My Mister Man

The lights went out. Pitch black in a warehouse in Brooklyn. The silence was just as severe.

My heart was racing, which matched the sudden sounds of a man huffing, trying to catch his breath. It seemed an interminable moment...but then a light came on.

And there he was.

Thus began one of the most amazing nights of theatre I have ever experienced.

The Art of Doing Remarkable Things

Hallo!

Okay, so much has happened, and I've got several blogs to write in order to get it all in. But for now, I'm skipping all of that and sharing something with you. This isn't just for artists, by the way--it's for everyone.

 

I have a few gurus in my life.

Ready for the Magic!

Well!

Yeah, it's been a rough couple o' months. A rough year, even. One of these days I'll talk more about how I feel and how I'm working on getting out of my Cave. But not right now.

Right now, I'm writing authors and agents and directors and casting directors, inquiring about submissions. Across the pond, as usual. :) I can't help it--that's where I've always felt was my home, and my sensibilities are much more in line with what's coming out of the entertainment industry over there.

I don't hear back from people very often, but when I do, it's always from someone in the UK or Ireland. If anyone's going to take the time to reply to an unknown actor, it'll be someone from the British Isles. Maybe I'll blog about various theories as to why that is some other day. ;)

Today, I started the Do What Matters Challenge! I came across a tweet mentioning it yesterday--just in time, as they started today. I suppose it doesn't really matter if you start at the same time, but I procrastinate a lot, so if I put it off to start later, who knows when I'd actually begin?!

I didn't get to my emails till late in the day, though, so Day 1 wasn't super-productive. I learned more about the challenge and about each of the three systems, though, which was my #1 goal. (After chiropractor and errands, that is!)

Tuesdays and Thursdays will be tough, since those are the days I nanny for 10-11 hours. I'll set smaller goals for those days (and days where I have a lot of appointments), and do what I can. When I find another Survival Job, I'll re-organize my days and weeks, but I won't worry about that until it happens.

My goals:

1) To be able to write my screenplay WILD GEESE for an hour (to start), 3-5 times a week

2) To catch up with correspondence/organize inbox/implement an email system

3) To catch up on my Creative Pathfinder lessons

4) To notice when I'm distracted, and immediately be able to continue on with what I was meant to be doing

5) To find a system that works for me.

6) To manage my time much better

7) To relieve the guilt & stress that occurs when I don't accomplish my goals and to-do lists

8) To update my blog more regularly

9) To find extra time to devote to genealogy

10) To be able to have a day off--from everything, even emails--WITHOUT feeling guilty or stressed out!

 

I think those are pretty good goals...and do-able, too. That's on top of all the other things I do, but ehhh, whatever.

Hey! Did you know David Mamet started out as an actor? I didn't, either, until I picked up his book True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor.  (And damn, I wish I hadn't bought it on impulse at a certain book superstore, and waited till I got home and ordered it cheaper on Amazon! I also picked up Michael Caine's Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making. Again, for not that cheap.)

What pulled me in to Mamet's book, though, was the very first sentence in the first chapter: "As actors, we spend most of our time nauseated, confused, guilty." Oh, my GOD, I thought. Is he stalking me and taking notes or something? I read on: "We are lost and ashamed of it; confused because we don't know what to do and have too much information, none of which can be acted upon; and guilty because we feel we are not doing our job."

I shut the book and bought it. Rest assured I will be sharing many, many nuggets of fantastic information from these books!

Oh, I also downloaded Do the Work to the Kindle on my Droid...I haven't even started it yet, and I've had it several weeks already! (Queen of Procratination and Distractions! I will become Princess of Doing Quite a Lot in no time, though!) Download it now--it's free until the 20th!

Okay, peeps...I gots to get to bed. Another loooooong day tomorrow. Someday soon, my looooong days will all be on set, where they never feel long, and I never feel exhausted. Doing what you love is magical, isn't it?

I'm ready for that magic.

