I am literally drowning in work at my desk: invoices, shipments, updating the reception manual before the new girl starts.
And I haven't had any real caffeine today: I was trying to avoid coffee in an effort to cleanse my system. Then I realized it was stupid. Now I'm going to make myself a cappuccino and get down to business.
Sit tight, I have a story from last night and I will hopefully get to it before the end of today.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Strike A Pose!
Labels:
Helpful Hints,
Small Indulgences,
What Am I Doing?
My favourite Ginger co-worker just alerted me to a new yoga studio in our office neighbourhood. Trinity Yoga has opened its doors this week. Located at 65 Bellwoods Avenue, Unit 3, it is offering free yoga and pilates classes for the month of January! The fine print: they ask for a one-time $10 donation to The Redwood, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence; you have to register (but it's super easy); and you are limited to three classes per week. As far as fine print goes, not bad. They haven't yet announced what their rates will be after January but it is definitely worth checking out, what do you have to lose?
I am registered for a class this weekend and three next week. I need to get myself back in shape and I need some exercise. But I hate going to the gym. Loathe. It's fine once I'm there, but it's an ordeal to drag myself there and, no matter how well it goes, it will be an even bigger ordeal to drag myself back. This is a much better solution to the problem.
I think we all need exercise. But I also think you have to find the exercise that makes sense for you. You want whatever you do to be sustainable. It should enhance your life, not make you miserable. I would encourage you to look into what works for you. I'll be at Trinity!
I am registered for a class this weekend and three next week. I need to get myself back in shape and I need some exercise. But I hate going to the gym. Loathe. It's fine once I'm there, but it's an ordeal to drag myself there and, no matter how well it goes, it will be an even bigger ordeal to drag myself back. This is a much better solution to the problem.
I think we all need exercise. But I also think you have to find the exercise that makes sense for you. You want whatever you do to be sustainable. It should enhance your life, not make you miserable. I would encourage you to look into what works for you. I'll be at Trinity!
The neck bone is connected to...
Today I want to talk about one of the many bits of wisdom I picked up in Theatre School. Now, Theatre School is quite different from, say, Business School or Medical School or any other kind of School. It’s unconventional, to say the least. The good Theatre Schools are, anyway, and my alma mater certainly falls into that category.
Today’s lesson is about how Casting Directors have no imagination. You, as an actor and potential castee, must spell it out for them. For some casting directors (and I do know some) this is not the case. But for many, especially the ones who don’t love their jobs and aren’t particularly successful, it is. And here is a story to illustrate my point.
In my final year at Theatre School, I spent a semesterhaving my soul sucked out by a camera learning how to act for film and television; it is a completely different art form than theatre. As part of this foray into the dark side we were required to meet every Monday night with industry professionals. These included casting directors, commercial casting directors, agents, and managers. It was, well, interesting.
The majority of people who came in were nice and encouraging. Some were even intelligent. The best of them tended to be of the agent or manager persuasion, though there were a few bitter ex-actors thrown in: word of advice, you don’t ever want to work with one of these. The worst tended to be commercial casting directors. My disclaimer is, of course, that not all casting directors or commercial casting directors are like this. But you should probably go in expecting them to be; if they aren’t, consider it a pleasant surprise.
My group’s first encounter was with a commercial casting director who we’ll call “Horace” (Why “Horace?” Why not?). The idea was for him to impart the wisdom of his experience to the eager little actors before we took turns readingmindless drivel commercial copy for him. The reality was that this man obviously had not much of a personal life and viewed this as a phenomenal opportunity for him to command an audience and run the show. He certainly thought he was charismatic. And maybe in real life Horace is a wonderful person, but all signs pointed to Loser. It was almost sad. Almost.
Horace rambled on at length about everything we absolutely must do in order to get a job. None of it was original, insightful, helpful, or even accurate. I was fortunate enough to have had a much better source of career advice the previous semester. Anyway, in the course of regurgitating the text of every bad book on how to break into show business, he starts on the topic of headshots, a topic frequently obsessed over by actors, significantly less so by everyone with the power to actually give you a job. And out of the pile, he grabs mine.
My headshot is, admittedly, a faux headshot. My senior picture was a black and white headshot and used to serve this purpose incredibly well, but that picture was taken when I was 17. I look a bit different now. The current headshot (and I do need to have new ones done) is actually an impromptu snapshot of me taken by my boyfriend, The Photographer, with a professional camera whilst walking through the woods in England. How romantic. I am wearing a cashmere scarf/shawl, my hands are in the picture, and I look about to laugh or do something mischievous. So it isn’t really a traditional headshot but here is why I use it:
1. It looks like me on a good day. So I look good. But it also looks like me when I walk into an audition. Subsequent comments on this headshot have, indeed, included, “Wow, this actually looks like you.”
