Sit And Sing!

I house sat again this weekend... in general, I was pretty busy... but the most important thing on my docket was sit and sing!

Sit and sing is the rehearsal during tech week for a musical where you simply sit and sing with the orchestra. It's the first time that the orchestra and the actors are able to combine their singing/playing and make sure everyone's on the same page.

Since our show opens up this week on 4/18, we had our rehearsal Sunday 4/13.

It lasted for about 3 hours... but it went very well, and the orchestra sounds amazing. It's always one of those moments that helps all of us who have been rehearsing the scenes and songs over and over and over again get motivated again and look at the show with new light. Soon we'll add our costumes and make up and before we know it it'll be show time!

Just a little something about the process that I thought I would share.

Caretaker Opportunity!

I don't remember what happened on Wed/Thurs... It probably consisted simply of me sitting around the house, working out, trying to eat healthier, and contacting people regarding auditions and such, to only end my evening tired and sweaty from a rehearsal... nothing that exciting/different...

BUT FRIDAY was exciting... at least a little bit!

Monday - the same night I watched Hocus Pocus, I had been hanging out with my good friend Ryan, and he was telling me that he was leaving his caretaking job... a little under a year ago Ryan had found this caretaker position at an apt building on Franklin, just east of Lyndale... he got the job and as pay he was supplied an apt free of rent and a free covered parking spot in the back. I kept joking to him about giving me the job, as it's a nice apt and an awesome location (just between downtown and uptown, and just blocks away from Loring Park and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden; home of the spoon and cherry.)

Well, today (Friday) I had an interview for the position. Shirley - the lady who interviewed me, and who would ultimately be my boss if I got the job - was extremely nice and professional, and I think I impressed her a lot. There has only been one interview in my life that didn't result in getting the job, and I don't think this will be my second - but we'll just have to wait and see. It would be the perfect scenario for the actor that I am.

Here's to hoping!

A Klingon Is Born

ANTM was filler this week, as they did a recap of the season so far - enticing us to watch by throwing in 'never before seen footage'!

I watched it regardless, and there honestly wasn't that much new stuff... So I'll just throw in this somewhat humorous observation that I had at the beginning of this season but just haven't said yet...

I think Tyra is turning into a Klingon.

I've grown to really respect Tyra Banks as an inspiration for other women and as a very successful business woman... so I don't mean any disrespect towards her, but has anyone else noticed the ridges forming between her brow every time she gets a serious/confused face on? I mean, they're kind of hard to miss... either way, they remind me of the Klingon foreheads from Star Trek...

Just thought I'd mention it.

It Don't Mean A Thing!

I auditioned for the dance musical Swing! on Tuesday with Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

I sang the song It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Aint Got That Swing)!

It was quite a literal song for the audition, especially since I was expecting absolutely nothing to arise from it... They were only casting two males and two females as singers... the rest of the cast would be composed of professional swing dancers...

During my song, the judges nodded their heads... they liked my singing!... afterwards they said "Great audition!" about 4 times, and that was it... no talk about callbacks or anything of the sort... but as I already said, I wasn't expecting anything.

Either way, I felt like I did well at the audition - it gets my face out there more, AND helps with my auditioning skills. Always a plus! :)


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We Desire... Children!: Hocus Pocus Review

I watched one of my all-time favorite childhood movies on Monday... Hocus Pocus...

This is one of those classic children's movies that as an adult had so many more funny moments than I caught/understood as a child. It's a story of three old witches, burned at the stake many years ago, who are allowed one Halloween night to come back to suck the life out of any children they can get their hands on. With every child, the three will grow younger, and with enough children they could gain immortality. The only people who believe in their existance enough to try to stop them are a high school boy, his younger sister, his high school crush, a black cat who used to be a boy until the witches cursed him to live forever as a feline (the reason they got burned at the stake in the first place), and an undead boy who the witches had brought back to life themselves.

Bette Midler plays the leader of the three witches, with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the other two. They make a hilarious trio, and on top of it all, they sing!

There really isn't much to say about this movie, other than it's a great family classic with humor for both children and adults, and an extremely funny cast that will make you laugh until the end. Sure, I might just be biased as I have a soft spot for the movie from childhood... and yeah, the special effects are definitely outdated... but oh well, I still say it's the perfect children's movie...

