Fuck them!

One of my life style choices, is the liberal use of the word "fuck." And I've been saying "fuck them" a lot lately. But in a good way!

One of my posts previously was about changing my life. Going to the gym, and having a more positive outlook on life. Which I took some time getting into. But I did get to it! I've been lifting seriously now for 5 weeks, and eating incredibly healthy for 6 weeks. I've lost 2% body fat and 17 lbs, bringing me down to 23% . Tomorrow is my official Monday weigh in, and I expect to be at about 22.5% and 197lbs. My next short term goal is 190, by April 30.
I have noticed that pretty people are treated differently in this town. Maybe it's every where, but it's not just women. Men react better to other men who are handsome. Maybe it's that fat guys don't look healthy, and if you can't even take care of yourself, why should I trust you? This is obviously a stupid way of thinking about people, but sub consciencely, I think that's what happens.

At first I was intimidated by at the gym. I live in Hollywood CA, and look at these ripped guys, and toned women every day. In the gym they seem like these perfect creatures that can do no wrong. "Fuck them!" I'm not working out to impress them, I'm not eating healthy crap so I can measure myself to their level of fitness. I'm doing it for me! That mentality is letting me do it. Being able to move past that mental block has freed me to cruise past my own personal insecurities way faster than I ever had before.
Chicks are paying more attention to me, and guys are taking me more seriously. It's not because I look muscular, or look like I've recently lost weight. It's because I have a new confidence that I had lacked before. So I will continue to Fuck them, and get myself farther into the mind space that I need to be in.

The other way I've been using "FT" is for the haters. A Good friend and school mate of mine, Casey, and I made a short film based on EA Games newest title, "Army of Two: The Devil's Carte." It turned out very well, and we had an absolute blast making it. I served as the armorer and more or less as the military consultant. If you want to see a behind the scenes, with me talking about the guns, and my job, here's the video. 

And here's the video of the full short.

If you look at the comments section, you'll see lots of haters, saying that the camera work sucks, or the visual effects suck. Fuck them. What have they done? It takes nothing to sit in your chair and criticize another's work. Until you offer solutions to fix the problems, go fuck yourself.
Constructive criticism is different, that I invite any day of the week.

Any way, if you like the film, don't worry. Another one is already in the works. It'll be far better, because this proves that we can tell a story, and on a limited budget, make a kick ass visually striking film.

In other news, Rally Point Radio has kicked off. It's going very well. Our second show was a success, and more and more people are down loading it every day. So if you'd like to give it a listen and hear what Casey and I think about making it in Hollywood as veterans, listen to the show here:

Rally Point Radio

I'm always pleased to see that people are reading this blog. It makes it worth writing. I like seeing that I have international readership. Last month, I had a big push from Russia. So thanks, to my Russian fans. If you guys like reading my thoughts about my life. Leave me a comment. I'll definitely get back to you!

Stay sharp, and stay tuned my friends. 

Picking up speed

Well, at a whopping 20 (average) views a day for the last week, I feel pretty accomplished.
Some days, I feel like I have nothing to write, but I still put my thoughts down, then I erase them and either start over and think of something new, or don't write anything. I don't want this blog to become a bitch fest. Believe me, I have plenty of things to bitch about. Like the woman behind me in traffic last week. She was tail gating me, with both iPhone ear buds in. The problem that I saw, was not that she was talking on the phone while using a hands free device, BUT STILL HOLDING THE PHONE IN HER HAND! It's not hands free if you use a hand to operate it! Same with speaker phone, you don't use speaker phone and hold it! It defeats the purpose of hands free. LA drivers...
That's not what I want this blog to be about, though it's tempting some times. I can rant! The upcoming internet radio show that I'll be hosting will probably have a lot more ranting than I want, but that's just how I host shows. When I get to talking, I can go and go and go. A two hour radio show? Sweet. Maybe I'll get more than 20 listeners.
The show had to be put on hold, because we needed more time to get our ducks in a row. January should be our first show. The school that is sponsoring the show had an event that needed attention. And I must say that the Los Angeles Film School's Annual Salute was a blast! I met some fun people, got some swag, and heard some very inspiring presentations.
Which is what I want to talk about today, motivation and inspiration. I've been pretty lazy lately. Not going to the gym, crashing on my couch instead of writing, sleeping in to the last minute instead of reading the news in the morning. But today I think I reached that breaking point, where I just got so fed up with myself, I got off my ass and did something. I started cleaning my apartment, started writing the script that I've had in my head, and I went for a jog. I haven't been to the gym for months, and when I went today, it was closed. So I opted for a short run and an apartment work out instead.

They say that you should do at least one hour of work for your career every day. I say this in response: There are people out there spending two hours on theirs, so how are you going to keep up?

