Category Archives: Random Ramblings

Vlog On!

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Basically, that 1:18 was the most productive thing I probably accomplished all weekend. So, obviously, it has been a great weekend! I know it is a very insignificant thing in global terms. Still though, wuu, first vlog is under my belt, duck is broken. Plough on from here on in. Even if it is in Irish. I think I might do my second one in German. English then for the next 100. There is a reason for it being in Irish as well. I needed a video of me speaking the fine language for a reel, so went with the vlog route Lets not dwell too much on the standard, content, or lack of sense I actually might be making. What am I actually speaking about in it? Who knows. In the other edit I have there is about 6 extra minutes with stand-up footage. As you might guess, that cut is far less enjoyable to sit through than the one I put up here. Editing by numbers on iMovie is actually a good old hoot as well. A lot (1 minute, 18 seconds) can be manipulated from 3 rambling takes.

Besides that nugget of joy above, another good thing occurred last night about DJ’ing in Ireland. The majority of bar/club owners want you to play cheesy/pop music. Safe and sensible kind of thing. However, last night I figured out that, thankfully, some can be slowly changed to your way of thinking. I think I have one place cracked and open to the remixes, after originally been asked for complete cheese. Anyone can play cheese. It is pointless. When a 65 (ish) year old Irish man, and a 20 (ish) year old Brazilian girl both compliment the same remixed song, the balance needed to please most people might have been struck. No more selling of the soul. Completely anyways, a bit has to be expected. Although I personally think any time I can manage to play the likes of the Bee Gees, Wham, Blur, and The Kinks, in the same cluster, it has to be looked on as a good night. Remix on! 

Friday night made me cop on to something else as well. That is, when I am feeling burnt out and my brain is dying for a break, I need to actually chill out completely. Not do what I have been aping around with lately, and taking a break from something like writing X, Y or Z, by then doing another small thing on my to-do list, like working on my visa route, for example. Not that I am trying to say I am the busiest, hardest working fool in the world, or any of that. Just that I do have my brain switched on a bit too much at times, forgetting it too needs a break. Otherwise it might break down. And, surprisingly, even though I ended up in a club that was dead, it was some laugh.

Unfortunately the buddy I went out with has a conundrum from the night. Since then, he has been texting to and fro with a girl. However it was towards the end of the night when he got the girl’s number, so he might have been a tad drunk. Now he has one problem… he cant remember at all what she looks like. Well, besides the very basic outline of size, hair colour and that she was foreign. He thinks she was nice, his type and all that, but then again he thought he was a good dancer when he was drunk too. So, seeing as her and a friend of hers want to meet up with him and a buddy of his, it basically would all just be a big blind date. And, lets be honest, who really wants to go on a full on blind date?

I didn’t really know what to tell him. If you have any words of advice, feel free to let him know. You can tell me, and I’ll pass it on. End of the gibberish, my brain needs a bit more rest to go back to work tomorrow. Vlog on!

Two songs, one new, one old. The first is a crescendo style summer song, and the second is just savage!

Delorean

Seasun - Delorean

The Kinks

You Really Got Me - The Kinks

And seeing as Vimeo might not work for everyone above (cheers again @SteveIsaacs for the info and help… http://steveisaacs.tv) here’s the vlog in Youtube glory as well. I am pimping it out far too much already…

Ahh… Ha?

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Yesterday I spent the majority of the day cutting, dissecting, converting, molesting and butchering clips of my stand-up together for a reel I need to show Gina G. As you might tell from my lingo, I am not the most adept person when it comes to using iMovie. Once you get into the swing of things though, it is pretty cool to use. Even if the video you’re working on ends up looking like it was edited by a goat. Another thing which has cropped up from viewing back different stand-up clips I have, is that I tend to curse a lot while on stage. And ramble. Along with making people cry with laughter, obviously.

I also realized another thing yesterday, not only related to the stand-up, but also to my writing. The podcasts which I have been listening to were playing away all day, and two things stood out for me. Firstly, just because a character is real, it doesn’t mean that he/she is necessarily funny enough for what you’re writing. Knowing when to give up on a character, or cutting a joke that you like, is key. Not really well explained so far, but I suppose if a character in real life did a funny thing, that was due to more the circumstances than the character, probably better to cut the character. If you get what I mean? No? I’ve lost myself too with my point being honest.

Moving on, second thing which a lot of writers said in the pods, was that they didn’t really have the greatest imaginations in the world. If they did, they would probably be writing Sci-Fi. And probably at Comic Con right now. Instead, they draw on life experience and all that, working from there, then letting their imaginations run wild. Which made me figure out something. Just because a story happened in a certain X way, followed by Y, and then ended with Z, doesn’t mean I really have to stick to it. Again, just because it really happened, doesn’t make it always funny to others. We all have buddies or stories that are hilarious to ourselves. But, they are probably not always as funny to other people, particularly randomers. I might be painting a bleak picture of my stand-up or writing, but thats not the case. I just need to remember these points to bring them up a level! Time to let the imagination run loose. Inside jokes or scenarios where if you knew the back story, then you’d find it hilarious, have to be cut. Obvious points to a fair few people I would imagine.

Anyways, going along the theme of starting off with a funny story that actually happened, here’s another one. So, I have been waiting to hear back from numerous people about numerous avenues which I am exploring. Yesterday, I got the call from one such person. I had been wondering why it was taking so long to get in touch, meetings had gone well, part of the process, that’s life, chill out, and all that. However, I forgot completely that other factors come into play as well. Such as the real world. The one with the recession and cut-backs. And job losses. Have you ever seen the Seinfeld where they get a pilot made, goes well when it is aired, however they then get a call to say the boss has left the company, gone crazy, the new boss is not a fan and their show is getting chopped?

