. The only good news out of all of this is that when I talked to Albert about the situation and asked him to cut me a deal with looking at it for a third time and he tells me that he will fix it this time for no charge. So here I lie. My car is in the shop... again. I still need a second job. I can't really pursue acting stuff right now or a second job without a working car... so I wait. The worst part of all of this is that it comes down to money. I can overcome a lot, but money has always been the thorn in my side.

In the end, I still try to stay positive and think it has to get better eventually. I think everyone goes through a period like this in their life and you just have to get through it. And instead of whining too much about it, I just need to count my blessings and keep on keeping on. You're dealt the cards your dealt and you have to make a hand of it.

And so it goes...

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Marie Antoinette - 3.5 stars
Blade Runner - 4 stars
Juno - 4 stars

Manic Monday, Super Tuesday, Wacky Wednesday

2008-02-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

I was really excited for Monday. it was time to pick up my new car and have my second audition for Universal Studios. I crossed my fingers and hoped that everything would go well without any problems when picking up my car. I arrived at the seller's home, and to my astonishment, everything went smoothly and I was on my way with my 1988 Crown Victoria LTD. It felt great finally having my own car and as I drove around, I couldn't help but thinking of many gangster movies where my car was used as a getaway car. It drove smoothly and was a relief to be driving my own car.

1 o'clock rolled around and I went to the Holiday Inn at North Hollywood for my audition. I follow the signs and I end up in a small theatre with a bunch of seats. I walk towards the front rows and sit in the third row. 15 minutes later, the main guy running the audition went in front of the group of 60 and explained how the audition was to work. The first hour and a half, he explained the background, pay, and benefits of working for Universal Studios. The more he talked, the more I realized I was a perfect for the job and was something I was really excited to be a part of. Half way through the audition, we were split into 6 groups of about 10 people and each group went in front of everyone and did 3 exercises. The first was a cold reading from the current Tour Guide script and it went very well for me. Cold readings are a strong suit of mine, and I was pleased to have it go well. Next, we did an improve exercise where one of the guys running the audition started out a story with a half sentence and then we would have to go down the line continuing the story. In the middle of someone talking, the guy would ring a bell and the next person would have to pick up where the previous person left off. Unfortunately our story was about Stephen Baldwin trying to convince Donald Trump not to fire him on Celebrity Apprentice... Yeah, could we have been given a more stupid story? I don't think so. When the story got to me, I came up with the idea of Stephen Baldwin calling his brother Alec Baldwin to save the day, but right before I mention Alec's name, the guy rang the bell and I wasn't able to say the punchline. Oh well. Finally, we went down the line and were asked individual random questions and were given a minute to answer them off the top of our heads. Questions had no relation and ranged from "what's the best advice you've been given?" to "what's the deal with Britney Spears?" to "who's your favorite actor and why?" to "what's the best entertainment news show and why?". When it got to me, I was asked "what's the most recent movie you've seen in theatres and what is your review?" I was happy in a sense that I got this question because I review movies as a hobby of mine, so I discussed my review of There Will Be Blood in about a minute.

After the 4 and a half hour audition, they called out the numbers of the people that they wanted to continue onto the third audition. Overall I was very pleased with how my audition went. I wasn't nervous, was myself, and did my best. My number was C-4 (a bomb, haha) and as they read out the C's they skipped right over my number. I'm not gonna lie, I was shocked that I wasn't at least called back. The more I thought about the job, the more I thought it was a perfect fit for me. I also was surprised at the people that were called back, but so is life. As I was driving home, I considered why I wasn't called back and I came to the conclusion that I probably wasn't happy-go-lucky enough for them. As a person, I am pretty calm, cool, collected, and have a professsional manner when speaking in front of people and I'm guessing they saw this and wanted someone with more "energy" and "pizzaz". Overall, I'm very dissapointed. I was really looking forward to, and in a way, counting on this job. As of now, I only work about 22 hours a week at Hollywood Video and that's not enough to survive out here. I tried to stay positive and thought to myself, if it's not in the cards for me, then so be it.

Tuesday I went to the DMV to register my car and get a California driver's license. After waiting in line for about an hour, I was told I couldn't get an driver's license without a birth certificate or passport, and since they were in Illinois I had to put it off until I could have it sent to me. Next, they said I couldn't register the car because the smog paper I had was just the receipt, and not the actual certificate, so I had to call the owner's gain in hopes they still had it. To top it all of, even if I was to bring in the certificate, it might not work because there it expires after only 90 days and it was smogged at the end of October. The only other exciting part of Tuesday was the Election Coverage. All I will say is that I completely support Barack Obama and I've never been so fascinated and compelled by U.S. politics until now.

