Ferdinand is the guy that waters the plants in our office. He comes in once a week. Most people call him the Wizard because of his dirty gray hair and grizzled features. He smells funny. Also, one day he magically showed up in place of the old plant lady (thank you zach for the info). Carla thinks his name is Fernando. He reminds me of the old man in "Into the Woods" and I imagine he lives in a cabin somewhere in a forest near the city if indeed he lives indoors at all.
He gave me a plant when we replaced some in the office. I had just gotten my new apartment and thought it would be nice to have something living in it aside from the three of us and the occasional waterbug. We named the plant Harry. It died slowly and painfully and is still sitting in a box on the balcony. I was supposed to dispose of it this morning as per Michelle's request but I forgot.
One day in Union Square during lunch I was walking through the market with some girls from work and we picked out some little cactus type plants for our desks. It's middle name is Ferdinand after our plant man.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Lou (June 29)
Lou was my professor for a couple of classes freshman year of college. He was eccentric as hell, a former manager for celebrities such as Steve Buscemi and Angela Basset. his business fell apart in LA and he moved to NJ and adopted some kids. He took a liking to me and constantly bombarded me with advice. It was that loud, over the top, flamboyant type of advice. Like he knew if I listened to him, everything would go my way.
"ANDY! You need to be a lawyer, like your father."
"ANDY! Only act if you can't do ANYTHING else."
"ANDY! There is no final and the whole class knew it except for you, that was a nice presentation though. Sit down, you got an A." (this happened)
Lou introduced me to a casting director during one acts one night and it was the first time I really thought about wanting to be on that side of the business. It's ironic that I never really thought much about it again the following years and ended up at a talent agency anyway.
Sometimes you don't decide what path to take, you just find yourself walking it.
(Side note: two days after writing this I realized the casting director I had met was somebody my office currently works with. Small world, huh?)
"ANDY! You need to be a lawyer, like your father."
"ANDY! Only act if you can't do ANYTHING else."
"ANDY! There is no final and the whole class knew it except for you, that was a nice presentation though. Sit down, you got an A." (this happened)
Lou introduced me to a casting director during one acts one night and it was the first time I really thought about wanting to be on that side of the business. It's ironic that I never really thought much about it again the following years and ended up at a talent agency anyway.
Sometimes you don't decide what path to take, you just find yourself walking it.
(Side note: two days after writing this I realized the casting director I had met was somebody my office currently works with. Small world, huh?)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
KC Craig (June 28)
KC went to my summer camp. When we were 14ish we were in the "travel" camp for the summer which mostly consisted of day trips around South Jersey. One of them was tubing/rafting trip down the Delaware River. At some point during the day, I ended up in the raft with KC and her other "badass" girlfriends. Floating down the river she gave me my first cigarette ever. I assume I somehow thought it was going to be impressive to KC. I coughed my brains out and have never once claimed to like cigarettes since then even though I've smoked my share of them now.
It was several years before I smoked another and I have to say it's nice to be (mostly) rid of them now.
It was several years before I smoked another and I have to say it's nice to be (mostly) rid of them now.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Brian K (June 26)
Brian moved to Voorhees in 5th grade. We hung out all the time for the next couple years. He was the first person to introduce me to Star Wars. When I saw it, I could not believe that my "whole life" had gone by without seeing these movies. Though I was reading an X-Men comic each month at the time, Star Wars was the first time I became fully immersed in a fictional world. It is where I first found something with a deep endless mythology, an entire new universe to explore.
I bought action figures, played video games, watched the movies over and over and collected the card game. Star Wars became my obsession as a ten year old. I was so into it that my Bar Mitzvah was Star Wars themed.
I've always been drawn to expansive mythologies since then. From the Marvel Universe, to Role Playing video games, to Lost; anything with it's own set of rules and tons to learn will draw me in. It is my hope to one day be a part of creating something of that nature.
I bought action figures, played video games, watched the movies over and over and collected the card game. Star Wars became my obsession as a ten year old. I was so into it that my Bar Mitzvah was Star Wars themed.
I've always been drawn to expansive mythologies since then. From the Marvel Universe, to Role Playing video games, to Lost; anything with it's own set of rules and tons to learn will draw me in. It is my hope to one day be a part of creating something of that nature.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
David K. (The other writer) (June 25)
David runs a business involving sports down in Florida, he has a family. I've never met him in person.
The four of us had a conference call while I was on a train back to Jersey from the city. I was expecting David to be an incoherent moron based on the script I had read but in reality, his ideas about writing actually sounded similar to mine when he cited the need for story structure and knowing where you're going and having character development. Anybody who's ever taken a writing class knows these things but it was refreshing to have somebody speaking my language. We actually ended up talking about Lost for quite a bit.
It's too bad Dick was so set in his ideas, we might have been able to salvage the show. He had decided that our 4th-6th episodes would deal with the cast at another party playing a truth or dare-esque card game. This was a VERY SIMPLE game that Dick created and hoped to sell on the website. You can maybe see now that he was so much thinking about "plot". It was even more frustrating that he kept comparing our show to Quarterlife which had just been picked up by NBC due to the strike. I'm still trying to figure out if he actually believed it was good or if there was some other motivation behind the whole thing and he just wanted to fool us into thinking this was good.
Well the discussion came and went. David and I spoke privately and admitted that neither of us wanted our names on this project anymore and would gladly let the other write whatever they wanted. He wrote the third part. I ridiculous scene between three cops and having none of the main cast except the one who had been undercover hanging out with them...there was a subplot (i mean 9 second clip) of him being jerked off by one of the gay characters. Dick thought this made the show edgy. It makes me angry just thinking about it.
Communication broke down after that, but I did meet with them one last time on December 13th. I went into the city and Danilo took me and Dick out for dinner and drinks. He told me that he had gotten a business loan and the three of us would be on salary in the next couple months and work on producing several projects we had been talking about. I was pretty excited, if the money was good I didn't much care what I was doing.
