My Body Hurts! I Hate Aging. But I Still Look Good!

I've mentioned in the past that I take a cardio dance class that I love. I've been in it going on two years now. I've been proud of the fact that at my age I can still dance well and I can mostly keep up with the younger ones. Sometimes, I have some issues with my knees. Or I might wake up in the morning with some stiffness in my legs and/or joints. But it doesn't last more that part of a day.  However. it has been happening with more and more frequency however.

This past week, it hit me the very next day and it hit me hard. And its still with me. My left knee has not been right since Wednesday and I'm experiencing pains in both legs and especially in my right butt cheek. You heard me. My right butt cheek. If I sit on it for too long, it starts to hurt. My lower back has been bothering me. I've noticed recently, that sometimes when I lift one leg to put on a pair of pants I have trouble keeping my balance. What?

Until recently I could whip my legs into my pants real quick and with great agility. Where has that gone? I guess the days of bragging about how agile I am even at my age (mid-50s) are gone. I'm no longer one of the go-to guys for picking up the choreography in the chorus of the show real quick. I'm officially one of the older character actors who gets to stand in the background while the younger guys dance around. I. Am. Not. Happy.

I refuse to deteriorate and go to my grave a stiff weakened older gentleman. There must be something I can do. Some medication I can take. A miracle pill that gives me my high kick back. My bell kicks are not what they used to be. I'd like to be able to do those again.

Oi! My neck is killing me too. This has been going one for about a year. I've been in physical therapy for that. You know what this blog is beginning to sound like? I'm one of those older men complaining about all the things on my body that don't work as well as they used to. Oi! The Lumbago! I need some liniment to rub on my back. Hack! Hack! My sinuses! Excuse me. I just need to cough up this phlegm that's caught in my throat.

Do me a favor roll that chair over here so I can sit for a spell and rest my feet. This hike is a little too much for me. Would open this bottle of ibuprofen for me? My arthritis is acting up.

G'night. Its past my bedtime. Yes! I know it's only 9:00. Get off my lawn you noisy kids or next time  your ball comes into my yard, I'm keeping it.

Daily Vlog - An Actor's Life

Batman v. Superman Review (Mostly Spoiler Free)

December 1978. Fox Colonie Theatre on Wolf Road in Colonie, NY (just outside of Albany). It's a Saturday night. I'm in line with what seems like half the kids from my high school waiting to see Superman, The Movie.  The commercials have been playing for a long time.  A shot of clouds and the camera working its way through the clouds promising us that we'll believe a man can fly.

The movie starts. A movie curtain opens to reveal a black and white shot of Action Comics. A boy;'s hand opens it up. The camera pans into a panel of the Daily Planet building. It dissolves to a scale model of the Daily Planet pans out and up to the moon and beyond as John Williams score grows and we start to see the opening titles zooming out at us. Goose bumps.

In case you couldn't tell, I am a hug fan of that movie. I went back the following weekend to see it again. Probably the first time in my life that I ever did that. I don't go to see movies in the theater more than once. I loved that movie., I grew up on reruns of the 1950s Adventures of Superman. I read the comics, World's Finest with Batman and Superman, Shazam. I was a DC kid. Not a huge superhero reader but I went through a phase. I was certainly familiar with them.

Flash forward to 2016. Its a different world. Comics are now written for adults (graphic novels). They can be darker. Its believed that today's audiences want grittier more realistic. And it can work. It works for Batman. But Superman? I understand the need to modernize him. But you can't take away everything that we grew up loving about him.

Batman vs. Superman. The reviews have been mixed. Most internet social media squabble would have you believe this movie is bad. It is not. It's also not great. It's decent. It's dark. Very dark. Please, Zac Snyder. Could we have SOME sunshine?  But my opinion is that its mostly told from Batman's perspective. Mostly, not all. For him it works.

I don't know that I agree with the whole Superman is an alien in our modern world. So he is raised and placed on a pedestal word worshipped like a God. And then of course he is torn down by others because that is what we do. We tear down our idols once we put them up there. He is feared by Bruce Wayne as an alien. And I get it. But, again. Can we lighten this up some? It is a comic book character after all. Comics book characters! Give me some bright reds and blues!

The story is decent. But I couldn't help wonder what if there were more humor injected and the brighter colors. And oh maybe Richard Donner directing or at least consulting. But I digress.

Ben Affleck as Batman. Great job. Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Awesome. Would have liked more. Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark. Not really given much to work with was he? I mean he was good with what he was given. They could have given us more back story on the Lois/Clark romance. They just were a couple. Just there already. And she knows he's Superman. Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White has the best lines. Honestly, the scrip needed more levity. This movie takes itself way too seriously.

