Deliberation

Wanted to update that a short I did last year is online.

Don Becker and I team up yet again with Alex R. Hall at the helm. This guy has some really amazing shots!

Here's to hoping he remembers me when he is commanding big budgets!

Check it out here under "Reel":

http://www.alexrhall.com/

What up?

Time for the ole' annual update? Sheesh.

Probably the most exciting news is the fact that I just filmed my role as a reporter in the SAG movie filming in Indianapolis called (ironically?) Bloomington. It was interesting to act in such a production because of how nice everyone was to me. They made sure to learn my name, kept asking if I needed anything, and were just very generous. The fact that I understand I will now be SAG Eligible also has a nice ring to it. Of course, there isn't enough work going on around here to have me jump at the chance, but its nice to have the option, ya know?

Work Begats Work

I've now completed a couple of projects for the 'Indyfilmco-op' since I last updated.

Bloodmoon went really well. I was the muscle in a trio of bad guy brothers. The cast and crew were really great and we completed the thing in 4 straight days. I guess it's not a secret anymore, during shooting I met the Troma man himself, Lloyd Kaufman, when he was on set to film a cameo. He handed me a few DVDs and wished me luck. I must admit, he had some interesting stories. I'm still in the process of collecting mine.

Last month I was approached to do a project called 'The Sandbox'. I was hesitant as they were filming 5 weekdays straight, but it was a paying job so I caved in. The experience was well worth it, as I was able to meet a lot of gung ho filmmakers as well as gain more experience and training as an actor. The plan for it is to be released on the web in episodes, I'll let you know when I hear something.

Looks like the next project is going to be for Andy Lang, Matt Thompson, and the rest of the really really big show gang. It's a comedy called 'The Big Idea'. I'm playing Larry, the goofball/sage of the movie. Andy let me know that Larry is the really stand out character and a lot of the biggest jokes of the movie come from his antics. I'm really honored that they have offered me that. Cast read through is in August and we'll probably start shooting soon after that.
A crazy comedy should be a lot of fun, several people have told me that I am a funny (looking?) guy and should do more of the genre.

It's interesting, many of the projects I have participated in the writer/director has remarked that I have the their favorite/most interesting role in their movie. A good sign, right? Maybe I can use that.

Later!

- J

Busy - Looking Back

Talking about HairTrigger made me think back to when I first decided to get into this acting. Back then I was always thinking about different roles and projects I wanted to do, but at the time (not that I knew it) I didn't have enough experience and wasn't ready to take them on. After several years of learning through the on the job training, I'm finally reaping the benefits and getting cast regularly. I honestly still am waiting to for someone to tell me it's all a joke, but I guess I must be a halfway respectable actor now! Whee! Nah, don't get me wrong, I've worked hard to learn what I have, and I am still learning every freaking day. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be able to take the time to pursue a theatre degree and recieve all that training, as opposed to me learning 'on the job', but once again I realize that everyone has their own road and I can't waste time looking back at what might have been. I just need to focus on now and the future.

Speaking of now, it's been a somewhat busy summer so far. Next week I am filming the IndyFilmCo-op's self described SciFi western 'Bloodmoon' for four days straight. Due to juggling, I am now playing one of the bad guys. Fortunately, he's both the most talkative and most destructive so it should be a lot of fun and good experience. I guess this one is ear marked for the B Movie Celebration in September so it's got a guaranteed audience. Sweet!

Until Later!

J

Mental Scars - Richard Myles

I have finished shooting my scenes on Mental Scars and decided to just drop by the set last night to see how things were progressing. I must admit more than a little envy that these gentlemen have taken their dreams of movie making to the next step and are shooting a 35mm feature. So I wanted to check in with Richard Myles, who is executive producing and starring in this horror movie, and see how he helped push this into motion.

It's obvious from the tone of the movie that Richard is a huge horror film fan, especially the classics such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street. At first I thought it was kind of goofy for him to play a character who really doesn't talk throughout the whole movie, but after meeting him and seeing him in character I realize my mistake. Richard is really talented, especially when it comes to these horror parts. He showed me one of the 'fan films' that he did where he played Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street and I was honestly impressed. I guess Robert Englund (the original Freddy!) was too because Richard recieved a Christmas card from him! And I guess he parlayed the fame from that fan film into making the feature film. I wish him the absolute best, and not only because he gave me a role (hah!).