The next day I got a call from CESD, where I had interviewed the previous week. I had a job. A real job. I never looked back. Revelation 125 has made no progress since, however I am friendly with several of the actors some of who work with my agency and others who I see time and again through my work at the PIT.
If you want to see Revelation 125, I can get you a link.
The four of us had a conference call while I was on a train back to Jersey from the city. I was expecting David to be an incoherent moron based on the script I had read but in reality, his ideas about writing actually sounded similar to mine when he cited the need for story structure and knowing where you're going and having character development. Anybody who's ever taken a writing class knows these things but it was refreshing to have somebody speaking my language. We actually ended up talking about Lost for quite a bit.
It's too bad Dick was so set in his ideas, we might have been able to salvage the show. He had decided that our 4th-6th episodes would deal with the cast at another party playing a truth or dare-esque card game. This was a VERY SIMPLE game that Dick created and hoped to sell on the website. You can maybe see now that he was so much thinking about "plot". It was even more frustrating that he kept comparing our show to Quarterlife which had just been picked up by NBC due to the strike. I'm still trying to figure out if he actually believed it was good or if there was some other motivation behind the whole thing and he just wanted to fool us into thinking this was good.
Well the discussion came and went. David and I spoke privately and admitted that neither of us wanted our names on this project anymore and would gladly let the other write whatever they wanted. He wrote the third part. I ridiculous scene between three cops and having none of the main cast except the one who had been undercover hanging out with them...there was a subplot (i mean 9 second clip) of him being jerked off by one of the gay characters. Dick thought this made the show edgy. It makes me angry just thinking about it.
Communication broke down after that, but I did meet with them one last time on December 13th. I went into the city and Danilo took me and Dick out for dinner and drinks. He told me that he had gotten a business loan and the three of us would be on salary in the next couple months and work on producing several projects we had been talking about. I was pretty excited, if the money was good I didn't much care what I was doing.
The next day I got a call from CESD, where I had interviewed the previous week. I had a job. A real job. I never looked back. Revelation 125 has made no progress since, however I am friendly with several of the actors some of who work with my agency and others who I see time and again through my work at the PIT.
If you want to see Revelation 125, I can get you a link.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Dick (June 24)
I had met Dick a couple of times while I was David's "intern". I give it quotes because the school had a very different idea of what I was doing and how often I was there. I didn't really deserve the credit I got but whatever. I met Danilo and Dick at Dick's office and they began to tell me about some projects they were working on. They run a streaming video website which primarily offers "urban" content and does ok as far as bringing in traffic. They both had previous careers and many connections. They both seemed much more on point than David. They wanted to make a webshow and they wanted me to write it. They also cast me as Allan, a socially inept egotistical blogger.
Now it was September and I had nothing else going on, so I decided to go with it. There was another writer in Florida. He had written a script. Now the original concept was about people meeting on a video social networking site. The script had about 10 people at a party, mostly all meeting for the first time. None of them had personalities even though we had been given character descriptions. The dialogue was nothing short of horrible. I sat down and rewrote the entire thing in three hours. Dick and Danilo LOVED it. They set up a shoot date and I was actually excited.
Danilo's house was in Jamaica, Queens. It took forever to get there. The cast was nice, all very young New York actors and it was my first exposure to a group like this so I enjoyed meeting them. At the house we went in and Dick ordered us pizza and gave us all beer. Danilo was not there which was not good as he was the director and camera operator. I asked him for a shot list but one did not exist. The actors started to get uncomfortable. It was a friday night and we were already an hour behind schedule. The house had small entryways and poor lighting, the angles were nearly impossible to hit. Dick and I used two camcorders to shoot it. Danilo arrived with a camera man and continued where we had left off. People were drinking. Actors were getting restless, the whole thing was a nightmare. The last train back to NJ was gone and I was unsure how I would get home. At least it was shot and we had signed contracts stating we would get paid if the thing made any money. I had also started my characters blog.
A couple weeks later the video was posted. The lighting was poor, the framing was bad, there were odd random cuts. My girlfriend at the time was watching it with me and just said she was sorry. It was appalling. Somehow though, it got something like half a million hits and Dick proclaimed it a victory. I tried to discuss it with Danilo but he just said he had only been able to edit what he had and I dropped it there.
I half heartedly wrote a script for the second episode which was to be much shorter in length. I wrote a really great scene between my character and his sister, and set up plot threads that would advance the show and the character arcs. I was told to cut a lot of things out and what was left had absolutely no soul. It was a standard murder mystery about characters nobody could possibly care about. It was done in the wrong format, and Dick refused to listen to me about how the story needed to be told. Suddenly "Revelation" was "I'm not Black" all over again. I would link you all to it, but I don't want the hits being traced back to my blog. If you must see the horror please ask me.
Soon I was asked to have a conference with the other writer. His name, of course, was David.
PART 5 will be posted later, I promise it will end this saga once and for all.
Now it was September and I had nothing else going on, so I decided to go with it. There was another writer in Florida. He had written a script. Now the original concept was about people meeting on a video social networking site. The script had about 10 people at a party, mostly all meeting for the first time. None of them had personalities even though we had been given character descriptions. The dialogue was nothing short of horrible. I sat down and rewrote the entire thing in three hours. Dick and Danilo LOVED it. They set up a shoot date and I was actually excited.
Danilo's house was in Jamaica, Queens. It took forever to get there. The cast was nice, all very young New York actors and it was my first exposure to a group like this so I enjoyed meeting them. At the house we went in and Dick ordered us pizza and gave us all beer. Danilo was not there which was not good as he was the director and camera operator. I asked him for a shot list but one did not exist. The actors started to get uncomfortable. It was a friday night and we were already an hour behind schedule. The house had small entryways and poor lighting, the angles were nearly impossible to hit. Dick and I used two camcorders to shoot it. Danilo arrived with a camera man and continued where we had left off. People were drinking. Actors were getting restless, the whole thing was a nightmare. The last train back to NJ was gone and I was unsure how I would get home. At least it was shot and we had signed contracts stating we would get paid if the thing made any money. I had also started my characters blog.
