The First Rain

I have been in L.A. for about 3 and a half months now and it rained for the first time yesterday, since I've been here. It wasn't very much and it lasted for only 30 minutes or so. It's just amazing to me: 3 months with no rain. It rains every other day in Ohio. I'm surprised it wasn't acid rain that melted everyone's skin away considering all the smog here in L.A., hence the picture on the left. Plus, it's October, and the average daily temperature here is 75 degrees, whereas in Ohio it's in the 50's right now. I've never lived anywhere but Ohio before and I'm not used to such a steady climate. I love it.

I only worked two days this week which sucked because I was bored out of my mind. There is so much to do in L.A., but it's not really fun when your other friends are working and you don't have anyone to do them with. Wednesday I worked a show called All of Us which is a show on the CW network starring Duane Martin and Lisa Raye. Tisha Campbell (Gina from Martin and My Wife and Kids) was guest starring that day. In real life she is married to Duane Martin. It was cool. I was in a restaurant scene and everyone on the set was really laid back. Nothing special happened that day. Oh, but guess who was directing this particular episode? It was Alfonso Ribeiro aka Carlton. Makes sense. Will Smith created the show. Alfonso was cool but he's gained A LOT of weight!

Friday, I was back on Vanished. I played a hotel staffer. Once again, they gave me some good camera time. There was a small fight scene, scuffle rather, in the hotel lobby, and they needed another person to step in and help. So, naturally they approach me to do it among the other 20 extras, haha. BUT, still no speaking lines. I should've just asked them for a line. That's how one of my friends got a line in a show. Oh well. This time I will watch the previews on Monday nights so I can be 100% positive when this episode is going to air, then I'll let everyone know. By the time this episode airs, hopefully I'll be doing something bigger and better anyway. Who knows. Hollywood is brutal.

The only interesting thing that happened to me this week was someone that I ran into, and actually talked to in the grocery store earlier this week. This person can be considered a legend. At her peak, she was a huge music star. I think she had hits starting in the 60's and going on into the 80's. So, I'm walking around in the grocery store and coming around the corner I see a head full of some big, wild hair. This woman is wearing a purple, suede sweatsuit and pushing her grocery cart. She turns her head toward me, and I'm looking right at Diana Ross!! THE Diana Ross from the Supremes. I kind of froze for a minute because I'm standing right in front of someone who is really famous, and then I just said, "Hi, Ms. Ross". She said, "Hi, how are you?" I said, "I'm fine", then we went on our merry ways. She was nice, and she's the most famous person I've met since I've been here.

Well, remember the Japanese video from my last post? My mom and sister thought it was stupid. They didn't even laugh. I don't know why I think it is so funny, but I do. I said I'd post part two, so I still will. If you think it's dumb, then don't watch it, but I think it's hilarious. They tried to get creative and add in some scenes with actors. My random observation for this video is that the camera guy keeps zooming in on the girls' shoulders, of all areas. Just something I noticed.




Ok, that's it for Japanese videos. I'm over it now, lol

I Post A Lot When I Don't Work

I havent't worked in the last 2 days and I've been bored out of my mind. I was going to wait until tomorrow to post, but I couldn't because I have two funny things to share.

First, God must be testing my personal discipline or something. That's the only reason I can come up with for why this next thing happened to me. So, everyone knows by now about my reflex laughter. My severe inability to control my laughter when I hear or see something funny. Well, you can imagine what I was going through when this happened.

I started an acting class yesterday, a cold reading class. A cold reading is when you go on an audition and the casting director gives you a scene to do, by yourself or with someone else, with little or no time to prepare. This class is supposed to sharpen those skills. I audited the class yesterday, which means I went to observe to see if I would like it. There was a girl there who was auditing as well. She was kinda cute I must say. Anyway, the instructor asks us to do a scene together, so he gives us a scene and says, "Go". This girl has done theatre for 10 years, so she was saying her lines with feeling, whereas, I was more or less just reading them off the page because I was a little nervous. So the instructor stops us, and he tells me to do some things that will help me be more aware of my scene partner so that I will actually be responding to her, and her words, rather than just read the lines. He tells us to look into each other's eyes, and not to break until he says so. As we're doing this, he tells me to describe what I see, in detail. So, I look at this girl, and to my surprise, she has a single booger in each on of her nostrils! (I'm laughing so hard as I type this right now I don't know what to do). Can you imagine the thoughts that went through my head? What was I supposed to do? I couldn't open my mouth to talk or else just laughter would come out! I definitely started to get hot and sweaty.

I was doing good; I wasn't laughing. But in order to accomplish this, I was literally squeezing my balls as hard as I could. I was just sitting there, paused, and by this point, the instructor is saying, "Go on, describe what you see", as the other people in the class watched. I uttered a quick, "I see a girl", then I shut my mouth. And of course he told me that wasn't detailed enough. So, I had to take a deep breath, say a little prayer, then just make up some stuff. Whew!! Passed that test!

The second thing I want to share is another video. I kind of like how the video added a new flavor to my blog. Makes it more interactive. No, this one is not another one of New York, but it's just as funny. This video is a Japanese video that was put together to teach Japanese people how to speak English. It's kind of long, it's almost 4 minutes. But please, watch the whole thing. I'm not going to tell you how many times I've watched it, cuz that's embarrassing. But here are a few observations I made that made me wonder:

• why the people in the street are totally off beat
• who came up with that background music
• the second "lesson" is called You drive me crazy. I can totally see myself saying this to some of the people I meet on set, hand motions and all
• How can someone make this video and then request, "Don't make fun of me"?
• the 5th lesson or so is called Leave me Alone. Once again, I'll be using this one on set, complete with hand motions
• And lastly, lesson 6, I can't stand the sight of you! Who on earth picked some of these phrases to teach Japanese people to say in English?!?!?!

Watch the vid, and you'll see what I'm talking about. This will be a great study break for any of my classmates studying cardio!

So, what'd you think of the video? The last lesson was best of all! Would you believe me if I said there was a part 2? Well, there is and I'll put it up on my next post. I can't get enough of this stuff. I LOVE to laugh!!!!!

This Is What I Have To Deal With!

This past Friday was the first night shift I've ever done doing background. My call time was 9 pm at 20th Century Fox Studios for a show called Standoff. It's a new show, I've never heard of it, I know nothing about it. In any case, we started at 10 pm and wrapped at 4:30 am!!!!! Do you think my night was boring?? Of course not, because once again, I met a crazy person. I've often wondered if there is something about me that draws weird people to me because I attract them like magnets. Even after my mom read about the crazy lady on the Transformers set, she called me to say she thought I was making it all up. I told her no, and she asked me how on earth I attract these people. Afrah has pondered the same thing. I have no clue, because honestly, I sit there and mind my own business if I don't feel like talking, but they somehow migrate over to me and start chatting away.

Anyway, I meet this guy who I'll call Gadston, and he is about 57 years old. He has a southern accent and talks like a wise old, grandparent that loves to tell stories. I'm sitting across from him, and there is a guy sitting next to him. He is talking this guy's ear off and I'm just glad it isn't me for once. But then the guy gets up and Gadston turns his attention to me. Here is a transcript of our conversation at 2 in the morning (notice how one sided it is):

Gadston: Ya know, I do this background work a few times a week to get away from my wife.

Me: Oh really

Gadston: Oh yeah, that woman annoys me sometimes. I gotta get away from her! Actually,
she saw me on t.v. the other day on Without A Trace.

Me: For real

Gadston: Yeah, I played a night clubber at a strip club and I had to put money in the thongs of
all these pretty ladies.

Me: Wow, that's interesting.

Gadston: Oh yeah, them ladies were fine. And when my wife saw me on that episode, it got her
horny as hell.

Me: Really?

Gadston: Oh yeah, seein me with all those pretty ladies, my wife got sexy as hell after that!

Me: Musta been nice.

Gadston: Yeah, and on the set that day there was this really F-I-N-E woman. She was so sexy
and she caught me staring at her snatch!!

Me: ooohhhh

Gadston: All I could do was look at her and say, "I'm sorry". She looked at me and
said, "That's all right!"

At this point, all I could do was laugh, because he was being so serious. It was funny, but then one of the assistant directors rescued me and called us all into the set. This guy just kept talking and talking and talking. Who will I meet next? I can only imagine.