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Well it was a different take on him. But then why call him Lex Luthor. He could have been some other character. He basically was a filthy rich young man who inherited daddy's money and has a lot of strange tics eventually driving him into madness. I honestly didn't mind his portrayal. But to me that wasn't Lex. That was some new bad guy. I also thought in retrospect that if this movie is predominantly told from Batman's POV, then this portrayal totally makes sense. He was like any other Batman villain who either exceed from or belongs in Arkham Asylum. Good theory. Right?

I will admit that seeing Batman Superman and Wonder Woman standing side by side to fight together was pretty cool. But I then had a second thought. This story could have been told with a lighter touch.  Not so dark and serious.

It was cool to see a few other DC cameos and obviously setup future DC movies which is basically how this ends. As a setup to the Justice League.

I also didn't like the CGI. There's way too much of it. I don';t like how every time Superman takes off its like a sonic boom. Wouldn't that do some damage? And the climactic fight sequence. Too Much CGI! Geez! And i didn't believe for one second that the ----- they were fighting was real. It looked CGI.

Cool that they brought in another big bad other than Lex and they used a very famous Superman storyline for the movie. After all, I am tired of every single Superman movie having Lex Luthor and kryptonite in it. Man of Steel is the only one that didn't.

Overall, I liked it with some qualifications. It was good. Not great. But I do hope that they let someone else take over and direct these movies and add more humor. And color! Please. What's a comic book without colors? Now if you don;t mind, I'm going to pop my Superman the Movie DVD in to the Blu Ray and watch that.

New Head Shots

I recently had new head shots done. I've picked some serious photos  taken by my friend Anthony Campanella, which you can find on my fb page and my personal website.

Today, I'm trying to pick some lighter looks that I can use for commercials, musical theatre and sitcoms. Attached are some of my options. Let me know which ones you like.

Leave comments in the comments section below. All photos above courtesy of Sarah Kreig Photography.

Why is London's West End so much cheaper and easier to access then Broadway?

Last week, I was in London for six days. Before I went on my trip, I bought tickets online to three West End shows. I got very good seats to all shows. I did not get discount tickets. I paid full price online just days in advance of my trip and had no trouble with sold out performances (except for one show which it turns out was just opening and in fact had tickets available for nights later in my trip when I had other plans). I did not pay more than $65 for a single ticket.

One of the shows I saw was The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time. I saw the Saturday evening show and sat in the balcony. I paid $62...full price. If I had bought those tickets for the Broadway production of the same show on a Saturday night, the price would $121. Orchestra seats for $134 to $197.

Why is Broadway so much more expensive? Even at half price, I would spend more for the Broadway production than the West End production. What? And on Broadway the big shows sell out. Oh! And I forgot to mention that this is a play and not a musical. They are even more expensive.

How is it that in London theater is so much more affordable? Think about it, for a family of four to go see a Broadway show like Matilda or Wicked on a Saturday night, it would cost them anywhere from $149 to $232 a seat depending on where the seats are. And there's also premium seating which is over $300 a seat. So that is a potential $728 for four orchestra seats. The of course there is the cost of driving into Manhattan from New Jersey or Long Island and parking. That's another $25 - $45. And then dinner for four. That can vary widely. So let's go on the assumption that the average cost with meal, drinks, dessert and tip is about $30 each (and that's conservative). You're talking another $120. Let's add that all up: $883. $883 for a family of four to go see a Broadway musical. And that's not counting drinks or snacks, souvenirs.

You'd need to take out a loan! What the hell? So, I'll say it again. Why is it so much more affordable to see shows on London's West End? Is it cheaper to produce there? Its a lot of the same shows. Bigger stars. Maybe its the unions her in the US and higher salaries to pay. I don't know. But something isn't right.

It used to be, over 100 years ago, that theater was the main form of entertainment. So it was much more affordable. Pre-radio, pre-movies, pre-television. Theater was the popular entertainment form.

Hell. Even when I started going to theater in the early 1980s, I remember buying two tickets to a big Broadway musical in the mezzanine of the Palace Theatre and only paying $32 to $35. When I lived in NYC in the 1990s, tickets were upwards of $60 - $75, but I could get half price tickets at TKTS. Or I could do standing room for sold out shows at $20 to $25.  It was still affordable. Now a half price ticket can be over $100. WHAT!?

Again, why is London so much cheaper? DO they care more about theater there? Is it more common and not considered a special event like Broadway? Top price for Matilda and Wicked on the West End in 125 GBP which is $170. A lot but still less than Broadway and there are plenty of seats for way less than that.

C'mon Broadway, what gives?

Why Sharing My Writing Scares Me

I have been an actor for many, many years. My whole adult life in fact. It is not something I have always made a living at, but it has been a constant in my life.

In pursuing an acting career professionally, many suggest writing and performing your own material while you wait for the paying gigs to come in. And also so showcase your talent and what you can so that they (Casting Directions, Directors, Producers, etc) know what to do with you.

