Wasted time

There are so many times now where I'm out for the day and I have an hour or two to fill in before I'm off to the next of my many things. Today there are three things on the list, which unavoidably turns into a full day in the city. I've just finished the first, my callback for a feature film (hehehe) where I would play a singing teacher. It went quite well, minus the fact that I left the script at home (sitting on the table under where I keep my handbag so I wouldn't forget it). I also left at home the words to the American National Anthem, which I had to sing as part of the callback, and which I probably should know now that this is my country of residence (for the time being, parents, don't fret). Anyway, I was thankfully able to use my trusty iPhone to retrieve the script from my email, google the national anthem and write everything down on the only paper I had - my outback ordering pad. So if someone gets a 'home of the brave' for dessert next time I work, that's why.

So who knows? It went well I think but everyone in this town is great so you can never tell. And singing from an Outback ordering pad can't really be considered 'nailing it'. But fingers and toes.

So now I'm in Starbucks drinking my cheap $1.91 coffee (honestly America, include tax in your prices so nothing ever has to cost $1.91), waiting to meet the husband for a 2pm screening of Hugo in 3D...with a Q&A afterwards with Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen. We're getting to see a lot of these special screenings cause they're trying to woo all of the Screen Actors Guild members into voting for their movies in awards season. Last night we saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with a Q&A with Garry Oldman (Syrius Black not "what you talkin' about, Willis"...everyone knows this but me) AND Colin Firth. Yes. Colin Firth. And although I didn't understand a large chunk of the movie cause we were in the front row and the character's faces were in weird proportions, it was still very good. And did I mention that Colin Firth was there? And that we were in the front? Yes.

And then after our screening of Hugo this afternoon I'm off to work. Tips have been pretty poor lately. They're putting more servers on cause everyone's complaining about not getting enough shifts, but that means less tables per shift and less money! So basically I work more for less. Silly system.

I've also been inspired to do some proper writing. At a recent audition I heard some girls talking about epublishing, which is basically just 'publishing' a book on your own using one of the platforms now widely available with the ebook revolution. At Amazon you can easily put your own book up and you get a share of the sale price whenever someone downloads it for their Kindle, iPad, etc. Pretty cool. The audition girl was talking about how she wanted to do kids books but she can't draw. So I had a flash of inspiration. I can write. I can draw. And I'm also kinda into changing the world and helping people, so why not create a series of kids books devoted to teaching kids things like gay people are normal and religion should unite not divide and that kindness always works. I'm sure loads of people would think I'm the devil. But hopefully there'd be a few open minded parents out there who want their kids just to always know these things, from when they're little, so the world can keep changing for the better. Anyway, that's me the idealist with a fun flash of inspiration. Who knows if I'll do anything with it.

Matt should be here soon. So I will sign off and get ready for some more Q&A fun with the stars. Yay!

The Cheesecake Hour

Matt thinks this would be a good title for a movie. I mean, I'd see it. Is it about a wild competition where people only have 1 hour to eat as much cheesecake as they can and the loser gets thrown down the Chute of Doom (ooh, another good movie title)? Is it about a bunch of old ladies who get together the second Tuesday of every month for a slice of cheesecake and to reminisce about their lives? Or could it be about a hold-up at the Cheesecake Factory?? So many options! It was actually just something silly I said yesterday for no reason except that maybe I wanted some cheesecake.

I got a call-back. For the film. I should have opened with that - more exciting than cheesecake nonsense. Yes, that's right. I got a call-back for a FILM. Hehe. Who'd have thunk it? And it's a feature length film, so maybe if I get in and it becomes a break-through independent small screen blockbuster, I will soon be red-carpeting to Oscars glory. Or I'll just be able to do a film and that will be fun. But, as optimistic as I am in my worldly dealings, I do tend to have a more pessimistic outlook on my chance of success (less disappointment if you don't and more yay if you do). So for now let's keep our excitement in check. The call back is in a week. So fingers and toes everyone.

We went to New Jersey last weekend, to visit some lovely friends who spoiled us rotten. They fed us delightful food, yummy alcohol and took us to the movies to see 'In Time'. It's a fun movie. But I wanted to slap the pretty girl and tell her to buy some sensible shoes so that she could run away from the baddies faster. Enjoyable though. And on Friday night we saw a special awards screening of 'Super 8' (Matt gets invited to these things cause he's all important and Screen Actors Guildish). I really liked that one. It's action, suspense, comedy, sci fi AND romance - everything I love. It came out ages ago, but I don't want to give away anything. So if you haven't, go see it. And the kids in it are great. AND we got to watch it in this neat little Paramount viewing room which had fancy, comfortable seats. One day we'll own our own one of those.