Wednesday rolled around and I called the old owner about the smog certificate and she said that she didn't have it and suggested to call the smog place that did it and see if I could get another one. So, I did and they told me to stop on by and pick up another one. With things looking up, I took off and after driving a block from my apartment, my car randomly stalls out and I have to pull over to the curb. All I was thinking was, "you've got to be kidding me". I try starting it over and over again and it won't start. I call my brother and he takes off his day from work to come give me a jump in case that is the problem. That doesn't do anything, so my brother and I go to a gas station, get a gallon of gas and put it in my car just in case the gas gauge was broken and it was out of gas. After trying everything, I sit there in complete awe. I payed $1000 for a car on Monday and two days later it breaks down on me. I decide to call the owner and ask her if she can help me out with at least a tow or having it looked at by a mechanic for me. She has me call 3 seperate people and each of them tell me the same thing, "it's your car now, we're not liable for anything". I couldn't believe that they couldn't at least show the kindness to help me out and puth themselves in my shoes. My brother and I went down the block to try and find a mechanic and find one close by. Luckily, he comes to the car to take a look at it to see what's wrong and he tells us that the gas pump went out. To top it off, it's an electric gas pump (which are more expensive than regular ones) and he tells me he can fix it for $300. At this point, I didn't know what else to do. I wasn't getting help from anyone and I have to have a car, so I agreed.

Long story short, the past few days have not been kind to me. I've been desperately looking for a second job, and no one is hiring. Universal Studios doesn't call me back. My car breaks down and I have to pay an extra $300. And finally it doesn't look like I'm gonna get that call from Kerrie and get signed from her so I'm back to square one. It's been very tough lately, but I'm trying to stay positive and think "no one said it's going to be easy right?". At least this way, if I do become successful, it will mean that much more when I look back on very hard times such as these.

Movie Reviews of the Day:

Benny and Joon - 4 stars

The Rainmaker - 4.5 stars

Elizabeth: The Golden Age - 3.5 stars

One Week Later...

2008-02-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I was right. A lot did happen this week.

First and foremost, It no longer takes me 30 minutes or more to fall asleep. :)

My brother Seth started working at a newspaper in West Covina, about 45 minutes East of Van Nuys. After his first day, he realizes that he doesn't want to make it long term because of the little responsibility he has at the paper and he's used to being more busy with his work (even if it does pay $15 hour). It's not a big deal considering he was just filling in for a sick employee for a few weeks.

Over the first few days of the week I drove around Van Nuys in search of a cheap car but didn't find much of anything. I then turned to craigslist in hopes of finding a good deal. Luckily I found a decent enough car for sale and set up a time to look at it on Wednesday. Wednesday rolled around and I had to do the most driving and shuffling around since I've been here. I drove Seth down to Santa Monica for an interview. I then drove 45 minutes to Burbank to check out the car for sale. All in all, I ended up going through 3 seperate people to look at the car. The first guy I talked to on the phone was helping a woman sell it. I then met that woman at the car and find out that she is a estate agent helping the real owner sell it. I find out that the car is being sold because this woman's husband had passed away and she had no use for it. I finally reach the car and it is just as described: a 1988 Crown Victoria LTD. It's in pristine condition and runs perfectly with electic everything and working stereo, A/C, and heat. The front right tail light is broken, but that's the only thing wrong with the car. I soon realize that the car is a steal and decide to purchase... but there was a small hitch in the plan. The woman selling it finds out that there is a state law saying a car can't be sold until 40 days after someone dies, so I can't get it until Monday. It stinks, but I say OK and tell them I'll come get it on Monday.

