Audition Follow up II

I got the part in the film.

Not a lot of details yet. Filming on the evening of September 15th.

Oh! And surprise! I’m playing a villain.

No complaints here…I like villains.

Audition followup

Well, the film audition went alright. I felt decent about it. I’ll find out tomorrow

I’m a still a little sketchy on the concept. But from the script its possible that the director/writer may have watched a little too much LEXX.

I need the film experience, so if I’m offered a role, I’ll take it.

After all, who can say no to villain roles? Certainly not me.

Pre-audition

Just a note: I’m going to really have to work to find my zen spot after work before I hit the audition. Today at work has been hell. I have been here just over 4 hours and have already taken over 70 phone calls. Its just been crazy. Its been just like being at the old job.

Help me.

I’ll update about the audition once I get home.

Audition tomorrow

After work tomorrow, at 5PM, I have an audition at the Toronto Film School.

Its for a student film, through the TFS. I’m somewhat at a loss about this audition. The director, it seems, found me through my MySpace page, and e-mailed me asking if I might be interested. I’m not one to turn down an audition, so here I am (well, here I will be tomorrow).

I’m completely uncertain what the director is looking for though. There’s been no character breakdown and no sides (sides will be provided at the audition itself). So, I’m pretty much going in blind.

Well, at the very least it will be interesting.

Web site update

I redesigned my “professional” site.

I wasn’t too happy with the way it looked. Sure, it was clean and nice looking, but it didn’t look like I “Lived there”. So I updated it and I’m quite happy with it now.

Lies and Obfuscations about file sharing

Who’s have thought that it was possible?

/sarcasm.

RIAA propaganda movie for students in desperate need of remix
The RIAA has just released a back-to-school propaganda video called “Campus Downloads” that is full of lies, half-truths, omissions, and intimidation aimed at convincing students to stay away from file-sharing.

This is such a steaming pile that it desperately needs to be remixed. Someone out there needs to make a version where every lie is interrupted with an explanation of the real story, to be shown alongside of it.

Its really too bad that more people don’t have the kind of resources that this guy does. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.

EDIT: Allow me to say that I don’t think that piracy is right. However, I do believe that the RIAA is engaged in bullying tactics, which include outright lies, in order to protect an outdated and dying distrubution system and business model.

Quick update

Just for the record, today is no better than yesterday. In fact, its worse.

Wonderful.

I thought I’d left this behind when I changed jobs. Sadly, it seems not.

Not a good start to the week

So far at work, this has been a less than stellar week (I know, its only tuesday…sad).

More and more gets piled on this department. There are expectations for us to support 4 products now, all at full time levels, when we have are staffed to support 1 product full time. As such we are dividing our time between all the products, and falling behind on everything. I’m waiting for the shit to hit the fan when they realize that we haven’t been able to do what they expect due to lack of bodies. They haven’t previously shown themselves to be understanding of this sort of thing.

To top it off, yesterday and today, we were short staffed. So, not only do we not have enough bodies to do what they are expecting on a regular day, we’re falling way behind now.

As a part of the job, I’m expected to do phone and e-mail (approximately half and half). Yesterday, I did e-mail for the first hour of the day. After that…it was all phones. It was the same for everyone else. And today, I can see how much that hurt us. There’s almost double the mail that there was yesterday.

I’m getting really tired of this.

Yes, the job is less stressful than the last one, but that doesn’t actually show signs of continuing. I’m watching everyone’s stress level go up, even the people who were so happy with this place before.

To top that off, I have a serious toothache right now. I broke a tooth in Montreal, and (like an idiot) I procrastinated on seeing a dentist, because, until now, there was no real pain. Last night, however, it started to hurt. When I woke up this morning, I thought I would be fine, but now the tooth is hurting again. And my insurance doesn’t kick in until the end of September. Which is a pain.

I admit, however, that I am afraid of dentists. I always have been. Or rather, I have been since I didn’t go to one for…oh…over 10 years (that’s what going that long without health insurance will do). Now, I have 5 teeth that need to be pulled. I know this. I’ve been told this. I could have avoided this pain before if I’d had the work done when I was first told about it. But my fear of dentists (and dentist-induced pain) caused me to put it off. And now look where I am.

This is a bad situation. I have no idea how much it would cost to have these teeth dealt with, but I’m betting its not cheap. And I’m such a coward about this whole dentist thing, that if I’d want to be put under. The thought of the dentist with his knee on my chest pulling the tooth really just makes me ill. I’d hate to see what actually witnessing it would do. But anaesthetic would drive up the price hugely, I’m sure.

At this point, all I want to do is get through this horrible week as quickly as possible.

Wish me luck.

Music and Writing

I find music a highly inspiring thing, especially when writing. Music takes me through the various emotions that I have mapped out for a piece, and helps me visualize and feel the parts I am writing. It helps me visualize the characters, as I tend to select a theme for each one: a song that sums up the character (or in some cases, the character in that scene).

Unfortunately, although I find the music very helpful, it is also distracting. I find it difficult to listen in a passive manner. The music can’t just be background for me. I listen to it too actively.

And so, the music is both a help and a hindrance. So, tonight I’m trying a bit of an experiment, writing in relative silence, going between the music and the writing.

Let’s see how that works.

Snakes on a Plane review

I loved it. This movie was exactly what I was expecting.

This comes with a caveat: if you like your movies with a seamless plot, where there are no plot holes or where there are no lapses in logic, then this movie is not for you.

However, if you are willing to turn your brain off and just enjoy it, then this movie is great fun.

Snakes on a Plane is a cheesey movie. In some cases this would be bad, but not here. SoaP knows its cheesey and revels in it. It is unashamed of its cheesey-ness. The movie knows that there are holes in the plot. It knows that you can pick out the characters that are going to die from the moment they walk on screen. And the movie does not care.

Think of a movie like picking someone up at a bar. You know that there’s no substance…nothing long term. You’re just doing it for the moment, to have a good time. That’s what this movie is. Its not going to buy you dinner. Its not going to pay for drinks. But it is going to show you a good time.

This is the kind of movie where you comment at the screen and everyone cheers you on. This is the kind of movie where a doomed character walks on the screen and you point it out, the crowd applauds.

Sadly, this movie has no life outside the movie theatre. This is not a “see it on DVD movie”. This movie works best in a theatre with a lot of other people. In a few months, I hope that a small revue theatre starts a monthly showing. Because that’s the setting this movie works best in. A crowd who just wants to have a good time, and laugh at dialogue or logic lapses or plot holes.

This movie doesn’t have a slow build. There’s setup, and then SNAKES ON A PLANE. Even the snakes dont’ get a buildup. There’s no slow introduction of the snakes. When the snakes hit, they hit big, and there’s PANDEMONIUM. There’s nothing subtle, no suspense. Its just…SNAKES ON A PLANE.

Like I said: its exactly what I was hoping for. Its a blast.