Special guest stars

I'm a bad, baaaad blogger.  Sorry folks, been a bit blue over the last week or so; the jobhunt is getting me down.  Suffice to say, I'm still looking and have started approaching cafes, retailers and supermarkets.  A glimmer of hope on the horizon today: one of the recruitment agencies I have signed with is submitting me for a 4 month full-time contract job in an editorial/administrative role for a company that publishes legal journals.  I can handle the idea of full-time on a short term basis.  Four months is pushing the boundaries a little, but I would be making a decent wage and I can bite the bullet for four months.  So fingers crossed.  Otherwise, keep your fingers crossed for a cafe job; I've approached both Aroma and M Street (my two fave coffee joints) and had a positive response from both, they're just not hiring at the moment...

In the meanwhilst (Dad, please don't question the legitimacy of that word, it's an obscure Monty Python reference), I've been roped into doing a sketch comedy show - two performances only, unless our adoring public demands more more more.  It's been pulled together mighty fast  - over the course of little more than a week - so I dived into the Baggage archives for a few tried and tested beauties (hello Diandra, you sweet, daffy thing).  I've also written some new stuff.  It will be a bit of a scrambly, scratchy show; I'm looking on it as an opportunity to try out some sketch comedy in LA, an experiment, and hey, what else am I doing right now?

Last week we had a special guest teacher at Sport of Acting.  Tom McLoughlin is a film director with a list of credits as long as your arm.  Providing your arm is really REALLY long.  Oh, just IMDb him, go on click on his name, I've linked it.  He and Vinny go way back.  Anyway, so everyone in class got to work with him as if on set, on a moment from a scene of our choice (something we've been working on in class).  Tom has an acting background so he really understands the actor's process and knows how to get what he needs from us.  He worked quickly in figuring out a suitable set-up/camera angle and blocking for each scene, and then gave each of us quite a lot of time - maybe three takes - to capture the 'moment'.  He also had a few choice anecdotes about some of the megastars he has worked with, such as Kirk Douglas and Marlon Brando.  Seriously privileged to have worked - however briefly - with him.  On a side note, he also happened to be one of the people who came to see Beaten Hearts.

Another highlight of the last couple weeks was seeing Billy the Mime.  Billy (not his real name - it's actually Steven Banks, and among other things he is the head writer on Spongebob Squarepants) is another old mate of Vinny's and he is a superb, inspired and ruthlessly cynical artist.  Amongst his ambitious, brilliant, hilarious and frequently dark set were such gems as: "The African American Experience" in which he mimed key phases and historical moments from slavery to Rosa Parks to Rodney King to Mike Tyson to Obama; "David Carradine's Last Night"; "Dinner with Jeffrey Dahmer"; and "The Priest and the Altar Boy."  If you ever get the chance to see him play, GO!  He trained with Marcel Marceau, he performs in traditional garb (white face paint etc) but there is nothing old-fashioned or daggy about this mime.  As Vinny puts it, yeah you might see him mime going downstairs - but he's going down there to kill someone.