Second, if I were to go to the most REMOTE ISLAND in the world, then I would need really cool and portable gear. Not sure how many trees are on the most REMOTE ISLAND in the world, but I'm sure I'll need to chop something at some point on the hikes throughout the lush and rocky terrain.
Thankfully, the Kick AXe was invented. This wicked little Sci-Fi inspired gadget, looks like something Ripley would have used to cave in the skull of the Queen Xenomorph. It folds up quick and easy and provides you with that chopping tool you need out in the wild. Because, banging your knife with a rock get's old after a while.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Gear Sighting: Kick AXe
Doug Dodges a Bullet
So, there was some big time flack at a big time board meeting held by SAG in L.A. this week. The big story that was leaked from the 30 hour marathon session was the fact that Doug Alan, lead negotiator for SAG in the War against the AMPTP, was going to be removed from his position. Variety reported on it, many news sources reported on the leak 'from the inside'. However, when the board members emerged from the secret battle grounds, nothing had changed, and the proposed Strike Authorization vote would go on as scheduled (next week). If you need any further evidence that SAG is fundamentally broken, this would be it. 30 straight hours of deliberation and NOTHING CHANGED!
Want to Get Away?
I have to admit... part of me longs to be unplugged for a short amount of time... I think all of us just want to get away every once in a while and leave our obligations behind. It's part of being human. I think this place might be a great place to completely get away from it all. It's the most remote island on the planet.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Broadway pain to Broadway fun... or not.
When life gives you lemons... then do what SNL does... make your first poignant and relevant sketch since the campains.
When Broadway Finally Dies...
I hesitate writing this blog, because in many ways it's deeply depressing for me to finally acknowledge the writing on the wall. Back in October of 2008, I wrote this post about the possible impact that the arts could expect from the current economic downturn. While, I discussed the overall potential for the limitation of an earning wage for art driven organizations and the artists themselves, my overall point of that article was to reflect that an artist big picture goal is to serve a community during the most troubled of times.
While, I still believe that philosophy holds the weight of a tidal wave, it's becoming hard out there for one of the most endangered mediums of American Art... Theater.
Broadway is in many ways an institution. The NYC street is not so much a geographical hub of theatrical innovation, but in many ways, it's a symbol of the potential of what theater can be. It's been a measurement of success for actors, artists, playwrights, producers and directors. It is also one of the few places America has, where we can point and say... "Hey, we're culturally relevant." However, if you read the writing on the wall, Theater is dying in America. Broadway's swan song is imminent.
This month Broadway will close some of it's most successful shows, because they simply cannot go on in their current state. Prices are too high, and patrons with available cash are too few. No city in America felt the collapse of investment banking harder than New York. And if they investment bankers are turning to jobs flipping burgers, there isn't a whole lot of folks out there ready to drop $120 bucks on a pair of nosebleeds to see "Wicked". The show model of "Bigger is not only Better, it's more lucrative" has tanked the Big Time Theater Producers much like the SUV tanked the Auto Industry's Big Three. It's their own fault, but none the less the tragedy of it is unfortunate.
For the last several years, Broadway has been the last big justification for artists and craftsman to pursue a career in Theater. Hey, there's money in being a stage actor. Look at Broadway. However, many of us know that's not really true anymore. Money has been slipping away in earnest for several years now. One can only wonder if the dream of walking the stage on the Big White Way, has finally died and future thesbians will now consider becoming... well... accountants.
I feel that the big theatrical production has completely marred what Theater should be. While it would be sad to think that an icon can and will fade, it's also somewhat comforting that we can stop expecting to see productions like "Shrek: The Musical". Perhaps the death of Broadway is a boon for what "real theater" should be about. I have always contended that theater is about community and about creating a center for enlightenment. The small regional theater is really where some interesting things happen and people actual come to theater for the right reason, to connect with their neighbor.
However, in the end what will really suffer as Broadway falters, are the actual Theaters themselves. These epic buildings, without tenants and revenue, will be sold off to developers and probably turned into Grocery Stores or Public Storage. It's just sad that the history will fade away, and be replaced.
