Yellow Rain on the Graduation Parade

The circus--where all the extras wait...and wait...and wait...

I got called last week for a job this Tuesday for background-acting again. This time it was for the movie, I Love You, Beth Cooper, starring, Hayden Panettiere. It was pretty exciting.
On Tuesday, I woke up with a knot in my throat. On such a special day of mine, why must I have a sore throat?! I immediately popped Cepacols like a mad man. The location was actually quite close to my house. But of course, without confidence, I decided to follow random people on the streets, just like last time. A girl came on the bus with a small travel-sized luggage (which 90% of all extras use to carry their clothing options). My stop came and she was also getting off. After following her for 3 blocks, I asked if she was also an extra. She was. We arrived together at holding (where all the extras wait). Filled out forms and it was time for wardrobe. Usually, for a teeny bopper movie like this, they almost always want you to dress in spring/summer clothing. After being checked for wardrobe, I went to get my graduation robe (that was the scene they were filming for the day). We waited a few minutes and it was finally time to head to set. The set was a block and a half away at ANOTHER school's gymnasium (why?). All 200 "graduation student" extras (there were 450 extras in total) walked to the other school. People on the streets were staring, honking and congratulating us.

We arrived on set. They added huge lights outside of the gymnasium windows to create a sunlight effect (which was in dire need) since it was black outside from the gloomy clouds. They added a smoke machine to create a misty/dusty/humid effect. Although being in the gym was 10x better than being in the holding tent, the gym was still pretty horrible. The smoke machine was making everyone hack up their breakfast. I was already sick, so being in a tiny gym that was dusty with recirculating air of 500 people...I was about to pass out. Hayden finally showed up and sat right beside me--well, two feet away from me. She's a tiny girl, but looked exactly like the way she does in magazines. The whole time we were shooting, she would be on her BlackBerry, drinking her damn minestrone soup, getting fed watermelon by her assistant and chatting (loudly) with other cast members. Even when we were supposed to be quiet, she would be laughing, giggling and making these obnoxious sounds like any other stupid teenager would. Another one of those Young Hollywood types.

It was a 13 hour day of filming of the same scene in 10 different angles. I did talk to Hayden BRIEFLY though. I wouldn't even call it "talking" actually. So, before Hayden came back from her millionth break, we did a lot of rehearsals with the cameras. I was right beside the dolly which held the camera and saw exactly how each angle was filmed. The whole time, we rehearsed a certain part of the movie in which you could only see Hayden's face. So Hayden finally arrived back onto set. She asked the director, "Is this shot on me?". I said, "Yep!". I don't know why I answered especially since us, low-life extras, aren't supposed to talk to the stars or else we'd be kicked off set. The director then said, "No, we're not shooting on you" to Hayden. She said, "Well, then who said, 'yup'?". I turned around and said, "Oh, it was me...sorry". She replied, "Don't deceive me". What the hell does that mean? I also overheard her talking to another one of her cast mates, Jack Carpenter (who sat in front of me). They were chatting and he said "vanity comes first". Hayden then said, "what does 'vanity' mean?". Funny, since she did a whole spread for Vanity Fair once.

Working 13 hours in that stupid graduation robe was ridiculous. I do drink my 8-10 glasses of water on a daily basis. Before I left my house that day, I drank a whole litre of water. Throughout the day I was sipping water and juice (more so than usual since I was sick). Lots of liquid = lots of bathroom time. Every time I went pee, I'd have to unzip that ridiculous gown from top to bottom (I'm not going to go into details). So at the end of the day, I had to pee again. They have the shittiest crap for the extras. Cast and crew get to use trailer bathrooms. Extras have portapotties. I waited in line for almost 10 minutes--which is odd since men's washroom don't usually have lines. When the portapottie wobbles from side to side and is occupied for over 10 minutes, it only means one thing. The man was taking dump. I ventured off to try and find a less smelly toilet. I came across a trailer saying, "Washrooms" at the door. I asked a few of the crew members that were standing by if I was allowed to use it. They shrugged their shoulders. I went in even though our supervisor said extras aren't allowed to use trailer bathrooms. I took a leak and I guess I didn't fully unzip my graduation gown...and a few dribbles of pee dribbled onto the gown. I could care less. I patted it dry with a paper towel and returned it back to wardrobe at the end of the night and called it a day.

[picture courtesy of Vanity Fair]

Hey, Hey, Hay!