A couple weeks later the video was posted. The lighting was poor, the framing was bad, there were odd random cuts. My girlfriend at the time was watching it with me and just said she was sorry. It was appalling. Somehow though, it got something like half a million hits and Dick proclaimed it a victory. I tried to discuss it with Danilo but he just said he had only been able to edit what he had and I dropped it there.
I half heartedly wrote a script for the second episode which was to be much shorter in length. I wrote a really great scene between my character and his sister, and set up plot threads that would advance the show and the character arcs. I was told to cut a lot of things out and what was left had absolutely no soul. It was a standard murder mystery about characters nobody could possibly care about. It was done in the wrong format, and Dick refused to listen to me about how the story needed to be told. Suddenly "Revelation" was "I'm not Black" all over again. I would link you all to it, but I don't want the hits being traced back to my blog. If you must see the horror please ask me.
Soon I was asked to have a conference with the other writer. His name, of course, was David.
PART 5 will be posted later, I promise it will end this saga once and for all.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Danilo (June 23)
THE CONCLUSION...sort of
Now I should mention that I had met and really did like Danilo. He was just unavailable during my tenure at David's apartment/studio. I did however have many phone conversations with him. David had tried to pitch a TV show before. The execs hearing the pitch apparently needed to send him away six times to create the correct kind of preview video, one that wasn't an hour long. He told me to keep my scripts and we would shoot both David's strange, constantly changing, directionless concept video AND a legit pilot for the show's original concept. MIND YOU, this involved scenes in clubs with crowds and live musical performances, flashbacks to Danilo's time choreographing artists like Boyz II Men, and all sorts of other things we didn't have.
At least he understood what it meant to be a writer and wanting to have a coherent structure, plot or at least purpose behind writing something. Nothing David said made any sense. I was going to Jersey City less and less often at this point. Kelly Dolak, my professor and advisor let me get an A- for writing a four page paper about my experience. David always told me he would help me get a job or give me one himself sometime soon as he expanded his company. He would be starting little groups to help produce these musical compilations. There was also a cartoon in the works; the script for which was a barely intelligible comic book advertisement with an excessive amount of generic characters with poor grammar. Also the dog was in it.
I called David when I moved back to North Jersey after the summer and he told me he had just done a round of hiring and I had missed it. He was also disappointed in me for not completing my assignment. I called Danilo instead; he enthusiastically told me he had a lot going on and I was just the person he needed. So began my second adventure with this group of individuals. This time I would be working with Danilo and Dick, David's webmaster and owner of a small modeling studio near Penn Station.
Now I should mention that I had met and really did like Danilo. He was just unavailable during my tenure at David's apartment/studio. I did however have many phone conversations with him. David had tried to pitch a TV show before. The execs hearing the pitch apparently needed to send him away six times to create the correct kind of preview video, one that wasn't an hour long. He told me to keep my scripts and we would shoot both David's strange, constantly changing, directionless concept video AND a legit pilot for the show's original concept. MIND YOU, this involved scenes in clubs with crowds and live musical performances, flashbacks to Danilo's time choreographing artists like Boyz II Men, and all sorts of other things we didn't have.
At least he understood what it meant to be a writer and wanting to have a coherent structure, plot or at least purpose behind writing something. Nothing David said made any sense. I was going to Jersey City less and less often at this point. Kelly Dolak, my professor and advisor let me get an A- for writing a four page paper about my experience. David always told me he would help me get a job or give me one himself sometime soon as he expanded his company. He would be starting little groups to help produce these musical compilations. There was also a cartoon in the works; the script for which was a barely intelligible comic book advertisement with an excessive amount of generic characters with poor grammar. Also the dog was in it.
I called David when I moved back to North Jersey after the summer and he told me he had just done a round of hiring and I had missed it. He was also disappointed in me for not completing my assignment. I called Danilo instead; he enthusiastically told me he had a lot going on and I was just the person he needed. So began my second adventure with this group of individuals. This time I would be working with Danilo and Dick, David's webmaster and owner of a small modeling studio near Penn Station.
Kayo (June 22)
PART 2 OF MY INTERNSHIP EPIC! WOW!
Kayo had recently signed with David. He was a couple years younger than me and made his music in his dorm room at school. He seemed relatively intelligent compared to what I expected but I noticed some very odd things about him. For one, he was selling massive amounts of pot and claiming to David that he was broke. He would tell David his travel costs were excessive and David would then give him money for gas and food etc. I couldn't believe I was the only one, as an intern, who could see what was really going on here but I let it go.
David decided that me and Kayo needed to sit down and discuss our script ideas. Kayo was less than thrilled. It seems everyone who found themselves around David ended up working on his pet projects which they didn't much like.
Sitting in a cafe with Kayo, David walks in very excited. Two young black guys are with him. He tells us that these two guys were talking and he overheard them calling each other the N word. David of course, actually used the word. He said that Kayo and I should pick their brains to figure out why it was ok for them to use the N word on each other, yet it was racist otherwise. This would be a great idea for our FIRST EPISODE! Then he left us. The four of us stared uncomfortably at each other for about 30 seconds. The guys said they were going to go get a drink and left. Kayo and I actually mapped out a few story ideas. If we had been writing a purely fictional show loosely based on real people, we might actually have been able to film some relatively entertaining things. This would never happen.
A couple weeks later, Kayo and I had to shoot a video with a child that lived in David's building. The kid had been picked on at school and David decided that he would "produce a video for a real rap star" to make the kids at school think he was cool. Kayo was worried about ruining his credibility if the final product made it to YouTube. I just thought the whole thing was ridiculous. What if a kid googled Kayo and found out he was nobody? What if the video just came out bad? Since when do nine year olds produce videos? WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN ON!?
Naturally, David said, as he usually did, that this would be perfect for the, yes, FIRST EPISODE. The one about Danilo. The one entitled "I'm Not Black". It was supposed to deal with how a dark skinned person dealt with "black" stereotypes when he was not in fact black. David thought this was groundbreaking tagging it the first ever "serial com-docu-drama." he even made a webpage with my name on it along with "Auggie Doggie" and "Biddy Q" (the doorman).
