- This morning I woke up to Mei Mei barking outside, for a long time, without my Aunt reprimanding her. I was confused. But when I woke up for real and came downstairs, my Aunt told me when she let Mei Mei out to the backyard, another dog was hiding in there and came out and tried to take a bite out of Mei Mei. It turned out that the other "dog" was actually a coyote. But Mei Mei is ok. Whew.
- One of the directors at Uber Content (Aaron Reull) filmed the opening sequence for Napoleon Dynamite. I thought that was pretty awesome. But then I was reading an article around the office, and it said Aaron Reull also played Kip Dynamite, aka, Napoleon's brother. I couldn't believe it, since I see him at the office all the time. But yes, it was him. I think him not having that mustache threw me off.
- I was calling camera truck companies today in search of one for our next commercial (a Public Service Announcement for the American Lung Assoc). I called one guy, and his response was, "Oh! Sorry, all of my trucks are out filming Die Hard 4!" Haha, that's a pretty unique response for me to hear. I didn't even know Die Hard 4 was being made. That felt like an Entourage moment.
- Marci is in LA too! Marcindaaaaa!!!!
Random niblets that have been floating around my mind to blog about (I started this earlier in the week):
- In my 27 days since arriving in Los Angeles, I have refeuled the Jetta five times, for a total of $168.47.
- It should come as no surpise then that on working days, I spend at the minimum three hours a day in the car. That means on a good day, about 12.5% of my day is spent in traffic.
- Because of this high percentage of car time, I have developed an appreciation for sports radio (710 ESPN here in SoCal). I think people who call into radio shows are oftentimes similar to those who post on message boards; they're delusional idiots.
- As mentioned previously, MadTV is filmed in a stage next to my office. On the opposite side of my office is the stage for the Suite Life of Zach and Cody, and That's So Raven. I haven't sighted any of them yet, but I do see a lot of other child actors/extra's walking around. Yesterday I saw a kid wearing a bright pink shirt that said, "Real Men Wear Pink". He walked past me, looked up, and smirked real big at me, all Hollywood like. Needless to say, I laughed out loud once he was past me.
- Is no one else's interest piqued by the phenomenon of John Mayer and the Killers having two songs with nearly the same exact chorus? Has this happened before in music, where three fairly unique words (fire, wire, higher) are used the exact same way?!?! I mean seriously, it kinda creeps me out.
- The Bears game Sunday night. I see or hear a few Bears fans talk about how "THAT WAS THE GREATEST BEARS GAME EVER OMIGAAAHHH!!! Well, I wouldnt be too proud of your "greatest game" being a come from behind victory against a perpetually crappy team with one playoff win since 1947 starting a rookie at quarterback. That just doesnt seem like it should be the pinnacle of a franchise. Do you really want your greatest game to be against the Arizona Cardinals? THE ARIZONA CARDINALS?!?! I don't think so. The vaunted Chicago team should never have been in that position. I've also been having humongous poops the size of peoples forearms. Its like giving birth analy. (Just trying to sneak that information into this post. And that giving birth analy description I just made up sounds HORRIBLE...but its true in my case.)
- I am pretty confident that I could make a very comfortable living in this industry being a producer of sorts. Is that cocky? A little too confident? A little too naive that I can climb this supposed ladder quickly? Doing a job seems like doing TAF, except it is a new job every one or two weeks and on a professional level. Instead of counselors you have camera crew, grip crew, lighting, etc, instead of ILT you have Production Assistants, and instead of campers you have actors and talent agencies.
- I spelled OUTSWIMS for a 143 point score last night in Literati. It was my highest word score ever. The T was open on the board, the O went on a 2x word score, the W (which is 4 points alone) on a 3x letter score, and the end S on a 3x word score. The 2x and 3x makes it a 6x word score, which is pretty sweet. So it came out to be (in OUTSWIMS ORDER) 1+1+1+1+12+0+1+1=18 (my I was a blank) * 6 = 108 + 35 for a Bingo Bonus = 143. I'm a nerd for writing all that out, but it was pretty awesome. I finished the game at 380 points.