I don't have anything else to say right now, but I just want to leave you with a short video clip. If you've ever watched Flavor of Love, then you know who New York is. She cracks me up!! I can sit and laugh at her all day. I found this video clip that someone put together on Youtube and it's hilarious. At least I think so. Oh and a little DISCLAIMER here: All black people DO NOT act like this, obviously. These people are picked specifically for television and ratings and all that stuff. I know most of you know this, but with what I've experienced in the last year, you'd be surprised at the ignorance of some people!

Busy Week, Of Course

First off, I know that episode of Help Me Help You didn't air on Tuesday. So, I give up. I'm not wasting my time, or anybody else's by telling people to watch shows, then they not air. I know that they shoot the content of a single episode out of order, but they must be shooting episodes out of order too. So, I won't be listing any shows that I'll be on unless I happen to catch a preview for the next week and know that I'm in that episode. Besides, I know it's annoying to look for someone in the background. Trust me, I'm trying to move on.

My week started off on Monday on CSI: NY again. We were shooting on location dowtown at an abandoned warehouse. It was kind of freaky. As you know, something interesting seems to happen at least once a day to me, and this day was no different. The clue is in the picture on the right. Basically, we were on a lunch break, and I was on the phone talking to Afrah. I went outside of our holding trailer so I wouldn't annoy people with my conversation. So I'm standing there talking, in the hot sun next to a fence. Lucky for me, I was wearing a white shirt and so I didn't lean on the fence. The fence is a long fence, and as I turn toward the fence, right where I would put my hand if I were to lean on the fence is a black widow spider!! Yes folks, a real black widow, and it had the characteristic red, hour glass on its belly. It was no bigger than my pinkie finger nail, and it scared the hell out of me! I thought these things were only in Arizona or something. I mean, what if that thing would have bitten me?? It would've been curtains for Kris! Now, I shake out all my clothes and shoes before I put them on. I'm too young to die.

The last two days I've been on the set of Ben Stiller's new movie. It's still untitled, but I played a wedding guest, which means it was the most boring 2 days of my life. Movie sets move along slower than television sets. We do take after take after take and on and on and on. So, I basically sat at a table for 2 days straight, both days being 15 hours long. This movie seems like it's just a classic, funny Ben Stiller movie. It's directed by the same guys who did There's Something About Mary. We were shooting in some vacant building where I guess a lot of mafia activity occurred in the 30's and 40's, and there were many murders in this building. So of course there were people talking about ghost stories and stuff. A lot of movies were actually shot at this building including Cocoon, and one of my favorites, Hocus Pocus.

Ben Stiller is one of the "cool" celebrities. Down to earth, humble. He talked to us, answered questions would people would stop him. This is something I keep a look out for in case you haven't noticed. I just can't believe certain "stars" who refuse to talk to background people, as if we're the sum of the earth. I can't ever see myself being like that. That reminds me, there was a lady from Police Academy in this movie as well. I'm not really familiar with those movies anymore because its been so long, but apparently her signature phrase was "Talk is cheap", or something like that, and she was doing it for people on the set. See, that's what I'm talking about. Cool people!

Last thing I have to say is that I had my first indulgence since I've been in L.A. I tried so hard to resist, but I finally caved and got a Sidekick 3. I think I did pretty good holding off for 3 months, but I had been looking at them in E-Bay and Craigslist. When I saw this girl selling one for $240, I jumped on it, since it would be $350 otherwise. I'm selling my Sidekick 2 to a friend here for $125, so it's really like I got the Sidekick 3 for $115. Not bad, huh? It's nice. It has better graphics, bluetooth, an MP3 player, a better camera, and a sleaker look. I'm satisfied now (for the time being!).

Drama on the Set

This week has been an interesting week. It ended just now with me locking myself out of my apartment, and of course my roommate is out of town. Afrah was here visiting, and we were leaving to go walk down Santa Monica Blvd. I locked the door from the inside, and as soon as I shut the door, I instantly realized I left my keys on my desk. I said a bunch of four letter words, and then remembered that my roommate had hid a spare key somewhere in the lobby. I found it, and of course the damn key didn't work. So, what do I have to do? I have to go around the back and take the screen off of my window and climb through the window. The only thing is, my window is about 10 feet off of the ground, since I live on a hill. Luckily, there is a staircase next to my window. I got the screen off, then kind of had to jump from the staircase to the window and crawl through, all while Afrah is snickering in the background. But, I did it. Then I quickly came to the realization that if I can take my screen off and climb through my window, then anyone can! It's a good thing I don't live in South Central!!

As for my work week, it started off with me working on The O.C. All I can say is that I think that show is going down the tubes? Does anyone even watch it anymore? I never have. The show struggled last season in ratings and whatnot. We were shooting on location at a high school. They have these 15 year old girls on the show now with dialogue that sounds like it comes straight from Laguna Beach. It just seems bad, and it wasn't really an exciting day at all. At the end of the day we shot a scene with Adam Brody and he seemed like he didn't even want to be there. He was acting like a diva and I was really unimpressed. Oh well.

Yesterday I worked on a new show called Brothers and Sisters with Sally Field, Colista Flockhart, and some other people that are well known, from what I've heard, but I didn't recognize them. The only one I knew working yesterday was Sally Field. The whole day was TERRIBLE!! First of all, this show is taped at Disney Studios in Burbank. I thought Disney was all about family, happiness, etc. YEAH RIGHT. First off, were kept in the basement of one of the studios. No windows. No cell phone reception. No any anything. Then, the wardrobe lady went on a rampage yelling at everyone. She was mean as hell, psychotic actually. They didn't have a lot of food for us. The whole day was messed up. When we started shooting, I noticed there was some tension on the set. Sally Field came in and she was nice looking and tiny. She looked really motherly, and I heard from someone that she was really nice. But man, she was in a bad mood that day.

Sally was being real snippy with the director, and it was more her body language than anything. She wasn't being outright mean. Someone I met that day, who had worked on the show, mentioned that some of the cast members didn't get along, then everything made sense. I'm sure Sally isn't that stand-offish normally, but it was the first time I have been on a set where the cast members didn't get along. By the end of the day the tension was really thick. Some of the other cast members were yelling and the director looked relly stressed out. All we could do was laugh since the day had been so miserable. It was a 13 hour day too. I never want to go to Disney again. They suck over there.

Maybe next week will be more interesting, especially since I'll be on four tv shows. I wish I had Showtime so I could watch Dexter. I'll definitely be on Vanished on Monday and hopefully Help Me Help You on Tuesday.

Sorry For the Mix Up

Something must have gone wrong. Either they ran a re-run one week or the show didn't come on one week, but it got pushed back a week. I will be on Vanished for sure on Monday, October 2 at 9 pm on Fox.

Sorry for the mix up.....it's not my fault!

The Most Fun Weekend So Far!

So, as you know from my last blog, I've been working on the set of the movie Transformers for the last 2 days. And as you can see on the left, it's set to be released on Independence Day 2007. It's directed by Michael Bay (The Island, The Rock) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg! This is going to be a huge movie with a lot of action and special effects. They have a $150 million budget.

In this movie I played a police officer. I don't even know where to start. There was so much action and I met the craziest lady in the world. More on her in a second. Tyrese and Josh Duhamel are both in this movie. I met and talked to them both and they were really cool, especially Josh. They just talked as if we were regular people, which we are. Ellen Pompeo needs to realize that!

There was a lot of action. They were blowin trucks up and bringin choppers in. It was really cool. I was right in the middle of the action. I got to drive the cop care right up to the scene of destruction where the robots are battling, jump out of the car with two of my deputies and control the frantic crowd. We were really acting too because there were obviously no 40 foot robots in front of us. They're all going to be added in during editing. But the scene was set up with burnt up cars and a big hole in the ground (which was made by a big pile of foam asphalt. And there was more smoke than anyone needs to encounter, as if Los Angeles needs that crap added to the already gag inducing smog.

Now for the crazy lady. I think she is the weirdest one yet! First of all, she is a sci-fi trekky. She's African-American and from about an inch above her ear down, her head is shaved. Above that she has these long dread locks that go half way down her back, pulled into a pony tail. And she has these wire rim glasses on that looks like they're straight from 1750, like something Benjamin Franklin would wear. She looks like Whoopi Goldberg basically, like the pic on the right, just skinnier. She tells me that she's in fact not an actress, but she is in LOVE with Transformers. She has a friend who knows one of the producers of the movie and got her on. So, we're about to go to set and somone says they see a model of one of the robots, and Pam (crazy lady) starts hyperventilating! I'm so not joking right now. By the way, she's like 30 years old. And of course I'm cracking up. She jokingly told me not to laugh and that she can't help it that she was a 9 year old geek with no friends that loved Transformers. You know I hung around her all day for kicks!!!