Next, I drive 45 minutes back to Santa Monica to pick Seth up from his interview, and drive back to Van Nuys. We get our stuff for the rest of the day, and I drive another 45 minutes to West Covina for Seth's last day at the newspaper job. I then drive 45 minutes over to Woodland Hills for my interview with the agent... I arrive about 30 minutes early, say a little prayer and head to the office. Luckily, the agent, Kerrie Levy wasn't there yet and I was able to talk to my friend Kelly for a bit. She handed me a commercial side to prepare for the audition. I go into another room to practice the Selsun Shampoo commercial. I return to the office and wait for Kerrie to arrive. She soon does and I first notice 2 things about her that I didn't expect: she was very young and dressed very casually. What stood before me was a blonde, plasticky, young woman with her boobs falling out of her shirt. She storms into the office talking about dinner plans with her friend on her cell phone with not so much as a quick, puzzled look in my direction. She walks into her adjoining office and talks with Kelly in a whisper before calling me in. She shakes my hand asks me to sit and first asks me how old I was and I told her 23. She then says, "wow, you're young!" in a condescending sort of way and I see the tone that would set the rest of the audition. The crazy thing is that I find out later from Kelly that her herself is 23 as well but she doesn't like people to know her age. go figure... Next she asks me, "Who are you currently represented by?". I instantly realize that I found myself examing and observing her every word and move just as she is doing to me. I think to myself, she didn't ask me if I was currently, but who I'm currently represented by. I tell her "no one" and then she takes my headshots and asks me to perform the commercial sides. I peform them to the best of my ability and then she asks me to perform my monologue. I ask her if I could stand instead of sitting and she paused and replied awkwardly, "yeah, stand". I stand and realize that I immediately regret my decision because the room is so small and I couldn't really back up so I ended up standing in the corner in front of the door.

I performed my monologue from the play Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man and throughout, I made a concious effort to keep eye contact with Kerrie and use her as my reference point for the monologue. The problem was every time I looked at her, she had this spacey, zoned-out look on her face as if she wasn't really paying attention. The funnier thing was that I would find her looking at the areas that I would motion to in the monologue as if I was a teacher of a little girl in a classroon. It was difficult performing in the environment and it made things worse when her cell phone started ringing in her purse directly behind me throughout the last 20 seconds of the monologue. Overall, I felt very concious of the fact that my every word and motion was being critiqued (or at least I thought) and I would say I only gave a B- performance. It wasn't my best, but at least I wasn't nervous and tried my best under the circumstances. After the monologue, Kerrie asked me if I had any other headshots and I told her "not printed, but I have the proofsheets if you want to look at those". She quickly said, "no, that's fine". And just like that she said "thanks for coming in" and I shook her hand and was on my way. The entire audition only lasted maybe 7 minutes and I walked out with the vibe that she just wasn't feeling me or that she thought I wasn an amateur. But, I told myself to walk out of the audition with my head held high no matter what happened and I did just that. Later on in the week, I called Kelly to tell her my view on the audition and she said that if I was to be signed, Kerrie would call me next week and let me know. Overall, my instinct tells me that I won't get that call because she wasn't really feeling me, and quite honestly, I wasn't really feeling her either. It's a little dissapointing if I don't get signed, because I would love to get the ball rolling, but no one said it was going to be easy. At least I can take what I've learned and apply it to future auditions/agents.

Soon after, my brother was also fortunate enough to get an interview and a job offer from a non-profit company called Environment California. They deal in being environmental activists raising awareness and money specifically for the ocean related issues (they're the people that ask you "do you have a quick minute for the environment?"). I drove him to his first day at work in downtown LA before heading to my audition to be a tour guide at Universal Studio. I arrive to the audition about 10 minutes early hoping that will increase my chances of getting out of there on time to make it to work at 5. It was interesting going to Universal Studios for my audition but also for the first ever to a Universal Studios. I felt like a little kid with the excitement surrounding me. This soon wore off as I saw the line in front of me for the auditions. There in front of me was an assortment of people auditioning as well ranging from all ages and races. The most interesting was to see the way people dressed for the audition. Many were dressed nice, but some were wearing flashy clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, and even full blown suits. Kelly told me that I should expect to be in line for about 2 hours. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I got there at 1:50 pm and got to the front of the line for my interview at 5:00 pm. To top it off, it was extremely cold outside (where most of the line was). I find out the reason it took so long was that more people came for the audition than expected and there were only 2 people interviewing this year instead of 3 people. I met a couple cool people in line and finally got to the front, greeted by Kelly and seated in front of the man who was to interview me. The kicker of the experience was that Kelly told the guy interviewing me that we went to school together and were friends and he told us that I could have skipped to the front of the line instead of waiting like everyone else... go figure. The interview went great and he told me that I would get a call the next day for a second interview/audition.