- 99% of the people that I have met in the commercial film production world have been extremely nice and friendly. From my superiors who always say thank you to me, to the guys on set who are always open to giving advice and also saying thank you, to the guys at the film supply stores who offer you coffee or cookies when you're waiting for your order. It is very refreshing to feel that day in and day out in and around work.
- Moving on from that, one of my bosses asked me to bring them a coke the other day and to wash the ice for her. Yea. Wash the ice. So I did just that, and I washed the ice before I poured her coke into a glass. Haha...
- It's SOOOO COLD HERE! Like 51 degrees. CHILLY!
- We eat ridiculously well in this industry. There is food galore. Like mentioned earlier, coffee or snacks are offered while you wait to get equipment. There is a kitchen in my office stocked with all kinds of snacks and beverages. On film days, I have had grilled salmon, bbq ribs or chicken, etc etc, for a meal. They serve hot breakfast too. And everyday we order lunch (which is paid for by the company) and my meal usually costs around 10+ dollars from a fancy shmancy Hollywood cafe. I think thats why I don't mind work so much. You feed me, I stay happy, and therefore I work better for you.
- I need to run. This industry is making me gain weight.
- Continuing with food, we filmed our commercial last Thursday at a home in LA. The nanny took the kid of the house out for dinner, since we were filming in their kitched. My Production Manager Tracey said sure, no problem, we would pay for it and call it a location fee since it was logical. But then the nanny came back from dinner and handed Tracey a receipt for $143 dollars. Uh...WHAT?! You took an 8-year old kid out for a $143 dollar sushi dinner?!?! WHO DOES THAT ON SOMEONE ELSES DIME?! You are a bad bad person.
- I like to add pictures to spruce things up visually sometimes. So here is a photo of what happens to Mei Mei when she does something bad and needs to be punished.
We make her stand up for a few minutes and make her think about what she's done. As you can see, Father Lo is making sure she understands to never run off from the house and chase rabbits in the night and get herself all dirty. Bad Mei Mei.
Just to get this off my chest.
Chien Ming Wang.
Good pitcher. Taiwanese. Great. But you know what? I was a Cubs fan since I was six years old. Being a Cubs fan was part of my identity before anything else. That includes calling myself Taiwanese American. I have embraced my Cubs a full decade longer than I have embrace Taiwan. So, this is why despite being very proud of my Taiwanese heritage, I do not cheer for Chien Ming Wang.
Or maybe I am just tired of the Yankees. I'm starting to respect Jeter a lot, and I hope A-Rod gets traded to the Cubs. But it's still the Yankees. I'm tired of them. Whatever.
Go Cubs.
And you know what? Wang really is the pride of Taiwan right now. Eeeeverybody loves him. Even my mom wants to watch him pitch and cheer for him and the Yankees. You see how me, being a serious baseball fan with real loyalty to one team, finds that disturbing? All y'all xanga-ing about Wang, blah blah blah. Leave me alone.
And you know whats worse? Since he IS the pride of Taiwan, everyone in Taiwan is a Yankee fan. This just gives the Yankees more revenue! I mean, think about it. Taiwan has the 17th largest GDP in the World. THE SEVENTEENTH LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD FULLY SUPPORTS THIS ONE PITCHER AND HIS TEAM! That's horrible for the rest of baseball. Perhaps incredibly shrewd on the part of Brian Cashman, but oh man. That is just more money for the richest. If they marketed well enough in Taiwan, the Yankees could sign Zito, keep A-Rod on the bench as a $20 million pinch hitter, draft a standing army, and purchase the Dominican Republic (much cheaper at 69th in GDP) and then own every baseball player to come out of that island for the next twelve generations.
Damn Yankees.
"music acts as a total catalyst for pleasant introspection and quiet musings... not unlike night time driving on a deserted road lined with backlit trees, fond memories of love, childhood, or past epiphanies swelling, and the urge to either relish in the aloneness or to hold someone's hand.
-explosions in the sky"
Also, the pilot for Friday Night Lights, which, like the film, features Explosions in the Sky on the soundtrack, was intense. Y'all.
Friday's are great when you work. I am finished with my first week in the film production world, and despite little sleep and lots of driving, I enjoyed it. I will continue working with Uber Content throughout the next week as we film a commercial for Honeybaked Ham; just in time for the holidays!