... otherwise its CURTAINS! hehe

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The Just So Stories

Sunday, 4/6, I went to a play that my cousins were in, called The Just So Stories performed by Anoka Children's Theatre. I had never heard of the play before, although the writer, Rudyard Kipling, sounded very familiar. Shortly after it started, I recognized how I knew the name - the show was a bunch of short tales on the origins of some animals or their traits (as in 'How the Armadillo Came To Be,' or 'Where the Camel Got His Hump,' etc.) - and I had seen these very stories in a video in elementary school.

The show was very cute, and my cousins did a great job! There were five stories, and of those my two cousins each had their own stories for their own animals - my cousin Carrie played a Rhino in the first story, where they told how the Rhino's skin became so loose. One of the main thing that any actor needs to learn is to always make a strong decision, and don't second doubt yourself, and Carrie definitely knows this, and it showed in her performance. She had a lot of confidence in her character and her actions, and her comic timing is good and smart...

My cousin Callie played the Camel in the final story of the show, where we found out how the camel got its hump. One of the hardest things to do for an actor, is to create a character with non-verbals. The Camel has next to no lines, but is obviously an important part to the story, and completely relies on its actions. Callie did a great job of showing what kind of animal the Camel was through simple things like how she walked and her posture, and how she reacted to the other animals around her.

Both of them did a wonderful job, and I'm very glad I got to see them in such a great program. According to my aunt, the girls were really sad for the show to end, and didn't want to wait until the fall to start their next show. Either way, I can't wait to see them perform again and grow with their talents :)

Memory Loss/Noodles

I should get a planner... that way, when I update my blog over a week late, I'll remember what I did...

I have such a bad memory in that regards...

So with the question, what did I do Friday or Saturday of LAST weekend, comes absolutely nothing to mind... did I write? no... did I watch tv? probably... did I have rehearsal?... I think?

Actually... now that I think about it, we did have rehearsal on friday and nobody was there... and then on Saturday I hung out with my friend Timmy...

Strange how things come back like that...

Yeah - it was a nice day on Saturday... a warmer day than it has been... and my friend Timmy and I went to Uptown and walked around/window shopped...

We joked that we were dating, and so I bought her Noodles... how romantic am I, right?

Afterwards, we decided to try to see High School Musical by Ashland Productions, as our friend Tom was in it... alas, we drove all the way to the theatre in maplewood to find out that it had closed 3/30 - just the week before. *sigh*

At least it was a nice, warm spring day...

MORE REALITY TV!

I did my ANTM post a day early, as I wanted to save Thursday's slot for an update on two other reality tv shows... one of which is premiering tonight...

First, I wanted to touch on the fact that tonight is the finale for Bravo tv's first season of Make Me A Supermodel.

I told myself, when Bravo first started airing commercials for the show, that I wouldn't watch it. As a gay male, I have been surrounded by male pretentiousness at the gay clubs/in the gay society alone here in the twin cities - and it's something that I have absolutely no respect for. There is nothing to gain by being pretentious, unless you want a limited group of friends and to come off as arrogant/close-minded.

On the other hand, I don't mind female modeling shows, as women have a different perspective on life and handle pretentiousness a little differently - also in a way that won't affect me as I am not female and don't feel peer pressure by women.

Make Me A Supermodel had both male and female models though and I could sense that it would be filled with pretentiousness that I already try to avoid everyday in the gay community. About five or six episodes into the season I watched the show, and I have to say, I got hooked. There was only one gay male in the show, and he not only lacked pretentiousness, but he was extremely classy and respectable.

In the end, the show only motivated me to become healthier and start working out more, plus it was super entertaining, and tonight we will find out WHO of the remaining four will be the next Supermodel. Here they are...

RONNIE!
Ronnie is my absolute favorite, and I want him to win. He is down to earth, fun, has great catwalk skills, and has taken some amazing pictures. Not just that, but he's the most attractive to me out of the remaining four.







HOLLY!
Holly was my favorite of the females, and I would not be upset at all if she won. She has such an interesting/exotic look, and has also been very respectable throughout this whole season - although she has always gunned for Ronnie to go home... She has shown the most adversity in adapting a character or transitioning from commercial to high fashion. She seems to be able to do it all, and well for that matter

BEN!
Ben has been great this season, having improved probably the most out of any of the other contestants. He dealt with his own self-image through this process, and discovered that he is a sexy guy and can accept that without being vain/arrogant.





Perry...
Perry is not my favorite. I found him to be very cocky throughout this whole experience. You can tell that he thinks he has it all in his pocket, and has had it from the beginning... I have enjoyed some of his pictures, but I have never really been impressed by him... and the whole drama during this season between him and his girlfriend back home was pathetic in my opinion. I never grew to like this guy... and he's the only one I don't want to win.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER the Supermodel Finale, another brand new reality tv show is beginning... and I am so insanely excited for it!!