When I created this blog, I made a promise to myself that I would never rant on about my daily activities. I mean, this blog is definitely a personal blog about me, my friends and our festivities. But, I didn't want to go on and on about what I ate or a minute-to-minute blog about my life. That would be a stupid blog--even though, half my blog is exactly that. I wanted this blog to be somewhat of a tickle of what's inside of my wacked-up head. I haven't updated in almost a week (and I still don't have much to want to write about), I just know that I want to write. A sudden urge of writefulness, I guess.

Yesterday was the start of spring. I love spring...sort of. Actually, spring is the season I probably like the least. But anyways, it was also my buddy, Scott's birthday. Everyone is turning 20! We're no longer teens. Well, according to my parents, I was an adult since I was 13 and was told to "stop acting so childish". So I guess my midlife crisis is coming along now.

At around 8pm, I decided to clean my room. I did the laundry earlier, and since I was doing that, I thought it was time to do a little spring cleaning...wait, is it called "spring cleaning" because it's the start of the spring season or is it only called that when one cleans at the beginning of summer because it's the end of spring? In that case, I was doing a little "winter cleaning". I threw away a bunch of crap and also did some dusting since my maid (Grandma) went to Hong Kong for a month. I have allergies--pretty bad allergies actually. I see an allergy specialist every year and get shots monthly. As spring arrives, so does the bottomless amounts of Clairitin. With all the dust in my room (my worst allergen), it was a mighty battle for air as my throat continued to close up.

At 10:30pm, Jessica picked me up. It was pouring rain. We haven't had such a great rainfall in a while. While soaking wet, we slipped inside a closing Starbucks. We then met up with Ryan and Eva where we watched a movie. They rented Enchanted, but Blockbuster gave us Dan In Real Life. It was a great mistake because Dan In Real Life was awesome. Not only is the movie great, but the soundtrack is even greater!

We left Eva's at around 2:30am. It stopped raining. The sky and moon was bright and the stars shone. There was a nice breeze and the floors were damp. Not a single sign of a rainstorm. A nice start to Spring 2008.

This is Sondre Lerche. He basically composed and wrote all the songs to the Dan In Real Life soundtrack. Check out his stuff. It's like City and Colour (but less emo) and Jack Johnson (but less gay) mixed together.

[pictures courtesy of Dan In Real Life and Sondre Lerche]

Feces That ADHD

(Technically) two nights ago, I decided to brew coffee at 7pm. It's a little late for my usual four cups of coffee. Four cups? I know, I've written earlier about the one-cup-a-day limit. Well, I fell off that wagon. Don't judge. So as I was saying, I drank my four cups at 7pm and went to bed at 10:30pm (but probably fell asleep at 11:30). I woke up and thought it was the next morning until I looked at the time. It was only 12:45am. Does time ever pass? As lazy as I am, I never would have expect myself to be saying something like that. I didn't even feel tired waking up an hour after. I would have been perfectly happy if my clock said 9:30am and I was to continue on with my day.

I rolled around in bed but couldn't fall back asleep. I logged onto YouTube and watched a ton of videos on colonics. Very interesting. Who wouldn't want corn husks flushed out of their system after being lodged up their intestinal walls for 15 years? Obviously, there are some people who believe that colonics (also called Colon Hydrotherapy) are one of the most relieving procedures they've ever felt. While some feel it's a crock of shiz (no pun intended).

...Why the hell am I researching on colonics?

I blame caffeine, partly, for my lack of sleep. What's more to blame is my crazy mind. When my family go to bed, they fall into a deep slumber quicker than Lindsay Lohan trying to stay sober. It takes me about an hour and a half before I doze off. I have the craziest mind. Dozens of thoughts run through my head every minute. I have the worst concentration in the...

...what was I talking about? Oh that's right. I have the worst concentration in the world!

So after watching all those videos of defecation, I started getting really hungry (2girls1cup style). It was 5am, I went downstairs and decided to flip on the Food Network while snacking on...carrots, pears, cookies, turkey bologne...I can't even stick to one food group. Damnit concentration. Anybody want to share their Adderall? Anyways, I have no idea what this blog is actually trying to say...I just felt like sharing a little part of my life...whilst feeling drowsy and tired. Totally worthless. In other words, it's another one of those random entries that I seem to get a kick out of. That's all I got.

...But I want to clean shoes.

Celebrating Herby, Lam, Jeff and Rebecca's birthday.