I went to a dinner with the TAP, Taiwanese American Professionals, tonight near UCLA. Met some new T-peeps. One of them looked like Melody and another like Tinya. I'm really seeing resemblences of siblings aren't I? And then another girl looked like Christine from U of I. So that's an Asian girl looking just like a White girl. The TAP's president is Ben Ling, who went to TAF from 93-97. All in Youth, choreographed a swing choir, etc. He looks like Tim Huang.
After dinner, I drove back from Santa Monica to Rowland Heights in 34 minutes. That happened due to driving as high as 90mph (often) and many lane changes. I think I changed one lane to another at least, say, 42 times. And then I did about 12 double lane changes, and maybe even throw in 3 triple lane changes. I am a freakin rebel. And I think something is strange about LA drivers. While the traffic sucks, a lot of them just cruise at 55-60mph on the freeway, IN THE FAST (LEFT) LANE?! Why? What gives man.
Here are the choruses off a song from the new John Mayer album (Vultures) and a new song off The Killers album (Bling). Tell me if you notice anything (cuz I did while I sat in traffic in my car):
John Mayer:
"Down to the wire
I wanted water but
I'll walk through the fire
If this is what it takes
To take me even higher
Then I'll come through
Like I do"
The Killers:
"Higher and higher,
We're gonna take it,
Down to the wire,
We're gonna make it,
Out of the fire,
Higher and higher."
Meeeeh...maybe they're friends and write stuff together...?
It is now Saturday, and I can sleep in. HECKA YEA-YUH. This weekend I plan on:
-Mailing Roger stuff.
-Mailing Karen stuff.
-Playing FIFA 07.
-Watching the Friday Night Lights pilot.
-Organize my mp3 library.
-Continue to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.
-Watch football on Sunday for the first time this season.
-Alter some jeans.
-Do nothing else.
Man this was an exciting post.
Work has been great so far. I'm an intern at Uber Content, which is mainly a commercial house, ie: they make commercials. The past two days have been busy, prepping everything for our shoot tomorrow for a Microsoft internet commercial. It feels a lot like prepping for TAF or ITASA, like the final frantic and busy few days before (although it isnt so much that for TAF, since you know, the staff is awesome and prepared weeks in advance!). But yea, I like that busy atmosphere where I can do lots of little jobs here and there to make something run successfully. My Production Manager Tracey is my boss, and shes cool. Learning a lot, and feeling pretty hopeful and comfortable after only two days. I even was able to get hired with them for their next project, and get pizzaid too! Yay for TAF giving me the skills to function in this professional world while not ever doing anything while in college. Hah!
Oh, that reminds me. At church on Sunday I was filling out a new person card, and it asked:
Are you a:
A) College Student
B) Single Adult
C) Married
And...I CANT CIRCLE COLLEGE ANYMORE. IM A SINGLE ADULT. WWWWWWWHAT??
But yea. Work is looking good. Hopefully it stays that way. The office is located in the Hollywood Center Studios, which was the former home of The Lucy Show and current home of shows like Mind of Mencia, Mad TV, and the SUITE LIFE OF ZACH AND CODY. If I meet that one asian girl on the show, I am going to taunt Justin Yang. Hah.
But yea so Mad TV. I saw some of their people milling about yesterday. That Asian guy (bobby lee?) from Wild n Out with Nick Cannon and he was also the nerdy guy at Princeton turned wild party boy in Harold and Kumar. And then the girl who played the housekeeper for Chandler and Monica in Friends, who got freaked out because Monica thought she was stealing her clothing and made Chandler check her out.
But my most important sighting of all happened while I was on the phone, walking back from running an errand, and I heard someone say, "JON?!". I looked up and it was...REGAN! Hah! He works for Mad TV! I forgot! So we work next door to each other. Let me say this with caps lock on to make sure you retain this nugget of information:
TAFERS ARE EVERYWHERE. YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE US (except if you move to Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho) BECAUSE WE JUST MAGICALLY WILL RUN INTO EACH OTHER WHEREVER WE GO WHEN WE DONT EXPECT IT.
Haha. Isnt that great. Yay TAFers!
I saw Mischa Barton and Ken Oak today.