In addition, I was able to show some of the cast and crew some clips I have of the ill-fated HairTrigger:No Mercy. Suprisingly, everyone had some solid interest and had good things to say about it. Richard was especially gracious, and after viewing a scene stated, 'Well, we definately know you can act. I don't even call that acting, thats real, like real people just living a moment." I don't think anyone has given me that kind of compliment before. No matter what you say about HT:NM, it was one hell of a learning experience and the lessons learned have given me the confidence to go after anything. Man, I still need to get it finished though. Looking at some of that footage makes me realize that it really has potential and would be a fun movie for people to watch.

A few things have been happening that I need to report on here.

The first of which, I've been cast (and have already started filming on...sheesh I gotta write more) in the horror film Mental Scars. http://www.mentalscars.com

My part isn't particularly huge, but I'm still excited to be involved. In addition to being a part of this 35mm feature film I have been able to meet a bunch more people involved in the industry in various degrees. And yeah, that helps because this entertainment biz seems to be all about the contacts. When I'm able I'll share stories about my adventures there. It may be a bit though due to a confidentiality statement I signed with my contract.

The other project that I'm set to tackle is the Indy Film Co-Op's sci-fi movie, Bloodmoon. http://www.indyfilmco-op.org That one is filming for four straight days the end of May. In this I have ended up with one of the main bad guy roles, and actually the one that does the most damage. He also throws a lot of humor with his punches so it should be a lot of fun and more good experience.

My work with Mental Scars got me a little publicity when the Indy Star showed up to do a little story for last week's (Thursday, I believe) Metro section. Although I wasn't shooting my scenes at the time, I was working on set and am about the same height as Sonny Landham, (Predator, 48 hrs, Best of the Best 2) so I was chosen to be his stand in while he was in make up. While I honestly had no experience as a professional 'stand in', I figured standing still and staring straight ahead would suffice and proceded to learn on the job. Hah. Anyway, standing there like a goofball did get my picture in the paper. Unfortunately, the reporter thought I was with the crew and said all kinds of cute potentially insulting things. For instance, my favorite is a picture captioned, 'Jason Smither stands in where an actor will soon take his place.'

See those extra pics here - http://www2.indystar.com/autofocus/galleries/show/2160/1

Oh Yeah

In addition to mooning my fellow gym mates I have also been doing some auditions. Got some things in the works for early summer, but will expand on that later.

Until Then!

J

Busting at the Seams

I am currently training for a powerlifting event coming up on April 19th. Powerlifting consists of three events, benchpress, deadlift, and squat.

Tonight I was working on my squat. Squatting is a hard brutal exercise, basically you take a barbell (long bar) across your shoulders and bend your legs like you are
going to sit down and once your legs break paralell, you stand back up. Relatively easy with your bodyweight, somewhat challenging with several hundred pounds on your back.

So as usual I've got my mp3 player maxed and am stopping back and forth in front of the squat cage like an animal. In my mind I am using 'imagination principles', I am
a warrior king stomping back and forth on the broken bodies of my enemies. This is a important, mind you. So I step up to the 405lbs bar, growl, slam my head against it
and step under it, pull it off the rack and descend. I glance at the perfect form as I squat down to the necessary depth. Then I hear it. A horrible rending sound, a tearing, no not of
my steel-like flesh, but of the clothing that covers it. My shorts specifically. I've squatted down with over four hundred pounds on my back and now my ass is hanging out. If I complete the
lift the entire gym will be privy to my undergarmets. Of all the days to wear the leopard skin bikini briefs. But I'm hardcore, I will not stop. I slam it up and I'll be damned if I didn't go for another one!
Boom baby!

Old women blushed! Young women shrieked! Somewhere children cried!

But I'll be damned if I let something as simple as modesty get in the way of my workout. Hey, I'm an actor, I love the attention.

Anyway, isn't that the style nowadays? I've seen all the young women wearing jeans with big cut holes in the rear showing the cheeks of their butt. It was just my
30 year old attempt to imitate the current style.