Well I couldn't wrap my head around everything happening in the first episode. I tried to explain continuity in television to David. He told me that my professors in college didn't know anything and that I should be thinking about TV shows like Gilligan's Island and Seinfeld. Gilligan's Island was on 40 years ago! How can you ask me to model something off of that?? Even so you can't wedge 12 different events into one episode anyway! Oh clearly my professors were the morons.
It all became clear when he also FINALLY explained to me what a pilot was, because I didn't know. See, this pilot I was writing was supposed to be a 45 minute montage of charitable events that David, Danilo, Kayo and a slew of other random people were involved in. We would show it to the execs at ABC and get picked up. EVEN COOLER, each episode would be capped with a NEW music video from Kayo, produced by Danilo! Oh, and I should have something ready to go in about a month before my internship ended...
TO BE CONTINUED!
Kayo had recently signed with David. He was a couple years younger than me and made his music in his dorm room at school. He seemed relatively intelligent compared to what I expected but I noticed some very odd things about him. For one, he was selling massive amounts of pot and claiming to David that he was broke. He would tell David his travel costs were excessive and David would then give him money for gas and food etc. I couldn't believe I was the only one, as an intern, who could see what was really going on here but I let it go.
David decided that me and Kayo needed to sit down and discuss our script ideas. Kayo was less than thrilled. It seems everyone who found themselves around David ended up working on his pet projects which they didn't much like.
Sitting in a cafe with Kayo, David walks in very excited. Two young black guys are with him. He tells us that these two guys were talking and he overheard them calling each other the N word. David of course, actually used the word. He said that Kayo and I should pick their brains to figure out why it was ok for them to use the N word on each other, yet it was racist otherwise. This would be a great idea for our FIRST EPISODE! Then he left us. The four of us stared uncomfortably at each other for about 30 seconds. The guys said they were going to go get a drink and left. Kayo and I actually mapped out a few story ideas. If we had been writing a purely fictional show loosely based on real people, we might actually have been able to film some relatively entertaining things. This would never happen.
A couple weeks later, Kayo and I had to shoot a video with a child that lived in David's building. The kid had been picked on at school and David decided that he would "produce a video for a real rap star" to make the kids at school think he was cool. Kayo was worried about ruining his credibility if the final product made it to YouTube. I just thought the whole thing was ridiculous. What if a kid googled Kayo and found out he was nobody? What if the video just came out bad? Since when do nine year olds produce videos? WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN ON!?
Naturally, David said, as he usually did, that this would be perfect for the, yes, FIRST EPISODE. The one about Danilo. The one entitled "I'm Not Black". It was supposed to deal with how a dark skinned person dealt with "black" stereotypes when he was not in fact black. David thought this was groundbreaking tagging it the first ever "serial com-docu-drama." he even made a webpage with my name on it along with "Auggie Doggie" and "Biddy Q" (the doorman).
Well I couldn't wrap my head around everything happening in the first episode. I tried to explain continuity in television to David. He told me that my professors in college didn't know anything and that I should be thinking about TV shows like Gilligan's Island and Seinfeld. Gilligan's Island was on 40 years ago! How can you ask me to model something off of that?? Even so you can't wedge 12 different events into one episode anyway! Oh clearly my professors were the morons.
It all became clear when he also FINALLY explained to me what a pilot was, because I didn't know. See, this pilot I was writing was supposed to be a 45 minute montage of charitable events that David, Danilo, Kayo and a slew of other random people were involved in. We would show it to the execs at ABC and get picked up. EVEN COOLER, each episode would be capped with a NEW music video from Kayo, produced by Danilo! Oh, and I should have something ready to go in about a month before my internship ended...
TO BE CONTINUED!
Monday, June 23, 2008
David M. (June 21)
THIS IS GONNA BE A MULTI-PART ENTRY YAYYYYYY!!!
David is something of a music producer. He has a studio in Jersey City and records mostly young talent for things like anti-drug and violence CD's. He won a Grammy for his production of some MTV compilation a while back.
He hired me as an intern my last semester of college. Originally, I thought I would be doing video editing for him. For several weeks I went through loads of tapes of amateur video. It was basically David and a couple other people filming teenagers in dated clothing singing corny songs that David had written himself. The album/DVD was entitled skatedance and a lot of the footage was them at skating rinks filming children dancing to the title track. Apparently these kids were almost minor celebrities but it appeared to have been shot about five years ago. Some of the tapes were old enough to not work anymore. I picked out the pertinent footage and saved it all on a hard drive. The internship consisted of me sitting in his studio myself and doing this all day. Sometimes I would walk the dog for him. He paid for my lunches and my transportation and while things were strange, it was pretty cool because I thought I was going to be editing these videos soon and it would be great practice.
Things changed one day when he took me out for lunch to an expensive sushi restaurant. He asked me what I wanted to do after college and I told him I wanted to write. His eyes lit up! He had an idea for a show that he wanted me to write. An associate of his was a big deal in his eyes and we were to write a show about this man's life. It would also be about racism. It would also be about all the great things David did for children. His DOG would be in it! His DOORMAN would be in it! We could even use some of his skatedance kids! OH MY GOSH IT WOULD BE THE BEST SHOW EVER! His business partner was a VP at ABC so we'd get it on the air no problem. In all seriousness I should have questioned things a little more but it was my internship and I was getting credit for it. He was implying I would have to come only one day a week and as a senior in college, I knew I could better spend that time sleeping and getting wasted.
I drafted a fictional pilot about how Danilo, the star of the show, met Kayo...a white rapper that David was convinced was the next big thing. Skipping ahead some...David continually asked me to setup meetings with Danilo and Kayo. Danilo was preoccupied due to a sick family member and was impossible to reach, Kayo would not show up unless Danilo told him to.
Kayo did show up one time though. That meeting and the rest of the story coming very soon.
OMG!!!111 A CLIFFHANGER! HOW EXCITING!
David is something of a music producer. He has a studio in Jersey City and records mostly young talent for things like anti-drug and violence CD's. He won a Grammy for his production of some MTV compilation a while back.