While, I still believe that philosophy holds the weight of a tidal wave, it's becoming hard out there for one of the most endangered mediums of American Art... Theater.
Broadway is in many ways an institution. The NYC street is not so much a geographical hub of theatrical innovation, but in many ways, it's a symbol of the potential of what theater can be. It's been a measurement of success for actors, artists, playwrights, producers and directors. It is also one of the few places America has, where we can point and say... "Hey, we're culturally relevant." However, if you read the writing on the wall, Theater is dying in America. Broadway's swan song is imminent.
This month Broadway will close some of it's most successful shows, because they simply cannot go on in their current state. Prices are too high, and patrons with available cash are too few. No city in America felt the collapse of investment banking harder than New York. And if they investment bankers are turning to jobs flipping burgers, there isn't a whole lot of folks out there ready to drop $120 bucks on a pair of nosebleeds to see "Wicked". The show model of "Bigger is not only Better, it's more lucrative" has tanked the Big Time Theater Producers much like the SUV tanked the Auto Industry's Big Three. It's their own fault, but none the less the tragedy of it is unfortunate.
For the last several years, Broadway has been the last big justification for artists and craftsman to pursue a career in Theater. Hey, there's money in being a stage actor. Look at Broadway. However, many of us know that's not really true anymore. Money has been slipping away in earnest for several years now. One can only wonder if the dream of walking the stage on the Big White Way, has finally died and future thesbians will now consider becoming... well... accountants.
I feel that the big theatrical production has completely marred what Theater should be. While it would be sad to think that an icon can and will fade, it's also somewhat comforting that we can stop expecting to see productions like "Shrek: The Musical". Perhaps the death of Broadway is a boon for what "real theater" should be about. I have always contended that theater is about community and about creating a center for enlightenment. The small regional theater is really where some interesting things happen and people actual come to theater for the right reason, to connect with their neighbor.
However, in the end what will really suffer as Broadway falters, are the actual Theaters themselves. These epic buildings, without tenants and revenue, will be sold off to developers and probably turned into Grocery Stores or Public Storage. It's just sad that the history will fade away, and be replaced.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
SAG vs AMPTP... Quiet
What gives? We're weeks away from the vote and all the posturing has died down a bit.... I wonder why? Don't you?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Right Choice and The Strong Choice
Actors spend a lot of time vetting over a single word, "Choices". For the lay person, a choice is a decision to due something. I'm standing at Starbucks and my choice is a Grande Vanilla De-Caf Latte. Sounds simple, right? However, the concept of Choices for actors is a bigger deal.
Let's start the discussion on a broad scale. You can ask a lot of actors a simple question, "As and Actor, what is your job?" You will get a ton of different answers, like: tell a story, be in the moment, create a character, etc. I have come to love this quote on what an actor's job is, "To Live Truthfully in Imaginary Circumstances." At the end of the day, actors are creating a false reality for the audience to engage. The 'realness' or 'truthfulness' of that reality creates an experience that is impactful for the audience. So, if we make choices in everyday life, those choices created onstage, must have the same touchstone real life quality. If they do not, then you have egg on your face, or worse, you never book work.
For some actors they can be pre-planned and carefully crafted ahead of time in rehearsal or in personal work (ugg) or they can be created within the moment of the performance improvisationally (yeah). They can be small, like whether or not to pick up a book and read it on stage briefly while in the midst of a dialogue scene. Or they can be Big, like deciding a character's preparation or global motivations for an entire play. Like I said, they're diverse, but in the end, we just call them, choices.
The Choices you make on stage are the art part of acting. Just as a painter makes choices on his or her canvas, the actor uses his or her body, stage, scene partners to make choices within the story. How good those choices are, how convincing they are, define your art in this discipline. Therefore, you can see why actors could get really worked up about choices.
