Attention NYC Pedestrians

Effective immediately, I will no longer move out of your way.  Additionally, when we bump into each other, I will not apologize, or even recognize the fact that we collided.  I will just continue on my way.  For too long I have swerved my shoulders back and forth, maneuvering the not-so-crowded-that-these-fuckfaces-should-be-bumping-into-me-this-much streets.  It ends today.  And to you turdburgers with umbrellas and no sense of space, if your umbrella hits me in the face, I'll knock it right back.  I hope you didn't spend too much on it. 

There I said it.  If you see a 6-3 260+ pound mid 20's dude with a goatee, look out, or hold your umbrella a little bit higher/lower.  It very well might be me.  

Weight Loss

I'm curious about whether or not my weight loss will open up more acting doors for me. While I understand and am totally fine with not being a "leading man", I wonder if I will become more marketable or less limited due to my weight loss and what I continue to lose. I am a big guy. I played HS and College football and enjoy good food and drink.

Consequently, after college I weighed in at around 290 pounds. I think my all time high was 292. SR year of HS, 9 years ago I was 252, but rock solid. Today I am 265. I started working out 5-6 days a week November 1st 2009. So that brings my total weight loss to about 30 pounds. I'd like to lose another 40 or so. I started out just lifting and doing light cardio (eliptical) 5-6 days a week.

Then when I switched gyms I started hitting the free weights pretty hard, then I took up a boxing class. Ive been boxing since mid February. When that started I was 282, that's where the serious weight loss started. Prior to that I definitely noticed larger muscles and a bit of weight loss in the gut and face. Before starting to box I would run for 10-15 minutes on the treadmill and feel like I was gonna spew lunch all over Synergy gym. Yesterday, I ran for an hour at 4.5 speed. I attribute that to boxing.

Look. I have a good opinion of myself, but at the same time I have to be realistic about the business. No one wants a 300 lb dude hocking their product or playing a character that people will have to look at for an extended period of time. TV shows and the commercials that pay for them are all ultimately a product. You can't sell or market a product with a clunky jingle or a confusing message......this is the same way. After all, this is the same business that made a beautiful woman, America Ferrera, into an ugly girl. If that is what can pass as ugly in show business, then man oh man, do I have my work cut out for me.

Sweet ass commercial background

Yesterday I was doing some commercial background for a "Loews" spot. It's funny, I spent about 10 hours yesterday in a semi-covered area in a polo shirt carrying potted plants from spot A to spot B to spot C in 45 degree weather.....in a polo shirt and was 100% content. As opposed to working a day in real estate and having total flexibility and (while still staying positive) not being fulfilled in the slightest.

It was also a funny moment when I saw the principle of the commercial, I see that guy at call backs every now and then. I was bummed that I had to miss my boxing class, but excited at making pretty great money for the day. I was in proximity to the actors when they were working, and I really don't think that anything separates them from me in terms of talent. While it was a bit frustrating, when I was able to relax a bit I realized that its a good thing. I can't be much closer than I am right now.

Supposedly I should be a bounty hunter....

...or at least that's what the final conclusion was at the Actor's Work Program's "Career Exploration 101" said. I value: Independence, Time Freedom, Stability and Security as my core values. And I am excellent at: Performing/Entertaining, Improvising and Creating Ideas. After pinpointing these core values and skills, the great folks over there were able to say that I would enjoy being a bounty hunter. Like Dog.

This was the pride-and-joy barn burner of an idea that took two different 2 hour sessions to create. Oh well, it's not like it was a horrendous waste of time or anything.

Improvsing during auditions

Have you ever been on an audition, specifically a commercial one and the CD tells you: "The script is really rough, so you can just riff and improv a lot if ya want!"? This has happened to me a bunch. The wheels start to turn in the back of my large head and the hamster (yes, it's a hamster) says: PhillyRay, they want you to write the commercial for them. It's true. This actually happened to me on a specific ad. It was for Fathead. I said a line, they all cracked up. I left, I didn't hear back.

That was, until I saw the commercial. And guess what. They used my line! Totally lifted from the audition. My line had nothing at all to do with the original script and was so bizarre and far fetched to be duplicated unknowingly. "Am I God? No. But I do have the ability to - through my photographs- to grant athletes ever lasting life."

Did I complain? No. I wanted the casting house to call me again for something else. They didn't anyway. Oh well.

Readers (if there are any of you) - have you ever had an improvised line stolen from you and put into the finished ad? Am I alone on this one?

Sparring roughed me up

For real. My jaw is a little achy. My acting teacher dismissed my boxing passion the other week in a roundabout way. He told me of a time he was rehearsing for a play in college or wherever and one of the actors came in with a banged up nose. The director asked him where he was and how he got that way. The actor told him he got banged up playing rugby. "Are you a rugby player or an actor?" snapped the director. End story. I think I caught my teacher's drift, ha. It's not like I'm going to do gold gloves or anything, I'm just looking to lose weight and if I develop a nasty hook in the process, then it's cool.

I coulda been someone! I coulda had that mayo money!

So I got released from the Kraft commercial this morning. Am I bummed? You bet. Who wouldn't want to make upwards of 10-20k for one days work? Am I upset or defeated? Hell no. Hellllllllll no. My agents will think of me more now.....much more. They HAVE to. They sent me on two things (one of which I basically set up by myself) and the other thing was this one. It was a national campaign and I got a call back. So hey, I'm chalking this up as a moral victory, if there ever was one. Not a Pyrrhic victory.

I just gotta keep on keeping on is all. My folks should have landed in Spain a few hours ago and I bet they are having a blast. I woke up this morning and went to the gym for a 30 min run. I did 2.5m and I have my acting class tonight. I'm doing a scene from "Hedda Gabler" and "Pineapple Express" and a monologue from "An Everlasting Piece". In boxing news, my hook is coming along and I'm keeping my hands up in the right place when I punch with the opposite arm. I sparred against a much more seasoned boxer, who obviously beat me up. But it's all good because my agent will send me out more, ha.