The Emmy's - Part 1

Yesterday, Jared and I went to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. This is where they do all the fancy stuff for TV and run 'The Emmy's. Somehow, we got lucky, and nobody was at the building.

Below are some highlight pictures. More details to come. I am actually heading out the door (again, with Jared) to head downtown to the actual event to get some awesome pics! Wish me luck!!!!

First Day on "Last Call"

Well, my first day of production of "Last Call" went really well. The job (like many in this industry) is very hot and cold. One minute, you'll be bored as heck...waiting for the production meeting to be over. The next, you have so many things to do, it's hard to keep track.

Overall, I learned alot thus far and I am looking forward to the rest of this week (and the rest of this season, for that matter) on the show. No real big talents have come through yet, so I am awaitng more excitement in that category....so far it's been Eddie Izzard and John McCain's daughter - with the ever popular secret service by her side every step of the way.

The one BIG thing I did on Monday night was ensure that the show went on air. As some of you may know, the show airs around 1:30 in the morning - starting in New York and working it's way back to L.A. - riding the time zones as it travels. In order to broadcast in NY on time, they need the show an hour or so before the actual broadcast time so that we can "beam it" from LA to NY. Well, because Monday was our first day of the new season - we were about an hour or so BEHIND schedule, so after the show, there was a rush to get the show edited so it could be ran to the studio where it needed to be (so they could beam it).

To make a long story short: We had 10 minutes to get the tape from the "Last Call" stage (Stage 9) to the Editing Bay (near Stage 1). The distance between the two buildings is not short...and we don't have access to cars. Guess who got to run the tape with LESS than 10 minutes to the OTHER side of the lot so the show could air on time??? Yep...I did. :-)

Ah well, guess this new job comes with benefits...weight loss!

Today and Tomorrow

Quick update:

Today - Long, LONGGGGGGGGGGG, class at the Red Cross. Like...2 hours over the expected time limit long. Yeah, that sucked.

Tomorrow - Busy day starting at 9 AM until 9 PM working on "Last Call with Carson Daly"...I'm super pumped, because it's a shooting day!!

I will likley be dragging my feet tomorrow evening...so if you don't hear from me until later on Tuesday...don't take it personally. I'll try to update this with all the excitement that is bound to happen tomorrow as soon as I can.

First High School Musical Flop

Special thanks to my ex-roommate Elliot for this story:

"ABC's High School Musical: Get in the Picture aired its series finale Monday night but few were interested in seeing who got "in the picture." The reality/talent series, which the network had high hopes for at the beginning of the summer, drew just 4.13 million viewers and placed fifth in its 8:00 p.m. time period."

By the way, if you DID catch the finale...there were no closeups of myself, Ashley Tisdale, or both of us in the audience. I think there might have been ONE shot that included me from when they moved us around, but yeah...

And BOY OH BOY was it completley different than how they shot it! 8 hours of filming condensed into 1 is not an easy task as it is, but still...they REALLY edited stuff...

I got the job!

Well, I guess the phrase "good things come to those who wait" is true. I am now a proud staff member on "Last Call with Carson Daly".

Today was my first day at the NBC office/studio, and it was a BLAST! I came home with TONS of free stuff and a lot of new connections.

Not much else to say, really...as weird as that seems. It's a great job, I'm excited to have it, and I can't wait until next Monday when the excitement starts (we start shooting Monday).

More to come soon, I'm sure!

Is it you, dad??

When you first glance at this picture, do you see anybody you recognize??



If you thought it looked like my dad, you aren't alone. I thought it was me at first, but after asking a few friends...I wasn't the only one who thought that.

Obviously it isn't him, but consider the irony: The picture was taken in Milwaukee on the 1st of Sept, and the officer rides a motorcycle...

The Interviews

As many of you know, today I had some interviews around town at local studios.

The first interview was at NBC Studios for the show "Last Call with Carson Daly". This interview went extremley well, and it was fun to be on the NBC lot, as usual...seeing where they film all kinds of neat shows such as "The Tonight Show" and "Ellen".

The second interview was at Raleigh Studios. Sadly, this interview was not what I was expecting.

When I arrived, I met with the CEO/Head Producer of a film production company that is run out of the 4th floor at Raleigh Studios. He was very nice and seemed like a fun, down to earth guy. He invited me to come into the back editing bay to check out some of the projects he was working on. He started to ask me alot about editing, and I said I was knowledgable but I was more interested in the original job I applied for...which was in Creative Development. He kind of brushed those thoughts aside and went on to show me his videos.