He hired me as an intern my last semester of college. Originally, I thought I would be doing video editing for him. For several weeks I went through loads of tapes of amateur video. It was basically David and a couple other people filming teenagers in dated clothing singing corny songs that David had written himself. The album/DVD was entitled skatedance and a lot of the footage was them at skating rinks filming children dancing to the title track. Apparently these kids were almost minor celebrities but it appeared to have been shot about five years ago. Some of the tapes were old enough to not work anymore. I picked out the pertinent footage and saved it all on a hard drive. The internship consisted of me sitting in his studio myself and doing this all day. Sometimes I would walk the dog for him. He paid for my lunches and my transportation and while things were strange, it was pretty cool because I thought I was going to be editing these videos soon and it would be great practice.
Things changed one day when he took me out for lunch to an expensive sushi restaurant. He asked me what I wanted to do after college and I told him I wanted to write. His eyes lit up! He had an idea for a show that he wanted me to write. An associate of his was a big deal in his eyes and we were to write a show about this man's life. It would also be about racism. It would also be about all the great things David did for children. His DOG would be in it! His DOORMAN would be in it! We could even use some of his skatedance kids! OH MY GOSH IT WOULD BE THE BEST SHOW EVER! His business partner was a VP at ABC so we'd get it on the air no problem. In all seriousness I should have questioned things a little more but it was my internship and I was getting credit for it. He was implying I would have to come only one day a week and as a senior in college, I knew I could better spend that time sleeping and getting wasted.
I drafted a fictional pilot about how Danilo, the star of the show, met Kayo...a white rapper that David was convinced was the next big thing. Skipping ahead some...David continually asked me to setup meetings with Danilo and Kayo. Danilo was preoccupied due to a sick family member and was impossible to reach, Kayo would not show up unless Danilo told him to.
Kayo did show up one time though. That meeting and the rest of the story coming very soon.
OMG!!!111 A CLIFFHANGER! HOW EXCITING!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Gil (June 20)
Speaking of breaking toys; our friend Gil moved to Voorhees from Illinois maybe around 4th grade. The infinitely clever fourth graders in his class endlessly mocked his apparent opening statements upon arrival; "My name is Gil McMahon, I come from Illinois. Are we allowed to bring pop to school?"
Seriously, that was the "joke".
Well Gil moved away sometime around 8th or 9th grade and had a yard sale. Jack and I decided to go buy as many of his toys as possible. We left with a few huge bags of tanks and GI Joes and other random stuff including a kite spool and string. We went to my backyard and situated a brick on the ground and brought some up to the top of the deck. Then would tie an action figure to the string and lower him down to the brick on the bottom before dropping the other brick on top sending pieces flying everywhere. By the end of the day we had broken most of gils toys and the pieces were scattered everywhere.
We had to go pick everything up so the dogs wouldn't eat the pieces. That sucked.
Seriously, that was the "joke".
Well Gil moved away sometime around 8th or 9th grade and had a yard sale. Jack and I decided to go buy as many of his toys as possible. We left with a few huge bags of tanks and GI Joes and other random stuff including a kite spool and string. We went to my backyard and situated a brick on the ground and brought some up to the top of the deck. Then would tie an action figure to the string and lower him down to the brick on the bottom before dropping the other brick on top sending pieces flying everywhere. By the end of the day we had broken most of gils toys and the pieces were scattered everywhere.
We had to go pick everything up so the dogs wouldn't eat the pieces. That sucked.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Drew H. (June 19)
Ah, I'm sorry, things have been crazy but somebody called me out so I'm writing Thursday's entry now. I'm trying to decide if I should backdate or just accept when I miss days. Oh well, Here's some catching up. These are going to be short entries that I save for situations just like these.
Drew was a kid I was friends with probably in about 1st and 2nd grade. I remember seeing comic books at his house before I had any. I remember Drew specifically because one of the times he came over we made the biggest mess my room had ever had. Every toy I owned was on the floor and remember literally having to wade through the mess. My mom was horrified. I learned my lesson when I stepped on and broke my Bebop action figure.
Who? Bebop is the warthog henchman from Ninja Turtles! His partner Rocksteady also died eventually but that's because of my habit of whipping action figures off of my deck and into trees in the backyard.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Chris Freeman
Here it is, my first mention of my fraternity! My active years were extremely colorful and they had a lot of ups and downs. There were those that were more interested in getting work done than establishing a lasting friendship. There were people who were just interested in being seated in positions of power. There were plenty of people there for the wrong reasons.
Chris Freeman is the guy who rushed me and convinced me to pledge. There are many people who could not have done that as I was kind of disillusioned about fraternities (see entry: Joe Mess). However, Freeman seemed like a standup great guy right from the start and I was sold.
Throughout the years, he exemplified my feelings on brotherhood; you're here to be friends, to accept, to understand. Not to judge, force people to do things, and crucify them for mistakes. Chris stayed out of the upper tiers of the political structure but he was always one of the people I respected most and one of my best friends. People went to him for advice anyway. I found that at the end of my senior year, even without a position on the board, newer members came to me the same way I'd gone to Freeman and I was more proud of that than having any position I could have held.
Now that I've graduated, I maintain those friendships even from a distance and I think my theory on brotherhood has been proven. The politics, the status, the business; none of that matters after you graduate, it's just about the bonds you formed while you were there and Freeman is still one of my best friends.
Chris Freeman is the guy who rushed me and convinced me to pledge. There are many people who could not have done that as I was kind of disillusioned about fraternities (see entry: Joe Mess). However, Freeman seemed like a standup great guy right from the start and I was sold.
Throughout the years, he exemplified my feelings on brotherhood; you're here to be friends, to accept, to understand. Not to judge, force people to do things, and crucify them for mistakes. Chris stayed out of the upper tiers of the political structure but he was always one of the people I respected most and one of my best friends. People went to him for advice anyway. I found that at the end of my senior year, even without a position on the board, newer members came to me the same way I'd gone to Freeman and I was more proud of that than having any position I could have held.