So then, as were on the set, they are using these tall skinny poles to simulate where the robots will be when they digitally add them in. They asked Pam to be one of the people crawling on the ground near the scene of destruction, and on her way over there, she had to make sure she touched one of the poles. And on her way back, she stole one of the smaller pieces of foam asphalt as a souvenier!!! Stuffed it right in her purse. Then, they bring out a white semi truck. One of the robots name's is Optimus, and he turns into the semi truck. No joke, she went over and kissed the truck! My stomach hurts at this point she is crackin me up so much.

Next, we have a scene with Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a yellow robot that transforms into a 2006 Camaro. They bring a smaller model of Bumblebee out and Pam starts singing "HALELLUJAH!!" She has no shame and I can see other people looking at her now and laughing. After that scene we break for lunch and she says, "This is the best weekend of my life,

other than the first time I got laid". I laugh and say, "That's good, most people's first time is not a good experience", to which she yells, "I got lucky!!!!" She was crazy for the whole 2 days and I was lovin it. So I told her we would have to see the movie together so we exchanged e-mails. I did this only for my own entertainment. She's going to be an absolute mess during that movie and I can't wait!

It's weird because my roommate made me go see Jackass 2 on Friday, and we saw a preview for Transformers already. I was like, "Whoa, I'm going to be in that movie tomorrow". And can I just say that the Jackass movie was one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a long time. It was entertaining, but disturbing. They did some things in that movie that humans just shouldn't do. I mean, I was literally gagging at certain parts it was so nasty. To the right, that is Steve-O letting a leech chomp on his eyeball. That wasn't one of the gagging incidents in the movie. I can't repeat those here because my mom reads this blog, lol.

That's it for now.

They're Workin Me Hard!

After this weekend I will have worked 7 straight days in a row. It's cool, though. You know me and free food don't have any problems! I'm going to list the shows coming up that I'll be on again at the end of this post just as a reminder.

Today I was back on ER again, and what an interesting it turned out to be. First of all, the days working on ER are always long, like 14 hours, but they will only use you for half the time. Just with different scenes they shoot with different extras, you might not be used all the time. Today they use us the whole day, so it was tiring, but I ended up running into a few unexpected people. But before I get into that, first I just want to say the actors were terrible today. I have never seen people mess up lines so much in my entire life. Now, I understand that since they shoot multiple different scenes every day, its harder for a television actor to remember lines. But you would think after 30 takes (and I'm not exaggerating one bit!), the lines would start to stick! Not with these people. It wasn't the main characters, it was the guest actors. I don't know how on earth they got hired!!!

So, on my lunch break, we're sitting outside the stage we were filming on, and who drives up gets out of there car? None other than George Clooney. His office is right next to one of ER's stages. George is COOL. He said hi to us and talked and everything. Everyone likes George Clooney. He is currently filming Ocean's 13 along with Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, and some others, but we only saw George. Actually, I heard that he plays basketball everyday at Warner Brothers. Later on this evening, his driver came on picked him up.

So, as I was leaving today to go home, I had to walk across the entire studio lot to get to my car, and who do I see hanging out at their trailers? Matthew Perry and D.L. Hughley, who were taping their show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Matthew was telling a story and DL was standing there puffing on a cigar. I didn't stop and talk though. I was tired and really wanted to get home. I'm not one of those people who goes all crazy around celebrities. It's just not a big deal to me (unless it's Mariah Carey, then I'd get all hot and sweaty and start hyperventilating! Ok, maybe not hyperventilate, but some of my organ systems would definitely be shutting down).

All right, don't forget to watch t.v. these next to weeks. I cut my list down to 3, because I decided that in some of the shows I really won't be seen well and who wants to go through the hassle?

1. Vanished -- this is a new show that premiered on Monday, August 21 on Fox. It's an FBI type show. I am in the 6th episode, so the one I'm in should air on September 25, at 9pm on Fox. This episode takes place in Washington D.C. There is a scene where the senator (main character) is coming out of the courthouse and all of the press and journalists are all around trying to talk to him. I play his FBI agent that escorts him out of the courthouse. I have on a gray suit. This is the show where I got the most camera time so far. So make sure to watch. Monday nights, 9pm, Fox.

2. CSI: New York -- I don't know when the 1st episode premieres this fall, but I'm in episode 4. So try and watch for commercials to see when it premieres, on what days and at what times. I play a CSI tech and I have on a green shirt and tie. There's a scene where the main characters in the AVS room (a small room) and I'm "working" right behind them. My back is to the camera, but I kept turning around so the camera could catch my face, lol. I'm not sure if it worked. I think this show comes on Wednesday nights at 10 pm.

3. Help Me Help You -- this is Ted Danson's new comedy, and the mom from Malcolm in the Middle is on the show as well. This show premieres on September 26th, and my episode airs the next week on October 3rd. I play a coffee shop worker (there are 2 of us). So, look for me walking around straightening things up and stuff like that. It's kind of like a Starbucks coffee shop. It's called the "Metro Bean" on the show. However, I don't know yet what station or time the episodes air.

Vanished is the BIG one, so watch it! Now, I'm off to a movie (Jackass #2 with my roommate), just so I can come back and only get 4 hours of sleep because I have to be downtown, on location at 6:45 am for the feature film Transformers! Remember Transformers? Did you guys know they were making a movie? Well, they are and they said we will be running down streets, screaming for our lives from the Transformers. I play a cop. This should be fun. Plus it's the last weekend of shooting for the movie!

My Desperately Grey Week

How's that for a corny title? It's 12:15 am, and I just got home from being on Criminal Minds with Shemar Moore, so I'm going to make this quick, hopefully.

As you may remember from my last post, I was excited about being on a certain set on Monday, and in case you haven't figured out what it is by now, it was Desperate Housewives. Turns out my day was ruined because I was really hoping Eva Longoria would be working that day, but sadly, she was not. All I got was Marcia Cross. :( We shot on location at a country club and the scene took place in a reataurant. I was just at a table eating. The day was pretty much boring, and Marcia didn't make it any better. She looked good from a distance, but she had SOOO much make-up on, and up close, you can tell she hasn't aged very well. It is amazing what make-up can do for a person. And of course she didn't talk to any of the background people. Typical. There was someone making a guest appearance on the show that day, and I'm sure you know who she is. I can't remember her name, but she was in one of the Scream movies. She was Bill's mother (one of the killers) and she dies at the end of the movie. But you may know her better as Roseanne's sister on Roseanne.

Yesterday was more fun because I was on Grey's Anatomy. Of course I like being on the medical shows. I played an intern and a patient in the same episode. Episode #6, which should air on October 26th. I really liked this set, first and foremost, because they fed us really well, and that's always at the top of my list. Secondly, everyone was pretty cool for the most part.

Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) is really tiny, and didn't speak to any of us, of course. I tried to say hi, and she acted like she didn't see me. But it's ok because a few weeks ago, at the Emmy's, the critics ripped her apart because of her sloppy hairdo, haha. The girl who plays Christina seemed cool, but she looked so serious all the time. The guy who plays Alex, his eyes were really red like he was up all night, and he wreaked of cigarettes. He reminded more of a construction worker than of a doctor. The one thing I liked about this show was that they were really efficient. They set up a scene, did it a few times and moved on. They got a lot done in one day, whereas on other shows sometimes they spend hours on one scene. I won't give any details on what scenes were shot that day though. I won't ruin in for anyone.

On my way home from Grey's, I was driving down Hollywood Blvd, and noticed there were a lot of people there for a Tuesday night. I drive a little further, down to the Chinese Grauman Theatre, and lo and behold, the premiere of Employee of the Month was happening! That's the movie with Jessica Simpson and Dane Cook, who were obviously there. It was my first glimpse of a red carpet since I moved to L.A. Now, I just to find out how to know when there is going to be a premiere, before it happens. I didn't see Jessica or Dane, and I couldn't stop and see what was going on because I was tired and plus there was no parking anywhere near the theatre. Oh well, maybe next time.

