I had a Groupon for a 3 month gym membership to what people who are body builders call "the Mecca." It's a name in body building that has been around for almost 50 years and lots of very famous people worked out there. Arnold for one.
I've had memberships at other gyms in the past, but I never saw that many really big muscle bound people like I see at this gym. They are huge and veiny and all super tan. But I have noticed a couple of the guys limp. They have the big muscles but they can't move simply like other people can. Was it a exercise injury? Torn ACL from some training accident which never healed properly? You get size but at a cost.
I wonder at the sacrifices these people do for the perfect look. Their ideal body. I heard a couple of the large guys talking. One said he was eating 10 times a day starting at 4:30 am. Fucking really? That's nuts. I'm sure it's a lot of lean protein and whatnot, but what reason drives them? If they were actors, they were no one I've ever seen or heard of. So what do they do for work? Or is being big their only job?
My membership ends tomorrow. The guy at the desk said there was one day left on the membership. Oh NO! Yeah, I really don't care to renew my membership there. They seem to think that because this gym is the Mecca of bodybuilding that there are no other gyms which could provide the same services. It's a gym. There are machines and weights. All gyms have this in various combinations. Just because it's a world famous gym doesn't make me want to spend that kind of money for a service I can get from another gym for 1/4 the cost per year. You just have to shop around.
So I'll miss seeing the behemoths of the gym in their natural habitat. I don't think the new place I found will have their like. Maybe a few, but nothing like the frequency of sightings. The new gym will have machines and weights and cost a lot less.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Taxi Dancers
I was in downtown LA to work at the Orpheum, Theatre on Broadway. I parked at Broadway and Olympic. I walked toward the theatre past an open door. It was a dance hall. Inside I saw something I thought was gone decades ago. A taxi dance venue. I thought places like that disappeared in the 1950s. I slowed down and looked at the scene inside.
I saw what in some ways reminded me of a dance in 6th grade. The women were on one side of the room dressed in their nice tight dresses, hair and makeup done, clutching small purses. The men were mainly Latinos, dressed in cowboy boots, jeans, and some had cowboy hats, around pool tables playing pool and standing in groups.
No one was dancing.
A DJ played music in a booth and the men looked like they were having a good time. The women were patient. Waiting for a man to get the courage to cross that huge divide that separates groups of men from groups of women.
I remember seeing taxi dancers in a movie or some TV show. I thought it was sad and lonely. To see it in reality... It was sad in reality too.
Where do these men and women come from? Taxi dancing seems so odd. It might get you as meany dances as you pay for but it's rather hollow companionship. What an odd archaic thing to still exist in a world of online dating.
I saw what in some ways reminded me of a dance in 6th grade. The women were on one side of the room dressed in their nice tight dresses, hair and makeup done, clutching small purses. The men were mainly Latinos, dressed in cowboy boots, jeans, and some had cowboy hats, around pool tables playing pool and standing in groups.
No one was dancing.
A DJ played music in a booth and the men looked like they were having a good time. The women were patient. Waiting for a man to get the courage to cross that huge divide that separates groups of men from groups of women.
I remember seeing taxi dancers in a movie or some TV show. I thought it was sad and lonely. To see it in reality... It was sad in reality too.
Where do these men and women come from? Taxi dancing seems so odd. It might get you as meany dances as you pay for but it's rather hollow companionship. What an odd archaic thing to still exist in a world of online dating.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Style
I'm always amazed at style. I don't really have one. Generally I wear Levi 501s and whatever t-shirt is next.
I'm talking about the style that takes a lot of time and preparation and dedication to do day in and day out. If it's celebrities, it's kind of part and parcel of the job. Standing out. So Lady Gaga has weird, crazy style. But it's all part of an act. If you are wearing a meat dress, you will get noticed. By the press if not by wolves.
But if you aren't a celebrity and style is a way of being noticed as different from the rest of the people, what would the cut off be? The point where you are saying, "That is too far. Takes too much time."
