Million Dollar Baby

Heartbreaking.

I don’t throw sappy words like that around lightly. The thing that struck me most was how quietly everyone left the theatre. The theatre wasn’t packed, but it only takes one person to make a sound and no one did. We were all thinking Would I have done that? I don’t think so. But I might have. I don’t know.

I really don’t even know what to say. I’m almost afraid anything I’d write would just be superficial and hokey. I’ll say this: Movies like this are the reason I first considered acting and screenwriting. Movies like these are the ones that count, they’re the ones that affect people. What I just saw wasn’t entertainment, it was something else. Something more.

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Buddies’ Band ’bout to Blow Up

Ok, I generally don’t refer directly to other people on my blog, but this is a special occasion. My friends Chris and Casey have started a band called northsouth and it’s ramping up to speed pretty quickly. They just finished recording their first EP and it should be for sale starting in January. You can hear the EP and see where their upcoming shows are at their website. I’ve got a link over on the sidebar.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to sit in for a show with them or something. I guess I’d have to do that before they’re too famous to remember who the heck I am.

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Reading Sanford Meisner On Acting

Another student in my Meisner class told me he’s been reading this book and it’s helped him out a lot. I started reading it yesterday and it’s already been very helpful. The first thing I’ve noticed is that our class went much faster than Meisner did with his classes. After two weeks, we were where he was in over a month.

Moreover, it seems he was a little less strict with his repetition exercise than our instructor has been. This is true for a few aspects of the exercise. First, our instructor seems to want us to keep repeating each line for quite a while. I know there’s a fine line between flowing in repetition and doing a scene, but I always felt like we were closer to repetition than doing a scene while our instructor seemed to feel the opposite. I’m not saying I think she was wrong, just that we were more right than we thought. Also, one thing Meisner seems to emphasize is that we not say anything until we feel we need to say it, until our partner does something that makes us want to speak. This has been something I’ve felt is necessary and yet I’ve felt our instructor pushing us to answer quickly and passionately… problem is I often don’t feel like answering right away and the passion isn’t there.

Overall, I think the book is giving me more of a perspective on what Meisner intended with his technique. I have been gleaning little bits from my class, but I’ve also felt sort of helpless and lost for a good portion of it. This book is filling in the gaps and answering lots of questions. Before our final session, I intend to read and re-read the first few chapters of the book since they cover what we’ve done in class. Hopefully, I’ll understand it better and perform better for our last session.

One thing I’m seeing more and more is that I have to get out of my head with this exercise. It’s frustrating because we moved so quickly into adding levels of complexity to the exercise that I almost have to stay in my head in order to just keep afloat. What I mean is that we have several levels to each exercise: my activity, my expectation of who’s coming to the door, my interpretation of the knock at the door and finally the need of the person on the other side of the door. We take all this into account and then do the repetition exercise. Problem is I never became totally comfortable with the raw exercise itself: two people repeating a line.

Anyway, I think I’m learning a lot, especially now that I’m supplementing the class with the book. Hopefully I’ll be better prepared by the time we meet again and I’ll do better work.

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Back from L.A.

I’ve been back for a few days, but I’ve been too lazy to post. Go figure.

Anyway, my time in L.A. was great. I went to the Santa Monica Pier, hung out with a good friend, met a VP at Sony Pictures and got a free lunch, got a free tour of Sony Picture Studios, got hooked up with a free copy of Angels & Demons (I hear it’s good), got my headshots done, and saw Garden State.

Now, let’s get right to Garden State, shall we? I remember a teaser a long time ago where the announcer guy said, “Rolling Stone calls it the seminal movie of this generation” Obviously, I was interested because I wouldn’t want to miss something so important to my generation. I knew Zach Braff (”Scrubs guy”) was in it and I heard Natalie Portman co-starred, but that’s about all I knew. Turns out it’s a fantastic movie. I’ve been seeing a lot of those lately, but this one took the cake.

The plot is solid and poignant, the soundtrack is awesome, the acting is perfect and the movie comes together nicely to tell a great story that I can largely sympathize with (I chose “with” as the preposition to end that sentence with). I don’t want to spoil anything, but the movie just hits so many things right on the head; relationships first among those things. The movie explores many different types of relationships and seems to understand each type completely.

I need to stop rambling because I’m not even beginning to do this film justice. I’ll be buying it when it comes out on DVD in December.

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Wow.

Yeah, that gets its own sentence, its own paragraph. What a fantastic film. Charlie Kaufman simply has a knack for writing unusual but wonderful screenplays and in Eternal Sunshine, just as in Adaptation, his writing is complimented with fantastic acting.

This film defies those who would insist on pigeon-holing it into either a plot-driven or a character-driven piece. It’s both and it’s neither; it’s really about something that is written so well between the lines that it is the lines. I sound like I’m trying to be profound, but I’m not. It is profound and I’m simply having trouble processing everything.

Kaufman floats the idea of a true love, but he contradicts that idea with a persistent lust of a kind that manifests itself almost identically. Even as I’m writing, other contrasts and comparisons are coming to mind. The entire movie is about points of view, perspectives and human nature.

Gaudry does a fantastic job of capturing things so etherreal as the mind and memory, and does an even better job of showing us what it might look like to have one’s memories erased. I was also impressed with the overlapping sets that are frequently utilized and the use of light as a sort of character in itself.