Early in my career in Los Angeles, I joined a great theater group with a diverse set of actors. It was a membership group so people came and went every year. There were a lot of amazing actors who booked tons of work in the group, and people would always say, "Oh, So and So, makes such interesting choices," or "They're choices are so compelling, I'm jealous." I was young and despite having a degree, untrained, and I was easily caught up in this really important word, Choices. I used to agonize over whether or not I was making the right choice or a good choice or an interesting choice... it was demoralizing at times. I think a lot of actors can relate. They ask themselves the question, "Am I doing this right?" I think part of that anxiety stems from not fully understanding yourself as artist, which is a touch road to walk down, but it's also part of the world of comparisons that actors constantly engage in. These negative habits and lack of exploration personally create the life of anxiety surrounding choices, which affect how you rehearse and audition to be honest.
The worst part about choices is not making them. That's because the actor gets so anxious and in their head, they become wooden, stilted, false. I remember watching a play rehearsal once, and an actress was just standing in the scene, not moving. The director asked her, "What's Wrong?" She said, "I didn't make a choice here, did I?" He of course agreed. The question was, "Why?" Her response, "I don't know the right one to make." As I replay it now in my mind... I cringe.
So, here is your daily paradigm shift, There is no such thing as 'the right choice'. There is not singular perfect choice. It does not exist. This is what so many actors fail to realize. And the act of trying to come with "The Perfect Choice" is a process that for me looks like the marriage of banging the tv for a better picture and a Senate Confirmation Hearing. I worked with a director who was always after 'the perfect choice' in rehearsal, and he would have me a scene 27 times to find 'the perfect choice'. Then he'd find it, only to change it the next day after 37 times through running the same scene... that, my friends, is creative agony. I later came to the conclusion, through my own return to study, that there is no right choice. There are but a myriad of appropriate choices. Those appropriate choices become brilliant choices when the actor makes them strong... and thus, you have what all actors must seek to make... the strong choice.
The strong choice is the one hundred percent, stick your face in it, burn your eyes out, commitment to what you are doing on stage, 100% truthfully. This choice is the choice that books work, wins awards and furthers the individuals artistic journey. It's what lights up the room, makes a director feel he's found a budding star, and makes an audience member become a fan, buy the DVD or come back the next day to see the matinee at full price. The strong choice is what actors need to aspire to, not the right choice.
Why? Well, it's because the strong choice is so simple. It's the equivalent of me putting a ball on a tee for you, and saying swing as hard as you can. It's not effortless, but it's straightforward honest and pure. It simply take 100% commitment and zero fear of failure. However, you'd be surprised how many folks can't swing for the fences with a choice. I think it may be that word "Failure" that prevents them from letting it all hang out. "What if I embarass myself. What if I piss off the casting director? What if I don't book the gig?" The funny part is that by not taking a risk and making a storng choice, you are embarassing yourself, pissing off the casting director and you won't book the gig.
But, that's the process of the artist in end. The art should be a journey that changes you personally as well as artistically. I write this note, only to provide you with encouragement in your own discipline as an artist. I say this so that you will stop worrying about, 'screwing it up' and start doing the work without fear. If you find yourself paralyzed in making that kind of choice, and I meet plenty of actors who are, then get some help, invest in a community that supports you, go see a therapist, get into a class where you are encouraged to take risks. Sometimes the only way to swim is to jump into the water with both feet.
Let's start the discussion on a broad scale. You can ask a lot of actors a simple question, "As and Actor, what is your job?" You will get a ton of different answers, like: tell a story, be in the moment, create a character, etc. I have come to love this quote on what an actor's job is, "To Live Truthfully in Imaginary Circumstances." At the end of the day, actors are creating a false reality for the audience to engage. The 'realness' or 'truthfulness' of that reality creates an experience that is impactful for the audience. So, if we make choices in everyday life, those choices created onstage, must have the same touchstone real life quality. If they do not, then you have egg on your face, or worse, you never book work.