Walking around Hollywood you see all sorts of crazy styles. And sometimes I have to wonder is it worth it? The time involved to get hair to do that. Or to strap 54 leather bracelets up your arms. Or tight leather pants in 100 degree heat. Style sacrificed at the altar of comfort.
I don't really care that much about my image that I will take a lot of time to pick out clothes. I have some things that are dressy, and suits for work and auditions, but I basically don't care. About what I'm wearing or what people think about me.
It might be a left over camouflage thing from grade school and high school. If you looked different you were ridiculed. So you didn't deviate from the base line of what most kids wore. I was also not one of the kids in sports so being in the drama department, you were a target for ridicule.
I don't know. So many things about who you are are left over from school. Whether style or self image. The roots are deep.
I'm talking about the style that takes a lot of time and preparation and dedication to do day in and day out. If it's celebrities, it's kind of part and parcel of the job. Standing out. So Lady Gaga has weird, crazy style. But it's all part of an act. If you are wearing a meat dress, you will get noticed. By the press if not by wolves.
But if you aren't a celebrity and style is a way of being noticed as different from the rest of the people, what would the cut off be? The point where you are saying, "That is too far. Takes too much time."
Walking around Hollywood you see all sorts of crazy styles. And sometimes I have to wonder is it worth it? The time involved to get hair to do that. Or to strap 54 leather bracelets up your arms. Or tight leather pants in 100 degree heat. Style sacrificed at the altar of comfort.
I don't really care that much about my image that I will take a lot of time to pick out clothes. I have some things that are dressy, and suits for work and auditions, but I basically don't care. About what I'm wearing or what people think about me.
It might be a left over camouflage thing from grade school and high school. If you looked different you were ridiculed. So you didn't deviate from the base line of what most kids wore. I was also not one of the kids in sports so being in the drama department, you were a target for ridicule.
I don't know. So many things about who you are are left over from school. Whether style or self image. The roots are deep.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Random Thoughts
Why is every repair on my car always the most expensive option mechanically for that model?
How do people listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and think they are saying reasonable shit?
My main reason for not online dating would be the fear the eharmony creator would be going on the date with me. Creepy commercials, dude.
Shaving my chest for a picture led to over a month of weird itchiness. And I kept looking at my torso. It was oddly foreign to me.
Sometimes I want to take a backpack and just fucking disappear.
I fear I may have missed the window to move to Amsterdam and be a nightly performer in a live sex show.
I look to find myself in the commercials I worked on as an extra. Usually I can find me.The chin is a dead give away.
One person until death do you part? That seems... I don't know... A bit unrealistic.
I like the smell of burning steel that comes from welding; the acrid ozone smell. It reminds me of the time I spent working with steel. Welding swords for theatrical combat.
If a supermarket always has a certain loaf of bread on sale for it's card holders, why not just lower the price for everyone? Is that 50 cents really such a windfall?
Does anyone on Facebook ever post the simplest truth? "I could really use a blowjob." "God, I need to get laid."
On the days I don't leave my apartment (never opening the door), I sometimes wonder if I will run out of oxygen.
Having sex after a long dry spell makes one want more sex. I notice women much more than I previously did. Which was a lot.
I should be a talking head pundit on MSNBC. I have strong political opinions just like them.
Twitter makes me wonder if I have thoughts that should go out to the world on a daily basis.
The evenings are very quiet and I long for the busy time of being in rehearsal.
How do people listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and think they are saying reasonable shit?
My main reason for not online dating would be the fear the eharmony creator would be going on the date with me. Creepy commercials, dude.
Shaving my chest for a picture led to over a month of weird itchiness. And I kept looking at my torso. It was oddly foreign to me.
Sometimes I want to take a backpack and just fucking disappear.
I fear I may have missed the window to move to Amsterdam and be a nightly performer in a live sex show.
I look to find myself in the commercials I worked on as an extra. Usually I can find me.The chin is a dead give away.