As a wrestler in high school, I learned that every minute you spend not training, there's a guy out there who IS training. And when you meet him, you'll know it.

So what ever it takes, find your motivation. It might take a while, but don't get down on yourself because of that. It just takes time. But don't waste that time. 

Getting a job is a job.

I'm involved with several different online film making communities, and something that I've been seeing from newer members lately, has been bugging me. I don't want to address it there and make people feel foolish, so hopefully they will find their way here and see this.

Making posts online like "I need a job" and "who's hiring" isn't helping any one. The other one I see is, "I'm a _____, and I'm looking for work." Damn! Come one guys, you are supposed to be professionals. 

I'll address these one at a time. 

Just saying that you need a job is not helpful to any one. If I were in a position where I needed to hire someone, the first people that I go to are the people that I know and trust. People that I have worked with and know first hand that I can rely on. Secondly, I will talk to people who bear the seal of approval of those people that I trust. If I'm desperate, and the recommendation carries enough weight, I might bring that person on with out a second thought, or maybe do a brief and informal interview.
Lastly, hiring people I don't know. Taking resumes, interviews, and calling people that I have met at events. 

If you just say that you need a job, you actually say to me "I don't have enough experience or a large enough network to get a job on my own. I don't even have a reel or resume to share." 

Being a novice is not a fault, but it is something that you need to fight against. 

I heard it said this weekend, "You can't do it until you've done it." Meaning that no one wants to hire you until you have the experience of that job. Its counter intuitive, but still kind of makes sense. Would YOU hire a plumber who had never piped a house? So how does he get the experience of piping a full house? 

One answer given yesterday was lie. Make sure that you don't let them down, or get caught in the lie. So make sure you bring your A game. 

The Second line that pisses me off, "I'm an editor/make up artist/what ever."

You need to post some kind of reel or portfolio, especially when it's a creative position like an editor. You can not hire an artistic position based on talk. I've done that, and it was a mistake. Though...even having a reel and portfolio can't tell you what a person is truly capable of. You can be fooled.  

One last thought, people talk about how much time they spend looking for jobs. Getting frustrated is natural, just remember one thing: you only need to talk to one person. The person who has the job for you. You may need to talk to 1000 people before you get to that person. I was extremely lucky, and found him very quickly. 

Just because you talked to that 1000 people doesn't earn you any extra kudos, but hopefully you don't think of those 1000 people in such black and white terms. That's 1000 potential employers down the road once you have a little more experience. 

If you practice hitting a baseball for 1000 hours, but practice wrong, you haven't improved. So bragging about it makes you sound stupid!

Quantity of time spent on an endeavor is not proportional to it's return. 

That's all I have for now. Stay sharp, and stay tuned. 

Thoughts late at night

It's late and I can't sleep. I have an appointment with my VA disability people in the morning. I guess I'll just be exhausted when I get there. I've got a zero calorie monster in the fridge so I'll be alright. By the way, those things are awesome! They really get me jacked in the morning! Like power thirst!!! I'll go fight a tiger...

Any way, through the VA folks at my school I got into a group for veterans in film and television. It's a very legit group that I think will be a real benefit to my career. However, something came of it, that I was not expecting, but should have.

I've let my ego get a little too big. For the last few months, I've had big fish in a little pond syndrome. Since I'm the only guy that I know of at my school that is interested in stunt work, I've had a lot of demand. I've started calling myself a stunt coordinator, for lack of a better term and it's gone to my head.

On my facebook, my occupation read stunt coordinator as well. When I signed up with this group for vets, I introduced myself as a stunt coordinator. Almost immediately I got a message from a real stunt coordinator that I actually know if and admire a great deal. He advised that I not call myself a stunt coordinator, because I will probably piss off the people who have devoted years and years to actually earn the credit of stunt coordinator. Especially when I have no real credits even as a stuntman. I immediately heeded his advice and amended the introduction and my profile; to aspiring stuntman.

It was a reminder that I really truly am starting at the bottom if the ladder. At 26 years old, I'm starting over at something. I thought six years ago that I would be at least decent at a job and be working my way to the top. It's a little disheartening to think about. But I guess there is no choice, since I don't want to go back to the Army. I'll just attack this new venture and make it my bitch.

I know that not any one can do anything. Those stories that parents tell their kids are a bunch if crap. You either don't have the intelligence, the genes, or the means. But stunts is something that I AM good at, and definitely see myself excelling at.

For a while I thought that I would make my living as a magician. But I never really saw myself doing that seriously. Maybe as a side job instead if waiting tables or tending bars, but not full time. If you see me bringing food to your table, I've hit Rock bottom. Bit that I'm hating on waiters, it's just not something I could do and smile. Unless I worked at a rude restaurant like Dicks. But they would just be too wearied to say I work in dicks, or I'm a dick waiter.

So until next time, stay tuned and stay sharp.