I think that pretty much sums up the first part of my week. My bed is calling me because it's been a long day and I have to get up early tomorrow.

Nice Weekend

It's weird how when you think you've seen it all, something new happens. Thursday I was on the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Las Vegas), which of course is filmed in L.A. at Universal Studios. For this scene, I was a night clubber, but we got to shoot it in front of a green screen. It was kind of neat. It felt all high tech and stuff. But it was weird because there was just a blank screen behind us, and there going to put the scene of a club on it for the episode. Also in this scene, a man and a woman get into a fight at the club and the man throws a glass of wine on the woman. The "wine" in the glass was actually this green liquid gel type stuff. They used the gel because anything that is "green" on camera can be digitally altered to make it look like anything you want (which is why we couldn't where any green that day). They obviously had to do multiple takes of this scene and the woman had on a white dress and green gel all over it. But it didn't matter because they could just digitally remove it when they make the final edit. It was cool Hollywood technology in full force.

Yesterday I went exploring L.A. My friend, Eunice, who I know from OSU and now lives in Chicago was in town for a friend's birthday party. We met up and went hiking at Griffith Park. Griffith Park, for anyone who doesn't know, is a huge park area in the hollywood hills. There are numerous hiking trails, picnic areas, horseback riding, and the Los Angeles Zoo is here. In the picture to the left, I'm pretty much standing next to the Hollywood sign. You can see Griffith Observatory with dowtown L.A. in the background. There are such great views of the entire city from these hills, but once again, it is pointless to post the pictures because the smog and haze kind of drown everything out.

We went on a short hiking trail to the "Old Zoo" which was built in 1912 and used to house lions, tigers, elephants, etc. The cages were really small and made out of stone. It was also sad to see the amount of grafitti on everything, as you can see on one of the cages to the right. I can't believe people have nothing better to do than to go spray paint some old vacant cages at a park. They actually had to shut off the hiking trail that goes to the Hollywood sign because they had too many graffiti problems in the past. After Griffith Park we drove along Mulholland Drive. It really is a nice drive that you can do over and over again.

After all that we headed to the Santa Monica Pier to eat and just hang out. We got there just in time to see the sunset that you see at the right. This one is for Sheila. I know how much she misses them. It really is beautiful sight, especially for someone like me who's never lived near an ocean. For those who haven't been to L.A. or don't know what the Santa Monica Pier is, it's a pier that goes out into the water, obviously. It's basically a small amusement park on a pier. There are restaurants, coffee shops, games, a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, artisits, and lots of people fishing from it. Do you recognize the lifeguard hut in the picture? On these beaches, about 2 miles north, in the Pacific Palisades, is where Baywatch was filmed. The mountain that you see in the distance is Malibu. The beachfront property in Santa Monica is really nice. The houses, or condos, or whatever you want to call them, are skinny and 3 levels (to fit more in I guess). And they all have winding stair cases on the outside that go up to each level, and then up to the roof where there is a sun deck and sometimes a pool. I could definitely see one of these being a beginner house for me, but not in Santa Monica. There are way too many tourists. I don't want all those people walking right in front of my place all day.

That's all I have. I'm booked on a show tomorrow that could be potentially very exciting if a certain person is working, but I'm not going to say who or what yet. I'll post midweek and say whether I got my wish or if I was let down. Oh, and for anyone out there wondering, I'm not talking about Mariah Carey!! She is still on tour. Yes, she is my #1, but I do have other celebrity crushes, so there!

Crazy Week So Far

I didn't realize how easy it was to post pictures on here. I thought it would have been a hassle. So, now I can start putting some pics on here to liven up my blog I guess. I'll post some right after I speak about some of the crazy stuff that happened this week.

For the last 2 days I have been on a movie set and it has been BORING!!! The scene was shot in a theatre and we were watching John Malkovich do magic tricks all day. Fourteen hours of sitting in a chair clapping all day is freakin torture. I wanted to drink acid by the days end! However, it never fails that I meet some weirdos!

First was this man sitting at the same table as me at lunch. Luckily, this time he wasn't talking to me, because he was one of those people that are uncomfotable with silence, so they start volunteering information that nobody wants to hear about. Example: He says out loud, "I didn't work yesterday". Somebody else asked "Why?", to which he replied, "I was at a nudist camp!" Ahhhh.....WHYYYYYY??? This man was like 50 years old, scraggly, and his skin looked like genuine rawhide leather. Why would anyone want to picture that? So, no one says anything, and he decides he's going to tell some jokes. I can't remember the first one, but his second joke was (and I'm NOT kidding), "Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?" Somebody says they don't know. His answer is, "Because he was dead". WTF!!! Nobody even smiled at that dumb ass joke. And the the guy goes, "I'm thinking my jokes aren't funny!" YA THINK!!! Then he starts making comments about how he needs a massage and he's gonna take off his pants and get up on the table. I wasn't lying when I said ANYONE off the streets can sign up to do background work!!

Then there was this lovely old lady who sat next to me in the theatre who grossed me the hell out. AFTER lunch when we were back on the set, in the theatre, is when she decides to break out her floss!! She flosses a few teeth, then lays the floss down on her lap, on her dress. Then she flosses some more, and lays it back down, then flosses some more. I'm already kind of grossed out, but next thing I know, she's picking up a tissue to blow her nose, and the now multi-colored piece of floss is hanging from her tissue! YUCK!!! Then she did something that cracked me up. We're in a theatre, but it's a restaurant setting, so we're sitting at tables, maybe 6 to a table. We all have drinks to make the scene look real. Some people have wine glasses filled with sparkling grape juice, some people have other kinds of drinks. They are props for us, and we're not supposed to drink out of the (probably dirty) cups. But she's been drinking hers all morning. So, she decides she wants to pour her water into her cup. While the man on the other side of her wasn't looking, she poured her half drunk grape juice into his cup! I swear I could not make up these stories! This is L.A.

Two other crazy things happened on set. This morning a lady collapsed and the ambulance had to be called. It was scary, but she was ok. Then later in the afternoon, an over head light exploded and the glass came crashing down to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt. but the reminds about something about these lights. Have you ever heard of actors complaining of working under hot light all day? I used to think they were being dramatic, but it's true. Those suckers get HOT. That's why they keep the air on in the studios right around 55 degrees. I mean, one day on set, I walked in front of one of the big lights on set. You know how you watch tv and the scene may be in someone's living room and you see the skyline of a city through a window in the house? Well, of course its not real. It's a huge backdrop in the studio lit up by huge lights on the ground. The lighta are maybe 5 feet in diameter. Well, when I walked in front of one, I thought the side of my face was going to melt off! Seriously, I at least thought my shirt was going to catch on fire. It was that hot.

Last crazy thing of the week. Monday I was on CSI: New York and we were shooting on location in an apartment building in downtown L.A. I read an article today that said a real mummified body was found in the building yesterday (Tuesday) one floor below where they were still shooting. Someone went to check on the tenant who hadn't paid rent in a while. Isn't that kinda freaky?

Ok, a few pics because I'm tired of typing!














St. Louis Arch on my way to L.A.

This is the tram that takes you up to the Getty

Center, a huge museum that contains authentic

paintings, artwork, and artifacts dating back to

the Middle Ages. The Getty Center is in the

background .

View from the Getty Center looking

southeast. That little city is either

Brentwood or Westwood, I'm not

sure. Can you see the band of

smog?

**Once again my pictures and captions are distorted. I'll figure this out one day!**

Doin My Thing in L.A.

I finally got both of my pictures fully printed and duplicated. So here they are. If you're on facebook or myspace then you have seen these already, but those were the un-retouched pictures. These ones are the final editions, retouched. Hopefully there isn't much of a difference. I told the photo lab to be subtle with it! Now I can continue to look for an agent by mailing my pictures out. The one on the left is the "commercial" shot. It's used to get auditions for commericals, obviously. It's supposed to be smiley and natural and show your personality, blah blah blah. The one on the right is the theatrical shot and it is supposed to be more serious and show your "type", meaning the kind of character you would play on a project. My "type", according to some of the experienced photographers that I spoke to, is the young business exec, young adult, or college student. I can also play under 18. That's why I chose to use the shirt with the loose tie. It's more serious, more studious, more mature. So what do you guys think?? You think I have even the slimmest chance of getting lucky? It's going to be really tough, but I knew that coming here. But pleeeaaassse pray for me cuz I don't wanna go back to Ohio!!! haha

As far as the end of this week is concerned, it wasn't too busy. I was on the set of a show yesterday called Happy Hour which is a new comedy. It seems like it might be pretty funny actually.