Now that I've graduated, I maintain those friendships even from a distance and I think my theory on brotherhood has been proven. The politics, the status, the business; none of that matters after you graduate, it's just about the bonds you formed while you were there and Freeman is still one of my best friends.
Harpinder (for Tuesday)
Harpinder was a giant. He only went to Signal Hill Elementary school with me in first grade. He didn't know much English and was a great unifier for all the other kids on the playground.
Of the two activities I remember from 1st grade recess. One was called "Run Away From Harpinder." It basically consisted of everyone running around screaming and trying not to let Harpinder "GET" them. The only activity that could take precedence over this game was called "Rocks."
Rocks involved two piles of rocks on opposite sides of a field. The boys had one pile, the much bigger one; and the girls had another sequestered between some pine trees. I'm not sure how this game worked without being inappropriately violent...maybe it was. Boys would get across and steal rocks and bring them back to our massive pile while only two girls that I can remember were fast and brave enough to steal from the boys.
I would love to make a metaphor about life from the rocks game or running away from Harpinder...like, we're all just trying to add to our pile...or something. I don't know, that was fun.
Of the two activities I remember from 1st grade recess. One was called "Run Away From Harpinder." It basically consisted of everyone running around screaming and trying not to let Harpinder "GET" them. The only activity that could take precedence over this game was called "Rocks."
Rocks involved two piles of rocks on opposite sides of a field. The boys had one pile, the much bigger one; and the girls had another sequestered between some pine trees. I'm not sure how this game worked without being inappropriately violent...maybe it was. Boys would get across and steal rocks and bring them back to our massive pile while only two girls that I can remember were fast and brave enough to steal from the boys.
I would love to make a metaphor about life from the rocks game or running away from Harpinder...like, we're all just trying to add to our pile...or something. I don't know, that was fun.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Joe Tropia
Joe was the person that gave me my first real accomplishment in college. Yes, it was just a one act play, but for the first time it was MY show. I wasn't an extra or a minor part, what I did made the show along with my partner. Joe was convinced I was the one for the part and he became one of my best friends in that time as well. As I mentioned days ago when talking about Kristin, I wasn't exactly trying to make friends with people who resembled those I would have disliked in high school and though I would change my opinions later, as a freshman I was looking for my place and Joe helped me.
The show was Dr. Fritz and I was dying of food poisoning throughout the 13 minute piece. This is no small feat considering I was groaning and clutching my stomach the whole time. I would end up with stomach aches afterwards which is a shame when you have to start drinking to celebrate. I believe I was ok though.
Joe was there for me the following year when I became really upset over a girl who, in hindsight, was not worth a second thought. He even cancelled rehearsal for the show we were doing together so I could vent.
Joe was the first person in college I really looked up to. When he graduated, I was sad and I didn't even really stick to theater after that but he helped me through some amazingly difficult things. When I think about my growth throughout college, Joe was one of the key people who helped me start to figure out who I really am and thought I don't see him very often anymore, he will always be a great friend for that.
The show was Dr. Fritz and I was dying of food poisoning throughout the 13 minute piece. This is no small feat considering I was groaning and clutching my stomach the whole time. I would end up with stomach aches afterwards which is a shame when you have to start drinking to celebrate. I believe I was ok though.
Joe was there for me the following year when I became really upset over a girl who, in hindsight, was not worth a second thought. He even cancelled rehearsal for the show we were doing together so I could vent.
Joe was the first person in college I really looked up to. When he graduated, I was sad and I didn't even really stick to theater after that but he helped me through some amazingly difficult things. When I think about my growth throughout college, Joe was one of the key people who helped me start to figure out who I really am and thought I don't see him very often anymore, he will always be a great friend for that.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
My Dad
There is no chance I can talk about my father with any kind of depth in a blog entry, but it's father's day so now is as good a time as I'm going to have all year to write a little bit about him.
When I was in second grade my dad spent maybe three dollars and inadvertently changed my life. That's right, he bought me my first X-Men comic. Uncanny X-Men #300. Up until then I'd only seen the cartoon and had a Where's Waldoesque X-Men object hunt book. I'd venture to say that a good 25% of the knowledge in my head has stemmed from my love of comic books since that day. Nerdy? Oh totally, but I read somewhere that there are more written pages about X-Men than any other thing in human history so it must be somewhat important...off topic but I thought that was interesting.
My parents got divorced the summer before I started 4th grade. When I was in middle school, I pretty much went crazy. I hated school and I didn't like Linda who he had recently moved in with. I developed a "You're not my mom" type complex and must have blamed my dad because I hated him for a long time. For almost two years I barely saw his side of my family and refused to see and talk to him. I also pretty much refused to go to school in seventh grade which I'm sure I'll touch on again sometime.
Our relationship has been more than fixed since then of course. Without going into too much detail, my dad has always been there for me. He's a lawyer and he's gotten me out of my speeding tickets and helped one of my best friends when he got arrested with a small amount of weed on him. I know that whenever I'm in need of help in any way, my dad will do anything he can. My brother and I have always been his top priority.
I've learned more than just some random lesson from my dad. I'm an analyzer; I think about the people I'm close to a lot and from the time I've spent with him, I've learned who I am. Our paths in life are nowhere near the same, but sometimes I think that from our beginnings, we're just the same person who's made a lot of different decisions.
When it comes to parents, I'm one of the luckiest people in the world and while this is bordering on extremely sappy, it's Father's Day and I have a little buzz going so there it is.
When I was in second grade my dad spent maybe three dollars and inadvertently changed my life. That's right, he bought me my first X-Men comic. Uncanny X-Men #300. Up until then I'd only seen the cartoon and had a Where's Waldoesque X-Men object hunt book. I'd venture to say that a good 25% of the knowledge in my head has stemmed from my love of comic books since that day. Nerdy? Oh totally, but I read somewhere that there are more written pages about X-Men than any other thing in human history so it must be somewhat important...off topic but I thought that was interesting.