No doubt I failed miserably. But it's ok, like Rocky I went the distance.

Enlightenment

For the past several weekends I've been shooting the vampire movie, Obsidean Nights around Indianapolis. My role is the vampire, Magnus, and the writer/director's vision is that vampires are pale obviously different creatures. Therefore, everytime I perform as Magnus I spend some time getting painted white. While this is all part of the acting process, looking like a vampire does have it's drawbacks, especially when stepping back into the real world and performing such mundane tasks as say, pumping gas or picking up dinner from a drive thru on the way home.

But anyone that has known me for any amount of time would understand that I would soon embrace this chance to enlighten someone's day. I am an actor, after all.

This past weekend I circle a fast food restaraunt to go through the drive thru. A young couple sitting on the bench quickly pointed me out and started talking among themselves. I drew down the window and asked, 'Do you know if they serve blood here?' and gave them a wink. The guy told me he didn't know, so I replied I'd find out for both of us. Both of them were cracking up as I rolled up to the speaker and placed my order. An older couple inside noticed the vampire waiting patiently in the drive thru line and began pointing. I smiled and waved.

Pulling up to the window I asked the older lady working there if it was Halloween. She took a double take and nearly spit out her teeth! So I put in mine, the inch long vampire canine teeth I've been wearing for the movie. She quickly called everyone working there to the window to see the crazy actor guy dressed up as a vampire. I told them a little about the movie and bid them all to have a good night. At the very least they have something to talk about the rest of the night and share with their families when they got home.

When you get past all the creative process, craft building, realism mumbo jumbo of acting, you realize that the main purpose is just that. To entertain people. To make them forget their day to day issues and lose themselves in this story you are trying to tell them. And that is just the most awesome thing for me, whether I'm battling badguys in an action movie or freaking out the people at a local fast food place, I'm shaking things up and hopefully making life a bit more intersting and enjoyable.

Some sad news today, Gary Gygax has passed away. He was one of the creators of the game that is now known as Advanced Dungeon's and Dragons, or AD&D. It is amazing to think of the number of people he has inspired with his fantasy themed game. I must admit I never played the games until playing the computer versions, but I did get a hold of the rule books, monster manuals, and fiend folios and would read them cover to cover. I sought any and every escape from my life when I was growing up and taking a stroll into Gary's world of heroes and magic users never dissappointed. Thanks for the memories, Gary!

Recent Happenings

I finally feel like I have some kind of focus back in my life again. For awhile there I had given in to complacency and just worked my moronic job and tried to forget about my hopes and dreams. Was going to the gym haphazardly, gaining the wrong kind of weight like Cartman(BEEF IT!), and really felt like I had no reason to wake up in the morning. That's not a good feeling. In fact, as my mental health degraded, my physical body wasn't far behind. I felt sick, sluggish, and tired most of the time.

Luckily I'm coming out of that. I'm over a month back into the gym and am hungrily seeking auditions once again. And I owe it all to a little vampire movie. For the past couple of years I have seen several auditions that I should have went for, but couldn't muster the motivation to go. In one of my brighter moments surfing craigslist a few months ago I read an entry about a vampire movie audition. The director was new, but the story seemed interesting and I figured something different might just be the challenge that could force me out of my doom and gloom. After silencing the doubting voices with a quick jab to my own face, I took off for the audition.

After arriving, I was pleasantly suprised to see that we were auditioning together on stage. This is one of my favorite ways to do it since I fancy myself an actor and basically in these situations we are doing what I really love to do...act! And we get to do several different parts with different people, keeping things fun and interesting. I immediately starting doing what I do best, cracking jokes and making people laugh. Then I proceeded to do my stuff, and I felt it again. The warm goofy feeling of being exactly where you want to be. There on this stage in this little Broadripple bar I'm feeling the same great feeling that I felt a couple of years ago when my director and friend rented this huge downtown warehouse complex all summer so I could play hero in HairTrigger:No Mercy. (Still love you Tino!)

So yeah, I missed acting. I'm a realistic guy most of the time so it feels weird talking about make believing as being a life affirming step, but I can't deny it. It just feels...right.

