Everybody was Kung Fu fighting!

Belly Full of Anger: Filming day 1

It was cold today, but we all climbed into a little Corolla and headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for our first day of filming.

We filmed some wide shots of me and my costar John walking along pathways, talking, and training montages.

There was a beautiful little lake with a Pagoda and winding paths.





At one point I had to dive behind a bunch of rocks, which I did quite well, almost too well, as I slid into towards the creek on a layer of mud. Oh, the joys of guerilla filmmaking.

We shot on a combo of 8 and 16 mm film. Andre, our director prefers to shoot on this film stock instead of video, and he uses the older style windup cameras. There's something soothing about hearing the constant and consistent clicking of the camera gate, reminding you that you are being recorded.

The script itself, well, I haven't seen it yet but was promised one soon (after all changes are made) sound pretty funny and sounds like a

mixture of a typical 70's kung fu film and an Ed Wood picture. It also sounds bloody, as one scene calls for John to strangle an opponent with his own intestines! Nice. Till next time.

And I went Wii, Wii, Wii, all the way home!

So I got up early to go to Best Buy this morning, as it was rumored there would be some Nintendo Wiis in stock. Mind you, I'm not a gamer per se, and in fact my last gaming console was the Coleco Vision. But after demo'ing a Wii with my buddy Jeff last week at the Nintendo Store (Rockefeller Plaza), I was hooked. What I love about it is the games are really fun to play, and it keeps you active.

So I got to Best Buy this morning at 9:45am thinking the store would open at 10am. I was wrong. The store actually opened at 11am! Much to my chagrin, there was already a line! Luckily, I was about the 10th person in line, so my chances were pretty good. So, I turned on my Treo and started watching the rest of The Aviator, to pass some time. Coincidentally, there's a Gamestop across the street from this particular Best Buy, and the people waiting in line were waving their purchase tickets at us as if they were saying "Hey look, we're going to get a Wii before you!" I could feel a rivalry starting between the Gamestop line and the Best Buy line. There were many adults in line, Mothers and Fathers trying to win Parent of the Year by waiting in line on a chilly Sunday morning, just so their kid can have bragging rights. I must say though, these games are great for the kids, as it makes them active, not turning them into couch potatoes.

At 10:45am, some BB employees came out. The entire street stood still. We held our breaths, as we saw the beautiful blue Wii purchase tickets, being handed out one by one to us. These tickets basically said, not matter what, barring an act from God, you will get your Wii. As a sidenote, Best Buy employees should never be given that much power, ever.

I got ticket number 10. I got it in, slapped down my Visa and numerous gift cards, and after that, I went wii, wii, wii, all the way home :)

365 at the Public Theatre

Suzan-Lori Parks 365 Days/365 Plays festival Weeks 4-8 was held at the Public Theatre's Shiva Theatre last Sunday. We had our tech at noon - only 45 minutes. Luckily we only had 10 chairs for our set and our tech crew had already done preliminary work, so our tech went pretty smooth.

We had a fully company meeting at 2pm. There were five theatre companies total, and we pretty much filled up the entire theatre. It was great to see all these people involved in this project.

The day went very well. It was great to see what all the different theatre companies did with their pieces.




The audience for both performances (3pm and 7pm) really responded favorably to the plays Rob and I directed, and they loved our cast.

I was really very proud of them, since most of them were ESL students for Rob at Laguardia College, and most of them don't have any desire to pursue acting professionally, they were such pros during the peformances.



I think we were all a little surprised with how much the audience responded during our first peformance with lot's of laughter and such. What was great was the cast not pushing anything for the last performance. They just did what they had rehearsed, and not tried to push the audience for the same reactions. That's a trait that many seasoned actors still don't have.