Summer Solstice

Venice, California. Angelenos enjoyed the longest day of the year and the first day of summer this past weekend in the midst of an intense heat wave. In addition to triple digit temperatures in the valley, the longest day (and in my opinion the best day...) of the year correlated with a full moon and grunion runs on the beaches. I hit the town with some of my Venice buddies and only realized later that all of the guys in the group had names starting in A - Aaron, Andrew, Adam and Arlo. The video clip below is from our solstice outing in the long twilight. Also included is a picture of buddies Aaron Miller and Jen Tharler at a recent showing of The Quick Six, the band continuing to provide the best of music to west side venues!

On the work front, this has been another busy week. Earlier in the week, I worked two nights at the Rose Bowl for a promo that I'll leave nameless. Check out the picture here of the stadium with the mountains behind. With this kind of view at a football game, and not to mention the usual perfect weather, can you blame people for wanting to live in California? Anyway, the promo featured the lovely country singer, Faith Hill, who proved to be engaging and gracious. Unfortunately, this production decided to cut corners by not feeding the extras at all the first night, and only provided chips and water as craft services. This treatment came to Faith's attention and she responded by buying us all pizza. We thanked her profusely for her kind hearted act and I let her know that I knew "a Mississippi girl don't change her ways... "

Later in the week, I worked as an upscale Los Angeles diner on the second episode of the new series, The Starter Wife. The series stars Debra Messing of Will and Grace fame. Finally, this weekend in the midst of solstice madness, I worked as a New York library patron on a pilot called The Meant to Be's starring Amy Smart and Ioan Gruffudd (known best as Dr. Reed Richards a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four films).

As this coming week begins, I have a couple of very exciting, but top secret feature film projects that I am getting started on. In one on these, I will be working for the first time as a photo double for a celebrity actor and I am looking forward to it!

On a wrap up note, it looks like my IMDb Starmeter hit an all time high this week - - 29,289! Cool beans...

The Secret Adventures of Adolph Hitler

Berkeley, California. During his infamous political career, Adolph Hitler was the target of 42 distinct assassination attempts. All of these attempts failed and Hitler finally died at his own hand in 1945. I've been working in a yet to be named documentary covering these various attempts. The film is meant to coincide with next year's release of Valkyrie, a feature film following the story of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg and starring Tom Cruise. I traveled to the Bay Area this past weekend to participate in the film in the role of Hitler. This was an extremely enjoyable shoot thanks to a great cast and crew. Enjoy the pics!
On another front, you may recall my participation in the Santiago Tapia film, The Secret Adventures of Mr. Grant (see posts: Meet John Needham, Secret Agent and Secret Adventures). A 3 minute version of the film is now available for viewing HERE on the Filmaka website and was a close finalist for the winner of this year's Filmaka award.

Finally, things have been busy on the work front. I have been on one set or another every day for the past several weeks and my Starmeter hit an all time high last week - 30,523. Disney really had me put the extra hours in on the Race to Witch Mountain with the Rock, Bob Balaban (as the Director of Swingtown) asked me to eat day old prop food and to 'get as intimate as I was willing to' with a female background artist, Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy) is a really nice guy, and Holly Hunter (Saving Grace) is the most gracious and welcoming principle actor I have yet had the privilege to work with. Check out the following clips from work days on Swingtown, Moonlight and Lincoln Heights.

Another Week on the Westside

Marina del Rey, California. The picture below is the Venice Pier this evening. Beautiful sunset! I just came off the beach now to write you this blog post.

This week has been a bit slow, mostly running around to auditions and the like. However, on Tuesday, I worked background on a film called Ticket to Ride (also called The Post Grad Survival Guide) with Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett. Then, yesterday, I appeared as a guest on Lesbian Knows Best, discussing ocean conservation concerns with host, Vicki Wagner.

Finally, on a humorous side note, my IMDb Starmeter has once again climbed to a new record! This week I am #74,995.

My New Home

Marina del Rey, California. This week I have been settling in to my new Los Angeles area apartment, right off Venice Beach. I have had three auditions in the past four days and today I worked as audience on the gameshow Deal or No Deal. My IMDb Starmeter also reached a new record this week - 75,308. Check out this post's video for a glimpse of my new neighborhood beach...

Own It

Venice Beach, California. Last night I performed in a film by Wendell Small, a UCLA film student. My role was as a wastoid waiter in a banquet of the 7 deadly sins. We shot on the UCLA campus. Lots of good people and creativity.

Oh, and my IMDb Starmeter this week has hit a new record - 80,188!

Change is in the Air

Alameda, California. Things are tough right now. I am moving out of my apartment at the end of this week and not quite sure where I am going. Options are to stay here in the San Francisco Area or move to Los Angeles.

On the humorous side, I have once again reached a new high on my IMDb Starmeter - 84,805!

Shooting Rains

Sugarloaf, California. Most of this weekend was spent in a cute cabin in the Big Bear area - the location for the Rains of Astoria shoot. The shoot went well, the cast and crew were excellent and it was a beautiful setting for it all to go down. Here are a couple pics of the cast and crew.





Also, new IMDb "StarMeter" record this week!: 87,632.