So I'm getting painted white and wearing fake teeth on my weekends. Want to make something of it?

More news as it happens. I've had a long enough vacation!

- J

Water

As intellectual as I attempt to be, I still have a stubborn streak. Like a rhino maybe, although some might say more like an ass. Sometimes I wonder if it’s a personality trait I’ve always carried or something I’ve picked up from being in the gym for years. When you want to lift heavy weights, you can’t hide, you can’t dodge, you have to rush in and work hard on it, busting your soft flesh and hardening it to the point that you can handle lifting it.
Too often in my life I have responded to all challenges in this way. If something presents a challenge, charge it and bust my head against it until it is defeated. Although there are many things in life (like my acting career?) that only respond to this type of tenacity, the older I get the more resistance I seem to encounter.
For example, in my International Business class this semester my professor has surprised me by giving me less than stellar grades on my assignments. When I asked him what the deal was, he responded that I did not answer all the questions. Due to the nature of the responses, I have a feeling that English is not the first language for my dear Professor. And now I am wondering if maybe there is something getting lost in the translation. See, each number may have more than one question, but since I answer them in essay form anyway, I take out all the questions at the same time. Since I am not listing question then answer ad naseum, I’m thinking Professor doesn’t think I’m doing the work. In my normal stubborn manner I send an email demanding an example of where I did not answer the questions. For a week now he has not responded, perhaps he is frustrated himself?
In trying to diffuse my anger, I am drawn to the philosophy gained from my martial art training. When someone swings a bat at you, you don’t charge it and try to break it with your head, you move! Sometimes it is necessary to move and flow with your enemy (challenge), in order to put yourself in a better position to attack.
I poured a glass of water as I began my assignment this morning. I noticed the way that the water forms to the shape of the glass.
Maybe it is time I stop being the glass and breaking when I attempt to stand fast to all challenges. Maybe it is the time in my life I become the water and shape myself to the things that attempt to break me.
I spent the morning completing my weeks assignment, this time listing each specific question and then the answer.

A few things going on, will update soon.

- J

Not much to report from the last several months. A promotion at work had been sucking up most of my time the last few months, along with ample amounts of video games and varying qualities of action movies courtesy of Netflix.

I had begun working from home most of the time last year. You would think this would grant you more time, but the problem sets in when you realize you now can work ALL OF THE TIME. Plus, your boss has no problem dumping extra work and hours on you because HEY, you are WORKING FROM HOME!

In a way, it's been great for my career. But the lack of time has seriously eaten into my gym and acting career advancement. With luck, things have now settled down into a balance of sort, where I can again start trying to enjoy the things that make life worthwhile.

It's hard starting over, in acting or in the gym. In the past month I have attempted to secure a meaty part in any production planning to shoot this summer with no luck. Hilarious, three years ago I remember rushing from set to set the same day, with several projects scheduled. But now...nothing. And the gym is unforgiving as well, weights that were once hoisted easily press down on me unrelenting. Soreness from muscles I've forgotten about greet me as I rise the morning after a grueling session.

But what can you do but pick up and move on?

I have purchased a digital camcorder and an external harddrive to store the footage on recently. Nothing fancy, just something to play around with. As soon as I find a cameraman I'll start shooting and editing some gym footage. Throw it up on youtube or something. I'll let you know when that begins.

Until Then,

- J

Life is weird. After ranting on about how frustrated I am about my lack of acting career I recieve the news that one of the shorts I did last year, Winston, has been selected to be shown at the Indianapolis IMAX Film festival, http://www.imax.com/indy/films/bigshortfilmfest.htm .

One can interpret one of three things from this.

A. Simple coincidence, nothing can be read from it, there is no fate and what will happen will continue unabated by my little hopes and dreams.

B. A sign that perhaps I should not give up so easily and should pick myself back up and keep fighting towards living my dream like several of you kind people have been telling me.

C. Life is taunting me, once again throwing me a tiny taste of what it would be like to be a successful actor only to dump me on my ass later. Life has a sense of humor, methinks.

