Terminator Too Judgment Play

We've all been there before: a bunch of friends are anxious to go out and do something fun on a Saturday night, but they're all tired of the same old bar scene.  "There's nothing to do!" exclaims one friend.  "I want to see something exciting and new!" exclaims another.

Stop your whining!  Come with me if you want to live...

...and experience the most exciting, titillating and hilarious show on the west coast: Terminator Too Judgment Play!

Favors Run This Town

Flower Favors via

I often hear people say "This town is all about who you know," but I don't think they really understand what it means.  "Who you know" is not about going out in Hollywood and meeting people at night clubs or mansion parties just so you can win the race to have the most friends on Facebook; it's about building and maintaining relationships.

"But it's hard enough to meet people in Los Angeles, let alone build a meaningful relationship!" you might exclaim.  You're absolutely right.  No one said it was going to be easy.  It takes a lot of effort.  One of the keys to relationship building is repetition; always running into the same person at the coffee shop, seeing each other in the same classes, etc.

Once you've established a level of comfort purely from repeatedly seeing one another, you'll have to escalate the relationship by initiating a meaningful conversation.  It could be as simple as inviting them to chat over a cup of coffee.  If you already run into each other at the coffee shop, sitting down for a conversation shouldn't be hard to do.

The next step to really move towards a meaningful relationship is to find out what their needs are and help them achieve their goals by doing them a favor.  Many people don't realize this, but this town is fueled by favors.  If you do a favor for someone, chances are, they'll do you a favor as well.  You're making an emotional investment in someone, but just like monetary investments, they don't always give you a positive return.  Sometimes people will just take from you and try to use you up.  Be wary of these people and protect yourself, regardless of how powerful they are or what they are promising you.

If you can surround yourself with enough good people, this exchanging of favors will quickly bring everyone closer to their goals.

When someone makes an emotional investment in you, please be courteous enough to at least thank them for their help.  So many people take those words for granted.  A simple "thank you" could be just as good as you returning a favor.  It seems like a lot of people's egos take a hit when they use the words "thank" and "you" together; almost as if they're admitting that they are a lesser being because they accepted help from another.  Please graduate into Kindergarten and realize that thanking someone is a sign of gratitude and appreciation.  The use, or lack there of, can really affect whether that person helps you out again.

I recently had an experience where an acquaintance was looking for a very specific and expensive item for a project with an impending deadline and sent an email blast to everyone.  I replied to the email because I knew exactly where they could go get this item for FREE.

End of story.

I never heard back from that person.  How hard is it to click "reply", type "thx" and click "send"?  Apparently, it's harder than I thought for some people.  It tells me that I'm not worth 5 seconds of their time.  Because this person isn't a close friend of mine, I can guarantee you that I'm going to think twice about helping them again in the future.

Don't build a bad reputation for yourself; this town is smaller than you think.

Of course, there isn't a hard, fast rule about building relationships, and it's always a case by case basis.  But if people are donating their time and effort to you, please let them know that they're being appreciated.

It takes a lot of effort to build a meaningful relationship.  Don't ruin it with laziness.

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A New King Is Crowned

Move over Pink's, there's a new king of hot dogs in Los Angeles and his name is Papaya King!  I was in Hollywood on Monday night and heard that a New York legend was opening a store in Hollywood.  I really didn't know much about the history of the original Papaya King.  I just read that they served fresh tropical juices and hot dogs.  Papaya juice and a chili cheese hot dog?  Makes sense to me.  I had to try one.

My friends and I drove from Redondo Beach to Hollywood in just under 30 minutes and found an empty/free parking meter just one block from our tropical, meaty destination.  Gosh, I love weekdays.  We walked into the New York-esque joint that had no tables or chairs, and just enough space for a line to form behind the register.  The line was about ten people deep and the hot dogs were flying out as fast as the cashiers could take the orders.

An obese man an his wife walked in behind us and was immediately impatient/upset with the line.  He complained incessantly about the NY style setup of the restaurant before the door even shut behind him.

"Are you in line?!" asked the obese man.

"Yes." I replied.

30 seconds elapse.

"Are you in line?!" asked the obese man.

"Yes, we are." I replied.  And just to prove to him we were in line, I asked the ladies a few people in front of us if they were in line.  They replied with a look that said, "duh..." and a bunch of people turned around to look at me as if I had broken the cardinal "no talking to strangers in a crowded place" rule in their anti-social world.

30 seconds elapse.