One person until death do you part? That seems... I don't know... A bit unrealistic.
I like the smell of burning steel that comes from welding; the acrid ozone smell. It reminds me of the time I spent working with steel. Welding swords for theatrical combat.
If a supermarket always has a certain loaf of bread on sale for it's card holders, why not just lower the price for everyone? Is that 50 cents really such a windfall?
Does anyone on Facebook ever post the simplest truth? "I could really use a blowjob." "God, I need to get laid."
On the days I don't leave my apartment (never opening the door), I sometimes wonder if I will run out of oxygen.
Having sex after a long dry spell makes one want more sex. I notice women much more than I previously did. Which was a lot.
I should be a talking head pundit on MSNBC. I have strong political opinions just like them.
Twitter makes me wonder if I have thoughts that should go out to the world on a daily basis.
The evenings are very quiet and I long for the busy time of being in rehearsal.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Attrition in Los Angeles
I was having lunch with a fellow actor yesterday. We have known each other for 15 years or so, having met while working at a small theatre in a basement in Pasadena. We were doing plays. Why? Because live theatre, live performing, is like sex. You can tell when the audience is with you and there is a cycle of energy given out and sent back to the performer onstage.
I've been having a rough go of it lately. I haven't done a play in a while. I'm woefully under represented. My agent has not called at all this year which is why I'm looking to get a new one. So I was doing the actor's lament, "I'm not getting out, my agent sucks, yadda yadda yadda." It's venting all actors do.
We started talking about the people who have given up and why. Because in the years I've been in LA I've seen lots of people come and even more go. And the personal reasons for quitting acting are many. She told me of a few people she knew and what the specific reason was for quitting acting. And one of them was a small snub, but it was personal and not meant to be mean, but it was kind of cruel. An off handed comment that a casting director made. Really? That one comment broke the camel's back? Fuck me. It's part of the business. Because the commodity is you. You may not get the part, but there are likely 99 reasons out of 100 for not getting it that probably have nothing to do with you.
Anyway. I was reflecting earlier in the week about this subject. Where did the actors I know go? They got a day job and slowly faded away from acting. They found that a steady income was more attractive then perpetual struggle. A job opened up in another state. A child came along and they can raise it cheaper with better schools in a midwest state. There seemed to be plenty of small reasons to give up a titanic struggle. And big reasons too. But each person has to figure out what that point is.
It's hard. It's very discouraging. Can you be happy doing something else? Can you see yourself doing that thing? Go. Do it. You may save yourself a lot of frustration and heartache.
But for all the people I know who have left the profession and Los Angeles, I know they are being replaced by actors from all over the country who hop off the bus fresh faced. These are the stars of their high schools and colleges. Their professional training programs. These are the ones who haven't been beaten down by the machine of Hollywood.
I don't know if I have a breaking point. Or if I will be like a terrier playing tug of war with a huge rope tied to a mountain until I have a heart attack and die.
The thing is, I have friends working. I know people in movies and on series and working as guest stars. I know people in commercials and voice over. And those people give me hope that I will succeed. I don't want to be someone who has given up. Unless I win $400 million. But I'd produce my own movies if I did win that kind of money.
I've been having a rough go of it lately. I haven't done a play in a while. I'm woefully under represented. My agent has not called at all this year which is why I'm looking to get a new one. So I was doing the actor's lament, "I'm not getting out, my agent sucks, yadda yadda yadda." It's venting all actors do.
We started talking about the people who have given up and why. Because in the years I've been in LA I've seen lots of people come and even more go. And the personal reasons for quitting acting are many. She told me of a few people she knew and what the specific reason was for quitting acting. And one of them was a small snub, but it was personal and not meant to be mean, but it was kind of cruel. An off handed comment that a casting director made. Really? That one comment broke the camel's back? Fuck me. It's part of the business. Because the commodity is you. You may not get the part, but there are likely 99 reasons out of 100 for not getting it that probably have nothing to do with you.