Sure enough, I got a call on Saturday saying my next interview/audition is on Monday and will last 4 hours including a formal interview, Q &A, and an audition. So Monday will be a big day for me, I get my car (barring nothing goes wrong) and I have my second audition with Universal. And later in the week there is a slight (very slight) chance that I will get a call from Kerrie telling me she wants to sign me. So who knows. At least it's nice to know that things are slowly piecing together more for Seth and I here in LA.

Time to get ready for the Super Bowl.

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Benny and Joon - 4 stars
The Rainmaker - 4.5 stars

Trouble Sleeping

2008-01-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

Ever since moving into my apartment, it takes me at least 30 minutes to fall asleep each night. My usual schedule is working at Hollywood Video 4 or 5 days a week from late afternoon to 1:30 am. I get home, catch up on a few websites, then head to bed around 2 or 2:30. I think the reason I can't fall asleep each night is because I have so much on my mind. I fall asleep thinking about the past, present and future. The reality sets in that I live in Los Angeles, California and there's so much up in the air about my future including getting a car, a possible job at Universal Studios, getting an agent, and my career as an actor. I know it sounds cliche, but it's a bit puzzling that every single night it's the same. On to the details...

The most troubling stresser on my mind is money. I need a second job really bad, and more importantly, I need a car of my own. In good news, my brother Seth is hoping to get a job in the next week. However, that means he will now be using his car for work and I'll need a car of my own. Since I'm tight on money right now, I asked my brother Noah if I could borrow money from him and he graciously obliged. So, I'll be on the search for a car of my own in the next week and hopefully I'll find a decent one soon.

Next, my friend Kelly got information on Universal Studios and the interview/audition is this coming Friday. If it goes well, I'll get a second audition, and if all goes as planned, I'll be hired and have 3 weeks of training and work there half the week and Hollywood Video the other half. I think it would be a good fit for me and most importantly I'd be working full time between the two jobs.

Also thanks to Kelly, she has spoken to her current agent about possibly getting me an interview with her and she said yes! Tentatively, the interview is this coming Wednesday and in a perfect world I'll get signed. She's mostly a commercial agent so I'd be auditioning for commercials and hopefully work myself up to tv and film. I'm really excited about getting the opportunity to have an interview with an agent. Out here, you can't land many auditions without one, so it would be a huge blessing if I could get signed with her. I'll have a monologue ready to perform and also my resume, head shots, and other pertinent information. I realize that nothing is for sure out here, so if I don't get signed, I'll just count my losses and move on to finding another one.

Other than that, I spend most of my days surfing the net, reading, blogging, watching movies from Hollywood Video, going out to an occasional movie, and writing movie reviews of my own. One book in particular that is a great read and I think a must have for actors in LA is "Acting is Everything: An Actor's Guidebook For A Successful Career In Los Angeles". It's basically an advanced "how-to" acting book for actors in LA. It has everything and anything one would want to know from agents, resumes, headshots, resources, etc. and I highly recommend it to any aspiring actor.

A lot is going to happen in the next week.

Movie Reviews of the Day:

What's Eating Gilbert Grape - 3.5 stars

Pride and Prejudice - 4.5 stars

Don Juan DeMarco - 3 stars

...And Justice For All - 4 stars

There Will Be Blood - 4.5 stars

LA - The Search for a Job

2008-01-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

Right away, Seth and I realized we had to get jobs as soon as possible. So, we spent tons of time driving around, scouting the area for possible jobs. Seth is a writer and would preferably like to get a journalism job or something along those lines, considering he spent years as an editor for a newspaper in North St. Paul. Myself, I would prefer to get a serving job and some kind of job with movies like at a movie theatre or a movie rental store. So, I applied everywhere I could: Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, 2 Movie Theatres, 3 restaurants, Best Buy, Borders, Gamestop, Starbucks, 2 sandwhich shops, Sears, Target, and a store called Toy Mandala.

Unfortunately, Seth and I realized that we moved here at a very inopportune time: right around Christmas. None of the places that Seth and I applied to were hiring because they had just done their holiday hiring, and the ones that were hiring wouldn't call us back. I tried calling every place and being persistent with them, but nothing came of it. Finally, Blockbuster said they were hiring at a different location so I called them, and they told me they would call me back after reviewing my application... but never did. I had this happen at many other places and unfortunately nothing came of it.