"Are you in line?!" asked the obese man, for the third time!

"Yes, we are," I replied, "but it doesn't look like it because those ladies holding straws decided to stand away from the counter so it looks like we're all not in line."

"Where is the line?!" asked the obese man, this time addressing a timid new employee behind the counter.

"You're in the line, sir." said the employee.

The obese man finally stopped asking questions, having found a credible answer from the employee (my answers and verifications were apparently useless) and resumed his heavy breathing and salivating.  I was trapped.  I was standing in front of an impatient, obese man and his food.  That's never a good place to be.  I feel bad for the person that gets stuck in front of this obese man in the 45 minute line at Pink's Hot Dogs.  It seems that patience is no longer a virtue and has been replaced with aggravated entitlement.  

As the line moved forward, I noticed these square pouches being flipped on the grill.  The grill master informed us that they were Knishes (basically fried potato pancakes) and tasted great with cheese on top.  Papaya juice, hot dogs AND Yiddish snacks all in one place?  My mind just exploded.

Between the three of us, we ordered papaya juice, a chili cheese hot dog with curly fries on top, a regular chili cheese hot dog, a NY musher (mushroom and grilled onions) and a knish with cheese.  We took our food to the Hollywood & Highland center to enjoy on the patio before our movie started.

"So, Papaya King after the movie?" asked my friend after only a few bites of his NY musher.

"Yes," I replied. "Let us pray that this movie is short."

The moral of this story?  I'm not convincing when I tell people that I'm in line, and Papaya King is amazing.  Oh, did I mention that they're open until 3:00 AM every day?

*Update: My friend Mark reminded me that if you check in at Papaya King on Facebook 5 times, you get a coupon!  No additional app needed.  The coupon is built into Facebook!

You better get going before Papaya King's line starts to rival Pink's line.  Their grand opening was yesterday, and trust me, word is going to spread fast about the new king of hot dogs!

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*Update #2: If you say "I pledge allegiance to the King" at the register, you get free curly fries!  Offer good through June 30, 2011 with a $5 minimum purchase.

The U.S. needs more Donnie Yen!

Why isn't Donnie Yen a much larger star/actor in the United States?  He's got the looks, he's an amazing martial artist and he's got the acting chops to carry a film.  But somehow we got the smurf-like Jet Li, whose voice is as threatening as Miley Cyrus', and Jackie Chan, always the accidental hero, who after more than 10 years of living in the U.S., I still can't understand the words that are coming out of his mouth.  Now don't get me wrong, I love Jet Li and Jackie Chan (although I love the Hong Kong film versions of themselves more), but isn't it time we had a martial arts action star that this generation can get behind?

I recently went to see "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen", starring Donnie Yen.  If you've seen the trailers, it looked awesome!  It was an opening night showing at the Laemmle Sunset 5, Friday, 7:20 pm.  There should have been a lot of people there, right?  Wrong.  There were less than 20 people, half of them were from the martial arts school that gave a demonstration before the movie, and I was the only Asian American male there.  That's right, not even the martial arts school had an Asian male studying there.  The sifu (teacher) was actually Caucasian.  

If you're like me, then you hopefully have found a couple of things wrong with that scenario.

Why was there such a poor showing for this movie?  Was it because it was an international movie that was subtitled?  It's in the heart of West Hollywood, so location isn't an issue.  Was there not enough marketing behind it?  Are people not a fan of martial arts movies anymore?  I know that last statement is not true because epic period-style martial arts movies are garnering much acclaim at many international film festivals.  So what happened?  I thought the movie was awesome.  I literally said "oh sh!t!" probably 3 times within the first 10 minutes of the movie, just due to the badassery that is Donnie Yen.  But where was everyone?  What kind of message are we sending to Hollywood with this lack of support?  "Legend of the Fist" grossed $26 million overseas, but only made a measly $11,000 on opening weekend in the U.S.

Many of my fellow actors complain that there aren't enough roles for Asian actors.  They also complain that many movies are being "white-washed" to star Caucasian actors, even though it's an adaptation of an Asian film. But can you really blame Hollywood?  People forget that Hollywood is a business.  If it doesn't make money, they're not going to do it.  Why would Hollywood make an Asian-centric movie if only 10 people are going to show up to it?  There are 10 million Asian Americans in the U.S. according to the 2000 census, but with the way we're supporting the arts, you'd think there were only 1,000.

So get out and support what you're passionate about.  Be active in the community and show them that you have a voice and that you matter.