At work, we often get approached by customers to work for them (at their company). Whether it's to be a bank teller or at another department store. And why wouldn't they? Almost all of our workers are young, intelligent and the future "control centre" of our economy...with exceptional customer service and social skills, of course ;). So as I was leaving work today, I saw a man talking with one of my coworkers, Amanda. As I was about to leave, Amanda screams out my name and directs the man over to me. The man (without introduction) says he's trying to recruit people so that one day we could open up our own business. It's a training program where the job description probably includes slavery. But of course, I also get "taught" many things in the process of cleaning his shoes and picking up his dry-cleaning. It's funny because, his little speech about his company sounds exactly like the Craigslist ad I saw this morning (which I'm not going to link--but you could probably find it yourself).

Playing pool after the birthday celebration.

"We're highly skilled individuals that provide services to large Fortune 500 companies".

Yep. He's copy and pasting his speech from his ad. He asks if I know anyone who would be interested or if I was interested. Obviously I was interested. I'm into this kind of stuff. I told him I might have a few friends who would like to start something like this, but for myself, not interested at all. I intend on staying at my underpaid cashier/stock-boy job for the rest of my life.

"Well great, can I have your card so that I can refer my friends to you?"

"*pats pockets* Ooh, I don't have any cards with me 'at the moment'." Can I get your friend's numbers?"

"No."
"Can I contact you?"
"No. Can I contact you?"
"*puts hand out*...never mind".

He then leaves the store. What's the deal? I always feel that the people who don't put down their business/organization's name on their Craigslist ads are losers. I know employees shouldn't be choosing work based on the name of the company but rather from the description of the ad. But things on Craigslist are so sketchy sometimes, we have to be more careful. I don't want to get into the "marketing field" but start off by helping the company paint, telemarket, or stand by the street corner at 3A.M. asking people if they want to have a good time. If you really are interested in getting some help, be proud of your company and show it off. Just so you all know, the strange man also asked Amanda, before I arrived, if she was in school. After saying "Yes, I do go to school." The man sighs and says "Oh... bummer". Who says "bummer"?

Geoff's surprise for his birthday.

While most of our peers are trying to get pass the velvet ropes at Vancouver's swankiest night clubs, or drink until their livers get shriveled, my friends and I actually enjoy being idiots. If you've looked through some of my posts, you would know that we aren't into the club scene. You know: grinding up on strangers or getting drugged up on GHB and enjoying a full-on date rape. We have our phases of geeky activities. There were a few weeks where we went bowling, a few weeks where we went ape shit for Rock Band and recently, we've been hitting up the pool tables. Trust me, it's a lot more fun than it seems (not really). Sorry if the pictures are repetitive...we're cuckoo for billiards. Oh god...next week you'll probably see us having a quaint knit-a-thon, or a craft night. Anybody want to rub some Bengay on my bad knee?

Being the true idiots we really are.

[pictures courtesy of Donna Ng]

Live from Vancouver, It's Tuesday night!

Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey for Vanity Fair article

Has anyone been watching Saturday Night Live lately? I was saying to my friend the other day about how SNL just isn't as great as it was back then. At it's 33rd season, I was never the one who watched it since the beginning--probably because I wasn't born yet, but mainly because I was a huge fan of MADtv. After noticing how small of a production MADtv was and watching an episode of SNL and seeing how they always recreated these "Making The Video" skits of pop stars--I was sold. That's right, I'm the one to conform. Don't judge.

Since they (sort of) revamped the cast: Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey (as bad as an actress she reportedly is) left, I stopped watching. Not right away, I did watch it for another few months before I noticed how far the SNL ditch has been dug. Quite frankly, my social life has been booming lately and Saturday nights just aren't a night to be staying at home anymore--I'm so popular. SNL really was quite funny before. Now, it's just random and awkward. And it bothers me when the cast reads cue cards. Their eyes always end up landing somewhere above the camera--just like how Audrina's eyes look 24/7.

Their musical guests have still been pretty good though. It was on SNL where I found Keane (the band that plays my favourite song). I was reading on NYMag.com today about how the show isn't as funny as it once was. It's mainly because each actor has their own solo projects and their humor and talent is too diffuse. But I have to say, one of the most memorable recent episodes, for me, was with Alec Baldwin and Christmas Aguilera. Tony Bennett, Martin Short, Paul McCartney and Tina Fey all made guest appearances that night as well.

The show cannot die! It's a dream of mine to be saying, "Live from New York, it's Saturday night!" or, "We have a great show for you guys tonight, (__blank music guest__) is here. So stick around, we'll be right back!".

[pictures courtesy of Vanity Fair, NBC and MTV]