Post Holiday Fun

Ok, I'm not really doing anything fun and exciting over here, that just sounded like a good title. I did have fun on Christmas though. I went to two friends' houses. We ate, ate, ate, and talked and laughed and watched movies, etc., etc. Typical holiday stuff. I got some money among other things from my mom and other family members. Sadly though, this is the first Christmas where I really wasn't able to get the kinds of gifts for friends and family like I like to. That's part of the sacrifice I made in order to move out to L.A. though.......to be broke (temporarily). It's just that I'm so damn independent, too independent at times I think. I hate asking people for things, I hate asking for money, and I especially hatw receiving gifts when I am not able to give them. My family understands though. One day I'll be able to get them anything they want. The animation to the right is something that came up when I googled the word "fun". I had to put it on here because it exactly describes how I feel sometimes! LOL

Did everyone else have a good holiday?

So this is kind of funny. This is for my medical school colleagues at Ohio State. I am a subscriber to Men's Health magazine, and here is a quote from one of their articles:

"Ohio State University researchers recently found that rats given a synthetic form of marijuana were better able to withstand the effects of brain inflamation, a cause of Alzheimer's, than straight rodents were. Next, scientists are developing a compound with similar effects but without the high."

Well, until then, Grandma is gettin the green for her birthday!! Haha Wouldn't it be funny to see all of the old folks of America sitting on their porches smoking blunts so they wouldn't get Alzheimer's? I can just see my grandmother smoking a joint, cracking up! On a serious note, this obviously brings up the great debate of whether medical marijuana is ethical or not and whether it should be legalized. Many people, like Montel Williams who suffers from multiple sclerosis, have said that they have received great benefits from marijuana. I don't doubt them, but from a medical standpoint, one thing that medical professionals always have to take into consideration is whether the benefits outweigh the side effects. In case you didn't know, ALL drugs are poisons and ALL drugs have side effects. Even the medicine we deem harmless, like Tylenol, is a poison with side effects. That is why I encourage people to NOT take medicine unless they absolutely need it. In the case of the research mentioned above, obviously if the scientists could come up with a similar compound without the harmful effects of marijuana, that would be best. Marijuana may help some people, but in addition to the THC and other chemicals it contains, the fact that it is burnt and inhaled makes it that much worse. ANYTHING burnt (including food) produces cancer causing compunds called carcinogens, and that means lung cancer in this case. And so the debate continues..................

That's all I have for now. I need to figure out what I'm going to do for New Year's here in L.A. I've heard a few people say they don't waste their time going out on New Years because people act a fool. Doesn't surprise me. We'll see.

For The Criminal Minds Fans

UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM!

Hey guys, I have a new blog buddy who is the nicest person ever! Click here to see what she wrote about me on her blog.

As I was adding labels to all of my blogs last night, I realized that I had just barely mentioned that I was on Criminal Minds one day and I never even talked about filming that day. So, in honor of my new blog buddy, Jill, I'm going to talk about it now!

The date I was on this show was September 20th and the episode shouldn't have aired too long ago. There is usually about a 4-6 week time period between airing and filming. One of my friends actually called me and said they saw me on this episode. So, we shot on location at a local high school in Tarzana, CA which is in the valley. I played a football player. Let me start by saying that it takes 8 days to shoot one episode, and I was only there for one day for one scene, so I'm not sure what went on in the entire episode. Anyways, in the scene that I was in, we were having a huge pep rally because our football team was going to the championship. The last time our team had made it to the championship was back in 1984, so this was a huge deal! We, the football players, were on a podium with our coach and there was a huge bonfire behind us. For anyone who has this show recorded, if you're looking at the television screen, I'm on the left hand side, toward the back and I have me glasses on. It may be hard to spot me because, honestly, I was bored and it was FREEZING cold that night.

Earlier in the day, we actually had to put on some old raggedy football jersies and pose for a picture as the 1984 team that made it to the championship. Yep, that's right. I was part of a 1984 team and 2006 team in the same episode. That's Hollywood folks! I can't remember, but I think they were going to show this picture in the episode as part of a newspaper clipping from back in the day. So as we were waiting to film our scene, we were sitting in the football stands watching them film another scene. In between takes, Shemar Moore was throwing the football with us and just having a really good time. He is really cool. Unfortunately, he is the only part of the cast that I knew at the time, so I'm not sure what other cast members were there. Thanks to Jill, I know them all now!