A great starting point would be the L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival, starting April 28th!  It opens with "Fast Five"!  I'm volunteering for the festival so come find me and say hi!  Tell all of your friends to come and enjoy the festivities.  When I tell my friends about the Asian Pacific Film Festival, the typical response I get is: "But I'm not Asian."  So?!  Just because the word "Asian" is in the festival title doesn't mean that you have to be Asian to attend!  The festival features films from Asian filmmakers, hence the title, but that's where the "Asian" part ends!  It's a film festival, people!  Support the arts!

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Failing Forward

The hardest part about an acting career in Hollywood is getting an acting career started.  People get their breaks in different ways, but I know for a fact that I won't get my break sitting at home, waiting for my agent to call me about an audition.  I've been taking my career into my own hands by networking and getting myself "out there", but it still isn't enough because I know what I know and I don't know what I don't know.

I've got the idea in my head that a manager would help get me noticed more.  Right now, people in the entertainment industry don't know that I exist; and if they do know, they don't really care.  Having a manager to help me on a more personal level might open more doors or at least get me some more introductions to the people who matter.  Basically, I'm looking for someone to take me under their wing and build me into a unique brand for Hollywood to ingest.

I began my pursuit for a manager by sending out letters to two managers that I had some sort of connection with; I've either met them before or knew someone who knew them.  One of the managers called me right away.  We spoke briefly on the phone and set up a time to meet in person the next day.  I was given some material (2 scenes from the newest Wonder Woman series) to go over and would be performing during our meeting.

So far, so good, right?

I go into the meeting, having never stopped rehearsing my lines, even while driving.  I knew that since I've never booked anything significant, a lot would be riding on my performance.  We chat for a few minutes; pretty typical "why do you want to be an actor?" and "why do you want a manager?" questions, and then proceed to perform the material I was given.  I had all of the lines memorized, but I still held onto the script as a security blanket, keeping me relaxed knowing that I could look down for the words at any moment (I only had one evening to learn the lines and craft out a performance).  The scenes went off without a hitch.  It ended with me singing a few lines from Green Day's "September Ends" (the script called for it), to which the manager softly replied "... beautiful."

We finished with a small Q&A about the management company and how they operate.  Pretty standard fare.  I was told they would discuss the matter and be in touch with me shortly.  I raced home, mostly to beat the traffic, but also so that I could get a thank you card off to the post office before they closed.  How cool is it to meet with someone and then get a snail-mail thank you card the next day?

The next morning I received an email from the management company, thanking me for coming in and for the work that I put into preparing for the meeting, but ultimately, they would not be able to take me as a client.  They are streamlining their operation and refocusing on their current client list.  The note also went on to say that they aim to provide the highest personal service to each of their clients, and if they have too many people depending on them, then they can't guarantee that service.  I sent back a quick reply, thanking them for the email and for their honesty.

But what was the Universe trying to tell me?  Do I need more acting training?  Did they not want to represent me because I'm not a "cash cow"?  I've noticed that a lot of agencies and companies are "streamlining", which is a nice way to say "if you're not making money for us right now, we're dropping you".  If everyone is only holding on to their star players, who is helping to develop the B-team?  Gone are the days where companies had a section dedicated to developmental clients.  We have to develop ourselves and be at our best so we can be at the right place at the right time when that mythical "break" comes.

Most people would say that I failed at obtaining a manager.  While that may be true for this particular instance, I think I've only "failed forward".  Now the management company knows who I am, they can put a face and a personality to the name, they know I'm not crazy (this is VERY important in our industry) and now I have an open line of communication with them.  They might remember me in the future for a role that's being cast or I may approach them again in a year's time to update them with my achievements.  Maybe they'll want to work with me then.  The fact that they even responded to my unsolicited letter means that they saw something in me.  I know many actors that send out hundreds of packets/emails and never get a single response.

As long as you're putting one foot in front of the other towards your goal, it's impossible for you to go backwards.  The only ones moving backwards are the people standing still while you march towards your destiny.

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No job is "really" secure.

This is my parody of the uncertainty and unpredictability of the entertainment industry.  No one is ever a "shoe-in" and job security is just something we say to make ourselves feel better.

The Headshot: Rinzler

The Resume

Tron 3 Auditions

The Competition Arrives?

"Edging out" the competition

Casting Director: "Is the guy on the left taller?"

Crashing The Audition

Unprofessional

Booked it!  Meet the new Rinzler!

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