Anyway. I was reflecting earlier in the week about this subject. Where did the actors I know go? They got a day job and slowly faded away from acting. They found that a steady income was more attractive then perpetual struggle. A job opened up in another state. A child came along and they can raise it cheaper with better schools in a midwest state. There seemed to be plenty of small reasons to give up a titanic struggle. And big reasons too. But each person has to figure out what that point is.
It's hard. It's very discouraging. Can you be happy doing something else? Can you see yourself doing that thing? Go. Do it. You may save yourself a lot of frustration and heartache.
But for all the people I know who have left the profession and Los Angeles, I know they are being replaced by actors from all over the country who hop off the bus fresh faced. These are the stars of their high schools and colleges. Their professional training programs. These are the ones who haven't been beaten down by the machine of Hollywood.
I don't know if I have a breaking point. Or if I will be like a terrier playing tug of war with a huge rope tied to a mountain until I have a heart attack and die.
The thing is, I have friends working. I know people in movies and on series and working as guest stars. I know people in commercials and voice over. And those people give me hope that I will succeed. I don't want to be someone who has given up. Unless I win $400 million. But I'd produce my own movies if I did win that kind of money.
Monday, September 30, 2013
The American Taliban
Yeah, the name is one I first heard on The Newsroom. The HBO, Aaron Sorkin show. But it perfectly describes the Tea Party faction of the GOP. They have totally hijacked that party with crazy super duper far right thinking that has made government grind to a halt.
Right now, about 15 minutes ago, the midnight deadline for a government shutdown passed. Which is the stupidest thing that could possibly happen. But the Tea Party is not very bright. They think they can force the Affordable Care Act to go away just by throwing a temper tantrum. The thing they don't seem to get is that this idea of healthcare reform had been vetted with the country since it had been signed into law in 2010.
They seem to think that the vote in both houses of congress, the signing by the President, the litigation upheld by the Supreme Court, a Presidential election where the opposing candidate promised multiple times a day to "repeal and replace Obamacare on day one," or the 42 or more votes which failed to get rid of the ACA don't matter. The country voted to re-elect the President by over 5 million votes and an electoral college landslide.
Doesn't matter to the 30-45 hard right terroists who are making the rest of the GOP jump like lemmings inot the abyss. But the lemming jump is not enough. They are wearing suicide vests and their fingers are gleefully thumbing the detonator.
Ther is no way for it to be resolved tonight. And the lesson of the 1996 shutdown is lost on these idiots. The government was shutdown for 21 days. They don't know the consequences. They will learn the impact of this ideological purity test. And I hope and pray that the fools of the Tea Party will all be voted out of congress. There is no room in governing for people who want to burn down the government.
It would be awesome if recall petitions were started in every state and congressional district of every GOP member who votes in this destructive and reckless way.
But this is just the preamble. The real crazy shit may happen when the debt ceiling limit comes to a vote.
Right now, about 15 minutes ago, the midnight deadline for a government shutdown passed. Which is the stupidest thing that could possibly happen. But the Tea Party is not very bright. They think they can force the Affordable Care Act to go away just by throwing a temper tantrum. The thing they don't seem to get is that this idea of healthcare reform had been vetted with the country since it had been signed into law in 2010.
They seem to think that the vote in both houses of congress, the signing by the President, the litigation upheld by the Supreme Court, a Presidential election where the opposing candidate promised multiple times a day to "repeal and replace Obamacare on day one," or the 42 or more votes which failed to get rid of the ACA don't matter. The country voted to re-elect the President by over 5 million votes and an electoral college landslide.
Doesn't matter to the 30-45 hard right terroists who are making the rest of the GOP jump like lemmings inot the abyss. But the lemming jump is not enough. They are wearing suicide vests and their fingers are gleefully thumbing the detonator.