 

 

 

 

Waffling, Rambling, Stream-of-Conscious Zombie Talk

Been doin' a lot of thinking lately. Not a lot of doin', though.

My mind's been in such a bad state lately, that I decided to re-do my Vision Board. I figured it would help me focus, and remind me why I go through the things I go through.

Here 'tis:

Things I Didn't Learn in Kindergarten

Too often we focus on what went wrong, instead of what went right--or what good things came out of the perceived "wrong" things. For my first post of 2011, I'm going to take stock of the past year and share just some of the many, many things I learned. Maybe you'll learn something, too...or at least get a chuckle or two. :)

1) I can be pretty lazy about some things, I admit that. But I am not lazy about

So Your Kid's Got Talent, Huh? (or Kidz in the Biz!) Part III

You've made it to my final piece on getting your child into show business...or at least seriously considering getting them into it, anyway. :) Congratulations! I know I can waffle on, so this is no minor feat!

I'm going to talk a bit about scams in this one, and it's very important that you pay attention to that! But first, I'll open up with

So Your Kid's Got Talent, Huh? (or Kidz in the Biz!) Part II

Welcome to Part II of my Kidz in the Biz series! Last week, I talked a bit about Stage Parent Syndrome, a couple of books with TONS of advice, and then I posted part of a Q&A session with Sharon Chazin Lieblein, VP of Talent & Casting for Nickelodeon.

Today, I'm going to finish that session, as well as

So Your Kid's Got Talent, Huh? (or Kidz in the Biz!) Part I

I recently did a commercial with a little girl whose mom was asking me about how to get more established in the biz. I figured I could do a blog on this subject, while also helping her out. :)

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on children in show business, but I do know some stuff.

My first, and biggest, piece of advice woud be to

I Have Confidence

What happened to me blogging once a week? Aaargh! And where is Dumbledore with my Time Turner? I could really use one right about now.

This is going to be a post of quotes and some pics and some updates, all rather haphazardly thrown together.

Let us begin!

First, here's a screenshot of a Punjabi Portal post in the "Celebrity Member Christa Cannon" forum from June:

Lost My Passport

It's been a while since I've updated, so goodness knows we have a lot to catch up on! I don't even know where to begin, honestly.

I'll start with Katie Finneran's Tony acceptance speech. It was the best one of the night, and definitely made me tear up!



Katie Finneran's Tony Acceptance Speech

Here's the part I love:

"Most of all, I want to talk to the kids at home watching. I was a kid and I watched the show and it seemed so far away from me. And I want to tell you that all of us up here on this stage and in this audience, we feel the same way... and with the world being so fast right now, I want to remind you to focus on what you love, because it is the greatest passport, it is the greatest roadmap to an extraordinarily blissful life. Just focus on that one thing. Don't listen to anybody else...and you will run into the right people, the right teachers, the right moments and circumstances and one day you wil meet...a person taht will share that love with you."

I've watched the Tonys almost every year since I was about 10 or 11.  So I was that kid, too, watching all the spectacular Broadway productions showcased at the Tonys and picturing myself being a part of it all.

I still do that...with the Tonys, Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes, Baftas...need I go on? I think you get the picture. I imagine what I'd wear and what I'd say on the red carpet and my reaction when I win!

I am sad to say I have not yet achieved that "extraordinarily blissful life" that Katie mentioned.  With my Survival Job, trying to maintain a personal life, trying to get a webseries off the ground, trying to do this and that...well, happiness has been hard to come by recently. (Speaking of trying to do things--I had to laugh typing that, because of Bonnie Gillespie's latest blog, No One Wants to See You Try.)

But watching Katie has reminded me of why I'm doing all of this...why I'm still doing it, after all these years of what some people call "failures."

I can't call them failures, though--because I know better. I know exactly what it's taken for me to get where I am today, and just how difficult it was. I know the tears and the struggle and the heartache  and the criticism it took to get me  where I am right now.

I'm still standing.

And I'm still going...and damn it, I'll get what I want.

Now, must spend some time finding My Passport.

Till next time.