2. It is interesting. At least, I think so. It says something about me and isn’t just me posing nicely for the camera. Your headshot is supposed to get people interested. There is nothing particularly interesting in just smiling for the camera. My point is, this picture shows my personality. Another subsequent comment: “Great picture.”
3. I like it. Plain and simple. Given that I could not (and still cannot so much) afford “real” headshots, it was and is the best alternative.
Horace’s comment?
“Look at this! This is a bad picture. I can’t tell what you look like, I can’t even tell if you have a neck!?! Do you have a neck?”
Well, Horace, if I don’t have a neck, how do you suppose my head is attached?
Today’s lesson is about how Casting Directors have no imagination. You, as an actor and potential castee, must spell it out for them. For some casting directors (and I do know some) this is not the case. But for many, especially the ones who don’t love their jobs and aren’t particularly successful, it is. And here is a story to illustrate my point.
In my final year at Theatre School, I spent a semester
The majority of people who came in were nice and encouraging. Some were even intelligent. The best of them tended to be of the agent or manager persuasion, though there were a few bitter ex-actors thrown in: word of advice, you don’t ever want to work with one of these. The worst tended to be commercial casting directors. My disclaimer is, of course, that not all casting directors or commercial casting directors are like this. But you should probably go in expecting them to be; if they aren’t, consider it a pleasant surprise.
My group’s first encounter was with a commercial casting director who we’ll call “Horace” (Why “Horace?” Why not?). The idea was for him to impart the wisdom of his experience to the eager little actors before we took turns reading
Horace rambled on at length about everything we absolutely must do in order to get a job. None of it was original, insightful, helpful, or even accurate. I was fortunate enough to have had a much better source of career advice the previous semester. Anyway, in the course of regurgitating the text of every bad book on how to break into show business, he starts on the topic of headshots, a topic frequently obsessed over by actors, significantly less so by everyone with the power to actually give you a job. And out of the pile, he grabs mine.
My headshot is, admittedly, a faux headshot. My senior picture was a black and white headshot and used to serve this purpose incredibly well, but that picture was taken when I was 17. I look a bit different now. The current headshot (and I do need to have new ones done) is actually an impromptu snapshot of me taken by my boyfriend, The Photographer, with a professional camera whilst walking through the woods in England. How romantic. I am wearing a cashmere scarf/shawl, my hands are in the picture, and I look about to laugh or do something mischievous. So it isn’t really a traditional headshot but here is why I use it:
1. It looks like me on a good day. So I look good. But it also looks like me when I walk into an audition. Subsequent comments on this headshot have, indeed, included, “Wow, this actually looks like you.”
2. It is interesting. At least, I think so. It says something about me and isn’t just me posing nicely for the camera. Your headshot is supposed to get people interested. There is nothing particularly interesting in just smiling for the camera. My point is, this picture shows my personality. Another subsequent comment: “Great picture.”
3. I like it. Plain and simple. Given that I could not (and still cannot so much) afford “real” headshots, it was and is the best alternative.
Horace’s comment?
“Look at this! This is a bad picture. I can’t tell what you look like, I can’t even tell if you have a neck!?! Do you have a neck?”
Well, Horace, if I don’t have a neck, how do you suppose my head is attached?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Self-Sabotage. Or Is It?
I have an audition tomorrow night and, true to form, no audition monologue. Or, rather, I have options and have just not yet chosen one. I've been tempted to cancel the audition approximately 6,315,479 times in the last week but I will not allow myself to be such a cop out. It's my own fault because this is how I roll, but I honestly did think I would have more time to work on it and that time all just flew by. I will no doubt be memorizing something at my desk tomorrow. But then again, this is how I got into theatre school. And RADA. So it has a reasonable history of success. How will it serve me this time? I shall keep you posted.
Not only is it my generation, but apparently my classmates...
I may have, at some point, mentioned my distaste for reality television and how I think it is destroying our culture and our minds. I'm sure I could go on about it ad nauseum but, frankly, I have more important things to do today. I will, however, note that MTV has begun their onslaught of "reality" fodder, premiering both The City and Bromance. Neither of which I will be watching. The reason I am even bringing this up is that it came up somewhere in my Google Reader this morning and I realized that I actually know one of the girls on The City, Erin. She lived down the hall from me my first year at university and I was friends with her roommate. Small world, I suppose. And sad world. I don't know her well at all and I haven't seen her in a few years, but she was always nice enough to me and she seemed reasonably intelligent. At least, intelligent enough to get that this is probably not a great idea. I am sick to death of people who are famous for nothing. What happened to the time when we admired people with talent, courage, charisma, perseverance, or any other redeeming quality?