Finally, after calling Hollywood Video, I was granted an interview with the store manager. The interview was very simple and I was hired on the spot. The pay wasn't great, but at least it was a job and something that I would be interested in doing. So, I went to their Hollywood location for training, then started working a couple days after that. I've been working at Hollywood Video for about a month now. It's a decent enough job. I love being able to rent movies for free and talking movies with people. My co-workers for the most part are ok. It gets tedious however having people younger than me as shift leaders and bossing me around. But... so is life. It's also an interesting environment because only 3 people that work at the store (including me) are white. It's very diverse and I like the change from being in the majority. Also, the customers that rent from Hollywood Video are mostly low-income hispanic families and with that comes a lot of difficulty/hassle/theft (no racism intended, just observation). It's a very high stress job, but I love working with people and movies, so it's not that bad. The big drawback to the job however is that Hollywood Video filed for Chapter 11 (which basically means they could go bankrupt any moment). Many locations have been closing down across the U.S. and I'm hoping that ours isn't anytime soon.

Seth's job search hasn't gone as well. He's been searching vigorously every day for the past month, had a few interviews, but nothing has come from it. In fairness, he's searching for a more prestigous job that than the crappy one's I was looking for. Hopefully something will come soon. The only nice thing that comes from him not having a job right now is that I can use his car to get to and from work, since I don't have a car yet myself. I only get around 22-24 hours a week at Hollywood Video, so I've been searching for a second job but there has been no luck yet. I had an interview with Starbucks, but nothing came from it. I would really like to serve on the side because it would make me the most money, but no one is hiring. Alternatively I'd love to work at a movie theatre, and one is actually hiring, but they require that I work at both their locations, with one of them being in Hollywood (way too far to drive for a part-time job).

Finally, my friend Kelly told me recently that Universal Studio is hiring in about 2 weeks for tour guides. Kelly is a tour guide herself and she says I should definitely go for it. It includes rigorous training where you have to memorize a lot of information and a script for your tours, but includes nice benefits like private screenings for Universal releases, and an actor's showcase each year where agents and managers attend. The pay isn't great, but it sounds like a job that I would be good at, so here's hoping.

Reviews of the Day:
La Vie en Rose - 4 stars
The Fountain - 4 stars

LA - The Search for an Apartment

2008-01-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

Seth and I took off for Los Angeles early in the morning knowing that we had another 340 miles to cover. The drive south was rather unenventful, but reality slowly settled in the closer we got. It was fun driving by all the wine vineyards and it instantly reminded me of the film Sideways. Using our mapquest directions, we had little difficulty finding Van Nuys, one of the cities within Los Angeles that one of my friends, Maggie had already found an apartment. One of the things that my uncle explained to me about Los Angeles is that it is HUGE. Everything is called the Greater Los Angeles Area and is very spread out, consisting of many cities within the area, unlike most big cities that is more centrally located.

Prior to driving down to LA, Seth and I had done a ton of research on apartments available in the central area of LA and we had many apartments to look at. We spent the entire day trying to look at apartments and one thing became instantly clear: people in LA are very lazy and do not return your calls. Out of all the places that we wanted to look at, we only ended up looking at like 2 the entire day. Unfortunately the rest of search yielded the same results. After the first day not bringing much luck, Seth and I stayed with my friend Alicia in Santa Clarita, a suburb north of LA. We awoke refreshed the next day and continued our search. After scouting the area some more, and meeting up with another close friend of mine, Kelly, Seth and I became more frustrated with our lack of results. We also came to the realization that we would probably save more money by looking at one bedroom apartments instead of 2 bedroom ones. Again, we stayed with Alicia and set out the next day.

While finally being able to find some more apartments within our price range and in the area we wanted, we faced a wall. Not a single place would let us sign a lease because we were both unemployed. On one side of the fench, I can understand a landlord's perspective, but I thought to my self, "why can't they understand our point of view?" Of course Seth and I were unemployed, we just moved there from the Midwest. Also, how could we find jobs without a residence of our own in the area? It was a paradox to us and seemed like the last straw for Seth and I. We spent the next 5 days looking at apartments, staying with Alicia and Maggie, and getting turned away at each place. We really weren't sure what to do, and I can honestly say it was one of the most stressful situations I've ever been in: no job, no home, living out of our car, and staying with friends.

Right before we were going to head back to Palo Alto dejected and unsure of what to do next, we were given the opportunity to have a co-signer at one of the apartment complexes instead of having to provide proof of having jobs. The catch was that the cosigner had to be someone close to us and who lived in the state. After much debate, we decided to ask our uncle for the favor. Luckily he agreed but the problem was that we needed his signature on the lease. So, we decided to fax it to him, but he was out of town on business. We tried faxing it to him out of town, but it just so happened that the fax machine wasn't working in the hotel he was staying at and we had to wait yet another couple days for him to return home. After anxiously waiting, we were able to get his signature and get the keys to our apartment.