Friday was Vererans Day, so we had a special at work all week where all veterans got a free bloomin' onion and a drink. I served such a lovely old man. He was so kind and talkative, and all he ordered was the onion and drink, and he enjoyed it so much. He told me that he's on food stamps and said that he never gets to come to 'fancy' places like Outback. It was such a sad moment for me. This awesome guy, who fought for his country, is all alone and doesn't have enough money to eat at Outback. He only ate a little of his bloomin' onion, so I packed up the rest and some extra bread for him, and his whole meal was free. I wish I could have snuck him a T-bone or two.

Three more auditions this week, and if I get my AFTRA card in the mail I might go sign up for Central Casting (an extras casting agency). AFTRA is one of the big unions here, but the only one where you don't have to get a role in something before you join. And if I get 3 AFTRA extras roles I can join Equity in a year. Not that I know if I really want to join Equity yet, since it's hard enough to get work non-Equity, but at least to have the option would be nice. And it'd be fun to do extras stuff in some of the cool TV that they film in New York! And if I make $10,000 in a year through AFTRA I qualify for health insurance. So look out for me in the background of everything. I'll be the one waving (I haven't been an extra before, but I assume it's like when you're in the background on the Today show).

That's all for now. I can't concentrate when I keep thinking about cheesecake.

Auditions

I thought that when I left my full time job I'd have auditions coming out my eyeballs. But I've had around an audition a week...sometimes not even that. And I'm not really that picky - if there's any kind of role which doesn't require an old lady or a man, I'm there. Sometimes I'm not even as picky as that. I could play a man. I am an old lady. I'm still in my third-life crisis (yes, I've lived three times).

But seriously, where are all the fun, meaty roles that are meant for me? Well, they're there. But so is every girl, my age, older and younger, who was ever any good at singing and acting, who decided to move here cause she WAS good at singing and acting. When I stand outside the audition room, talking friendly-ly to the person behind me but actually running my song over in my head, EVERYONE I hear is good. I don't think I've actually ever heard a voice coming from the other side of that door that was bad. Stop right there.

If I was a scientist (wait!), and I had a monkey (where do I get a monkey?), I could recreate 'Outbreak' and create a virus that rots the vocal chords of all female singers in my age range. Ok, that's done. Shit. I think I was supposed to be the monkey.

I sound like I'm drunk. I'm not. What I'm trying to say is that this is hard.

I've just finished reading David Mamet's 'True and False'. It's a very good read. But he's an opinionated bastard. Sometimes you just want to slap him and cry 'I'll prove you wrong you fool!' But he says things like: if you have something to fall back on you will fall back on it. And: don't you hate those people who smile all the time, they're just trying to create for themselves their own emotional state. Well I say: poo to you. Even though I'm at your school and I think it's great. But he also tells people that if they want to act they should create their own theatre company and just act, act, ACT. So maybe I'll start doing some of my own work. Put on a show, or something.

Matt and I are writing a screenplay. I think it's very good. He's the one who likes to take it slow and read the how-to book and follow all the steps and get everything perfect. And I'm the one saying 'why aren't we writing already? It doesn't need to be perfect. We'll fix it later.' I think we're a good team. And I really am excited about our movie. I won't give away the plot, cause it will be coming to a tv screen near you, sometime in the distant, distant...distant future.

Class is going well. Scene analysis is hard, but I can't wait to put our scene up in front of the class. It's one thing to talk about technique, and it's another thing entirely to do it! And repetition is good. It's harder now cause we've moved on from the 'you're wearing a white shirt' to the 'you're surprised', 'you're nervous', 'you're sympathetic' thing. It's often way easier to see something in a person than it is to put a name to it. But it's making me take note of what I see in people in weird places. Like on the subway I was like 'you're bored' about the lady listening to her friend and 'you're drunk' about the man collapsed on the floor. I'm insightful.

And I have an audition for a short film this weekend. I'm so excited that I got an audition time. It's hard, cause I have lots of musical theatre stuff on my resume, but NO plays or film. So when they get 1000 submissions, why on earth would anybody pick me? But I got picked...for an audition at least.

Maybe it's my big break. Heck, with an audition a week my odds are worse than my Melbourne Cup horse - Older than time. Whoever named that horse is an idiot. If I was Older than time I would...oh no...it's late. Time for bed.