That being said, I must confess that I have had many more opportunities to be on Criminal Minds but I have declined ONLY because they mostly shoot on location in a town that is like 40 miles north of L.A. and most of the time I don't feel like fighting the traffic to go there when I could just work on Warner Brother Studies 5 miles away. BUT, now that I have a reason to be on Criminal Minds I will most certainly see what I can do once we get back into the swing of things on January 3rd.

**UPDATE** I did some research and I believe this episode aired November 1st and it was titled "North Mammon". My scene would have been the opening scene!

***UPDATE#2*** Jill, my new blog buddy and genius found the screen caps for this episode I was in. http://www.iad-ordnonstop.net/index2x07.html. I am on page 1, row 2, pictures 2,3, and 4 and also row 3, pictures 1,2, and 3. I'm behind the coach, the guy with the glasses on. Jill is awesome!!!!!

My Day In Porn

Hey, I wasn't the one naked, so get your mind out of the gutter! My desperation here in Hollywood hasn't reached that level yet. But I might be close! haha Anyways, Wednesday I worked on a new show called Dirt. This is Courteney Cox's new show. It's a show about the paparazzi and their relentless pursuit of celebrities. I have to say, from the previews I saw on t.v., it actually looks rather interesting. I'm definitely going to check it out when it premieres on January 2nd on the FX channel. So, the scene I was working in, I played a crew member on this porn set. (I'm laughing right now by the way). It was obviously a fake porn set for the show, but they needed it to look real, so they hired people to be naked on the set. It was crazy. There were 2 girls and a guy that were naked there. And guess what??? They only got paid $300!! I'm sorry, I need a lot more than that to show off my goodies, lol. Anyhoo...these people did NOT look like real porn stars! I should know, I was in college for 4 years ya know?!?! Another lady who I was working with confirmed this by telling us she knows what real porn sets look like because her sister is an ex-porn star!!!! Geez, the info people share! For anyone who has read my blog for any length of time, you guys know my favorite thing to do is to talk about the crazy people I meet. I mean, this lady was talking so much about real porn sets, I actually think SHE was the real porn star. She can't fool me! Now, back to the scene. There was no sex at all. It was supposed to take place just after a sex scene, and the porn stars were walking off the set......naked. It was kind of cheesy. I guess real and fake porn is cheesy.

In real life news, there has been a lot of gang activity going in L.A. in the last few weeks. I keep hearing on the news how innocent children are getting caught in the crossfire and dying. It is the most depressing thing EVER!! One story almost had me in tears yesterday. A young Asian girl, 9, died from a stray bullet that came through the wall of her house and struck her in the head. Her mother, was on the news speaking through a translator. This woman was from Thailand, and she brought her daughter to America for a better life and education. She was crying so hard and saying that she now thinks it was a mistake to come here. It was so sad. I mean, can you even imagine??? Just today, a young black girl was shot dead because she stepped over an imaginary line into a Latino gang zone! This is one of the reason's I want to be a public figure. There is a lot I want to do to help clean up big cities and speak to the youth across America. I also want to do things for the environment, and create a foundation for children with learning disabilities. The violence has to stop though. I can't think of anything worse in this world than a parent losing a child, ESPECIALLY over something so stupid as gang violence!

So, You Like Ripsi?

Geez, you guys must've really liked the video with the drunken Ripsi. According to my hit counter, I had more hits in one day (yesterday) than I have ever had in one day since I created my blog. I even had way more hits yesterday than I did when I talked about racism and Michael Richards. You know, racism, the deep seated issue that America has been dealing with since its birth! Haha....I actually think it's pretty funny. I watched that Ripsi video at least 15 times by now. Seriously, if you only watched it once, watch it 1 or 2 more times. It gets funnier the more you watch it because you pick up little details you missed the first time. In any case, I'm glad the video was amusing to you no life losers, because I found another, much shorter, video of Ripsi drunk again.



On to other things.........I know I have talked about the smog here in L.A. a lot, but I have to again. But this time, I'm talking about the LACK of smog!! And I'm loving it. I heard the there is considerably less smog here during the winter months and it is true. I think this has to do with 2 things. 1). Winter is when L.A. gets all of its rain. Which reminds me, I had to use my windshield wipers for the FIRST time 2 weeks ago. I moved here July 1st! That's crazy. So, the rain helps clear the smog and dust out of thr air and it makes a HUGE difference. The land here is really, really beautiful when you can actually see it. 2). The Santa Ana winds. This is a weather system that passes through L.A. every fall. Whatever smog is left in the air is most likely blown away by these winds. I can't even think of the words to describe it. The Hollywood hills right now look like they do in post cards. They are so clearly visible now from a distance. The other example I noticed while I was driving the other day. I was going to an audition I think and I was getting on the 405 freeway (the bane of everyone's existance here) from the 10 freeway. In order to do that, you have to go over this highly elevated ramp that provides a great view of the city. So, I'm on the ramp, curving southward, and I look to my left (towards the east) and lo and behold. In the distance, I see a huge snowcapped mountain! It was gorgeous. And I never even knew the thing existed!!!! I've been over that ramp many times, but thanks to the smog I couldn't even see downtown L.A. let alone this mountain. I figured it had to be the San Bernadino mountain range because I had just heard in the news that these mountains just got a fresh coat of snow and skiers were loving it. Seriously, it looks like Mt. Kilimanjaro. Look for a post from me in the near future about how we are destroying our planet and things we can do to help. In the pic to the right, just pretend the giraffe's aren't there!

Well, I guess I'll go ahead and post ONE MORE video here. I worked on a semi-porn set today but I don't feel like talking about that right now. I'll write about that in a day or two. I know I know....the suspense!! Haha Back to Ripsi. This chick has problems and now she is getting kicked out of the house. Oh, and as for the show, it's called Bad Girls Club. It comes on Oxygen, but I still don't know anything about it. It's kind of like The Real World on MTV, except its all girls that live in the house.



Ahhh....where do they find these people??? Ok, I'm done with Ripsi now. I swear!!!

Time For a Break

Well, the television industry has officially gone on winter hiatus. I've heard that the hiatus lasts 2 weeks, and I also heard that it lasts 6 weeks. I'm praying it's only 2 weeks or else I really will have to get another job. I plan to try and stay busy over the holidays though one way or another. As for the end of last week, I went into a rage and I had to cuss someone out. Just my luck, I knew this would happen. Basically, I didn't get my 2nd SAG voucher. I'm not going to get into the whole story here, but to make a long story short, I had to call the casting company and cuss them out. So, they said they would get me my 2nd voucher after the winter break. Apparently the script on the show got changed and they didn't need me for that second day. I mean, it's the entertainment industry, it happens. But I was still mad.

Thursday I was on this new show called The Game. It premiered this fall on the CW and it stars Tia Mowry (or maybe its Tamara, I can never remember). You might remember them from the show Sister Sister a few years back. Tia (or Tamara) wasn't there the day I was. Also starring on this show is Wendy Raquel Robinson. She was the principal on The Steve Harvey Show. This show is about a professional football player and his girlfriend. We were shooting on location at a night club. Guest starring on this episode was Eva Marcelle. You would know her better as Eva Pigford becasue she won one of the seasons of America's Next Top Model. Eva is hella short and that surprised me. You always hear about models (especially runway models) having to be at least 5'9". Eva is 5'6" at the tallest. She's very cute, but I hope she is taking some acting classes. I'm not trying to be mean, but it's frustrating for any actor when they see someone get a role on a show or in a film when that person isn't even an actor. They only got cast because their face is recognizable. I especially hate it when singers get their own movie, simply because they are already famous. You can tell the acting is horrible in a lot of these movies as well. Anyways, I'm not saying Eva was terrible, but there were some scenes that had to be done in excess of 15 times because Eva wasn't doing it right. The director was basically coaching her on what to do in detail. Oh well, that's how Hollywood works. Once you make a name for yourself whether it be through acting, singing, modeling, or sports, and once you know people, it's not hard to get roles on various projects!

So that's it for the work week. Now, I want to just take the time to ask everyone to go this website: https://www.lighttounite.org/. Bristol-Meyers Squibb is donating $1 to AIDS research for every person that goes to this site and lites the candle. That's all you have to do! Light the candle. It's takes a few clicks of your mouse button and only a few seconds. More information is on the website about what they are funding, and also statistics about AIDS.