We ended up picking a pretty affordable, well-kept apartment complex called Sunset Pointe. It's a gated community of about 200 people including laundry facilities, a pool, jacuzzi, rec room, and an exercise room. They pay all utilities except electricity, which is pretty nice. We pay $950 a month (very reasonable for the area) and it's a year long lease. It's a one bedroom, Seth stays in the bedroom and I sleep in the living room. It's not ideal, but I'm defintely willing to sleep in the living room if it saves us money. Hey, a bed's a bed. The week after moving in, Seth and I spent driving around the area, buying things for apartment. Walmart and Goodwill became our best friends. Another thing about apartments in LA is that the majority of them don't include refrigerators. I don't even try to understand it, but it sure is a hassle having to provide one on your own. Seth and I searched around for one, but the cheapest we could find was $350 and we certainly couldn't afford that much right away. So, instead we settled on getting a mini-fridge from Best Buy for about $150 and we decided to make due with that instead. After getting the main things we needed to live in the apartment, Seth and I could finally breath a sigh of relief having finally found an apartment of our own. We were finally residents of Los Angeles, California. And we could finally call Arnold our "Governator".

:-)

Reviews of the Day:
Heat - 4 stars
Atonement - 4.5 stars
Taxi Driver - 4 stars
Million Dollar Baby - 4 stars

Ding! Ding! Ding! went the trolley...

2008-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

It felt great to finally be in California. My brother and I woke up the next day at my uncle's house to be greeted by 70 degree sunny skies. Rather odd for the end of January, no? Anyway, over the course of the next week my uncle gave us oppurtunity to see the bay area. First we drove around in the Palo Alto area, which is south of San Francisco and part of Silicon Valley. Little did we know that Stanford University was in Palo Alto so it was cool to drive by. Boy, are the people rich there... We then drove around some more and the first thing we noticed (besides the warm weather) was that people were very rich in the area. We were also able to drive by the place that our uncle works (he started a computer company 30 years ago). Right by there is Microsoft and Google's headquarters. Pretty cool, huh? Apparently Google provides free bus shuttles to there workers and the interns that work there. Our uncle also took us out to eat multiple times and I noticed that the fruits and vegetables are like nothing you've ever eaten. They're the most fresh and juicy produce I've eaten before. It makes sense because so many of them come from California. Very nice.

A couple days later Seth and I drove into San Francisco. It was a blast. We were able to see all the big sights. We first drove along the west coast and saw the ocean for the first time. It is ginormous and very beautiful. Next we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is a lot smaller in person for some reason. It looks a lot bigger from the distance. It's cool that they offer bike rides along the bridge for those who so desire. When we got to the other side, we were able to drive up the hills and get some absolutely beautiful views. The great thing about San Francisco is that it's very contained and surrounded by water so it's got it's own unique, artsy, hidden feel to it. We next drove down to Fisherman's Wharf on the bay and had lunch at a diner and walked along the bay seeing the various artists, beggars, vendors, etc. Also in the distance was Alcatraz, but we didn't have the money or time to take a ship out there. However, it's not that expensive ($10 a person) and it takes roughly 2 hours. Afterward, we rode the trolley (very loud and jerky) through town and got off in Chinatown. I had always wanted to go there, so it was fun to finally arrive. We walked around seeing the various shops filled with Chinese movies, books, and LOTS of imported food from China. We finally got back to our car, and met up with our cousin, Jessica who is public defender lawyer in San Francisco. She drove us around town some more and then we ate at a nice pizza place. After our goodbyes we drove back to our Uncle's.