Over the years, I have had many ideas for plays, sketches, short films, etc. But I am always hesitant to go forward with any or to even start at all. Yes, I belonged to a sketch comedy group for a few years here in LA. I also write and produced my own comedy web series. Yet, it is still hard for me to share. I feel that my writing is not good enough, not funny enough, not compelling. No one will "get me" or my humor. It's scary. And I am very insecure about it.

Tonight, I took a leap of faith. I took a play that I wrote for myself (beginning over a decade ago) and invited some actor friends over to my house and asked them to play the parts in a play reading. It was scary. After all, this character was initially based on me. His words and thoughts are mine.  The bad first dates he talks about are actual first dates that I had.

But would this subject matter mean anything to anyone? Is my idea interesting or clever enough for anyone other than me? Can I write a joke line?  This scares me because this means that not only can I not write something that speaks to other people, but maybe I shouldn't be writing at all.

So. Guess what happened? It worked. The lines flowed. The dialogue was real and natural. The laughs came where I wanted them. There's a real heart to the story and the romance at the center of it. And everyone involved liked it.

Oh My God! Can this be? My writing is good. No. Not mine. The voices in my head have been telling me for years that I am no good at this. I suck. Sharing this script will reveal things about my personal life that will lead others to think I'm sad and pathetic. Yes, that is what goes through my head.

It's time to tell those voices "Be Gone!" This is a good idea for a story. It is funny and heart warming too. These characters are funny and interesting and I did a good job of writing this. Why did I wait so long to share this? I'm an idiot!

Now, its not perfect. I got some good notes on things that could be added or tightened up a bit. But basically it moves along at a good clip and there's not too much extra happening. I get right to it.

And all I can say is thank you to all my wonderful friends who came and did such a great job of bringing these characters off the page and to life. You brought the funny and you brought the heart. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You've given me a new hope. Hey! That should be the title of a movie. A New Hope. Hmmm. Has anyone ever though of that?

Pet Peeves

Today, I am going to share some of my pet peeves.

1) When you're driving down the road and the car in front of you goes to make a left hand turn, but they don't go all the way into the median. Their back end is still sticking out in the driving lane. Get all the way into the median! Likewise, when making a right hand turn pull over to the right and let us get by.

2) Standing in line at the register at the supermarket (or Target) and the person in front of you doesn't even open their purse or get their wallet out until after the cashier has completed the entire transaction. Or worse yet, they act like they've never swiped their card though one of those machines before. They can't follow the simple step by step instructions on the display? Or if they are paying with cash, they stand there digging through their purse for change.  Hello?! You've been standing in this line for 10-15 minutes before even getting to the cashier. Not only that but you have 3-5 minutes while the cashier was ringing you up to get your money or card out. And news flash! Did you know you can swipe your card while the chaser is ringing you up? I know! I just blew your mind didn't I? I always, ALWAYS have my card in my hand ready to go before I even get to the cashier. And if I'm paying in cash, my wallet is in my hand and open while the cashier is ringing me up. I might even have my other hand in my pocket ready to grab some change.

3) The pre-pay machines in parking garages. I don't know about you but the shopping center near me, has pre-pay machines in several locations. There are also signs throughout that say "Pay at machine before exiting the parking structure." And yet, 30 - 40% of the time, there is someone at the exit gate who hasn't paid. Excuse me! Do you not read English? You cannot pay at the exit gates. Well, you can if you have a credit or debit card. But still. Earlier this week, I was behind someone and I heard the attendant say. Cards only. Really?

4) And along with that (so I guess this really a 3-a), the parking is automated. There are no booths with attendance to take your money. But in my local shopping center, there is an office next to the one exit and 7-8 times out of 10, that attendant at the gate helping people like the aforementioned. So much for saving money on staffing with a person so it can be automated.

5) Bicycling on a designated bike path and having to dodge, joggers, walkers, dog walkers, kids playing, people pushing strollers. It's the bike path. Get out of the way. I don;t mind going around the occasional interloper, but sometimes (weekend, evenings) the paths are crowded with all of the above. There are designated lanes and/or paths for people walking or running. Use them and stay off the bike path. My fave is when its an entire family walking, pushing a stroller and maybe one or two kinds on a bike or skateboard and they are walking along side to side taking up the entire length of the path in both directions. There are signs at all the entrances stating bike path. There is a dividing line down the middle with the occasional set of directional arrows. Get out!

6) Circling back to 2 and 3...people using the self-pay lines art the supermarket acting like they're never used one before. C'mon! These are not new. They've been around a while. Is this really the first time you've used one? How else do you explain that you don't seem to understand what you're doing?
Geez!

Okay, I think I'm done...for now!