On a more positive note, welcome to my new (and first) blog follower! Nice to have you...
On a more positive note, welcome to my new (and first) blog follower! Nice to have you...
This will, indeed, rock you.
Labels:
Go See It,
The Locals
Last night was my first trip to the theatre in longer than I care to think about. This hiatus from theatre-going has been due largely to a) lack of funds and b) lack of theatre (I lived in Michigan for nine months, it isn't exactly a hot spot for theatrical production). So I ventured out last night with a very cool friend of my mother--The Sludge--to see We Will Rock You at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto.
Now, this show isn't exactly high art, which is apparent in the fact that you can bring your intermission beer to your seat with you in a plastic cup, but I like Queen's music so I was willing to give it a shot. And I went in more or less knowing what to expect: We Will Rock You was in the West End when I was in London and my friends used to second act it on a semi-regular basis. We won't even go into the ethics of second acting. I only mention it to explain that I already had a good idea of the premise. Which is far fetched. And kitschy. But, in fairness, it does lead to some funny moments.
Set 300 odd years in the future, the global corporation running the world has banned music, namely rock and roll. Think Brave New World and 1984. Probably more Brave New World. Anyway, there are rebels, of course, called Bohemians, who oppose the corporation's rule. They are only waiting for their leader to fulfill a prophecy and overthrow their oppressors. Enter Galileo Figaro (the names are totally hilarious and ridiculous all around), the one they've been waiting for. He dreams of music and frequently spouts lyrics from old songs. I'm sure you can more or less imagine where it goes from here...The funny is all in the cultural references and double entendres that arise out of the mish mash of lyrics and names that form much of the dialogue--the main Bohemian before Galileo shows up is a big guy named Hillary Duff. You get the idea...
Overall, it isn't really a great show. The choreography is stiff, the staging is perhaps the worst I've ever seen outside a high school auditorium, the video screens that form much of the set get old and are rarely used in an interesting or innovative way, and almost none of the costumes are good. This all being said, there are some golden moments. Everyone has a good voice and there is really something endearing about the performance of Erica Peck, who dropped out of Sheridan College's Musical Theatre Program to take the part. And Jack Langedijk pretty much steals the show around the end of the second act. Plus, they've rewritten much of the show to include Canadian cultural references--including a shout out to Maple Leaf Gardens.
I think it's worth seeing--it is fun. But here's the catch: I wouldn't pay regular price for a ticket. I am all for supporting our local artists and the cast is, I believe, all Canadian. But in the current economy, you'd be nuts to pay full price to go see this. Fortunately, our dear friends at Mirvish have some good promotions happening. Namely, $20 Tuesdays. Every ticket in the house is $20 on Tuesdays. Failing that, rush tickets day of are about the same. So if you need some fun and you like Queen, drop the $20 and check it out.
Now, this show isn't exactly high art, which is apparent in the fact that you can bring your intermission beer to your seat with you in a plastic cup, but I like Queen's music so I was willing to give it a shot. And I went in more or less knowing what to expect: We Will Rock You was in the West End when I was in London and my friends used to second act it on a semi-regular basis. We won't even go into the ethics of second acting. I only mention it to explain that I already had a good idea of the premise. Which is far fetched. And kitschy. But, in fairness, it does lead to some funny moments.
Set 300 odd years in the future, the global corporation running the world has banned music, namely rock and roll. Think Brave New World and 1984. Probably more Brave New World. Anyway, there are rebels, of course, called Bohemians, who oppose the corporation's rule. They are only waiting for their leader to fulfill a prophecy and overthrow their oppressors. Enter Galileo Figaro (the names are totally hilarious and ridiculous all around), the one they've been waiting for. He dreams of music and frequently spouts lyrics from old songs. I'm sure you can more or less imagine where it goes from here...The funny is all in the cultural references and double entendres that arise out of the mish mash of lyrics and names that form much of the dialogue--the main Bohemian before Galileo shows up is a big guy named Hillary Duff. You get the idea...