At any rate, I'm going to be there to watch my movie and do the meet and greet thing. They tell me Winston is going to be showing at around 4:3opm on Saturday, so if you have nothing better to do feel free to come join me at the IMAX.

I'm going through a frustrating period. I've been busting my ass for years working on dozens of shorts and even a few feature length movies and literally have nothing to show for it. I've only done a handful of things this year, and that's only when the director has come directly to me and asked if I wanted to audition.

I understand that at this level it's difficult to complete a project, but I feel like I'm busting my head against the wall. It feels like many of the opportunities in this town have dried up, or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

Honestly though, all I'm really doing is playing around. Any true professional director isn't even going to look at this microcinema stuff. If I ever really want to live my dream, I'm going to have to get into the big movies and big budgets. It's possible, a guy I know from a bodybuilding message board recently did an extra stint in the upcoming movie '300'. When the director saw he was 'built' or whatever he upgraded him. I'm bigger than this guy, and have a lot more acting training and experience! But now he's a spartan in '300' and I'm the pizza guy on 'EZ Money.'

Frustrating.

I've returned to the gym to find myself. I have several personal projects that I have to complete, including busting ass on school and completing the home renovations I have planned.
Once that is completed I will again turn my attentions to acting. At that point I'm going to get professional headshots, aquire and agent, and start auditioning for professional work.
In the meantime, I invite any director to contact me if they think I'd be right for their project. I love acting and if the part looks interesting I'll find time to do it.

Until Later,
- J

Summer Speedin' By

First I'll start with the latest acting news. Let's see, I completed another short with the always dapper Donald Becker. Director Jesse Berger helmed this little story of a robbery gone wrong go even wronger after the supernatural creeps into the picture. I get to play the part of Lou, a pretty crazed character. And guess what? You'll never guess! He has a GUN! Ha! But seriously, it is a big departure because Lou is all about running off at the mouth, not strong and silent like most of the characters I've played.

This short is the first short that I've really allowed myself to go crazy and just roll with the scene, pretty much improving everything as we went along. Of course, I made sure to hit all the main points and to give my other actors their cues, but other than that I was just all over the place. I seriously just tossed the script because I drifted so far from it. But I really feel that it brought a sense of realism, and kept my fellow actors 'fresh' because they had no idea what was going to come at them next. I was worried initially about Jesse's reaction to my changes, but he never complained and seemed really happy with what was going on so I didn't sweat it. I look forward to seeing a cut of this sucker. It should be a trip!

August is here and the summer of '06 is about to tap out. I get to look forward to another semester of school. And this should be my last year before my Associate Degree is completed, then it's off to what, more school? Sheesh. This adult stuff bites sometimes.

I've joined up with Netflix the past few months and have been watching a lot more movies. One of the movies I recently seen was Dungeons and Dragons:Wrath of the Dragon God. Now, it's no Citizen Kane, but I really liked the movie. You could tell that people that actually were into Dungeons and Dragons were involved in the production because of all the rules and basic 'atmoshpere' was there. Sure, the CGI and story were a bit cheap, but I felt that this movie was the closest that's been made of bringing the game to the screen. It was cast in England and shot in Lithuania.

Man, would I love to be involved in something like that.

Perhaps one day I will. Perhaps.

- J

Finally got around to filming The Russian character for JoeMamma Productions short, Winston.

I like these guys. When I walked in the door they put me in a chair and had Steven Segal movies on for me to watch. You can't get enough Steven Segal, can you? I hope not because he's growing at an unbelievable rate! He serious looks like he has eaten several children. But I guess I should wait until I'm kicking ass in straight to video movies before I talk smack about the man! I digress....

Back to Joe Mamma! We filmed this sucker in a metal barn, which is the equivilent of a toaster over when you are having a record heat wave. My Russian ensamble of sweater and pea coat jacket was fun back during the preproduction in the winter, but turned me into a sweat fountain in this barn! But as hot as it was, everyone was gung ho and worked hard to bring this thing together. I was part of a few different special effect shots that I look forward to seeing if they pulled off on camera.