Ther is no way for it to be resolved tonight. And the lesson of the 1996 shutdown is lost on these idiots. The government was shutdown for 21 days. They don't know the consequences. They will learn the impact of this ideological purity test. And I hope and pray that the fools of the Tea Party will all be voted out of congress. There is no room in governing for people who want to burn down the government.
It would be awesome if recall petitions were started in every state and congressional district of every GOP member who votes in this destructive and reckless way.
But this is just the preamble. The real crazy shit may happen when the debt ceiling limit comes to a vote.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Parenting Thoughts
Yeah. I have no kids. But I have strong opinions about parenting.
I was talking to a woman who has a 2 year old child and said I wouldn't do certain things. Thins she had done with her child. She put her hands on her hips and gave me a, "Really?" Which was not subtle code for, "You have no fucking children, why are you judging me?"
I have friends with kids and have seen different parenting styles from cajoling to guilt trips to begging to threats and intimidation. They may be the thing that that specific child needs. But in all the parenting styles I have watched I have to admit that I think the woman with hands on hips kind of got it all wrong.
The child is 2 and still breast feeds. Not because he needs the food or they live in sub Saharan Africa and there is no other source of protein for the child, it's because she wanted to breast feed for a long time. And now, at 2, it's hard to break the kid from the routine. Also, breastfeeding is now a security blanket for the child. If he bumps his head, he gets a boob. If he ever is sad, he gets a boob. I'm over 18. It would be fucking awesome to get a boob at the end of a bad day.
The child co-sleeps with them and has the entire time. The child had never slept in it's own bed until recently. It was more for her than the child. Um, have a crib near the bed to facilitate middle of the night feedings for the first 3-4 months, but you could roll over and hurt the child! That's just fucking dangerous. It's only recently the child has been sleeping in his own bed.
The parents told of how difficult it is to get the child to stop breast feeding and to sleep in it's own bed. Who's fault is that for not creating a routine? The kid is a precious glass unicorn that has never had a bad day. They are talking about home schooling. I don't buy that home schooled kids are at the same developmental stages as kids who go to public or private schools.
In school you learn things. Socialization. You learn your strengths and weaknesses. You learn that there are people in the world that are assholes and you won't like them. And they won't like you. You learn to play tag and dodgeball at recess and you run around. I doubt that home schooled kids get sent outside to run around. And prom is going to suck
You learn deadlines in school. You have to have work in by a certain time to get a grade. How do grades work for home schooled kids? How does Harvard look at a home schooled kid and say that they have a commensurate educational experience as the kids who went to public or private schools? For what is school training you for? A JOB. Yup, all the things you learned in school like sitting behind a desk and accomplishing a task, that is a precursor to having a job where you sit at a desk and get shit done. I'm not being Dickensian, but if a home schooled kid is only "working" for 3 hours because it is the same as 7 hours at a public school, then he will be shocked at how long a work day really is.
When the parents admonished the child for pushing another child, the mother said, "It makes Mommy feel bad when you do that." The dad also said, "Daddy doesn't like it when you do that." Um, in the world there are things you should do. Tell a child "No" and stick with it is one of the things. You can explain why, but what does the child learn being guilt tripped about an action the parents don't like? How do you explain to the child the stove is hot? "It burns Mommy when you stick your hand on the burner?" IT'S FUCKING DANGEROUS! Certain things in the world are dangerous and you need to tell the kid "NO." Don't run into the street. Don't jump off the roof. Don't stab Mommy. The justification of "it makes Mommy sad" is bullshit.
Generally, I think that these parents are raising a bright, lovely child who will have a universe filled with rainbows and butterflies... And be totally unprepared for how the world really works. This kid will be consoled if he fails. And you get a trophy for showing up.
But, really, don't you learn more from your failures than you successes? Anybody can win, but how do you deal with a loss? Does the loss drive you to do better or give up on doing that thing again? Feeling bad is part of being human. If you never learn how to cope, are you going to be looking for Mom's boob when you are 35 and didn't get a promotion at work?