Overall, it isn't really a great show. The choreography is stiff, the staging is perhaps the worst I've ever seen outside a high school auditorium, the video screens that form much of the set get old and are rarely used in an interesting or innovative way, and almost none of the costumes are good. This all being said, there are some golden moments. Everyone has a good voice and there is really something endearing about the performance of Erica Peck, who dropped out of Sheridan College's Musical Theatre Program to take the part. And Jack Langedijk pretty much steals the show around the end of the second act. Plus, they've rewritten much of the show to include Canadian cultural references--including a shout out to Maple Leaf Gardens.
I think it's worth seeing--it is fun. But here's the catch: I wouldn't pay regular price for a ticket. I am all for supporting our local artists and the cast is, I believe, all Canadian. But in the current economy, you'd be nuts to pay full price to go see this. Fortunately, our dear friends at Mirvish have some good promotions happening. Namely, $20 Tuesdays. Every ticket in the house is $20 on Tuesdays. Failing that, rush tickets day of are about the same. So if you need some fun and you like Queen, drop the $20 and check it out.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Victory.
Labels:
Award Winners
A great moment for Canada's other art last night. While less exciting than their games against the USA on New Year's Eve and Russia on Saturday night, Team Canada nonetheless brought home the gold for the fifth straight time in the World Juniors Hockey Championship. Roy MacGregor's account of the victory is here in The Globe and Mail--I love the nuanced ways in which our patriotism displays itself. An excellent beginning to 2009.
Photo credit: The Canadian Press via tsn.ca
Monday, January 5, 2009
2009.
Labels:
The Lost Year,
What Am I Doing?
I long ago gave up on making big plans for New Year's Eve as very rarely did the fancy, expensive plans live up to expectations. Without a doubt, I have had some excellent New Year's Eve experiences, but, more often than not, the best ones were spent just hanging out with a few favourite people. One of the best to date was dinner and a movie with my long-distance boyfriend. This year was watching the World Juniors Canada vs. USA game on TSN and popping the cork on a bottle of cheap champagne (each) with our friends The Medics. The only thing that was different this New Year was that I thought about what exactly the whole event means to me...
I appreciate that a new year offers a clean slate and a fresh start but I don't believe in resolutions. I think that if we want something, we should go after it whatever the month may be. Why wait for the New Year? And why give it a title? Why not just do it because you want to or because you need to? I think we set ourselves up for failure most of the time. Certainly there are things I want to accomplish this year--the things I didn't get to last year, as well as some new ideas--but I will get to them in due course and one at a time. I could call them New Year's Resolutions. But I am not starting them just because it's a new year and I am not doing them all at once. I've learned that this inevitably leads to not accomplishing anything. Instead, I will focus and accomplish one thing at a time: focus will be my watchword this year. That is as far as it goes for now...
And thinking about the next year caused me to pause and consider the last year, too. 2008 was really hard for me. I would call it miserable, but I'm secretly a positive person and now that I have some distance and perspective...well, it was miserable at times, but it wasn't a waste. It was a hard year and I learned a lot. I am at a crossroads in my life, definitely, and I am still figuring out where I am going and, more importantly, how to get there. But I'm getting closer and this past year helped me, awful as it frequently was. It was a year for learning how to deal with roadblocks in a life that has heretofore gone more or less according to plan. Hopefully this next year will be better. I will do everything I can to make it better.
I don't do lists. At least, not the traditional "Best of" or "Worst of" lists we so frequently see at this time of year. I think they are subjective and silly and serve poorly to sum up all the stories of a year in the life of our planet. And they have such finality. Years don't just end. They ebb away, they bleed into each other, they clash, they sustain each other...They are not independent entities. It's a continuum.
But, for me, 2009 is a new chapter in a lot of ways. A blank page. So here's to writing it as best I can...
I appreciate that a new year offers a clean slate and a fresh start but I don't believe in resolutions. I think that if we want something, we should go after it whatever the month may be. Why wait for the New Year? And why give it a title? Why not just do it because you want to or because you need to? I think we set ourselves up for failure most of the time. Certainly there are things I want to accomplish this year--the things I didn't get to last year, as well as some new ideas--but I will get to them in due course and one at a time. I could call them New Year's Resolutions. But I am not starting them just because it's a new year and I am not doing them all at once. I've learned that this inevitably leads to not accomplishing anything. Instead, I will focus and accomplish one thing at a time: focus will be my watchword this year. That is as far as it goes for now...
And thinking about the next year caused me to pause and consider the last year, too. 2008 was really hard for me. I would call it miserable, but I'm secretly a positive person and now that I have some distance and perspective...well, it was miserable at times, but it wasn't a waste. It was a hard year and I learned a lot. I am at a crossroads in my life, definitely, and I am still figuring out where I am going and, more importantly, how to get there. But I'm getting closer and this past year helped me, awful as it frequently was. It was a year for learning how to deal with roadblocks in a life that has heretofore gone more or less according to plan. Hopefully this next year will be better. I will do everything I can to make it better.