And as for tonight, I can't wait to see Ohio State kick Texas's ass!!! This is going to be revenge from last year.

I really can't think of anything else to say except GO BUCKS!!!

haha.....I got this pic from my friend Kelli's myspace page. It says enough!

**UPDATE --> Everything got distorted because the space available when I'm typing is not the same amount of space available when the blog posts!! I know, I suck. I should be smarter than the computer. Oh well!

What A Crappy Day, Literally!!!

I'll get to my crappy day in a second. I have a few other things to say first. First off, Afrah is here!!!!! For those of you who know Afrah, she finally made it to L.A., to live. Now we can hang out, have fun in the sun, and enjoy not being in the midwest.

Secondly, I had a good Labor Day Weekend. I relaxed, and on Labor Day I went to some Brazilian restaurant with some friends where we all basically ordered American food. But it was sooo good. However, my Labor Day good spirits were RUINED today when I called my dear colleague, Candace H. Candace is one of my fellow med school classmates. I called her up, and she didn't even know who I was. she didn't even recognize my voice. What is happening?? Am I being forgotten that quickly. Was I nothing more than a fleeting memory in everyone's mind? I was so hurt, haha. Claudine, you better get on Candace about this issue!!!

Now on to my literally crappy day. Today I taped an episode of Bones, starring David Boreanaz. More on him in a minute. I have never seen this show, but it is apparently another one of those FBI shows. There are a lot of those now. Anyways, when I got the call from my casting agency to do this show, they said we would be filming at a water treatment plant near LAX. Much to everyone's dismay, it was actually a SEWAGE treatment plant. BIG DIFFERENCE! Let me describe this place for you!!! It is right on the ocean, right next to the airport. The only good thing about this day was seeing big Jumbo Jets taking off from the airport. Anyways, we pull into this plant, and the smell almost cinged my nose hairs. Picture this: A huge, round, concrete pool about 60 feet in diameter filled with diarrhea. Each pool holds about 10,000 gallons and there are about 20 of them!! 20 pools of brown diarrhea. Thousands upon thousands of gallons!! Each pool has 2 metal walkways, forming the shape of a cross, just about 5 feet above the liquid crap. Guess where the scene was shot?? Yep, right in the center of one of these walkways!

So, we're pulling into the plant in the shuttle van, all grossed out and stuff. We get out of the van and there are seagulls........playing.......in the pools.............of crap!! They were dunking their heads in it and everything. I was already nauseated at this point. So then we have to get out of the van and walk to the center of one of the walkways so we can start shooting. To make things even nastier, each pool of crap also contains 4 metal rods that start from the center and radiate outward to the perimeter. These rods slowly turn to mix everything up in the pools. Are you sick yet?? I'm sick just writing about this and I haven't even gotten to the worst part yet.

As we're walking down the walkway to the center of the pool of diarrhea, naturally we look over the railing to see what that stuff looks like. Lo and behold!! It's mostly brown, diarrhea water with bubbles in it, but there is also an occasional floating piece of green or brown solid piece of SOMETHING!! I swear my gag reflex was kicking in by now. We get to the center, still looking over the edge (why u might ask?? The hell if I know!). Then we see something else. Now, as I said, there are about 20 of these pools on this lot. Go figure that the ONE pool they choose to shoot the scene on has a CONDOM floating in it!!!!!! I am not lying to you!! It looked like a magnum (because I obviously know what those look like, lol). It was sick. And to top it all off, we were there shooting the scene for over 6 hours!!! Can anyone sympathize with me here?!?!! And that folks, was the start of my crappy day.

Other things about the show: David Boreanaz can cuss up a storm. On more than one occasion i hear him dropping the F bomb because something wasn't done the way he wanted. He also whined alot about camera angles and stuff. I wanted to tell him to just shut the hell up because there is nothing more annoying than a whiny C-list celebrity!! My day ended up being 15 hours on the set because we had to shoot a scene in a hotel. It took place at a girls' beauty pageant. So, obviously there are tons of little girls there in caked on make-up and teased hair out to nowhere. I have to say that stuff is NOT "beautiful" to me. I personally think beauty pageants consist of a bunch of stage moms who are trying to live vicariously through their daughters. Seriously, most of the moms were fat and nasty and there is no way in hell I'm letting my wife doll up my eight year old daughter to do that crap. It ain't happenin! Don't ask me why, but in this scene they made me play a dad. Clean shaven, I look like I'm 16 on camera, so who knows whose bright idea that was.

Ok, it's 12:45 a.m. and I am dead tired now. Damn, I was posting this midweek so that it wouldn't be that long, but who knew the kind of crappy day I'd have today. I had to tell the story. I came home and took the LONGEST shower ever, haha. Now, I'm hittin the sack!!

I Don't Know What to Title This One

I want to start off by saying that this post is probably going to be long, but it will be the LAST really long one. I kinda don't like sitting here and typing a book every time. Plus, I was reading through my own blog last night and even I got tired of reading a really long entry. So, once again, I'm going to try to post shorter blogs more often. I think people might like that better. I'm going to try to do a minimum of two per week, one on the weekend and one midweek, maybe more if exciting things happen.

This brings me to my next point. Just wanted to say I appreciate the comments whether they're on here or on facebook or myspace. Everyone enjoys feedback, right? And I usually try to respond. Also, a special thanks to Justin M. for helping me get my blog together. When I first created this thing, I didn't know what the heck I was doing and he explained the whole process to me.

On to my week. Topics covered in this blog: Mulholland Drive, Ohio connections, Matthew Perry, and Steve Carrell.

The other day, my friends and I took a drive down Mulholland. For those who don't know, let me try and explain. Everyone knows the Hollywood sign is on the side of a mountain, right? That mountain range is part of the Santa Monica mountains. They stretch from the ocean all the way east almost to downtown (about 20-25 miles). Half way between the coast and downtown L.A. is where I live at the base of one of the mountains, or hills rather, on the south side of the hills. Over the hills, to the north, is the San Fernando Valley which is flat and hot. There are a few roads here and there that run north and south through the mountains connecting greater L.A. with the Valley. Then there is Mulholland Drive. It runs east and west over top of the mountains. So, driving up there, you see great views of L.A. and of the Valley. This is also where all of the mansions are. I always saw these houses on shows like "Cribs" on MTV and wondered where they were and how you get there. Now I know. Those are some HUGE houses up there. Some look so modern they look like they belong on the moon or something. It was really cool seeing the views from the city up there and its no wonder everyone wants to live there. Hopefully I will one day. Although, I would have to have another house somewhere like in Beverly Hills or something because we didn't see any kind of shops or grocery stores up there. Plus, I'd probably get tired of driving up those windy roads everyday just to get to my place. But then again, I might not!

Next thing is all the references to Ohio I've been seeing. It's really weird actually. I've seen an Ohio St. here, a Dayton St., and many references to Ohio in movies. I was on a set the other day reading a newspaper (USA Today, I think) and there was an article about Hilton Head Island and how it is all environmentally safe and stuff. There was a picture of a couple walking on the beach and the caption said they were from Oxford, Ohio. Oxford is such a small town in Ohio and its home to Miami University where I went to college, so I thought, what are the chances of that. Skip ahead a few pages in the same newspaper and there is an article about someone traveling across the country sampling food at restaurants. This particular day the article was about food in Columbus, Ohio and they were talking about a restaurant in Upper Arlington, which is basically where I lived last year. At this point I had to just put the newspaper down. I really hope these were signs to just help me not forget where I came from as opposed to signs that I'm supposed to go back to Ohio. That ain't happenin!!! haha

Now to the work week. I was on two shows this week. One of them is Matthew Perry's new show. It's called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I guess it is a spoof on sketch comedy shows like SNL and MAD TV. They do some skits, but then you see what goes on behind the scenes or something. Regardless, this show absolutely sucked to work on. I just played an audience member, so it basically consisted of us sitting there and clapping all day. And that day was a 12 hour day. Matthew wasn't working on that particular day, but he did come in briefly and watched. He seems cool, and he had a bit of an entourage with him. One was his personal assistant, and when they came into the studio, he took of his jacket and hung it on her shoulder, and she was also holding a drink for him too. It was funny. As for his appearance, all I can say is that make-up is a wonderful thing for Hollywood. I'm not trying to be mean, just truthful. And the truth is that his years of drinking have really taken a toll on his appearance. For anyone out there who drinks on a regular basis, I suggest you stop now, unless you can afford a make-up team to make you look great everyday.

