We were hanging out with Hans and Isadora this weekend and we passed this gym. You gotta love the name; I guess the woman who owns this is a rather brusque Austrian, so we were basically barking "Do it NOW!" to each other all night. I mean, I get it, if one is going to "Just Do It" I guess "Now" would be the time. I wonder if they have yoga classes there that reflect that same intensity?

Still, it's effective to think about doing something in the present moment..perhaps the removal of the "!" would help, and I don't think you need to underline all the words. I can imagine driving by this place every day constantly going, "oh, man I forgot to do [that thing]! dammit!"
This is Whit hanging out while we were waiting at the Honda dealership. We went in to test drive the 2007 Civic Hybrid (Whit's got a 2003 model) and we ended up buying it! Madness. Still, it all worked out really nicely, and I am very happy she's driving a car that's heavier, has more horsepower, and much better handling. Good mileage is not worth having some underpowered tin can that can get out of the way of a hairy situation on the freeway. I'll put a picture or two up when I get a chance, but so far, Whit's really happy.

I am heading up to Santa Clara University on Friday to talk to the theatre majors regarding the "Business of the Bidness," as I have mentioned before. It's been pretty fun, I must say, prepping for it. I have about 6 pages of notes/talking points, and I honestly feel they are pretty valuable. I remember when I was a senior in college, though. Man, I could no wrong. I was getting cast in everything, I was painting sets every day, it was great. The last thing I wanted was to be told how difficult everything was going to be. No matter, I have been positioning everything in positive terms, more like "here's the real deal and how to deal with said deal".

The past couple of weeks have been heating up in both of my jobs, which is good, but it adds a layer of complexity that I am not really into. Usually I would complain about the scheduling, but that's not the problem, it's just both the acting and the regular job are just getting more involved, in all ways. I just need to think more and plan more and commit more of myself into everything, which, again, is good, but just tiring, I guess. The auditions are getting more frequent, but they are also getting better, in a way. Like, the roles are really good fits, which makes it all the more frustrating when I don't book them. I went out yesterday for this thing that if I got it, I would be filming a new spot each week until the middle of January or so. Yikes! So, waiting on that. Waiting.

Much to do, much to do. Ravi is Bali and the site's loading slowly for him, thanks to all the widgets on the side. Weak. I will figure out which ones to take off. You can always check out the RSS feed, but I agree, slow loading is irritating. I like the widgets, though, especially the map one, which surprised me with how many people are reading this from far off lands. The more dots, the more updates, I guess. I wanna film something this weekend and post it, so I guess I will DO IT NOW! Or then. But I will do it...

Tags: iphone, general

Tags: iphone, acting, tech

I had a whole entry about the new iPods, but then a bunch of stuff started happening, including the revelation that the 4GB iPhones were being discontinued and going for $299 while they still were in stock, which kind of changed everything, as the screenshot above shows. Yes, after fighting the good fight, I capitulated and got an iPhone. You've probably already read all the good stuff and bad stuff about the device, so I am not going to go into it too much right here, but suffice to say, I have used it much more for web browsing, emailing and messaging than I have actually using it as a phone! The mantra seems to be true--this is more than a phone, it's basically a very nice mobile communications device.

I have a lot of rationalizations (including that damn broken screen on my old, lame, slow Cingular 3125 phone) but in the end, it's become not why I ended up getting the phone, it's about what I can do now that I have it in my now often less greasy mitts. Basically, it's really, really nice too have a solid way of emailing and getting on the web while I am on the road dealing with auditions. Today, for instance--I was at another last minute audition and I had forgotten the address of my last minute call back (everything has been "same day" for the past week, which has been really crazy) that was happening an hour later. So, i was able to email my agent and she was able to email it to me right back and, if I needed to, I could then map out the address and get the directions all on the same screen. That's just sick, you know? And yes, I know, I could this with my old phone but, really? I couldn't.

(3 days later)

I have been starting and stopping this all week, apologies for that. Yes, the iPhone is rad, no, I don't think that everyone needs one, but I can basically say that everything you read is basically true: it's a pretty amazing device, having Internet access wherever you want is fantastic, having a pretty solid camera is great, being able to watch videos, listen to music, show people photos, check your email, deal with calendars, etc, etc--it all works great. Whit used it a lot this past weekend and commented how great the user interface and loved being able to give me driving directions based on actual maps. Yes, there are problems that just seem weird to me:

- how do you add an attachment to an email? There's gotta be a way, but the only attachment process that I have seen is the "take a picture, send it" process. It works, but if you wanna add more than one photo, etc...I'm lost.

- Apple makes a big deal about having a full featured mail program but it's odd there are no font options? Not that you need to italicize everything, but, I mean, what's with that?

- So, there's really no way to send a single text messages to multiple people? really?

- How about switching the "from" account when sending an email? How do you do that?

- The camera desperately needs to have a zoom feature (or at least a cropping feature available in some kind of edit mode) and it's really lame it can't take video (yes, I realize we are talking about a phone, but honestly, phone stopped being phones awhile ago. they all have cameras, and so far, all of the camera phones I have used have had both zoom and video capabilities). There also needs to be some kind of white balance or something--these pictures can get dark when it's not all that dark outside.

Luckily, most of this seems addressable by software updates...so, let's update and fix this stuff, apple.

But hey, I'm happy. I'm really enjoying taking pictures throughout the day, I must admit, like this one I took after going to the Mexico City restaurant on Sunday. Hmm...Sunday margarita...

Here's a shot of the lovely Silverlake area in LA; we were looking at some houses (for fun) and this view was pretty terrific.
The place was trapped in 1979 (complete with glittery white ceilings) but the views were nice.

So what else? I had some good auditions last week (which have resulted in some good callbacks) but no bites, which bites. I guess there is still some time for things to happen but whatever; I actually went in for a pretty funny fast food spot, but I did not get a chance to do the character I had originally done because they had this other guy who was just doing it so deadpan that I am pretty sure he got the part immediately and they were just looking for someone else to play opposite him. I'm okay at deadpan, but, really, I think deadpan stuff only goes so far, humorwise. I think--no, I know, that being earnest in an unusual/odd situation is actually more honestly funny. Anyone can be weird/unnatrual in a weird/unnatrual situation; the key is being normal in that situation and not judging it or commenting on the moment by doing something artificial. Ah, well...I may not get cast, but at least I am going down in dreamy opinionated flames.

Had a really good chat with Ravi about Australia, meditation and parental motivations/agendas which warrant their own post, but these ruminations will have to come later when I am in a more thoughtful frame of mind. Suffice to say, it was more than excellent to talk to him and I am looking forward to more musings later. Right now, I am just trying to tie up some loose work threads before I bust out of here for a callback this evening...where, this time, I am getting called back because of my earnestness.

Tags: apple, tech, iphone