Oh yeah, I also got to play some acting 'Trust' exercises as I laid on the ground waiting for a blank pistol to be fired very near me. The gun powder from that stuff burns like a son of a !@#!#, but all I could think of was Brandon Lee. And there would be no line of tear fans lining up at my funeral, just some guy from the Darwin award books waiting to get my wannabe story! But luckily nothing came out the gun but that firey hellish powder.

Oh yeah, I also got stopped by a cop on the way home from the shoot. I often wondered when I would get stopped by a law enforcement officer when I was covered with fake blood. I guess it looked real enough because he came at me real slow with his hand on his gun. I just gripped the steering wheel, once more that night hoping that a pistol blast did not send hot lead through my brain. 'Why do you have blood all over your head?', he asked as if I had an answer that would actually make sense. So I excitadly explained all about Jason Smither and his acting career. And I'll be danged if Johnny Law wasn't actually interested and impressed! He took my license and registration back presumably to check if I had any warrents out for having blood on my forehead. Finding none, he returned my stuff and told me he'd check out my website. Hope you enjoyed what you found officer! Good thing you didn't check my trunk and find the dead body! Hah! Just kidding. Steven Segal already ate the evidence!

- J

Recently I can't get enough of listening to Theory of a Deadman's 'Santa Monica'. First off, I think it's a great song. But second, I was introduced to it through a marketing trick I'm suprised isn't used more often.

A lot of Theory of a Deadman's songs are featured on the game 'Indigo Prophecy', which I played through recently. It's a really story driven game that works hard to drag you emotionally into the characters involved. I thought it was really cool how that after enjoying a really freaky couple of days the lead character regained some of his sanity if you led him to turn on his stereo and blare some music. So now, whenever I hear that song I immediately get this feeling of calming.... and the strange need to kickbox something.

The playstation 2 game 'Run Like Hell' did the same thing with Breaking Benjamin's first album. I still equate 'Polyamorous' with blowing the heads off of aliens.

So let's see more of that, game developers and good musicians!

A bunch of little movies springing up around Indiana. I'm gonna audition for a few, and hopefully grab some parts in some. I'll update when something interesting happens. And probably even if it doesn't....

One of the reasons that initially drove me to pursue acting was to have some way to use the muscle that I had built after climbing under a weight bar day after day, year after year. You have to understand, when I started lifting weights I was about 120lbs soaking wet and could barely bench press more than the bar. So after a short stint as a personal trainer at a franchise gym that proved to be more about pushing money than helping people, I found bunk films in the paper and decided to give acting a try.And even though acting has been relatively nice to my physique, getting me up to my armpits in thug roles, sometimes I still feel the need to challenge myself.A recent powerlifting competition was my newest outing. Powerlifting is judged on the three 'Power' lifts, Squat, Bench, and Deadlift. I had never competed in powerlifting before, but usually incorporate those training moves into my routine so felt I could do a little damage. You get three attempts to get your maximum weight you can do for one time.I started my day at the weigh in, where I was a little displeased to see I was at 223 lbs, which was three pounds shy of putting me into the 220 weight class, instead dumping me into the 242s. We started out with the squat, which you basically take a barbell placed across your shoulders and squat down until your legs break paralell then stand back up. My third attempt I did 405, but after how easily that was handled I should have tried for a bit more.Everyone is familiar with the bench press, but one of the rules of powerlifting deems that the bar must come down and be paused on the chest for at least a full second, presumably to keep the participates from bouncing the weight off their sternums. Although I agree with the no bouncing rule, this pause does add considerable more challenge to the lift. Once again, I was conservative and maxed my third attempt at 320 lbs. Honestly though, that was a new record for me and I probably wouldn't have done much more. Yes, I need to work on my bench.The third event was deadlift. I came in feeling pretty strong on deadlift, and I was right. I ended up deadlifting more than everyone in the compeition, even the super heavies. If you miss your initial weight you can lose the meet, so most compeitiors start really low. It was funny that everyone else started at 200lbs or so while I started at 455lbs. I topped out at 525lbs, another personal record for me. I ended up winning my weight class, mostly by my deadlift since I was defeated on the bench. I had a good time. I might look for more comps held around here in the midwest.

