Something About Cake And Eating...

Hollywood will have to wait until next season.

I was on the set of the "Ex List". I was in episodes 8 and 9. From the sounds of it, the show was canceled after they aired episode 7. I do not know this to be a fact. It is possible that the rest of the filmed episodes will be aired at a later date. Sorry Penelope. I'm not a star yet.

Filming at the studio here in San Diego has stopped for the holidays. They will start again in a few months or if they pick up another show. I plan on going back when I can.

Tomorrow is the end of my first week of the "dream job". I have to stop calling it that. I tried very hard not to wear the rose colored glasses more than a day or two. I need to see it for what it is. Right now, it is hard work. My brain hurts from all of the studying and I have found a huge flaw. Today I say Mr. Man for about twenty minutes before I left for work. He was a sleep when I got home. That stinks!

For years I was able to do my job without really thinking about it. I had the same group of artists. I dealt with the same agents, publishers and galleries. I really could do my job on auto pilot. Now, it's a different ball game. I have much to learn. Everyday I spend hours reading and studying. Giving talks and presentations to colleges and my bosses. Unlike the work I had before, this time I can't wing it. I need to know exactly what I'm talking about.

I enjoy the challenge. It's great to use the old brain pan again after years of it being dormant.

Today I felt like a complete dunce. Of course the first real person I spoke with, asked me about the Fauvist. For a second I thought I had blacked out. I went completely blank. I couldn't remember anything about it. Not one of the artists came to mind. I couldn't remember what the style was about. I couldn't even remember what the word Fauve meant. It was most embarrassing.

How could I forget Matisse and "Wild Beast"?

Slowly Making Me Nuts...

So little to do, so much time.

Wait, reverse that.

The 2nd new job is a lot of fun. Hard, but fun. I haven't had to work my brain like this for years. It's a nice change of pace. I will tell you that it is still in the art world. Tomorrow I have to be part of a conference call, and they are going to quiz me. With the entire company on the call. After three days. I will find out about 2 minutes before hand what I have to tell them about. Nothing like pressure.

I think I am going to have to let the 1st job go. I can't seem to get anyone in Vista to talk to me. They don't care that we are reviewing their businesses. What a bunch of hostile dip shits. It takes for ever to get anything done. At this rate I'm making about $2 an hour. I think it might be best to focus on the job I really want, the 2nd one.

Have you ever known anyone that likes to think that they are some kind of "visionary", and the rest of the world just thinks that they're f-ing nuts? I know someone like that. Unfortunately he has been a part of our lives for far too long. Just when I think he has done the craziest thing I have ever seen, he tops himself. Amazing! And yes, he has done it again. That's another story.

The art world just gets more and more insane. It's really too bad that I love it so much. It's slowly making me nuts too. Although, in fairness, I may have had a head start to begin with.

This morning at around 3:30 am Precious and I had a conversation about money, life, jobs and our stress levels. Ya, I haven't been sleeping much. About three hours a night for the last week.

Anywho, it brought up a few very funny topics. At least they were funny in the middle of the night. We laughed and laughed.

• People that are in debt shouldn't stress. It's the people we owe money to, that should worry.
  

Ya, that was a hell of a lot funnier at 3:30 am. There was more, but I'm going to keep those to myself. For Now.

So Mr. Man and I are driving along, minding our own business, when this crazy man goes whipping by. Mr. Man says, "Dad, that guy...is..a..total...douche bag."

I almost broke a rib trying not to laugh. He was right, but...I have to take the blame for that. I'm sure he heard me say that at one point or another.

He was right though. The guy was a douche bag.

My movie career has come to an end. At least for a while. The show I was filming has been canceled. They most likely won't even air the ones I was on.

Hollywood still sucks!

Just Shoot Me...

Yesterday we had to be at the location to shoot at 4pm. Some huge house in Del Mar. The scene was an elegant cocktail charity fundraiser shindig. Or so we were told by the numerous crew.

For the first five hours we did nothing. Nothing. Then we broke for lunch. Because we were on location, the lunch area was about half a mile away. In a horse pasture. In the dark. We took a shuttle bus to be dropped off at the field of food. Then we had to walk through this little gully to get to the pasture where the trucks and tables were. Dressed for this fancy party. We are all out marching through a dirty mud puddled field. And I had just polished my shoes. C'est la vie.