Thursday and Friday I worked on The Office with Steve Carrell. It was fun because we shot on location at the Burbank Hilton Hotel. The scene took place at a convention in a hotel lobby where a whole bunch of businesses set up booths, etc. Well, they actually brought in real companies, including microsoft, symantec, nokia, and a lot more. And these companies brought all their real stuff, so as a bonus we got a whole bunch of free stuff that day. I've never watched The Office before, but I think I'm going to start. Steve is really funny and I was cracking up at some of the scenes they were shooting. One thing about Steve though. I know it must get frustrating for comedians and comedic actors because we always see them being funny and stupid on tv, and we assume that they're always like that. But in reality, they are just like us and they have bad days, and some aren't the happy-go-lucky personalities they portray on tv at all. It's just acting. I don't quite know what Steve's deal is, but he is one of those actors that when the director says "Cut!", he turns it OFF, quick. In between takes I don't even think I saw Steve smile once. He walked around looking really serious, almost evil sometimes. Maybe he was just trying to stay focused and remember his lines, maybe he is just a serious person in real life. Your guess is as good as mine. I wonder what Jim Carrey is like in person. I heard Will Ferrell is a goof ball off camera. Oh well, to each his own.

I told you this blog was going to be long and I actually had to type it in two segments. I think that's all I have to say, other than that I'm finally getting the hang of the traffic patterns here. So when I go somewhere now, I get there pretty much on time. Not 45 minutes early, not 5 minutes late.

Am I Really Missing Med School?

The answer to that question is a big, fat "NO!" haha. I miss my friends, but I could do without the whole study in a library for 14 hours part. As I see people post pictures on facebook of the parties and get togethers, it makes me really wish I was there. Sometimes I think to myself, "I need to hang out with them next weekend". Then I have to remind myself I'm 2500 miles away and so that wouldn't be so easy. At least not until I'm making enough money to just hop on a plane at the last minute and jet to Ohio. It's great to see everyone having fun though. Med 2 is going to be intense, so I say try to actually have a life and fun any chance you get.

As for me, it's been a week since my last post (sorry Claudine, lol), but I actually have been really busy. I worked close to 60 hours this week and I was just dead tired by the end of the week. That's just the Jamaican in me though. Once I start working, I can't seem to stop. I've always been that way, and hopefully it is that very characteristic in me that will bring me the highest level of success possible.

Nothing overly exciting happened this week, so I've decided I will list a few of the shows I've been on and what scenes I'm in so people know when to watch. I'm only listing the shows in which I know I got some good camera time, although it still may be a bit like playing Where's Waldo. After they do all the editing and put the scenes together, you just never know what's thrown out and what's kept. Keep in mind I'm in the background in all these shows, no speaking parts yet. Hopefully that comes soon. I will do another post about these shows again closer to the time they air to remind everyone to be on the lookout.

1. Dexter -- this show premieres October 1 on Showtime. It's a new show. I'm in the first episode, I think. Maybe 2nd episode, and I play a detective. I'm wearing a blue shirt and tie and I'm on camera for a few quick seconds I think.

2. ER -- this show airs October 5th and I'm also in the first episode. All throughout the episode you may be able to make me out in the background, but pay close attention to a scene in the hospital with a Latina nurse and a hefty black woman (patient). In the background, behind a glass door, you should be able to see a cop yelling at a kid. I am that kid. Kind of corny, but whatever. Oh yeah, this episode was shot over 3 days, and this was when I first started doing background work. Nobody told me to wear the same clothes since it was supposed to be the same day. So, you might see me in 3 different shirts in that one episode, lol.

3. Vanished -- this is a new show that premiered on Monday, August 21 on Fox. It's an FBI type show. I am in the 6th episode, so the one I'm in should air on September 25, at 9pm on Fox. This episode takes place in Washington D.C. There is a scene where the senator (main character) is coming out of the courthouse and all of the press and journalists are all around trying to talk to him. I play his FBI agent that escorts him out of the courthouse. I have on a gray suit. This is the show where I got the most camera time so far. So make sure to watch. Monday nights, 9pm, Fox.

4. CSI: New York -- I don't know when the 1st episode premieres this fall, but I'm in episode 4. So try and watch for commercials to see when it premieres, on what days and at what times. I play a CSI tech and I have on a green shirt and tie. There's a scene where the main characters in the AVS room (a small room) and I'm "working" right behind them. My back is to the camera, but I kept turning around so the camera could catch my face, lol. I'm not sure if it worked.

5. Help Me Help You -- this is Ted Danson's new comedy, and the mom from Malcolm in the Middle is on the show as well. Again, I don't know when this show premieres, but I'm in episode 2. I play a coffee shop worker (there are 2 of us). So, look for me walking around straightening things up and stuff like that. It's kind of like a Starbucks coffee shop. It's called the "Metro Bean" on the show.

For my med school buddies, I was on the set of Scrubs yesterday, but it sucked and what we did was so pointless that it's not even worth mentioning here. Hopefully I can get on there again and do something more worthwhile.

That's pretty much all I have for now. In my down time I've just been hanging out and going to eat sushi with friends. I love that stuff. And I need, need, need to start working out. It's been 2 months since I last worked out, and with the endless amounts of food on these sets, I'm going to have to start auditioning for roles like Fat Albert if I don't get on the grind, haha. That is one good thing about doing background work (I'm kind of getting sick of it). They feed you so well. If I'm on set all day, somethimes I get breakfast lunch and dinner, not to mention the snacks that they have all throughtout the day as well. So, I'm making money and saving on groceries. it's great. I think I've spent about $30 in the last 2 weeks on groceries since the studios provide so much food. Oh, they also have candy and gum too. Those little packets of gum that come with 5 sticks in a pack. I've taken enough gum to last me a whole year, lol.

Ok, I'm done.

FYI

One thing I forgot to say earlier, to my med school peeps, is that I noticed that my picture is still in the Med 1 directory. Just to clear up ANY confusion, I PASSED Med 1 and I am technically a Med 2!!!! In my opinion, since I am on an LOA, they should remove my picture completely, or put it in with the med 2's. I know I talked about how much I was struggling at the end of last year as the result of a sheer lack of motivation since I knew I'd be moving to L.A. But I did indeed pass, and it was a big accomplishment for me. I was happy, and I need everyone to know that I did NOT fail Med 1 (SARA R.!!!!!)

Enjoy the weekend.

My Worst Day in L.A. Thus Far!

This blogging every few days thing is going to really get to me sooner or later, but what the heck. I can write if people show an interest.

Hollywood really worked me the last 2 days. Thursday I was on a show that premiers this fall and it's called Vanished. Call time was 8 am and we didn't get out of there until 11 pm, which means I didn't get to bed until after midnight. I had to then get up at 4 am Friday morning to be at Universal Studios for another show called Re-Animated. This show contributed to my worst day ever here in L.A., but I'll get to that in a second.

There were 2 things I wanted to say about being on Vanished, but I can only remember one. I need to start writing stuff down so I don't forget anything. Anyways, this is going to seem kind of bad on my part, but yall know how I am. So, this episode of Vanished was filmed on location at City Hall dowtown. We were more than half way through the day, and everyone was sitting outside, under the tents they had set up for us. I'm there talking to some of the other people, and a few feet away from us is this fat man talking to some people. He was trying to be funny and tell jokes and stuff when all of a sudden his chair broke from underneath him and he went crashing to the ground. I did one of those things where you start laughing, then you pull yourself together real quick and hold it in. This is one of my biggest challenges in life: containing my laughter. Ask anyone who knows me well. I admit it's bad, but I can't help it. If something is funny, I laugh. It's like a reflex. So, I'm holding it in, make sure the man is not hurt, then I start laughing again. Then one of the production people come over to see what happens as the man is still on the ground, obviously embarrassed. The chair is completely demolished! Seriously, it's just like a chunk of metal and plastic. So the man starts explaining what happened, and that it has actually happened to him before. He admitted that he heard the chair giving way earlier and that he should have gotten another chair, but he didn't.