A few days later, our Uncle was kind enough to drive us down to Monterray Bay, which is about an hour and a half south of Palo Alto along the coast. When we arrived we went to the famous Monterray Bay Aquarium and saw many unique ocean life creatures. On the way out, our uncle was pointing out to us that California loves to "tell you what to do, or how to live". Sure enough, as we left, we were handed a small pamphlet that has a red, green and yellow list of what types of seafood we should order or stay away from for various reasons. Weird, I know. Next, we drove down to the famous Pebble Beach golfcourse. Surprisingly, they charge $7 just to drive through it. It was stunningly beautiful driving along the coast with the ocean on one side and the golf course and million dollar mansions on the other side. Half way through, we stopped at the mini-mall shopping center on the golf course, and I'll just say this: there are some very rich people that golf there. Next, we drove down to the first basilica catholic church in California founded by the first Missionary in California. We payed a fee and walked around soaking in the stories and memories held in the church. Afterward, we went down to the beach, walked around for a bit and then drove by a small hotel. Our uncle proceeds to tell us that Clint Eastwood apparently lives in Monterray Bay and used to be mayor of the town. Pretty cool. Next we ate dinner in town, I bought a cool egyptian-looking ring (i heart jewelry), and we headed back to Palo Alto.

After a couple more days, my brother and I decided we had stayed long enough and decided to finally make our final journey down to Los Angeles.

Reviews of the Day:

The English Patient - 5 stars
Black Book - 4 stars

Paprika - 3 stars

Elf - 2.5 stars

Rush Hour 3 - 2.5 stars

2,118 Miles and 30 hours later...

2008-01-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

On Monday, November 27, 2007 my brother and I started the trek from Belvidere, IL to Palo Alto, CA. If there's one thing I can say I learned from this trip, it's that I have no desire to ever live in Iowa or Nebraska. They have to be the most boring states to drive in and I can't imagine they would be any more exciting to live in. Well, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I continue with my story.

We decided to split our drive into 2 days so that we wouldn't get too burnt out. Originally I was going to take my ginormous white cargo van, but decided that it probably wouldn't pass the smog test in California. Smog test you ask? Well, in California there is a law that your vehicle has to be able to pass the smog test to be driven there. If it doesn't pass the emission standard, you can't drive it. As simple as that. So, we loaded up my brothers Saturn and were out like a fat kid in dodgeball. After driving through the painful states of Iowa and Nebraska, we got to Wyoming. Wyoming was much more scenic with the Rockies in the distance to attact our eyes to. We stopped in the little town called Rawlins and arrived just as flurries started to fall from the sky. After an uneventful stay in our motel, we left the following morning at 6 am.

It was fun driving through the Rockies, even if Seth's car didn't handle the incline that well. The Rockies are beautifully scenic and never get old. Wyoming would have been enevenful if it wasn't for that one cop. Ok, so I was driving on the freeway and two semis were going slow in the right lane, so I switched lanes sped up a bit to pass them and then like a bat out of hell there was a cop in my rearview mirror. Trust me, this guy appeared out of thin air. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice him considering I'm a very conscious driver. Anyway, I realize I'm going 5-7 over, slow down a bit, and switch to the right lane once I passed the semis in case the cop needed to pass me. The second I got into the right lane the cops put on his lights, switched lanes and pulled me over. He comes to the door and proceeds to tell me that he pulled me over for two reasons, and I quote "First of all... you were going a little fast back there... and secondly, you merged too quickly in front of that semi. If you would have slammed the breaks or something, there could have been an accident". I keep my laughter inside as I realize this guy obviously needs to fill his monthtly quota of pulling people over or something like that. This is where being an actor comes into handy. I played dumb and apologetic and got off with a warning. The funny part is that, right after that he started shooting the shit with us and asking where we were heading and our job outlook and everything. Thank you random Wyoming officer.

Next, we drove into Utah, and all I can say is that it was simply stunning. Driving through the mountains and the valleys reminded me of The Great Valley in The Land Before Time. The entire state of Utah has such unique and contrasting geography: on the East side, there is great mountains and valleys, then you get to the metropolis that is Salt Lake City that hugs the Rocky Mountains, and finally drive through the dessert accompanied by the Great Salt Lake. Next, we drove through Nevada, which was more or less uneventful. Finally we reach the border to California and we see the toll in front of us that reads: Agricultural Check. Seth and I look at each other like "wtf mate?" We pull up to the toll and a kind, middle-aged woman asks us, "are you guys carrying any apples, oranges, or anything like that?" I respond no. She says, "just pants then?" I again say "yeah" in my confusion and she lets us pass. I found out later that the reason they do this is to make sure no bad produce crosses the border and affects their crops. I continue.

Northeastern California was covered in forests with a steady incline downard full or winding roads. After a few more hours, we reached our Uncle's home in Palo Alto. All in all the drive wasn't that bad. We experienced every weather imaginable: sunny, overcast, fog, rain, snow, and sleet. We switched off driving every tank of gas and all in all I'd say we spent roughly $300 combined on gas, which wasn't too bad. All I knew was that it felt great to be done driving and finally in California.

