Farewell to a Master

Well, I just found out an old teacher of mine just passed away. I want to write something about it. But how do I do this?

Al Mancini was one of my acting teachers at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. His best known roles were probably Tic Tac from the Coen Brother's MILLERS CROSSING and Tassos Bravos in THE DIRTY DOZEN.

Now I've said it before and I'll say it again I owe my carreer to the teachers at the Playhouse. They have molded me into the actor I am today. And Mancini was no exception. He always encouraged us to think out of the box. And not to show up to "play the scene." He inspired us to be creative and wild. His class was a place I felt safe to be bold and fail. But fail sublimely. And because of that, it was in his class that I had my most magical acting moment. I don't want to go into details about it because it's kinda hard to explain. But it was one of those rare moments that we often can only wish for.

"It is an honor to be an artist." Those were his words that gave me the strength to face my critical family members and friends every holiday season when an out of work actor finds himself taking stock in how his carreer is going. And he never let us forget that we are indeed artists.

Goodbye dear sir, no relish no hotdog.

I should grow up

I just saw a commercial for the ROTO WRENCH

"Even removes badly rusted nuts"

I laughed for about fifteen minutes.

They're just not trying anymore

A long time ago when I was working at Borders a little movie came out by the name of Forrest Gump. (Now I'm not going to get into Forrest Gump and how the damn movie ends three times before the credits actually roll.) At the time I was working in the music department and we got a copy of the soundtrack for in-store play.

Here's my beef: You have a movie, an overall good one, that covers three decades of America and thus American music to choose from and you pick three songs that not only are from other movies but are actually FAMOUS for being in those movies.

"Everyboby's Talkin," "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," and "Mrs. Robinson" all signature songs from the movies they were originally in. There could be more, I don't know, I didn't do too much research on it. I just remembered it bummed me out.

Today I went to see Fred Claus. Uh... not going to review it. But how many movies are they going to close with Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (which I like to say with emphasis on the ole') "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World."

It all started with Meet Joe Black, then Finding Forrester came out and I thought "That's weird, someone wasn't paying attention." Since then the song has been in countless commercials, TV shows and movies leading up to Fred Claus. Are we out of songs? Don't get me wrong. I dig 'Bruddah IZ' but how many times do you plan to pimp this song? (Plus he kind of fudges the lyrics a bit which always bugs me.)

Please someone record a new song for us to abuse and over use, this one's kind of been played.

First Line of Defense

Got my flu shot last Friday. Now I don't want to be a wuss about it or nothing but it does take a certain level of mental preparedness to get a shot. And it didn't help that the lady administering the shot had the wrong needle on it. So she had to go and come back and re-swab my arm. So twice I had to brace myself. (Well not really brace, that kinda sounds like I tensed up and the trick is to keep relaxed while someone lances you.) But this is not what I meant by "first line of defense."

The other night I was woken from a deep sleep by someone hovering over me. Not literally. I mean her feet were on the ground at all times but she was leaning over me really closely. In my frightened and disoriented state all I could do was curse at her. I'm not going to get into what I said but it rhymes with 4Q. Imagine my disappointment. I mean, I immediately discovered it was my girlfriend so there was no danger. But still, my first line of defense against a home invasion is 4Q? 4Q home invader. 4Q.

What is the shelf life of Golden Grahams?

The other morning I noticed a "magic eye" hidden 3-D image on the back of a Golden Grahams box.

And after pausing till I could see the surfer-shredding-like-only-a-Golden-Grahams-eater-can,

I thought to myself, "Wait a minute. Magic Eye?! Is this cereal box from the 1990's?"

Oh! And my Costume.

I'm an oyster with a pearl in it.

Halloween

Sweet! Halloween was fun we carved like mad.



Here are some of mine up close: