April Genius

So far, the month has been good to me. Let's start with the biggest positive in my life right now: I finally got a new job.

I'm working for a pub in Crystal Palace called The White Hart, which is part of a company of pubs called Castle, which in turn is a subsidiary of Mitchell & Butlers. In short, this means I work for a large company which owns such chains as Harvester, O'Neills, and All Bar One. Exciting stuff! The biggest drawback is that Crystal Palace is about an hour and a half away from me in Leyton, so the house move planned for the summer may take me further afield than I had first thought. Still, south London seems like a nice enough place, and still well-connected by rail and bus.

It is a relief, to say the least, to be back behind a bar. I was pondering it for a couple of days and mentioned to one of the other staff after a 10-hour shift that I felt less tired than my last 7-hour stint at the call centre. He described it as less exhausting on the soul. Very philosophical, but there's a certain truth to that. In the call centre, you follow a script, you listen to complaints, you follow the script some more, get shouted at, follow the script, but whatever you do don't answer back or try to defend yourself. Behind a bar, there are no rules against laughing, against banter, against being a bit (or in my case, very) tongue-in-cheek. I can be... myself. So much more so than I could when I was simply reading from a screen. And that is so very relaxing, and at the same time invigorating. Yes, in weeks and months to come I may complain and scowl at the injustice of having to clean up after such a rabble as we may see, but for now the manager is becoming a very good friend and colleague; the other staff are friendly and up for a laugh; and the customers are local and regular, intrigued by a new face and welcoming from the off. I actually finished my last shift with a discussion about European Medieval weaponry - one of the regulars, called Mattie if memory serves - is a collector and keeps a warhammer beside his bed.

In other news, I'm still exercising, eating and getting plenty of sleep. Oh and Charlotte's Surprise Christmas/Anniversary/Valentine's/Birthday present - Pirates of the Caribbean, screened at the Royal Albert Hall whilst the Royal Philharmonic performed the soundtrack live - was spectacular. Aside from the sound/video being out of sync during the first few scenes (much to the amusement of the audience, and then to rapturous applause when the lips and words began to synchronize).

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is also brilliant. However, in a move that will put me off Cineworld for life, the projectionist cut the tape at the beginning of the end-credits-sequence. There was a collective 'what the fuck?' from those few of us who had stayed to watch it, followed by one gentleman in the audience (after shouting at the projection box) explaining in brief the sequence of events we had been denied. Ah well, at least the DVD will be released before the next film, and also they made a reference to Stephen Strange which is ridiculously exciting for people like myself.

Live long and read on, minions!

The Past Is Just A Story We Tell Ourselves

What. A. Day.

You know those days you just feel like you need to talk about? Well it is four minutes past midnight as I'm starting to write this and since I woke up at 10:30am a ridiculous amount has happened. I'll walk you through important events in chronological order.

Part 1: The Master Ball

For those who have no interest in my video game habits, skip to part two.

I've recently started playing the Minecraft mod Pixelmon, which creates a normal Minecraft world with the addition of pokemon running around everywhere. Literally everywhere. In the water, in the caves, in my house, luckily the mod removes the normally present hostile mobs so the only real danger you face as a player is starvation (combined with falling short distances.) So I've been learning the basics and, as I should have foreseen, have been wasting far too much time on it already. In fact I'm surprised you're still even reading this, I'm getting bored of writing about it.. long story short, within a few hours I'd beaten some special pokemon and gotten some cool rare items including the coveted Master Ball meaning I can eventually hunt and catch some legendary pokemon and force it into my servitude. Basically this was a positive note of the day. Moving on!

Part Two: The Arcola

The job hunt is ongoing, and one of my applications has been to a little theatre in Dalston. I heard from a friend that it was a nice place and since it has been two weeks since I sent in my application and I hadn't heard anything from them (and the vacancy was still listed on the website) I decided to scout the place out. And I liked it. I went there under the pretence of lunch (beef stew. delicious.) and stayed for two cups of tea and some banana loaf because I had time to kill. Before I left I had a conversation with the girls who were working about racism and stereotyping (as you do) and enquired about the job listings, which I was told probably hadn't actually been looked at yet. Filled with hope, I asked them to put in a good word for me. Hopefully their memory for names is better than mine.

Part Three: The Red Wedding

As most people know I'm reading my way through Game of Thrones (so good) and I'm now on Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold. And this is when the dreaded Red Wedding happens.. by some coincidence I had managed to avoid hearing exactly who died in this much-referenced event so when it hit me, it hit me hard. 

Right in the feels. 

I'm still recovering.

Part Four: 1st For Talent

My first agency audition was today. 1st started as a child-actor agency and have recently expanded their client base to include young adults (up to 29) and out of 400 applications I was chosen to be one of 30 auditionees fighting for one of five openings. Although to be fair the last number is flexible as they need to expand their 20s actor catalog. Included was a professional photoshoot (at a discounted £59, a price I'm happy to pay when it would cost upwards of £100 if I'd looked up a photographer myself) and a very chatty make-up girl who may or may not have been flirting with me. I can honestly never tell these days, and having a girlfriend makes me pretty much immune to any advances - imagined or otherwise. Overall I left feeling a little uneasy. I'm still not sure why, though it could have been that I hadn't been able to use a bathroom since lunch, and wouldn't be able to while I was travelling again for the next hour.

Part Five: Her

This is possibly one of the most ridiculously heart-wrenching rom-coms I have ever seen. The acting is brilliant, the writing is natural, the emotions are real. I really don't want to say anything about the plot, but I would recommend going to see it. Don't look up a synopsis. The less you know about it, the better. However, I will say this: I wish I hadn't read The Red Wedding scenes on the same day as seeing this.

Oh the feels.
Also, I want the soundtrack.

Woke Up, Got Out Of Bed, Immediately Regretted That Descision

Heck, it's almost half way though the shortest month of the year and I haven't written anything yet. What's happened then, let's see.

Well, we recently completed principle photography on Rock Band VS Vampires! Hurray! It has been a long and sometimes bumpy road, expounded by the fact that our original set on which we were due to film had been turned into a building site. No, I mean literally, it wasn't just a bit messy, there were men in overalls throwing two by fours around. Not conducive to a productive day's filming. Still, we are a well-oiled machine, despite getting some sawdust in the gears we soldiered on to a different venue, which was exactly the same in every way. Except one third of the size. Adding to the overall ridiculousness of the situation, we had the biggest turnout for extras since the film began. Last I heard we had around 60 people hoping to get in on the action, and we were suddenly stuck in a venue that could barely hold ten.

Still, we soldier on, and I was granted the most important role I've ever had: I got to hold the black and white board thing which goes 'clap' in front of the camera before the scene starts. Yep, best thing I've done so far. Screw all of that 'acting' bollocks. Who needs a 'character' anyway. Why would I want my face on the screen when my hands have a slim possibility of being in the gag reel! Dream come true, I tell you.

By the time you read this, our facebook page will probably have reached about 20,000 likes with all the promotion we're doing, but I'm sure we'd appreciate a couple more. Go on, don't be a douche. I know you liked that Ronan Keating page when you first joined facebook.

I had to excuse myself from the set after seven hours of standing around, eating some pizza, taking some photos, and playing with the clapper board (exhausting day) because I had 'stuff' to do.

In honesty, that 'stuff' was actually the ever-important, life altering, Minecraft! Because let's face it, my virtual life won't live itself.

If you've never heard of minecraft, the link there takes you to their website where you can watch their promo video and buy the game. Also, I recommend watching the review which made me want to buy the game in the first place (after being nagged by multiple friends). Keep in mind this review was published when Minecraft was in phase approximately 0.6 (hence the reference to it being a beta), and the game is constantly being updated. Currently it is on version 1.7.4 and while the mechanics and effort required are more or less the same, there are a whole bunch of new elements to make the game playable by anyone. It may also be a good idea to watch this video which is much more recent and takes a more scientific approach to explaining Minecraft's success, individuality, and it's appeal.

Anyway back to what happens in my actual life, or my virtual life.

One of the newer features is the multi-player aspect of the game. When I started playing it was just me, in a world, alone. Much like the Zero Punctuation review. The closest we got to multi-player was Sam and I setting up our laptops, loading a new game, and seeing who could survive the longest in our respective worlds. Then they introduced servers and local multi-player, which is almost a prerequisite of games these days, but for Minecraft, it was mind-blowing.

So some time passes and after I moved to London Sam and I discussed setting up our own server. It means we can still play together like the good ol' days, and we can invite other people on to it and have a thriving community in our own little world. I was sceptical, as I always am, about how popular our idea would be. Low and behold we now have over 15 players on our server, easily funding the annual hosting fee.

Why am I writing about a video game on my blog about my exploits in the big city? Is that the frustrated screams of a thousand minions I can hear, quoting Monty Python at me ("Get on with it!")? Well simply because it is a link to my past and to those I hold dear. On Minecraft, Charlotte and I can go on long walks along the beach (however, we're more likely to go on mob-slaughter crusades); Sam and I can discuss life and how our respective cities are these days (however, we're more likely to go on horseback-mob-slaughter crusades); I can reconnect with friends I don't otherwise see very often (on crusades); I can even play games with my little brother in Germany (like our personal favourite, Mob Slaughter Crusade III). I suppose it has just been on my mind a lot lately. Not that I would discourage people from buying it, learning it, joining our world, joining us on certain crusades..

Anyway, to the stuff most of you have skipped down to anyway. Life updates!

Job hunting is in full swing. CVs are flying through the post like swallows in the spring; my email notifications ping new opportunities to me every day, and my sent box is rapidly filling with various 'Dear Sir/Madam,' messages.

Exercise is actually still happening. Which is still surprising me. My shoulder is flaring up so I can't do much with my arms, but I've taken to doing about 20 sit-ups and bicycles per day, plus I still use the SlenderTone belt once a week. Can't really see any results, but the fact that I've not completely given up on this routine is enough to make me feel better.

Acting is still happening, as ever. Next weekend sees me perform with LonDram in a handful of short plays, over two full days of performance (matinee and evening), which should be a blast. If nothing else, the theatre we're performing in has a wonderful café above it! After that, Kill Day's film day is March 1st with a full day of action in store, then on the 3rd I've got a photoshoot with a photographer who's creating a portfolio called 'Endurance', focussing on scars. I really couldn't resist that one.

That's all from me for now, minions, don't forget to click every link in this blog post for shits and giggles!

Darkness Pulls Itself Over The Night Like A Warm Blanket

I think of you.

Long-time fans will recognize that as an extract from one of my poems, and right now it couldn't be a more fitting metaphor. I'm exhausted tonight. So much has happened in such a short time and keeping the smile cranked up to the 'crowd-pleaser' setting takes its toll.

Right now it's settled onto 'content' - not to be confused with 'contempt' - and I'm taking stock of things.

Thing one - I have a very busy acting schedule. The eccos of Panto (ahoy there, boys and girls!) are still ringing in my ears and yet now I must focus fully on LonDram's February debut. And the little one-off films I'm doing here and there, but mainly LonDram. No sooner will I finish that, but I'll be on set for filming series one of Kill Day, a web series in which I have a (not unreasonably sized) part. And then the slate is a bit blank. I'm almost thankful for that at the moment though. March and April have commitments of their own to uphold.

Thing two - work. I'm bored again. Don't get me wrong, the call centre is ten times better than fundraising, but I want ten times better than that. A hundred times better than fundraising, and then some. Which is why, by the time I publish this, I will have received an email from the London Eye telling me whether they've invited me back for induction and training after a 2-stage interview process this week. Fingers crossed, find out at the end.

Thing three - my role in Kill Day requires me to be a soldier. I'll not say more for the sake of spoiling the plot, but needless to say a soldier generally needs to be, well, physically active. So I've got a month to get myself looking more front-line than back-bench. To that end, I encourage everyone to send me various forms of electronic communication to force me to do some sort of physical exercise. Be it sit-ups, step-training, swimming, whatever. Just no press-ups or jogging. I don't have the shoes to jog and my shoulder is acting up badly at the moment.

***

Update: I didn't get the London Eye job, which I'm pretty gutted about, but consoling myself with the knowledge that it obviously wasn't meant to be. They've got more jobs going, and you can bet my application will be in the pile somewhere.

I've also started doing daily sit-ups. Currently ranging from 20-50 per day over the past week. My previously forgotten muscles ache.

Blogs And Why To Write Them

I was going to entitle this 'and how to write them', but I thought that would seem a little too vain.

Now before you ask, yes - this is London related. But yes, I have another blog it would be a more suitable a post for, but I have a very specific system with that blog, and the next post needs to be a story update. And I can't think of one. So here's my heavily London-based blog post about blog posts!

I'm writing this for two reasons:

1. Mrs. Dindorf's classes at Leipzig International School. They're studying writing styles, and apparently 'blog' is a style of writing. Fascinating! What's more, they've been looking at this very blog as an example! This should be a treat for you lot, then. I'm taking the whole teaching element out of my mother's hands and presenting it to you in a fun, easy-to-read format. Granted, if I remember my mother (which I do) this is how many of her classes are presented anyway, so you can begin to see the family resemblance.
2. Jake Hamish Frinkman Harvey Clive Rundle III, Esq. Because although that may not be his real name, he needs some convincing on how useful blogging can be.

So, with the recent extinction of the ado (*ba dum, tsh*), let us begin.

What is a blog?

This is. Duh.

Why should I write one?

A good question, perhaps you should spend some time thinking about it. Write down any thoughts you come across during this process. In fact, write them somewhere public, somewhere where you'll never lose them and where you can share them with people at will.

But what would I write about?

Did you completely skip the last question? Go back and read it again. Then skip this question.

No, seriously, what goes into a blog?

Whatever you want. Or don't want. Most often a mixture of both. I have a simple mindset when I blog: expect everyone in the world to read it. Of course, in reality very few people will read your blog, and that's fine because the people who do read it want to do so. The most important rule, though, is don't ever assume something isn't worth reading. No matter how mundane the subject, you know you can make it sound freaking epic.

It's a good idea to have a theme for a blog, be it poetry, trying to organize otherwise random thoughts, murder and deduction, or baking, a blog can be about anything you have to say. Even if you have nothing to say. Write snippets. Jot down ideas. Come back in a year and read them over, add to them, and abandon them again - websites are a lot harder to lose than a piece of paper.

Fine, you've made your point. How do I start?

The all important realization that I'm right question. I recommend this. Blogger. It's simple, straightforward and run by Google so if you've already got Gmail then you've got a Blogger account. The design tools mean you can pick from a pre-determined selection of images (such as the one you're looking at now) or upload your own. The writing and editing section is the same as writing on Word, but makes doing things like THIS a lot simpler. You'll have already clicked on the various links I've been plugging, inserted just as easily with a couple of button-clicks, you get the idea.

That's more or less all I can think to say on the matter. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to reply one way or another.

Best of luck with your own blogs, minions!

On The Road Again. Later.

I know it's been a while since my last blog, and you're all dying to know how Christmas and New Year were, but that will have to wait for now.

Because something happened today. Something that affected me so much that I haven't been so happy in such a long time that I had to blog about it.

I had an audition.

Well of course that's not all, I have auditions every couple of weeks. This was a special audition. An audition for paid acting work with a national TIE touring company. But not only that, a closed audition.

For those that are confused as to the significance of this: an open audition is what you may have seen when Star Wars was looking for the Skywalker Jouniors. Crowds of people, instant dismissal, dreams don't even have chance to form before they're crushed, basically anyone can turn up and have their few seconds of supposed fame. A closed audition means a casting director invites you to meet them and participate, their are a limited number of places available, and if you're lucky you'll get the last one. Which is what happened to me.

I got a voicemail message while I was at work on Thursday. I called on Friday morning but she wasn't in her office. I left my number and a few seconds later I got a call back asking if I wad interested in coming to their London audition. I don't think I could have sounded more keen. Just after 9 this morning I was leaving my house, with an idea for a song in my head (part of the audition) and a bag full of other scripts on my back (I'm busy at the moment).

I found the venue (a dance and music centre) easily enough and was immediately glad to be there. No idea why, it just felt nice. Old building with that performing-arts-until-I'm-demolished feel. After initial introductions we were given two lists of short character speeches, and instructed to choose one from each list to perform for everyone. After embarrassing myself by mishearing someone else's name as my own somewhere in the middle of the group, my name was called (ironically last) and I got up.

And that's when it happened.

I'd decided my first speech would be The Mad Hatter explaining the concept of The Unbirthday, a short and simple speech which a couple of people had done before me. I had been sitting there trying to choose a voice, thinking about who to use from the 'audience', and looking at the lines. Then as soon as I got up I felt a strage sensation of what I can only describe as confidence, and I started to speak.

I cannot tell you what voice I used to perform in, nor the speech I gave, because I didn't look at the script once and the voice was not one I had thought about, but I did enough to earn smiles and applause afterwards. I moved on to my second speech (Gandalf) which was much more according to my previous plans (measured, deep voice, etc) and then sang the first half of Be Prepared which went swimmingly apart from my throat catching - luckily between notes, and as it was unaccompanied it was just a dramatic pause before the crescendo to my audience.

After that ordeal, we got the full explanation of the company and the job, what would be expected of us and what we could expect in return, and then individual interviews. Marie, who was in charge of the whole thing, took me up for my private interview and we chatted about my previous school work, theatre work, and availability. Unfortunately with my current commitments I wouldn't be able to start the tours, according to their plans, in February and because I don't have a full driver's license I wasn't eligible to do a tour starting in March who needed an extra driver. Marie seemed saddened by this, which in the acting world is usually a good sign, so I asked about dates for winter tours (Pantomime). Apparently they can run from as early as September all the way to February. I asked when I could register interest in that, and was told if I emailed her on Monday - after I'd thought about the commitments - along with everyone else for the summer tours, she'd keep me informed. Auditions begin in May but she dismissed my idea of auditioning again, "Oh no, I don't think there's any need for that." She said with a small smile. Another good sign for those of you unfamiliar to acting nuances.

So I got two very interesting points from today:

1. If there was ever any doubt that acting was a career I wanted to pursue, it is gone. Acting is organic to me. I don't even have to think about what I'm doing and people like me enough to laugh, applaud, and offer me work.

2. I have an offer of future work with a well-known and very successful touring TIE company. The excitment of this prospect is difficult to contain.

Now I just have to entertain myself until September, and hopefully find a job which won't mind my vanishing for the winter period.

Facebook Just Isn't Big Enough

I have too many things I want people to see. Frankly, by the time I had finished re-posting, sharing, status updating and liking things today, everything had pushed its way off my wall. How are people supposed to hear of all the cool shit I'm doing if it isn't on my facebook page?!

Oh right, I have a blog.

Ha! Look at all this space! I can fill it with whatever I like! Wonderful! Right, lets begin by back-tracking a week or so. The day was Friday, morning, the twenty-second of November. In a small café just off of Brick Lane in London, three people met and exchanged pleasantries. I was one of those people. Another was Elliot C. Mason, and the third (who arrived last, and late) was Anna Alfieri. We were to perform that evening, having met a mere nine days prior. We had been rehearsing since then, ever changing the script, the actions, the mood, the very heart of the play, until we were ready. Actually, that's a lie. We were never ready, and we never would be if we performed it a hundred times, but damned if we didn't give it everything we had. And our small audience loved it. Special thanks, before I forget, must be given to Alex, who arrived with us at four o'clock and performed a live and haunting soundtrack for us a few hours later. All in all, a success, I made enough money from it to fund my early hours taxi in York (I jumped on a train as soon as the performance was over and I'd had a half-hour search for my bag) and I've been told that we may be performing again in the future. In a theatre, no less! Fear not, loyal readers, details shall be made available as and when I have them.

So, after that I had a weekend in York, including The Day of The Doctor (excellent.) and then sidled on back to London. Had a BBC audition this weekend. Not as exciting as it sounds, see my previous post about the Star Wars auditions and you'll get the drift (this time I didn't need a headshot!) and so on to more actually happening things.

Pantomime rehearsals are in full swing with much laughter, singing, innuendo and abuse unbounded! We perform at the end of January and if anyone fancies coming to see me in my theatrical element, ticket purchasing details can be found here! What do you mean it doesn't look fancy enough? Go make your own panto if you're so high and mighty. We don't need you here. Muswell Hill has a dedicated group of panto enthusiasts. Honestly, some people...



Fine if that isn't high quality enough for you, how about this!
  

Bet that got your attention, and who's that at 0:48 and 1:07? Well at 0:48 there's a stunning shot of Guy Barnes, and some prat with guns, and at 1:07, that's my cousin Xavier. You do get a good shot of my hair at 2:47 though.

Think that's exciting in its own right? Well then prepare to have your mind blown so far out of your head that your ears will actually be able to see each other. YOU can be a part of it. Just click here and throw us some cash (doesn't have to be much. £5 would do nicely.) and you can see YOUR NAME in the credits of this sure-to-be-blockbuster film. I think that's all I need say for now.

Until next time, loving readers, you have my undying admiration for sticking with me for so long. Peace!