Now, I'm not trying to be mean, but the man had to be at least 350 pounds. You're gonna tell me that it's happened to him before, he knows he's big, AND he hears and feels the chair making sounds that it shouldn't make, and he didn't do anything about it?!?!?!?!! Give me a break. Big people have to watch out for those things just the same as I have to watch out for my laughter, because I know how I am. It reminds of the issue of airlines charging big people double if they take up 2 seats on the plane. It makes sense. That's another seat that the airline could have sold to another person. Does that make sense to anyone else? He could have so easily saved himself the embarrassment, but he chose not to. Oh well.

On to my worst day, which was yesterday. I had to go to Universal Studios for the new show Re-Animated. I just knew from the title of this show that it was going to be a bad day, but I wasn't quite sure how. I get there, and it is a kids show. The scene they were shooting took place at an amusement park. And you know what that means???? Yep, upwards of 300 little brats screaming, yelling, being hyper, etc., etc. It was terrible. There kids hitting us with balloons, popping balloons, punching and kicking the people in the furry costumes. And we were there for 10 hours. I was talking to people who have been doing background work for a long time and they said this was the worst show they'd EVER done. I agreed, and all we did was bitch about it the entire day. Don't get me wrong, I like kids, and I'm good with kids, but I can't take 300 of them unsupervised on set (most parents waited in the holding area). We heard kids cussing, talking about sex, and all kinds of other stuff. I have never been so annoyed in my life. Never again!!!!

Then you have the infamous stage mother. I'm sure you guys know what they are like. There was one scene where a few of the kids had to ride on a train that went through the park while all the other kids were just runnin around the park and stuff. We saw one mother harassing the director to put her son on the train because his best friend was on the train. The director told her they had enough kids on the train, and she told him to take one of the kids off so her son could go on!!! And the kid was just standing there. He couldn't have cared less to be on the train. And on top of that, this is BACKGROUND work. There were so many kids there that you won't be able to see their individual faces. I feel so sorry for kids whose parents are stage parents. The parents push them and push them and punish them if they don't do something right. And in reality, the kid probably just wants to be somewhere playing with his friends than being on a set all day. It's crazy. I had never been so happy for a day to end. I had worked 25 hours out of the last 32.

Hopefully within the next few weeks different things will start to manifest, if you know what I mean, so that I can post some really exciting stuff.

Beware of the Great and Powerful Claudine!!!!

Does everyone know CLAUDINE?? She's such a wondeful person, and she scolded me the other day for not posting blogs frequently enough. So, this is why I'm posting mid-week. I definitely DON'T wanna feel the WRATH OF CLAUDINE!! LOL That sounds like a good movie title. Anyways, CLAUDINE says I have to write at least 2 blogs per week, and that was reduced from 4!!!! ALL because she loves to read blogs. Sounds like someone trying real hard not to study if you ask me.

Now, onto what I've been up to the last few days. I've decided that most of my blogs are going to be about all the interesting (crazy) people I meet out here since I'm just doing background work and you guys know the deal with that. Different show almost everyday, blah blah blah.

Today I met 2 funny people. Everyone should know by now that I LOVE to laugh. Anyone could see it in class, lol. Anyone that makes me laugh will definitely get my attention, whether I'm laughing at them, or with them. So, I'm on the set today waiting to start work and this man comes and sits next to me. Now, I don't know if I just give off some vibe that says, "Tell me your life story", but people seem to like to do that around me. I mean, ever since I can remember, I will meet someone, and in our first conversation they're telling me their whole life story. I guess it's a compliment in some sorts, but sometimes i hear the most boring crap when I'm not in the mood for it. So this man (who looked weird anyway) starts tellin me about all the background work he's done over the last year and how Rebecca Romijn is mean and so is the lead actress on Gilmore Girls, etc., etc. Then he switches topics and starts talking about Miss Teen USA. Yes, Teen USA. I knew he looked like a chester. He tells me he's shocked that Miss Montana won and Miss South Dakota was runner up because it's usually between Miss Florida, California and Texas, or some crap like that. But in his opinion Miss Virginia was the hottest. Whatever. THEN, he proceeds to tell me that ALL the girls on there are dumb, and he doesn't even know why they ask them questions. Here are his words: "I don't even know why they ask those girls questions. They're all dumb. They don't need to waste their time asking those girls about world peace. They don't know anything about that. They asked one girl about young girls and anorexics. She doesn't know anything about that." Then he imitated her answer in a girlie voice that sounded ridiculous. Keep in mind that this is a completely one sided conversation with me just nodding my head, looking away, dying for the assistant director to come get us. And he just kept talking, and talking, and talking.

Jump ahead a few hours and I hear this same guy talking to some other people about Star Trek. Do you know what this man said?? He said that Star Trek Voyager was HIS idea!!! WTF?!?!?! Seriously, he said he had an idea of a space ship coming back or something like that, but someone came up with the same idea he had and beat him to it as far as making a movie out of it. PSYCHO, is all I have to say. That guy was loony.

A little later on I'm walking to the cafeteria from lunch, and I see something moving toward me out of the corner of my eye. I look up, and its a lady (she had to be at least 40), with some headphones on really getting into her music. I mean, think about how crazy you look when you dance in the mirror at home. Everybody does it so stop frontin!! She was doing that AND playing her air guitar at the same time, lol!!! And this is all happening outside in broad daylight in front of everyone. She did NOT care. So, I caught eyes with her, and she gives me this cheesy smile that says, "I know, I'm crazy, and I love it". Strange, strange people here in L.A., which brings me to another point that I've noticed. MAKE-UP artists. It's so funny how these make-up artists are there to make the actors look perfect, yet 90% of them (the make-up artists) look atrocious. I'm talkin about lookin like they rolled straight outta bed and came to work. Hair not brushed, etc. It's just ironic to me. Maybe its just me though, I dunno.

That's pretty much it for the last 5 minutes CLAUDINE. Haha. Here's what I've done this week.

Monday: New Ted Danson show called "Help Me Help You". You may have seen previews.
The mom from "Malcolm in the Middle" is on this show as well. I played a coffee shop
worker. Woopty doo, lol.
Tuesday: A show called "Heartland". Don't worry, you've never heard of it and you'll never
watch it! It's a medical show, however, and I played an EMT.
Wednesday: "Close to Home". Don't know what this show is about other than the fact that it's a cop show and the lady from "Diary of A Mad Black Woman" was there today. I'm
not sure if she is a regular or if she was just doing a guest appearance. But, you
know, the mad black woman in the movie, the main character. That's her.

Celeb encounters this week:

• Essence Atkins from the tv show "Half & Half" and the film "How High"
• The big, blonde shaggy haired guy from Celebrity Fit Club and "Hairspray"
• Orlando Jones from MAD TV

Is There A Doctor In The House?

Man, have I been busy this week! I had no idea doing background work was going to be so grueling. I got called again to work on "ER" and that's where I've been the last 3 days. The days on ER average 14 hours on set. I guess I should be used to it. Not much different from med school, lol. It was fun though.

The first day I worked on ER was Tuesday the 8th, and lucky me. When I was done with school last year, I honestly thought to myself that I was really going to miss all the free food that I got from all the interest groups at school. I couldn't have been more wrong. I don't miss that stuff at all!! The stuff they feed you on these Hollywood sets makes the pizza and subs from med school seem like rubbish. My first day on ER (they're second day of filming for the season) they had a "welcome back lunch" celebrating the start of the 13th season of ER (which start October 5th by the way). Man oh man, they had a live Mariachi band playing and all the food you could think of. They had salad, shrimp, chicken, steak, salmon, brownies, cake, apple pie, ice cream and it was all FREE and all you could eat. I was in heaven!!! I lucked out in another way by working on ER too. I've heard some horror stories from some of the other people about how rude and mean some of the crew members and even the actors can be on some of the other shows. Everyone on ER was pretty nice. It was a good experience.

