Me and Her Meander

Hmm... lemme think.... how's this thing work again? What happens if I push this button..? "iTunes"? What's dat?



Whoa, sorry about that, bro...

So, how's things, y'all? Things are rolling along smoothly in this part of the world... sunny San Diego, for those of you prone to envy.... MUAHAHAH!!!

A steady diet of acting stuff, writing stuff, reading stuff and gaming stuff... in other words, business as friggin usual. On the one hand, I enjoy the routine... it's what I'm used to, though it is all basically entertainment-related, with the intention (I presume) of occupying my interest on a minute-to-minute basis, squeezing a little enjoyment out of the moments as they pass by.

Here's the ironic part... in acting class, I'm currently working on a scene from the film Collateral, with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. I'm playing JF's part, the cabbie, and in it, Tom Cruise's character reads him the riot act for pushing his dreams (in this case, owning a limo company) forever onto the horizon... he tells JF that he's a fool for not laying hold of his dreams now, ending his tirade by saying "What the heck are you still doing driving a cab?"

In case the irony isn't obvious, allow me... I have dreams of doing/being many things... they are forever just out of reach on the horizon, and as the days tick by, I spend them "driving a cab", so to speak... doing things I'm good at, but don't love doing, simply because it's familiar and comfortable... better the mediocre things I know and hold, than the unknown things I *could* have if I emptied my hands to lay hold of them. I guess the fear is "what if I do whatever is necessary to get this dream, and it isn't anything like I'd always imagined it would be? Then I would have lost what I had, in order to lay hold of something I don't want after all."

In other words, a little scene in acting class has once again hit my hot buttons. I'm turning 44 soon. Not old, per se, but not young either. I keep telling myself a person can be a writer/actor/director at any age -- it isn't a young man's game. And while that's true, believing that only adds glue to my chair, so to speak.

But there is movement. I didn't get the part in that latest Police Training video I auditioned for, but that's ok. I am going to meet with a crew looking for new acting talent for this year's 48 Hour Film Festival, which will film at the end of June. So I may get some screen time and set experience there as well. And the final pieces are falling into place for the BTI web series to start filming. Plus, in June there will be an actor's showcase at our school, with a Hollywood casting agent in attendance, so if I make a strong enough impression, I may end being considered for certain projects he's slated to work on soon. So that's something.



Love that song.

Wifey's out of town for a week. A nephew of ours is graduating from Notre Dame, so she's flying out there with her mother for that event. Hope she has a good time. So I'm batching it for a week! Woohoo! I get my bed back! Awwww yeah...

I'm been reading, of course... a few swing-and-a-misses... I tried reading To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis, which was disjointed and uninteresting to me, in spite of the fact that it was very well received, both critically and commercially. I tried reading The Alchemist of Souls, by Anne Lyle, which lost me at the beginning of chapter two, when it turned out the two main (male) characters were gay lovers. Not my bag.

[EDIT] I deleted the paragraphs here dealing with gut-level aversions, etc. Sorry, it was too muddled. If I can re-think it and present it again in a decent way, I will. Otherwise, forget it... [END EDIT]

I did read -- and finish -- a book lately. It was Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. I felt it was remarkably sub-par. It's the only title of his I've ever read that I can whole-heartedly recommend against. It was simply insipid and substance-less to me. Yes, it was a Young Adult book, ostensibly geared toward the highschool/Junior High crowd... wish I'd known that going in -- though I still likely would have tried it, since, hey, it's Sanderson, and I love his stuff. This, I did not love. Or like. It was shallow, linear, predictable, bland and corny. (Man, I am just full of love tonight!) Sorry, Brandon - I do love you, and will continue to read your stuff... but this series is done, as far as I'm concerned. I'm amazed I finished it. Anyone other than Sanderson, and I would have dumped the book part-way through.

So, yeah, I'm a rambler tonight. Which is fine. That makes skimming to the end more guilt-free for you, I'm sure...

I may go see Godzilla this weekend. It looks awesome.

OK, I'm done.

Adios for now,

Dave and a haircut