I expect Oscar nods for Kaufman, Carey, Winslet and possibly Michel Gondry and I look forward to Kaufman’s next screenplay.

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Florida: Days 6 through 8

Well, power was restored here a couple days ago and we finally got cable/internet back up today. This trip has been a lot different than my last trip because it’s basically been about seeing people and spending time with them. Usually, I spend time with people by getting a meal with them. My routine has been to wake up around 10:30, go to lunch with someone around noon, then come home and nap or whatever, then go to dinner with someone else (usually a group) around 6:00 or so, then hang out and play cards or something till around 2 AM.

Last time I was here, I spent more time playing frisbee golf and basketball and stuff like that. Ironically, though the two trips are a lot different, they’re very similar in that my goal is to spend as much time with my friends as possible. Last time, it worked out so I was playing sports with them; this time, I have spent my time just sitting around and eating with them. Both experiences have been equally fulfilling.

Last night, I went to a Crusade meeting and I was really impressed with how well it went. The emcees were great and the meeting flowed smoothly and was effective. I enjoyed it and I had a great time seeing everyone while I was there.

Tonight, I’m getting the crew together to head out to Newberry for Newberry Backyard BBQ–the best babyback ribs I’ve ever had. Then, we’re going to come back here and watch the FSU vs. Miami game. Hopefully, FSU will lose by a field goal. I guess the only thing better than that would be if they lost by a field goal that was allowed by some ridiculous oversight by the ref’s.

Only a few more days and I’m headed back to Texas. Looks like I’ll be traveling a lot over the next few months: First week in October, I’m going to be in LA; Third week in October, I’ll be in LA; Thanksgiving, I’ll be in Florida; Christmas, I’ll be in Florida and Atlanta. All this traveling is already putting a huge damper on my workout schedule. It’s a hard-knock life.

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Florida: Days 1 and 2 Well, my plane ride in was uneventful and quick. My only beef was that the A/C on the plane was weak and it was freakin’ hot the whole way to Florida. The hurricane has been a non-factor so far in my trip. Some friends picked me up at the airport and we immediately headed for Outback for some Cheesefries and a Special. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and talking. Friday, I spent the day with my family (as is my tradition when I come back this way). I had some great conversations and spent quality time with my parents and the rest of my family. At night, a couple of my buddies drove up from Gainesville and picked me up. We headed back to G-ville and played some poker till about 5 AM. That’s about it so far. We’re headed out to lunch pretty soon.

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Inside the Actor’s Studio: Harrison Ford

I’ve seen many episodes of this show, but Harrison Ford’s interview is up at the top of the list as far as content and honesty. I have learned little things from others’ interviews, but it seemed like almost everything he had to say was something I could use as I pursue acting as a career. Ultimately, I think the thing that floored me most was his humility, a characteristic not often demonstrated by actors and others in ‘the business’.

This one’s under ‘Keep until I delete’ on my TiVo.

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Gettin’ ready for vacation

I haven’t had much going on lately because, in one way or another, I’ve been constantly preparing to go to Florida. I spent 8 hours at ‘the office’ (or ‘my cubicle’) this weekend and I’ve been trying to get everything done that I need done before I go: finish my workout cycle, get in some cardio, buy luggage, buy other clothes and stuff, etc. I leave Thursday afternoon and that leaves less than four days to tie up all loose ends and get ready to leave Texas for 10 days.

Pencil me in

I’m already trying to set up appointments, dinners and the like with my friends in Gainesville. While I’m a big fan of living on the fly, sometimes it’s necessary to intentionally set time up to spend with people, especially when I know they may or may not be hanging around where I am. Of course, I’m already looking forward to making a trip (or two?) to Newberry Backyard BBQ, Leonardo’s (deep dish pizza), Burrito Bros., Mellow Mushroom, and probably a bunch of other places around Gainesville. Anyway, I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve basically been preparing to leave. I know it sounds a little ludicrous to spend a week preparing to go on a 10-day vacation, but I like to get things done right and this is how I do that.

Braum’s

All this time in Texas and I’d never gone to Braum’s until today. I decided to drop in and try a shake because a buddy of mine at the gym said they’re pretty good. Turns out he was right. I went with the old standby (for me): strawberry. It was thick, filling and super tasty. I may’ve found a new vice.

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Coasting along

I haven’t posted much recently because I haven’t done much recently. My basketball team played our 7th and final game of the season on Wednesday and we won by about 20. I probably played my best game at Point Guard, although I didn’t have many points to prove it (I think I finished with 7). Our team played well and it’ll be interesting to see how we do in the playoffs starting Wednesday. Fortunately, our first game is against another team that we beat by 20 (and they ran 10 guys to our 6), so hopefully we’ll win again and continue working on a team strategy that will work for us. So far, it seems to work with me at Point because I do a good job of bringing the ball up, but also because it allows the other guys to play in the positions where they’re most comfortable (wings and post).

Online Poker

Next week, I’ll probably start playing a little poker online for real money. I think I’ll initially stick to playing “Sit N Gos”, which are basically one- or two-table tournaments where the top four places finish in the money. Because I feel more comfortable and confident in tournaments, I figure I’ll start with these to build up my bankroll before I start playing cash games. Above all, I’ll be playing only with the money I’ve put into my account for the next month. In a month, I’ll evaluate and decide where to go from there. If I’m up, I’ll just keep playing online. If I’ve lost the cash I allotted myself, I’ll have to decide whether to try again or find another hobby.

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