In other news, Afrah and I went out to a couple of clubs here on Saturday night. It was the first time we had went to club since she moved here in September, and it really is the first time I've gone to a club since I moved here too. I drank more than I needed too, but that's ok because I haven't had alcohol since July! Plus, between the clubs on Sunset Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd, everything is within walking distance to my place, so driving wasn't even an issue. Afrah really didn't want to go out at first, but after she got a few drinks in her, she was telling me that going out was the best idea ever and she was having so much fun! She is funny. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, so no pics of that night!

Now, I came across another video that I HAVE to post here. It's a video clip for a new reality show on Oxygen. I don't even know the name of it. I was laughing so hard when I watched it though. The girl in the video is Ripsi (yeah, that's her name) and this night she drank a whole bottle of tequila and went on a rampage! She tries to beat one girl up, then she trahses the kitchen, THEN she goes upstairs and attacks an innocently sleeping girl. TOO FUNNY. Watch for yourself!




When is the last time you've seen someone THAT drunk. It's been a while for me.

What's With All The PDA?

So, this is the last full week of television production for the holiday season, which things are going to be very slow for the next few weeks. Hopefully there will be some feature films that come through so it won't be so bad. Over the past few days, I couldn't help but think to myself, "Today I was supposed to fly to Ohio". "Today I'm supposed to be hangin out with my med school buddies". "Today I'm supposed to be at my sister's graduation!". Yes folks, I skipped out on my sister's graduation for some SAG vouchers! I spoke with her and she was understanding about the whole situation. I did feel bad though. But what can I say? As I said before, getting SAG eligibility is the whole reason I made the big move west. Anyway, my sis graduated from OSU in 3 1/2 years with 2 majors. So, congrats to her.

This past Thursday I worked and got my first SAG voucher. I'll get the next one this coming Friday. I have to say, I worked just 4 hours and got paid $126. No bad, huh? I was hoping it was going to be one of those long 14 hour days, because with all the overtime pay, it would have been over $200 for a day's work. It's certainly not Hollywood bigshot pay, but it's a hell of a lot more than what I'm getting now.

I worked on the show Greek twice this week as a rich frat guy. It was funny since I wanted nothing to do with greek life in college. And I still don't. They annoyed the hell out of me. However, I did meet a guy on this set whose name is Branch. When he said his name, we all thought he was saying Brent, and he said, "No, it's Branch....like a tree!". I just thought that was funny for some reason. Yesterday I worked on a new pilot called Manchild. It's a new show that will air on Showtime. There was this couple there that could not be away from each other for more than a half a second. They always had their hands on each other, they huddled under a blanket together. They were almost as bad as my cousin and her boyfriend, but not quite. And that's sad! It was really annoying. Not only that, we were all playing club goers at a supposedly hot new L.A. nightclub. Well, they were playing hip hop music in there like 50 Cent, Kanye West, etc. and these two fools are over there slow dancing with her head all up on his shoulder. I wanted to go barf all over their shoes! I mean, what are these people trying to prove to everyone else?? WE DON'T CARE!!! And then, I'm driving down Sunset today and there are a group of students waiting for the bus, and two of them are in a full blown make-out session, leaning against the street light. Granted they are high school students, but still. I know I must sound bitter, but I'm not. There is a time and a place for everything. If you want to be like that in public, the porn industry is right over the hill in the valley!!

I know I say this in every other post, but I'm so sick of doing background. I'm hoping in the next few weeks I'll have some more interesting things to share, because I'm sick of talking about doing background too. I know it takes time, blah blah blah. Patience Kris! I'm trying!! That's basically the conversation I have with myself everyday, lol.

Ok, now I don't have anything else to say. I need to devise some more plans on how to get my 3rd voucher!!! muahahaha

Newsflash! I'm Not Coming Home Anymore

Due to recent events, I have had to cancel my trip to Columbus for this weekend. Go ahead, take a second to wipe that tear, lol. Basically, I got a call from a show and they offered me a job for this weekend. I'm not saying which show. It's not that I'm trying to be all secretive, I just don't want to jinx anything.