Anyways, my call time for that day was 6:45 am and we didn't wrap until 10 pm that night. Looooong day, but it was fun. I played a hospital visitor in the background, yet I got to work right next to the actors. Mekhi Pfeifer is on the show as you know, so is Shane West and John Stamos. There are some other people, but I don't them because I've never watched ER before, EVER!!! Haha. I guess I'll start now. So, me and a bunch of other people had to walk up and don the halls and in the waiting room to make the hospital look busy. I was amazed at how real everything looks. I mean, I thought it would look really fake and stuff, but with lighting and camera angles it would look real on tv, but it looks really real in person. They even have all the WelchAllyn tools and instruments and everything. They have X-rays up on the wall, which I was of course analyzing, and they were all healthy x-rays, lol. There is one scene we shot where in the background you can see a kis getting yelled at by a cop through a glass door. I am that kid, and it should be in the first episode, lol. There isn't much to doing background work, and anyone off the street can sign up to do it, but all the people you see in the background in movies and tv shows aren't people just waling around. It's actually really choreographed. I hadn't realized that.

My 3rd day on ER was the most fun, for 2 reasons. 1). I had seen some of the same people for 3 days now and gotten to know some of them, and 2). I was asked to be a stand-in for one of the actors and thus got paid double what I was getting. By this time I was telling some of the people that I was a med student. I LOVE doing this. Not because it makes me feel all important or for any other egotistical reasons, but because I just plain love grossing people it. I'm sure most of my classmates know what I'm talking about. I was talking to one of the other extras, this lady, and I was telling her I can't be grossed out and that I've literally seen everything, including STD's and even STD's of the mouth and throat. And she thought that you could only get herpes in your mouth and nothing else. Isn't that amazing??? That people don't realize that you can get anything in your mouth!! So, I told her that I'd seen gonorrhea of the throat, etc., etc., and she got so grossed out and started grabbing her throat and almost gagging as if STD's were just floating through the air waiting to get her. It was sooooo funny. I was cracking up. Then that starts a whole chain of questions about bodily functions and what not. Then a few hours later while we were waiting for filming to start again, there was a extra piece of polyurethane skin laying next to us on a tray. (They made a fake chest for one of the scenes where they had a bunch of electrodes hooked up to the patient). Some girls picks it up and is playing with it, and touches it to the face of the STD lady. Now, earlier I had noticed that the STD lady had like 4 fanny packs on and this why. She freaks out and starts pullin stuff out of her fanny packs. She sprayed her face with disinfectant, broke out some lip disinfectant stuff, etc. I mean, talk about a germaphobe. Then she comes and says to the girl, "Ever since he told me about STD's, I'm afraid of germs now". WTF!!!!!!!! She tried to blame her obsessive compulsiveness on me?!?!?! LOL She brought all that damn stuff way before I told her about some STD's. I just knew she was a little weird.

So, that was my week on ER. I may or may not go back. It's fun, but in terms of just being a background worker for right now, I need some variety. It gets too monotonous going to the same studio every day doing the same thing for 14 hours. Plus, there is so much waiting around between takes and stuff that it gets boring. So, for Monday I'm going to work on a show at Paramount Studios. I've never heard of it though, so we'll see how that goes. I had to take yesterday (Friday) off and the rest of the weekend because I couldn't get anything done. Being on set from 6 am to 10 pm, I get get to places like the photo lab and the post office because they're closed before and after I leave the set. That's the good thing about background work. They book jobs day to day, not for days or weeks at a time. So, I determine my own schedule. If I want to take a day or 2 or 14 off, I can. So yesterday I finally got all my pictures put together, packaged and mailed out to some agencies. Now I can relax a little and wait for some agents to call. Wish me luck!!

My Frist Hollywood Paycheck!!!!

That's right folks.........I am officially a working actor.........kind of. Let me break it down for you. This may be a long and intensive post, but should be more entertaining than the last ones (just warning)

So, Monday (7/31) I registered with a Casting Company that books people for background (extra) work on television shows and films. I knew this was going to happen. I was too freakin bored and I knew I would get a job out of boredome way before I would get a job because of financial issues. The good thing about doing background work is that while it doesn't pay a whole lot, it's some good pocket change while I'm looking for an agent, and it's also neat to get on the sets of these major motion pictures and television shows, all while making contacts with other actors, directors and producers. People average about $100 a day doing this work, and the average work day is 8-12 hours on the set. A funny thing that happened was that when I was registering with this company, I had to fill out a form with all my info, blah, blah, blah, and of course I circle African American for race. I take the form up to the lady so she can approve my form. She looks at my form, then looks at me, and without saying one word to me, RIGHT in front of my face, she scratches out "African American", and circles "Mixed" on my form!!!! Haha, I know Hollywood is all about looks and what you can "play", but the fact that she didn't say anything made it funny.

With all the stuff being made here in L.A., there is plenty of "extra" work" and this casting company has been working me everyday this week. Wednesday and Thursday (8/2 and 8/3), they called me to be a paid studio audience member on the set of Deal or No Deal. This was actually a fun show to do, and it was entertaining, but I only could have done it for 2 days, and no more. There is A LOT of clapping involved while sitting in a seat for over 8 hours. They tape about 3 or 4 contestants in a day. Obviously I can't say what the contestants won or anything, but I will say something else. The set is very entertaining on commercial breaks and in between takes. There is a comedian type guy that tells jokes, has singing contests, dance contests, etc. etc. to keep us entertained. This is some funny stuff. There was one singing contest he had, and some lady got up there and sang a Whitney Houston song. She completely butchered it, obviously. But then there was this younger girl, and guess what the hell she sang!!! "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. You know that song that the crab sings??? WTF?!?!?! Who gets up there and does that. It was sooooo funny. I love seeing people make fools of themselves. Never gets old.

Howie Mandel is actually really cool. He interacted with audience in between takes, talked to people, and he's funny. And he did something really funny on accident on the show. The contestant (a woman), was about to open a case, and asked Howie if she could rub his head for good luck. He said she could, so she did and then she opened her case. It was a really small amount, so we all cheered and all that mess, to which Howie then says, "Ahhh.....a little head is good!" Of course everyone was dying from laughter and then Howie realzied what he had said and it was that much more funny. So, to open her next case, the contestant went over to rub her husband's head (who is also bald), and her husband goes, "Well, you know, my head is bigger than Howie's". Again, laughter for like 10 minutes straight. That was a funny show and I hope all that stuff gets aired. There was one time where I was sitting right in front of the big dollar board and got a lot of camera time, so I can probably be seen. However, I won't tell any of you to watch anything (for me) until I have a speaking part.

So yesterday I got called to do a show called Dexter. This is a police/detective show that will be premiering this fall on Showtime. I played a detective. Again, I'm just background, but I was in a scene where the camera was right up in my face, so I know I can be clearly seen. Anyways, the main characters on this show are a guy from Six Feet Under (never watched that show in my life, so I didn't know this guy), a guy from The Sopranos and the girl from New York Undercover. Remember her? She looks really good in person. She's really young looking, and she's nice too. The scene that I was in, I was standing right next to Dexter (guy from Six Feet Under) with my handcuffs and gun on my belt, since I was a detective. It was fun, but I am mad at one thing. The casting company called me to work on the set of ER on Monday, and I was all excited. Then a few hours later they called me back and said that the people from Dexter wanted me back, so I had to do that. Ahhhh....ER would've been so fun with my medical background and everything. I was only going to play a hospital visitor, but still. Some of the guys on the set of Dexter told me about this other casting director who casts people for Grey's Anatomy. They said if I contacted him and told him about my medical background, and the fact that I have a white coat, stethoscope and some other tools, I could probably get something good. You know I will be all over that on Monday. I'm going to use my medical experience for anything I can here. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

It is good that I got called back for Dexter though, because anything can happen on a set. Scripts are always getting re-written and revised and changes are always being made. If a director or producer likes you, and asks you to have a speaking part on the show, even if it is just a one word line, you automatically get paid $600 for that day. That is the minimum daily pay for speaking roles in films and t.v. Pretty nice huh? There have been people who have worked as extras on these sets, and were asked to have a speaking part, and then got written into the script as a recurring role!!! It happens. That's why so many people do this. There's no better way to come in contact with the directors and producers other than auditioning. And even in auditioning, you have to read for casting driectors first and then get called back before you read for the directors and producers. However, when I do get an agent, I'll probably have to stop the background work because agents can call you with an audition to go to that same day. And if you're on a set working as an extra, you aren't allowed to leave the set, so it conflicts in that way. I try not to think about what will happen though. It's up to the universe. Whatever is supposed to happen will happen, as long as I'm doing everything in my power to stay productive and move things along.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully this was a little more juicy than some of my previous posts!

Later