My first shot was at about 10:30pm. For about 45 seconds, I had a line. A small, insignificant, meaningless, back ground line. I had even been makeup-ed. Then just as fast, I was cast out into the back ground of the party to smile and be pretty. Well, at least smile. I have no idea what will get used. No one does.

The rest of the night and early morning was was spent going from the waiting area to the set. Shoot for ten to twenty minutes, then back to the waiting area for an hour or two. All the time having to keep track of our drinks and jackets and what not they gave us for props. Although all of my clothes are my own. The drinks were bad generic grape juice. Really bad.

I'm pretty sure, in one scene, that I am on both sides of the party at the same time. Although at one end, I had to keep my back to the camera. They seemed to have noticed that as well.

We wrapped up at around 3:30 am. Got off the set and back to my car around 4am. Made it home by 5.

They asked if I would shoot on Monday. At 5:30. Am.

I passed. For Monday anyway.

Did I Say Hollywood Sucked?

I have always been a big critic of Hollywood. The quality is crap. The writing is substandard. The talent questionable. It's incestuous. The money it generates is insane.

Alright I still stand by that, but I am going to have to lighten up just a bit.

Why, you ask?

Mad William is going to be a star, a STAR I TELL YOU!

Ok, not a star. Not yet. I am however, collecting checks from one of the major studios. I am not supposed to say who or write about the show, but I am going to be in several episodes of a new TV show. Maybe I can say what night and channel to watch. Maybe.

I had never even heard of this show. Precious asked me about it. I knew nothing. After meeting the "stars" of the show, I still have no idea. I didn't recognize any of them. Well, one guy looked familiar. I'm sure I've seen him in things. No big deal.

I don't get to talk. Ok, technically I'm an extra. I do get a few features, which is cool. It just means I get to interact with the "stars" in the scene. Woo hoo.

Have you heard the saying,"The Magic of Film" or "The Magic of Television"?

There is no magic. I can totally see now, why any serious actor wants to do live theater. The way TV and films are done, anyone could do it. Anyone.

The women on the show are seriously skinny. Unhealthily so. There are so many crew members it's funny. There are guys getting paid to follow other guys around and repeat everything they say, only louder. It looked like everyone on the crew had at least one assistant, and some of the assistants had assistants. There was food every where. Catered food. Roach Coaches. Pizzas. Donuts. In and Out burgers and fries. Sodas. Candy. Cookies. You name it, they had it. It's crazy.

It's just like the government bureaucracy. They only need 20 employees but they are paying 60.
They take breaks every fifteen minutes and don't work very hard when they are working.

Last night I was on the set for almost 12 hours. Got home at 3:30am. Tonight we will start shooting at 4pm and get done, hopefully around 4am.

Of the twelve hours we were at the set, we spent about an hour and a half actually filming. Changed wardrobe three times.

So far it's a good time. We get paid alright, fed well and I'm meeting some very interesting people. Contact people. Future stepping stones on my way to world leader people. Well maybe I wont step on anybody. That's not really my style. I'm taking over tinsel town with kindness and decency. So Im' either going to be another unemployeed actor, or, I'm on my way to a Hollywood Star of my own. Mwahhhaaahaaa...

Another Reason Hollywood Sucks...

How many times has Hollywood made movies that were 3 to 4 hours long that totally stunk up the theater? To many to count.

So why, when you have a, money in the bank franchise like Harry Potter, do you try to cram a 900 page book into 2 hours? It's not like they are going to make it so long that fans wont go.

In case you are wondering, I just saw the new Potter movie, "Order of the Phoenix". It was like watching the Cliff notes. They left out entire story lines and when they couldn't cut things out they changed the story. Sure it was a good movie from a movie stand point. From a fan of the books I was a little disappointed.

Did this directer never see the Lord of the Rings trilogy? They filmed three movies at the same time. Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2. One story, two movies. What ever happened to intermissions?

Has our collective attention spans gotten so small that we can't or.......