Along similar lines as So You Think You Can Dance comes Bravo's Step It Up And Dance. I know that some of Bravo's ideas might not be purely original, but they have the most high-class reality tv out there. They can turn an idea into a very professional and serious reality tv show that to me is a step above the rest in quality, and the sole fact that they aren't as commercialized as say American Idol or any of the other mainstream reality tv shows, is another positive in my opinion.

I LOVE dancing reality tv shows... but haven't been the biggest fan of ABC's Dancing With The Stars... and so I am extremely excited for Step It Up And Dance. I might have to start blogging about this show too... but we'll see... we'll see.

One of the MAIN reasons I will be watching Bravo's Step It Up And Dance though... is that the amazingly talented Elizabeth Berkley is going to be hosting. HAH!

Speaking of... here she is in her most infamous role in one of America's best movies EVER! :)...

WATCH STEP IT UP AND DANCE PREMIERING TONIGHT ON BRAVO AT 11/10c



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My Head Just Starts Ringing!

****ANTM SPOILERS INCLUDED****

What else do you expect when you voluntarily faceplant yourself onto a sheet of hard plastic after falling from at least five feet of distance? You're gonna hear the bells... and let's just say they're not going to be pretty.

This week was a very fun/different episode for Next Top Model.

Usually, when the girls get down to about 6 or so, they will be flown to a foreign country, and when there's only about 5 or 4 left they'll have the girls go on go-sees. Well, there are 8 girls left, and they decided to have the girls go on go-sees already...

In past seasons the girls have always gone alone as they meet with designers, show them their portfolios, and walk for them... but this season they did it in 2 groups of 4, and it was much more structured than past seasons... where they usually say good luck, be back by [enter time here], hopefully you'll make it to a couple... they instead gave the groups one location at a time, and there was no time limit...

Whitney, Dominique, Stacey Ann, and Claire's group won the challenge and got to do a photo shoot for Seventeen Magazine as their prize.

The main photo shoot for the episode was one of my favorites in any season so far. They had the girls lay on some thick sheets of plastic, in a small puddle of water, and they photographed them from beneath.

At panel, the judge's favorite was Fatima, who took a fantastic photo, that even Tyra said looked so perfect it looked like someone drew it. Fatima said that it was because she had practiced her poses, but when Nigel asked her to show them one, she fell flat and gave them a pose reminiscent of the teapot song.

My favorite of the day was Whitney. I LOVED the emotion inside her photo, and the fact that you could see her entire body was very cool for me. The judges joked that she was a fetus, and Tyra said it looked like she was taking her first breath... I think that it's a compliment to say that though... it's evokes thought and emotion... much more than the other girls' shots I thought.

Lauren suffered in this shoot, and it resulted in a very awkward photograph that even the judges didn't like. Her awkwardness didn't show high fashion this week, and they're getting tired of her lack of self-confidence. She was in the bottom two this week... but she made the cut over miss faceplant...

...Claire. I didn't think her photo was that bad actually. I thought it was very pretty, and I actually thought the profile in the picture was very beautiful. I have seen profile shots of this girl before and her nose seemed to always take command, whereas in this shot it didn't. Her personality and carelessness seems to have been what tipped the judges against her, although they said she wasn't enough of a chameleon to be a top model... so she was sent home.

Getting down to only 7 girls... it makes me more confident in my choices of Anya and Whitney. I don't see Fatima, Dominique, or Lauren being the top model this season at all... They are actually the bottom three in my opinion for the title. I honestly think they're going to take a Caucasian this season, so that pushes Stacy Ann out of the running no matter how far she gets, although I think she would hold the title really well...

Anya has been versatile and the judges love her, not to mention she has that foreign quality to her, even though she is only from Hawaii. Her communication skills might be lacking, but she's someone unlike anybody already with the Top Model title, and that'll work in her favor.

Whitney is the fiercest plus sized model that the show has ever had. She knows her stuff, and she is showing it. The show would do well to finally have a plus-sized Top Model, and I think Whitney is a prime candidate for that.

Katarzyna is the big question mark for me. She wasn't one of my top picks from the beginning, BUT she seems to be doing spectacularly well in the competition. The judges are liking her more and more, and honestly, I think she would be a great Top Model. I'm excited to see her progress through the rest of the season.

We'll see what happens! We'll see!

Les Poissons Fandub!

A classic from Disney's The Little Mermaid! I had a lot of fun doing this fandub. Hopefully you will enjoy it :)


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