Reviews of the Day:
R.O.D. - Read or Die - 4 stars
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - 4 stars
White Christmas - 5 stars
The Lives of Others - 4.5 stars
Paris Je T'aime - 4 stars

Go West, young man.

2008-01-15T15:05:00.001-08:00

My entire life I wanted to be a singer. Ever since I can remember, I've been singing: in school, church, the shower, annoying my family and friends, etc. I listened to all types of music (still do), but I remember at one point, I wanted to be the next Michael Jackson. (pause for laughter)

At age 14 I moved to Brookfield, WI and attended Brookfield East High School and was given the first oppurtunity to experience theatre my sophomore year. I heard of an audition for the musical Little Shop of Horrors and decided I wanted to audition. I bought the video, the soundtrack, and studied the show before the auditions. While watching the movie and listening to the music, I noticed a small part called Skip Snip who had a single singing line in the show and I knew that I wanted to play that part. When auditions came around, I auditioned (putting Skip Snip) under "desired role", and went home for the weekend to see what would happen. The following Monday, I came to school, and a boy from my choir came up to me and said "Hey Seymour." I paused for a second, realizing what he had said and thought to myself "I couldn't possibly be playing the lead role in this show". So I thought what other alternative he could be speaking of. Then I remembered that in theatre there was understudies and I thought I must've been cast as the understudy for Seymour. I walked to the cast list and sure enough my name was listed for the part of Seymour. I was speechless and looked up to see the director towering over the cast list. I said to her "But, I've never acted before..." and she replied "well, from what I saw I think you'll be just fine... you don't HAVE to sign the cast list if you don't think you can do it." Without a moment's hesitation, I signed.

Performing in Little Shop of Horrors was one of the greatest experiences of my life and one I will never forget. It introduced me to the world of theatre and acting. Growing up I had always watched old movie musical movies from the past (and let's not forget Disney movies), so musicals were nothing new to me, but I never really thought about acting IN them. This show and experience gave me the old "acting bug". I was bitten. I learned so much in a short period of time and when it was all said and done, one thing was clear: acting came naturally to me. I felt comfortable performing and it gave me a rush like no other. It was certain, THIS is what I wanted to do with my life.

From there on out, my family continued to move to Highland Park in St. Paul, MN, and then to Rosemount, MN. Along the way, (like singing) I continued to act as much as possible and did many more shows. When the end of high school approached, I considered my options. At that point, I just wanted to get more experience as an actor, and experience college like a normal person my age. After much thought and narrowing my options, I chose to attend the University of Wisconsin: Eau Claire.

I attended UWEC for 5 years, had a few speed bumps along the way, while immersing myself in acting as much as I could. As graduation once again drew near, I planned on pursuing acting in theatre. But then things took a slight detour. Two classes had a profound effect on me: Directing and American Cinema. I was introduced to viewing films as an artform and not just from an audience's perspective. The more I learned and studied film, the greater my appreciation and fascination with film grew. I graduated college, and performed at a local dinner theatre for two productions and one phone call made everything certain.

My brother Seth had been meaning to have a change of scenery and take a different route from his job as an editor for a local newspaper in North St. Paul, MN. We toyed around with the idea of moving together somewhere and when asked where he wanted to go he said, "I dunno, maybe somewhere South, or West". I replied, "how about California". He said, "OK". As simple as that, we decided to move to Los Angeles, California. At first it was just an idea, but the more I thought about it, I realized that it was what I needed to do. When thinking about my strengths, weakness, and preferences as an actor, I realized that I wanted to pursue film acting. Also, I am young, single, and have no real tie-downs in life to hold me back. Moving with a family member and having friends who lived in the area was a bonus for me. When looking back at my childhood, I think that everything I have experienced and have been through had prepared me for this move.

I have moved 12 times in my life . I have lived in Mississippi, Guam, Arkansas, Illinois, England, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Of all the moves, this is the biggest one of my life. I'm on my own, away from most of my family, and pursuing what I love. This journal is an outlet for me to express my thoughts and feelings into words on this journey and living in Los Angeles, California as an aspiring actor.

Reviews of the day:
No Country For Old Men - 4.5 stars
The Golden Compass - 4.5 stars
Sleepy Hollow - 4 stars
Down With Love - 4 stars
Enchanted -4.5 stars