For some actors they can be pre-planned and carefully crafted ahead of time in rehearsal or in personal work (ugg) or they can be created within the moment of the performance improvisationally (yeah). They can be small, like whether or not to pick up a book and read it on stage briefly while in the midst of a dialogue scene. Or they can be Big, like deciding a character's preparation or global motivations for an entire play. Like I said, they're diverse, but in the end, we just call them, choices.
The Choices you make on stage are the art part of acting. Just as a painter makes choices on his or her canvas, the actor uses his or her body, stage, scene partners to make choices within the story. How good those choices are, how convincing they are, define your art in this discipline. Therefore, you can see why actors could get really worked up about choices.
Early in my career in Los Angeles, I joined a great theater group with a diverse set of actors. It was a membership group so people came and went every year. There were a lot of amazing actors who booked tons of work in the group, and people would always say, "Oh, So and So, makes such interesting choices," or "They're choices are so compelling, I'm jealous." I was young and despite having a degree, untrained, and I was easily caught up in this really important word, Choices. I used to agonize over whether or not I was making the right choice or a good choice or an interesting choice... it was demoralizing at times. I think a lot of actors can relate. They ask themselves the question, "Am I doing this right?" I think part of that anxiety stems from not fully understanding yourself as artist, which is a touch road to walk down, but it's also part of the world of comparisons that actors constantly engage in. These negative habits and lack of exploration personally create the life of anxiety surrounding choices, which affect how you rehearse and audition to be honest.
The worst part about choices is not making them. That's because the actor gets so anxious and in their head, they become wooden, stilted, false. I remember watching a play rehearsal once, and an actress was just standing in the scene, not moving. The director asked her, "What's Wrong?" She said, "I didn't make a choice here, did I?" He of course agreed. The question was, "Why?" Her response, "I don't know the right one to make." As I replay it now in my mind... I cringe.
So, here is your daily paradigm shift, There is no such thing as 'the right choice'. There is not singular perfect choice. It does not exist. This is what so many actors fail to realize. And the act of trying to come with "The Perfect Choice" is a process that for me looks like the marriage of banging the tv for a better picture and a Senate Confirmation Hearing. I worked with a director who was always after 'the perfect choice' in rehearsal, and he would have me a scene 27 times to find 'the perfect choice'. Then he'd find it, only to change it the next day after 37 times through running the same scene... that, my friends, is creative agony. I later came to the conclusion, through my own return to study, that there is no right choice. There are but a myriad of appropriate choices. Those appropriate choices become brilliant choices when the actor makes them strong... and thus, you have what all actors must seek to make... the strong choice.
The strong choice is the one hundred percent, stick your face in it, burn your eyes out, commitment to what you are doing on stage, 100% truthfully. This choice is the choice that books work, wins awards and furthers the individuals artistic journey. It's what lights up the room, makes a director feel he's found a budding star, and makes an audience member become a fan, buy the DVD or come back the next day to see the matinee at full price. The strong choice is what actors need to aspire to, not the right choice.
Why? Well, it's because the strong choice is so simple. It's the equivalent of me putting a ball on a tee for you, and saying swing as hard as you can. It's not effortless, but it's straightforward honest and pure. It simply take 100% commitment and zero fear of failure. However, you'd be surprised how many folks can't swing for the fences with a choice. I think it may be that word "Failure" that prevents them from letting it all hang out. "What if I embarass myself. What if I piss off the casting director? What if I don't book the gig?" The funny part is that by not taking a risk and making a storng choice, you are embarassing yourself, pissing off the casting director and you won't book the gig.
But, that's the process of the artist in end. The art should be a journey that changes you personally as well as artistically. I write this note, only to provide you with encouragement in your own discipline as an artist. I say this so that you will stop worrying about, 'screwing it up' and start doing the work without fear. If you find yourself paralyzed in making that kind of choice, and I meet plenty of actors who are, then get some help, invest in a community that supports you, go see a therapist, get into a class where you are encouraged to take risks. Sometimes the only way to swim is to jump into the water with both feet.
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