It's funny. Everytime the realistic part of me starts to talk the stupid half of me into dropping this frustrating circus called acting, something happens that makes me glad I stumbled into it. Last night that something was Dan Hall's latest movie, EZ Money.Let me first offer my mini-review and I'll expand on this.First things first, I liked EZ Money. Dan managed to create a lot of atmosphere and mood shooting all in Indiana. The acting was solid, with most of the laughs coming in the form of Mike Jansen's character going crazy after he catches a power surge in the head. The lead kids all did a great job, with some especially adorable moments from the youngest, Echo. The sets were believable, and production value was raised by using IPD police cars and a private plane. Dan also used a lot of 'movie' computer programs, such as watching money transfer across the globe and actually having to open a safe in order to access your bank account online, but what the heck, it's a kids movie and stuff like that may help people follow the story. The plot flowed pretty well, although some points seemed really forced. Dan made good use of a lot of Indiana 'celebrities', like using Wank and O'Brien as inept electric company technicians and using local climbing champ Tori Allen as the lead kids' older friend. Speaking of Tori, she's a national climbing champion, and I knew they were going to have to work that in some way. Sure enough, near the end of the movie a locked warehouse necessitates a climb up a wall to an open window. It was funny listening to the guys behind me curse in amazment as Tori walked up to the wall and started scaling it like a spider. In some ways though, the movie seemed like it may just be trying to fit too much into it. There was a kind of side story about Ric Payne's character and the kids' Aunt being involved in the past, but I felt it was never really explored. In fact, it seemed his character only existed to be the straight man for Jansen's insanity. We establish that he's cool and stuff because he rides a motorcycle at the begining and is either courages or deaf after he ignores a challenge by a robber, but honestly he never really does anything. At one point he attempts to intimidate a effiminate hairdresser by breaking a pencil, but outtakes shown at the end highlighted how difficult it was to break the pencil with his thumb on cue. Of course, I've had to break about a dozen pencils that way today, and they've all snapped easily like broken twigs. I then fought off all of the pens attempting to avenge the pencils and sat down to a breakfast of 16d nails, but I digress. Bring it Ric Payne!As far as Indianapolisfilm.net crew, I remember seeing Micah Ballinger as the salon receptionist, Dennis Chavez as the orphanage owner, some goofy guy as the 'band starting pizza dude', and Jason Kistler with the appearance at the end as a cop. They are showing it at the Cinema Grill for at least two weekends, so please go check it out if it interests you.It's hard to be part of something like that and not feel pride, but that's not why it's reignited my fire. My daughter also had a small role at the end of the movie, and being able to go and watch it together was a really amazing memory that I hope she'll always carry. If I wasn't involved in this stuff, we would have never been able to experience it.

Reflection

Again acting frustration sets in. I lost the part with Don Becker because the director thought I looked a little too 'hard' and 'built' for the part. Normally I let stuff like this slide off my back, but I was really looking forward to doing this short with Don. I find it insanely frustrating that people think a 'father' character can't look like he works out. It's becoming a trend. If the part is a thug/hitman/heavy, Jason Smither is your man! If the part is 'normal', my look is too intimidating. And it becomes a circular thing! When I heard I lost the part, I went to the gym and smashed the weights around even harder, which makes me bigger, and in turn makes me lose more parts! Whee! I guess that's just the biz, but unfortunately most of the parts in Indiana do not lend themselves to violence. Most legit directors want to make nice little movies with nice little people. Oh well, rant over. My time will come.

The powerlifting contest is April 22nd. I'm looking forward to it, if for no other reason than to test myself. Even though I haven't been maxing out on the powerlifts, I am suprisingly able to handle some decent weight. Last night I bench pressed 315lbs with a nice long pause at the bottom. Last week I deadlifted 500lbs with good form relatively easy. The last time I deadlifted that much was three years ago and I ripped three calluses off my hand! This time it went up nice and smooth, with no hand rippage. I'm going to max my squat this week as well, I'm hoping for around 450lbs. That would give me a total over 1200lbs, which I feel would be a decent showing.

Still looking forward to attending the EZ Money Premiere as well as shooting 'Winston' later this month, so its not completely dry, acting-wise, but part of me does miss the weekends shooting HairTrigger. Maybe we'll see something more on that as well.