Basically, it's nothing big, no big speaking role or anything, but they offered me 2 union (SAG) vouchers, and I couldn't pass it up. Let me explain. The Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) is the union for actors that protects the actors rights. Mostly all shows on tv and mostly all feature films are franchised with SAG. SAG rules state that a production company that is franchised with the union can only hire union actors for roles. If they hire non-union actors (like myself) they are subject to paying a few thousand dollars in fines. So, every actor here is fighting their way into the union. How do you get into the union? There are 2 main ways. One is to miraculously get a speaking part on a project (I've seen it happen, sometimes the director likes someone so much, they will pay those fines). The other way is to obtain 3 union vouchers by doing background work. The vouchers DO NOT get handed out frivolously. They are very hard to get. People beg for them. There is even a black market for them here!! People actually will pay a few hundred dollars to buy a voucher off of someone. Well, this show offered me 2, count em, TWO vouchers. So you see, I couldn't pass this up. This is the whole reason I came to L.A.; to eventually join SAG. I doubt this opportunity would come very soon again. Now I only need one more voucher!

Joining SAG will make it A LITTLE easier to get an agent and to get auditions for the good paying commercials, tv shows, and films. Ya dig?? I knew everyone would understand. I have to say, I was REALLY excited to come home and see everyone though. I had me weekend all planned out. And go figure, I've been trying to get vouchers for 4 months, and not until my vacation do they get offered to me!! Oh well....I guess that's fate/life.

I'm not sure now when is the next time I will be able to make it to Ohio, but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated.

P.S. -- Did I mention the SAG rate for doing background is more than double the non-union rate?!?!?!

Well, The Weather is Great

Not much has happened this week. I had a few auditions for some student films, so we'll see if I hear back from them. I worked on Sunday, super early at 5 am on location at UCLA. It was for a new pilot called Greek. It's about a dorky kid's first year in college. He's new, he's nerdy and he wants to join a frat. And let me tell you, they sure did find the dorkiest lookin kid in L.A.! Skinny, hair all messed up. He must be a pretty experienced actor though to get a lead role on a pilot. I know one thing, in between takes, he was lighting up his cancer sticks and puffing away. I bet you he's like 30 and playing an 18 year old. When I first saw him bust out his cigarette, I was shocked, because he looks like he could be 16. Like teenagers don't smoke anyway. I knew that. I just played a college student walking across the courtyard as they filmed. BORING!! However, of course it never fails for me to meet some weird person. This day it was a girl who had to be about 21 years old I would say. We were on a lunch break and she was sitting right across from me at the table. She had eaten her food and I guess she was bored. Most people will get out a book to read, crossword puzzles, gameboys, etc. etc. You know what she broke out?? A MY LITTLE PONY COLORING BOOK! WTF?!? I'm not kidding folks. She broke it out, flipped through some pages that were elaborately colored to perfection until she got to a blank page. She then got out her multitude of colored pencils and went to town! Is that weird/funny to anyone else? It sure was to me.




Monday I was back on the show Shark. Long day which means a lot of money, but it was hella boring. The crazy person I met that day was this old lady. Remember Joey from Friends? Remember his agent, Estelle? That is who this lady reminded me of. Ok, the picutre on the left is a wee bit extreme, but you get my drift. We were sitting there on the set, and someone asked her to borrow a pen, and this lady went off!! She got so mad. She was going on about how it is ridiculous to not have a pen with you, blah blah blah. She said she has been doing background for 5 years and never forgotten her pen. She then said, "It's not like it's brain surgery!". Sheesh. She must have some deep down issues. I guess I don't blame her. If I had been doing background for 5 years, I'd probably be a little on edge too! This incident must have stressed her out, because she then got out a cigarette and lighter and went go pump a few more ounces of tar into her lungs. Oh well.





I took yesterday and today off for auditions. Yesterday I hung out with Afrah at her place. We watched Oprah since that was the only option because they only get 2 channels over there, and we sat on two hard wood chairs since their place isn't furnished yet. Lovely. haha Later that night, we decided to go to the movies in Century City. We ended up not seeing a movie because this stupid theater like to show movies every 3 hours. But, as we were going up an escalator, there was a couple in front of us. The guy turned his head to talk to the girl, and we realized it was Ludacris! Just him and his girl. No paparazzi, no body guards, none of that stuff. They didn't want to wait around for a movie either, so they left as well. He is shorter than I thought (as most celebs are) at about 5'7" I'd say. There was hardly anyone at the mall/theater, so he didn't have to deal with any crowds. I didn't say anything to him, cause I'm just not that person.