The videos I saw were crazy. I cannot go into too much detail, as I did sign a non-disclosure agreement, but basically...the videos featured content that was 90% all about this guy and hot girls.

Basically, to make a long story short, I got offered a job to be an editor at this production company. For good money, too. However, the following reasons detracted me from taking this job:

1. I was not applying for an editor job.
2. He is not the 'big hit' he thinks he is.
3. He is more into himself (you think MY ego is bad...) and hot girls than anything else.
4. The TV shows and films he is producing are not things I would support.
5. I would not want to be involved/given credit on a production from this company (on any of these videos that I do not support).
6. His staff talks poorly about him behind his back.

While some people may think I am crazy for turning down a good-paying job, I REFUSE to work at a place where I do not support the final products. If I am not proud to be a part of the production, I will not work as a part of it. Furthermore, this was clearly not a place I wanted to be...since I applied for one job and was offered another, and since numerous employees were not saying great things about the place.

We all know I am desperate to get into the industry, but I'm not desperate enough that I will ruin my reputation for the quality of work I set my personal standards to.

Ah well...live and learn, I guess. Hopefully I'll get a promising call from the set of Carson Daly, instead...

Interviews!!!

Wow, it seems as if something is paying off because tomorrow I have 2 interviews for 2 potential jobs.

First, is with NBC at "Last Call with Carson Daily", and the other is with "Raleigh Studios", which is known for filming numerous TV shows, such as "America's Funniest Home Videos"

I have the first interview at 10 AM tomorrow, and the second at 1:30. I'm going to be BUSSSSSSSSSSSY tomorrow!!

Wish me luck!!

ABC 7 News

Tonight, the local ABC station (ABC-7) had a story about a rapist who LAPD were trying to find.

When the image came on the screen, I almost spit out my soda laughing and grabbed a quick still with my camera (yay flash) for amusement:



Hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, moustache, ears....wow, this is just funny. I can't be the only one that thinks that this is amusing.

RIP - Don LaFontaine

I have the 11:00 news on in the other room and I wasn't really paying attention to the stories. Then, all of a sudden, a story caught my attention:

"You may not recognize his name, but you have definatley heard his voice".

I looked over at the TV and thought, "Oh! Maybe they are doing a story on one of the voice over actors I know".

Well, sadly, they were....and it was to report the death of Don LaFontaine.

For those of you that don't know, Mr. LaFontaine was the best of the best in the movie voice over business....his voice appeared in hundreds of thousands of movies over the years. There is no doubt that he will be sincerley missed.

Sad. :-(

Amusing Letter

The other day, we recieved this letter from our 'manger' at the Madrid Apartments. I thought it'd be fun to share with you all for humor's sake:

Sketchers USA

A few days ago I had the opportunity to teach a Red Cross class at the Sketchers USA's HQ Building.

Here's a picture from the awesome room I was teaching in! (Check out the plasma!!!)

The Magic of Hollywood

Check the time I posted this blog. That's right, 2:35 AM. I just got home about 10 minutes ago from being on set of "According to Jim".

I spent a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGG time after the show (the show ended at 10) talking with Sean and a few of his TV buddies about a random assortment of things. It was great...and it likley would have continued had we not noticed what time it really was.

It is the wonderful experiences like this that just feed to my "I really want to get in the industry" feelings. The life these people have is great, and to be able to sample that for a small bit once a week is out of this world. Ugh...it's only a matter of time.

Magical Picture

Here's the first of many exciitng pictures taken at Disneyland during the girls' visit. Naturally, they all wanted the one with TINKERBELL in it. I can't complain, though, because it turned out pretty awesome. I think it should be the cover of the Disney Travel Guide for 2009.

Catch Up Time!

Hello, All!

WOW, there has been alot going on latley. Here's the VERY abbreviated run-down of everything that's been happening latley.

One of my good friends, Kirstie (the girl who played Dorothy in "CSI: Oz") came out to visit me in California with her friend, Jessica! We had a BLAST while they were here. Without question, we fit a TON of stuff into our short (too short...) schedule, but I think everything worked really well.

Some of the higlights:

-Disneyland
-According to Jim
-Santa Monica Beach
-Hard Rock Cafe

I'll be posting pictures soon that highlight their visit....most of them are from Disneyland.

On our way home from our exciting day of magic at Disneyland, we ran into 3 car accidents (major ones) on the freeways that had all sorts of roads shut down. The third crash that we approached had JUST happened as we were passing. It was a car that had flipped over on it's side, and one of the first responders on scene (a semi truck driver) was screaming for help...so I pulled over and gave as much help as I could. While everything seemed to be okay and the vicitim seemed to be in good condition, there must have been some hidden problems because she passed away early the next morning, despite our hard efforts to make sure she was alright.