My parents got divorced the summer before I started 4th grade. When I was in middle school, I pretty much went crazy. I hated school and I didn't like Linda who he had recently moved in with. I developed a "You're not my mom" type complex and must have blamed my dad because I hated him for a long time. For almost two years I barely saw his side of my family and refused to see and talk to him. I also pretty much refused to go to school in seventh grade which I'm sure I'll touch on again sometime.
Our relationship has been more than fixed since then of course. Without going into too much detail, my dad has always been there for me. He's a lawyer and he's gotten me out of my speeding tickets and helped one of my best friends when he got arrested with a small amount of weed on him. I know that whenever I'm in need of help in any way, my dad will do anything he can. My brother and I have always been his top priority.
I've learned more than just some random lesson from my dad. I'm an analyzer; I think about the people I'm close to a lot and from the time I've spent with him, I've learned who I am. Our paths in life are nowhere near the same, but sometimes I think that from our beginnings, we're just the same person who's made a lot of different decisions.
When it comes to parents, I'm one of the luckiest people in the world and while this is bordering on extremely sappy, it's Father's Day and I have a little buzz going so there it is.
Joe Mess (for Saturday)
Well, I missed a day already but I'm backdating this one. I have a feeling it will happen a lot on weekends. My post for later should be interesting and important so for now I'm just going to knock out a really ridiculous one. I believe this kid's nickname was Joe Mess for what should soon become obvious reasons. If I am confusing him with another idiot names Joe, then I apologize to you both for not finding you interesting enough to be able to tell you apart.
Before I joined my fraternity I rushed a couple of others and had an array of ridiculous and awful experiences. It was good for me to see what fraternities should NOT be about and understand why most people I meet would have a negative opinion of them.
At lunch one day I was sitting with several brothers of AXP and their rushes. Joe thought he was the most amazing thing ever. He was ugly and really dumb and wanted to share a story with us that was to "not leave this table". The story was quick. He had decided it would be funny to shove his roommates toothbrush up his ass and put it back without telling him. He then watched him brush his teeth. ISN'T THAT HILARIOUS!?
I mean, that's brotherhood right there. Real true, fraternal love.
I have always attempted to battle the stereotype that morons like him cause. I learned that to make a good impression, one must fight a hundred times harder than to make a bad one.
Before I joined my fraternity I rushed a couple of others and had an array of ridiculous and awful experiences. It was good for me to see what fraternities should NOT be about and understand why most people I meet would have a negative opinion of them.
At lunch one day I was sitting with several brothers of AXP and their rushes. Joe thought he was the most amazing thing ever. He was ugly and really dumb and wanted to share a story with us that was to "not leave this table". The story was quick. He had decided it would be funny to shove his roommates toothbrush up his ass and put it back without telling him. He then watched him brush his teeth. ISN'T THAT HILARIOUS!?
I mean, that's brotherhood right there. Real true, fraternal love.
I have always attempted to battle the stereotype that morons like him cause. I learned that to make a good impression, one must fight a hundred times harder than to make a bad one.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Chris Caniglia
I've only been living in New York for about 4 1/2 months. It's been an incredible experience. One of the best parts for me have been my improv classes at the PIT. I have met some incredibly talented people and there's nothing better than to be complimented by those you look up to (the ones who don't turn out to be child molesters that is).
Chris is a long time PIT mainstay on the house team Big Black Car and a myriad of other projects. He was my level two improv instructor. Now I could talk forever about how much I love improv and how great the class was but nothing compared to the last class.
We did a group exercise where everybody said something they liked about the person whose turn it was. I was near the end of the line and I have a hard time taking compliments because I'm my own biggest critic, but I was really curious as to what Chris was going to say to me. I was actually nervous to accept compliments. Since I was the youngest (by a lot) in the class, a lot of the people said something about me being like a little brother to them which was nice.
Chris told me that when he met me his first thought was, "This kid is one of us," and that I was really talented and he couldn't wait to see me grow more as a performer.
HOLY SHIT! I was floored. 'Nuff said.
I learned from Chris that I can do this. Also, to remember to invite people to your shows or you won't have an audience :)
Chris is a long time PIT mainstay on the house team Big Black Car and a myriad of other projects. He was my level two improv instructor. Now I could talk forever about how much I love improv and how great the class was but nothing compared to the last class.
We did a group exercise where everybody said something they liked about the person whose turn it was. I was near the end of the line and I have a hard time taking compliments because I'm my own biggest critic, but I was really curious as to what Chris was going to say to me. I was actually nervous to accept compliments. Since I was the youngest (by a lot) in the class, a lot of the people said something about me being like a little brother to them which was nice.
Chris told me that when he met me his first thought was, "This kid is one of us," and that I was really talented and he couldn't wait to see me grow more as a performer.
HOLY SHIT! I was floored. 'Nuff said.
I learned from Chris that I can do this. Also, to remember to invite people to your shows or you won't have an audience :)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Jonathan (Jack) Ingram
Looking at my list of people to write about, I realize that this blog will chronicle most of the important milestones in my life. Is it best to introduce the important characters early on or do I just bounce around and give them spotlights as I feel necessaary? Damn my urge to have coherent story structure.
Yesterday, I got a strange phone call from Citibank Student Loans saying Jonathan Ingram's mail had been bouncing back to them and they called me because I was listed as a personal reference. Jack was my best friend from seventh grade and through all of high school. He is currently working teaching english in Japan.
Jack and I used to joke that we became friends the day after my Bar Mitzvah. He wasn't there but he was definitely one of my best friends starting that year and with my "becoming a man" in December, it must have been very soon after.