That's it, I have a headache. I'm going to watch some t.v.

I Got Caught In A Paparazzi Storm!

I'll get to the paparazzi in a sec, first I'm going to talk about my week. Wednesday, 11/29, I was back on CSI: Miami and this time we shot on location in Long Beach. I have to say, I thought Long Beach was slummy, but it wasn't. We were shooting downtown, right on the harbor, and that area is actually really nice. There are shops, stores, restaurants, palm trees, huge hotel buildings. It was pretty cool. I could see the huge smoke stacks of the Queen Mary sitting in the harbor. It looked a lot like the Titanic if you ask me. On the flip side, it was really cold this day. It only got up to 61 degrees, and after the sun went down, it was just down right freezing. (I have to interject here that today, 12/2, it was back up to 80 degrees at midday. December and its 80 degrees!!!!!! I've never experienced this in my life! I love it!). Anyways, there was this guy there who was a chain smoker. He had to be my age, and I swear he had the beginnings of meth mouth! At least I hope it was meth mouth, because if his teeth looked like that simply from NOT brushing, that is pretty sad. Everytime this guy laughed or smiled I wanted to barf. I know that as he puffed away on all those cigarettes he was thinking how he couldn't wait to get home to his crystal meth. YUCK!

Thursday I was on the set of Adam Sandler's new movie. It's called I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and it's about two straight firefighters that pretend to be gay and get married to get tax breaks and insurance benefits and all that stuff. The scene that I was in was where they get caught lying and are thrown in jail. Outside the jail cell a bunch of gay rights activists are gathering around and protesting and chanting for Chuck and Larry to be let out. So, I was one of the gay rights supporters out side the jail. They shot the scene with the camera looking out of the jail cell, so Adam Sandler wasn't there at all that day.

Friday I was back on Grey's Anatomy and it was pretty boring. I was in a scene with Izzie, George and Miranda. I have to say, the actress that plays Miranda is SO cool. I don't know her real name and I don't feel like looking it up. She was so funny though. She was just acting like a goof ball, laughing and joking around with us. She had everyone laughing. George and Izzie didn't talk to us at all. They both just stood there either talking to each other or messing around with their phones. Whatever. I like Miranda, and she's actually really pretty in person. So is Izzie. On my way home from the set this day is when I encountered the paparazzi frenzy.......

So, I was in my car, almost home. I was on Sunset Blvd, on the strip. I'm driving, minding my own business when an SUV speeds by me, weaving around cars and screeches their tires as they stop at the red light just ahead. I thought to myself, "These stupid L.A. drivers! There is no reason to drive like that!". Then a second SUV goes left of center from behind me, to get around me and screeches to a halt at the red light. Then, both cars just go straight through the red light. I'm thinking, "They did not just do that!" with my jaw dropped. So then 3 more cars speed by me and run through the red light that I'm stopped at. At this point, I'm like, "What is going on? Am I missing something here? Is the light not working?". Two more cars speed by me and through the light. My next thought is, "Holy shit! Two gangs are beefin and chasing each other and there is going to be some kind of drive-by shooting or something". Then I remembered that I was on the Sunset Strip and gang activity usually doesn't happen anywhere near there. A few more cars with dark tinted windows speed by me, one going left of center and almost crashing head on with a car in on-coming traffic. Then it hit me. The paparazzi are chasing a celebrity. I don't know who it was. I've seen this stuff on tv, like on those Vh1 shows and stuff, but I hadn't seen this in real life since I've been in Los Angeles. It was crazy, and everything that I've just said happened within a matter of seconds. It made me realize that it must really suck to have people chasing you like that all the time. but I guess that is the price you pay for fame! All I know is that, so help them God, if one of them would have crashed into my car, I was going to join in the chase and someone was going to get their ass beat!! haha

Now I have to get to bed because I have to be on the set at 5 am tomorrow. Yes, 5 am on a Sunday. You know what this means?? It means that when I'm driving to the set (which will be UCLA's campus) at 4:30 am, there will be people driving home from the club!!! I've even come home after 5 am before. That's crazy!