I don't do lists. At least, not the traditional "Best of" or "Worst of" lists we so frequently see at this time of year. I think they are subjective and silly and serve poorly to sum up all the stories of a year in the life of our planet. And they have such finality. Years don't just end. They ebb away, they bleed into each other, they clash, they sustain each other...They are not independent entities. It's a continuum.
But, for me, 2009 is a new chapter in a lot of ways. A blank page. So here's to writing it as best I can...
Monday, December 22, 2008
Adrian Mitchell
Labels:
The Departed
Adrian Mitchell, celebrated British poet and playwright, passed away Saturday at the age of 76 due to heart failure. In his lifetime, he produced a body of work to rival the very best, from the Greeks to the modern day, while seeking to make poetry more accessible to everyone. He left journalism to write more and quickly became a part of the growing British movement for performed poetry in the early 1960s. He went on to work in the theatre, adapting classics and writing new works with such theatre artists as Peter Brook. The last of his 15 volumes of poems will be published next year."Across the spectrum of his prolific output, through wars, oppressions and deceptive victories, he remained a beacon of hope in darkening times." Michael Kustow, The Guardian
Photo www.bbc.co.uk
Why Won't "Reality" Television Die?
Labels:
Coming Soon,
Seriously?,
The Biz,
The Boob Tube
MTV has just announced that they have 16 new reality shows in the works. 16?! Apparently ratings have slipped (or tumbled) causing them to rethink their programming choices to hold on to that coveted youth demographic.
But, here's the thing, I am not an effing demographic. And I, frankly, cannot deal with anymore mindless MTV drivel being paraded around like content. Nor do we need anymore Speidis or Hiltons, people with no real talents who are famous for nothing. We're not talking about the competition shows, either, like American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance? or Top Chef or whatever else where the contestants actually have to do something (not that those are all good shows, but at least they have to do something other than shop and party). We're talking about The Hills or Real Housewives or any other show that follows random people around with cameras and attempts to sell it as "reality" after editing it down to 22 episodes that resemble poorly scripted melodramas. And it isn't a documentary even if it has the production values of one; very little of it, if any, nowadays is at all enlightening or insightful. Newsflash: this kind of programming is no more "reality" than scripted television, this just means they don't have to pay writers. Which is why it continues to exist: "Reality" television is cheaper to produce. Plain and simple. Rebel, I say!
And, meanwhile, it is contributing to the dumbing down of my generation. Plus, it takes away jobs from our creative classes--writers. directors, actors, etc. Is mindlessness really what we need in the world right now? Or couldn't we argue that this is the kind of thing that helped get us to where we are now (big, messy, undeclared war, global recession, tanking economy, bickering politicians, etc)? We need some intelligence on our screens and some responsibility from those giant corporate networks. Or we need to turn the TVs off, which is still not the right route to go because there is some interesting work being done there. Maybe we all need to take a step back and reassess our values.
And this is my rant for today.
But, here's the thing, I am not an effing demographic. And I, frankly, cannot deal with anymore mindless MTV drivel being paraded around like content. Nor do we need anymore Speidis or Hiltons, people with no real talents who are famous for nothing. We're not talking about the competition shows, either, like American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance? or Top Chef or whatever else where the contestants actually have to do something (not that those are all good shows, but at least they have to do something other than shop and party). We're talking about The Hills or Real Housewives or any other show that follows random people around with cameras and attempts to sell it as "reality" after editing it down to 22 episodes that resemble poorly scripted melodramas. And it isn't a documentary even if it has the production values of one; very little of it, if any, nowadays is at all enlightening or insightful. Newsflash: this kind of programming is no more "reality" than scripted television, this just means they don't have to pay writers. Which is why it continues to exist: "Reality" television is cheaper to produce. Plain and simple. Rebel, I say!
And, meanwhile, it is contributing to the dumbing down of my generation. Plus, it takes away jobs from our creative classes--writers. directors, actors, etc. Is mindlessness really what we need in the world right now? Or couldn't we argue that this is the kind of thing that helped get us to where we are now (big, messy, undeclared war, global recession, tanking economy, bickering politicians, etc)? We need some intelligence on our screens and some responsibility from those giant corporate networks. Or we need to turn the TVs off, which is still not the right route to go because there is some interesting work being done there. Maybe we all need to take a step back and reassess our values.
And this is my rant for today.
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