My oldest memory with Jack is 7th grade lunch. We sat at a table with two clearly divided groups of people. There was us and a few others who would have been branded huge nerds and a group of self fancied popular kids. Looking back it's hard to say who was actually popular but Jack and I took great joy in using our intelligence to upset these people. One in particular; Dusty Landers. Yes, that was his real name and I thought about writing this entry about him but really it would be a waste because it was when Jack and I first bonded. Dusty was really fond of using the word "fag" when referring to us. He managed to fit it into some sentences multiple times. Jack and I would pick vocabulary words and string them together in sentences when talking to or about Dusty. ("Why Dusty, you're acumen is farcical.") He would look at us clearly trying not to have his brain explode and come back with a retort. (Oh yeah, well you guys are fags!") Frequently, we said things that didn't even make sense, but he didn't know that. As seventh graders we found this funny every time. Oddly enough, I was never beaten up for this behavior and it probably started to cultivate my smug attitude that I could get away with anything because I was smarter than a lot of people. In all fairness, I got into very little trouble and pulled a lot of crap over the years, so it was a lessen well learned.
Of course I have a million stories about Jack, but this was the beginning of my longest standing friendship to date.
From Jack I learned that quality was more important in friends than quantity.
Yesterday, I got a strange phone call from Citibank Student Loans saying Jonathan Ingram's mail had been bouncing back to them and they called me because I was listed as a personal reference. Jack was my best friend from seventh grade and through all of high school. He is currently working teaching english in Japan.
Jack and I used to joke that we became friends the day after my Bar Mitzvah. He wasn't there but he was definitely one of my best friends starting that year and with my "becoming a man" in December, it must have been very soon after.
My oldest memory with Jack is 7th grade lunch. We sat at a table with two clearly divided groups of people. There was us and a few others who would have been branded huge nerds and a group of self fancied popular kids. Looking back it's hard to say who was actually popular but Jack and I took great joy in using our intelligence to upset these people. One in particular; Dusty Landers. Yes, that was his real name and I thought about writing this entry about him but really it would be a waste because it was when Jack and I first bonded. Dusty was really fond of using the word "fag" when referring to us. He managed to fit it into some sentences multiple times. Jack and I would pick vocabulary words and string them together in sentences when talking to or about Dusty. ("Why Dusty, you're acumen is farcical.") He would look at us clearly trying not to have his brain explode and come back with a retort. (Oh yeah, well you guys are fags!") Frequently, we said things that didn't even make sense, but he didn't know that. As seventh graders we found this funny every time. Oddly enough, I was never beaten up for this behavior and it probably started to cultivate my smug attitude that I could get away with anything because I was smarter than a lot of people. In all fairness, I got into very little trouble and pulled a lot of crap over the years, so it was a lessen well learned.
Of course I have a million stories about Jack, but this was the beginning of my longest standing friendship to date.
From Jack I learned that quality was more important in friends than quantity.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Eric
I thought for a long while on who to start out with. Should I use one of my parents? An ex-girlfriend? One of my closest friends who I love to death? I decided not to use any of them because they deserve a little more time for me to think about what I should say about them. This person doesn't deserve to be thought of. I could write pages about this man and what he did but I'm going to be as brief as possible.
Eric was the supervisor of the Jewish Youth Group I was in during my freshman and sophomore years of high school. He came off as a really nice guy to parents and when I first met I looked up to him like a father figure. My older cousin Adam was a member of the group and I tended to hang out with the older kids until they graduated at the end of that year. Without their "protection" I became a target for some reason. Now I was an awkward kid but I didn't deserve the treatment this man gave me. He made me feel bad for small stupid things; ripping pages out of a magazine at health club, staining a kid's shirt with a tomato...during a food fight that nobody else got yelled at for. He even made me feel bad for wanting it to be known that I had cleaned up after a massive bonfire while others were sleeping and I was awake. Instead of laying in a sleeping bag I had been productive and when I told people he sarcastically asked everyone to praise me.
Eric had an event at his house. My cousin Brett was also a member and his mother joked that it was strange he would have young boys over his house. Eric overheard me talking about this and flew into a rage.
I went away to a national conference for this youth group and while there I was informed he had closed registration for the chapter for my junior year and I would not be allowed back into the chapter. I was devastated. There were a myriad of other things that happened between me and Eric and he destroyed what little self-esteem I might have had at the time.
Freshman year of college I was driving with my friend Jamie. We had gotten lost coming back from the Palisades mall and ended up driving over the Tappan Zee Bridge and eventually into Manhattan. Jamie hated the city and was going nuts...we were missing Friends! This could not stand! I got a phone call from my aunt. She wanted to inform me that Eric had been arrested for child molestation. Two kids I had been active with had come forward about his abuse. For the first time I was glad Eric had hated me. Eric was in jail last I heard.
Eric taught me that the people we look up to can be just as flawed if not moreso than we are.
Eric was the supervisor of the Jewish Youth Group I was in during my freshman and sophomore years of high school. He came off as a really nice guy to parents and when I first met I looked up to him like a father figure. My older cousin Adam was a member of the group and I tended to hang out with the older kids until they graduated at the end of that year. Without their "protection" I became a target for some reason. Now I was an awkward kid but I didn't deserve the treatment this man gave me. He made me feel bad for small stupid things; ripping pages out of a magazine at health club, staining a kid's shirt with a tomato...during a food fight that nobody else got yelled at for. He even made me feel bad for wanting it to be known that I had cleaned up after a massive bonfire while others were sleeping and I was awake. Instead of laying in a sleeping bag I had been productive and when I told people he sarcastically asked everyone to praise me.
Eric had an event at his house. My cousin Brett was also a member and his mother joked that it was strange he would have young boys over his house. Eric overheard me talking about this and flew into a rage.
I went away to a national conference for this youth group and while there I was informed he had closed registration for the chapter for my junior year and I would not be allowed back into the chapter. I was devastated. There were a myriad of other things that happened between me and Eric and he destroyed what little self-esteem I might have had at the time.
Freshman year of college I was driving with my friend Jamie. We had gotten lost coming back from the Palisades mall and ended up driving over the Tappan Zee Bridge and eventually into Manhattan. Jamie hated the city and was going nuts...we were missing Friends! This could not stand! I got a phone call from my aunt. She wanted to inform me that Eric had been arrested for child molestation. Two kids I had been active with had come forward about his abuse. For the first time I was glad Eric had hated me. Eric was in jail last I heard.
Eric taught me that the people we look up to can be just as flawed if not moreso than we are.
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