Other than all the excitement listed above, I've been keeping busy by working tons of hours teaching at the Red Cross. Today I got all 5's on my class evaluation, which was really exciting.

Today was slightly disapointing. I was hoping to short a small (VERY short) comedy film that involved some inside jokes with my friends and co-workers at the Red Cross. I found 2 people on craigslist that seemed alot like me that were willing to volunteer a few hours to help with the production. Unfortunatley, as much as they SEEMED like me, and as much as they may have had some expensive equiptment, it wasn't quite what I was hoping. One of the two actually left after a very short period of time because he had 'other things to do', which was surprising. He swore it wasn't because of me, which I seriously hope it isn't...because we were having some fun, I thought. However, although we WERE having some fun, the end result was nowhere near what I was hoping, and thus, I wasted pretty much all night on a project that will likley not be used. I guess I'll have to find someone better to help me that I can trust....*sigh*, not alot of people like my film buddies (such as Sean) from back home.

SPEAKING OF! It was Sean's birthday this week, and I decided to make him a birthday video which you can check out on my personal YouTube account at Tinmansm. It's supposed to be a fun video that makes you go 'awww', and I think I nailed that :-).

Here's the video:



More pictures and excitement to come soon!

CSI: Oz - Teaser Trailer #1

Take a look at the first teaser trailer for "CSI: Oz". Many more related videos soon to come, but for now, this is the big cheese.



Please, get a YouTube account and rate my video (using the little stars) and comment, too. If you don't have a YouTube account, it's free and easy to do. Trust me, the way the entertainment industry is heading - everyone will need one in the next 3 years anyways, so you might as well get a head start.

Enjoy!

Eddie

As a few of you may know, I am a big fan of the "Big Brother" series on CBS. Okay, all of you know that...

Well, during season one, the winner was Eddie McGee, and he went on to do a lot with filmmaking and tv production. (Bet you DIDN'T know that!) A little over a year or so ago, I decided to e-mail Eddie and ask for some advice and such relating to the industry. Eddie sent me a super nice letter back...and an autographed picture!

Now, Eddie resides in the LA area and I decided to hit him up again to see if he A) remembered me, and B) wanted to grab lunch to talk movies.

His response:

yeah, dude! i remember you. i'm in NY for a week or so.. but please hit me up late next week and yeah, we can meet up.. i live in Santa Monica.. but lets get a beer or something.

all the best and be good,
Eddie

Don't worry, dad. I'm not going to be getting drinks anytime soon. I've been noticing that seems to be the phrase out here...kinda like the "Hollywood Happens" one. People say "lets get a beer" even when they DON'T want a beer...or when they know someone in their party can't have/dosen't like beer. (Sean's said it at least three different times to me...)

So ANYWAYS! The point of the e-mail is that he does indeed still remember me and he's willing to meet up and chat! YAY!

Random Google Search

Today I was bored while waiting for some videos to render, so I decided to punch in "Jim Belushi" on Google Images and scan through them...just for fun.

Check out what I found. In the picture, is Jim Belushi and Ron Pearson. Ron is the FANTASTIC and VERY funny audience warm up guy that was in charge of keeping the audience entertained that evening. After the show, he got a picture with Jim and happened to catch someone in the background....

Well, this sucks

I went to Dr. Shakespeare today.

He told me that my ears are NOT full of shit...but that my eardrums are in 'serious condition'.

"But how, Dr. Shakespeare?"

"When the plane landed, it likley allowed alot of things to corrupt your ears...between pressure, mucus, etc....and because of that, it has temporarily damaged your ear drums."


I get to take pills twice a day for 8 days...but I've been told to expect the pain to last for up to 2 weeks. Oh boy!

Here's a chart, in case you are wondering about the ear...created by yours truly.

News Update

I'm sure you've all seen the ad that John McCain released with video of Spears and Hilton thrown in to make Obama seem like one of the 'hot but not smart' candidates for the presidency...or something like that.....(not quite sure exactly the thought process, but he DID make an attempt (a poor one) at some subliminal editing).

Anyways, Paris Hilton came back with a comeback today, and it's quite hilarious:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

In other news, Kyle's ears are still plugged up from last evening's plane landing. Seems as if the snot from my nose made it into my ears somewhere between 30,000 feet and the ground. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to 'un-plug' me, but its been a b**** all day and hurt like heck.

More to come soon.....