Don't you learn more from the people who don't like you than the ones who like you and put up with your shit because they are your friend? My friends put up with my crap. But the ones who won't are the people I work for and the people who don't like me. They call my attention to the things I do that others let slide.
But then what do I know? I'm just some asshole who has no children.
I was talking to a woman who has a 2 year old child and said I wouldn't do certain things. Thins she had done with her child. She put her hands on her hips and gave me a, "Really?" Which was not subtle code for, "You have no fucking children, why are you judging me?"
I have friends with kids and have seen different parenting styles from cajoling to guilt trips to begging to threats and intimidation. They may be the thing that that specific child needs. But in all the parenting styles I have watched I have to admit that I think the woman with hands on hips kind of got it all wrong.
The child is 2 and still breast feeds. Not because he needs the food or they live in sub Saharan Africa and there is no other source of protein for the child, it's because she wanted to breast feed for a long time. And now, at 2, it's hard to break the kid from the routine. Also, breastfeeding is now a security blanket for the child. If he bumps his head, he gets a boob. If he ever is sad, he gets a boob. I'm over 18. It would be fucking awesome to get a boob at the end of a bad day.
The child co-sleeps with them and has the entire time. The child had never slept in it's own bed until recently. It was more for her than the child. Um, have a crib near the bed to facilitate middle of the night feedings for the first 3-4 months, but you could roll over and hurt the child! That's just fucking dangerous. It's only recently the child has been sleeping in his own bed.
The parents told of how difficult it is to get the child to stop breast feeding and to sleep in it's own bed. Who's fault is that for not creating a routine? The kid is a precious glass unicorn that has never had a bad day. They are talking about home schooling. I don't buy that home schooled kids are at the same developmental stages as kids who go to public or private schools.
In school you learn things. Socialization. You learn your strengths and weaknesses. You learn that there are people in the world that are assholes and you won't like them. And they won't like you. You learn to play tag and dodgeball at recess and you run around. I doubt that home schooled kids get sent outside to run around. And prom is going to suck
You learn deadlines in school. You have to have work in by a certain time to get a grade. How do grades work for home schooled kids? How does Harvard look at a home schooled kid and say that they have a commensurate educational experience as the kids who went to public or private schools? For what is school training you for? A JOB. Yup, all the things you learned in school like sitting behind a desk and accomplishing a task, that is a precursor to having a job where you sit at a desk and get shit done. I'm not being Dickensian, but if a home schooled kid is only "working" for 3 hours because it is the same as 7 hours at a public school, then he will be shocked at how long a work day really is.
When the parents admonished the child for pushing another child, the mother said, "It makes Mommy feel bad when you do that." The dad also said, "Daddy doesn't like it when you do that." Um, in the world there are things you should do. Tell a child "No" and stick with it is one of the things. You can explain why, but what does the child learn being guilt tripped about an action the parents don't like? How do you explain to the child the stove is hot? "It burns Mommy when you stick your hand on the burner?" IT'S FUCKING DANGEROUS! Certain things in the world are dangerous and you need to tell the kid "NO." Don't run into the street. Don't jump off the roof. Don't stab Mommy. The justification of "it makes Mommy sad" is bullshit.
Generally, I think that these parents are raising a bright, lovely child who will have a universe filled with rainbows and butterflies... And be totally unprepared for how the world really works. This kid will be consoled if he fails. And you get a trophy for showing up.
But, really, don't you learn more from your failures than you successes? Anybody can win, but how do you deal with a loss? Does the loss drive you to do better or give up on doing that thing again? Feeling bad is part of being human. If you never learn how to cope, are you going to be looking for Mom's boob when you are 35 and didn't get a promotion at work?
Don't you learn more from the people who don't like you than the ones who like you and put up with your shit because they are your friend? My friends put up with my crap. But the ones who won't are the people I work for and the people who don't like me. They call my attention to the things I do that others let slide.
But then what do I know? I'm just some asshole who has no children.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