Ok, so that didn’t happen to me yesterday. Bring it back a few stages though, and something like it did. When I got told the news that the person who I had met with about a certain project, was being let go as part of cutbacks, my first reaction was obviously to feel bad. And concerned. For that person. Then immediately worry about where that left me. I know it might not sound the most compassionate, but its being honest. I felt bad for both of us. Now I knew why I wasn’t top of the person’s priority list, stupid old egotistical me, huh?! In the midst of me commiserating (it actually doesn’t make any sense having cut-backs in that person’s area) and giving words of encouragement, I managed to get the details of the person that was one up on the chain of command. The yes/no contact. All is not lost, but it was a curve ball which I didn’t really expect. I know its not the right word to use, but I suppose it is funny enough. From the laughing at my predicament, point of view anyways. Funny in an ahh… ha, kind of way. 

See, I think the above story is a prime example of what I was talking about earlier. Funny at the time perhaps, or somehow funny for me, but others might not get a laugh or see the humour in it. Who knows. Thank funk my L.A optimism was boomed back into place before it happened, it’ll all just make for a better book in the end! Plough on!

Two songs, first is pretty funking cool, in the James Dean way. Second one I downloaded, forgetting I don’t need gay gym remixes for the time being. However, seeing as its Friday…

Pictureplane

Goth Star - Paperplane

Black Eyed Peas

 I Gotta Feeling (Remix) - Black Eyed Peas

The Power Of Now

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I was close enough to not doing any blogaruu tonight. Luckily for you (!) I had a change of mindset, and pulled one out of the bag! I’ll try to keep it brief. I had intended on taking a break, what with not much going on and didn’t want to ramble on about drivel. However, firstly, it is far too late to worry about rambling on, or drivel. Secondly, the blog is better than any therapy. I presume, never tried. So it is better to wade through the issues here than letting them slide. I figured out today what my problem was, thanks to a few differing factors.

I’ve never actually read the book, The Power of Now. It was given to me, but after a few pages I didn’t bother reading any more. The title gave it all away, I got the gist and didn’t think there was much more to the book. Live in the moment. Live in the now. That kind of gibberish which I usually would read. Today, I clicked that I am stuck in the past a bit, and mulling about the future too much. Missing the now! If only I had read the whole book, I might have seen the signs earlier. Stupid me. Moping about, thinking about missing out in L.A, I can’t write without that creative buzz going on, I need to be there and all that. Funk that. Then, at the same time, I had started to think about the future too much. And by think, I mean worry. When was I going to get back to L.A, visa issues, financial issues, the whole waiting around issues, all this stupid worry. Funk that too. Head down and plough on time.

Nobody reads this blog for worry. There’s enough of it floating around without coming here. I kind of copped onto this as well today. Not sure if you had noticed, but the pep in the blogaruus had waned recently. It was all well and good me preaching about doing this and that, but practicing it is what counts really. I think the tide has turned. I suppose the wading through the mire is working, and I can see the other side in sight. This is needed for another key factor… writing a bloody sitcom episode. How in God’s green earth could I expect myself to write something funny, when I was being a mope. Where was the spark I craved meant to burst from. Me trudging through daily routines like an ape. Hilarious events and thoughts were bound to spring to life from that. Surely?!

Thankfully, a girl, lets call her Bernard, actually gave out to me today about this moping and sudden dejectedness. I don’t mean that actually as in an actual girl, actually gave out to me? I mean it in a good way. She brought something to the fore, that had been bouncing around the back of my mind lately. Cop the funk on. Get over it. And yourself. Things could be worse. You get the point. She didn’t actually say the last few things, but I took it as implied to hammer home her point in my mind. It is all well and good me thinking those things, then not acting on them, so having someone else point it out, did a world of good. If anyone else wants to a go, feel free, seriously!

The only down side today, to make me wish I was in L.A right now, was my buddy telling me about a game of 5-a-side I missed out on over there yesterday. Lets just say a legendary full-back (I think so anyways) had been brought in to replace me. Would’ve been nice for him, of course, to say he played alongside me and all, obviously. Oh Jesus. That was before the tide turned though, he’ll get another chance in due time!

Best part of all, I just had a shower, and what did I feel when I was in there? No, not that. I felt the inspiration seeping back into my brain for the episode re-write! Just like before, when the first draft was formulated. Characters are starting to play out scenes again in my head, little bits of dialogue are popping up, extra dimensions are showing themselves that were not there before. And, as an added bonus, my shrub style haircut is clean. Which is the best I can do in this tired state to wrap it up. Now. Power on!

Song of the day is…

Holy Fuck

Lovely Allen - Holy Fuck

Random Guilt

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Something I never understand is the issue of feeling guilty, when you haven’t done anything wrong. Completely stupid stuff, such as… if your buddies ask you to head out boozing. You initially give a maybe, 50/50 answer. In all honesty you are leaning more towards no. Then, in a moment of weakness, you commit a “Era shur why not, I’m up for it”. Quickly followed by you realizing, nay, bob hope, seeing as its a 12 o’clock sober situation on a Tuesday night. In Cork. Which is key. Not L.A. However, your one “Yes” is then guilt tripped on. To the stage that you think you were the one after setting up the whole thing, and you then decided to back out at the last minute. It is great fun. So, if you are an ape like me, you feel guilty for some reason, like you let someone down. Pure dumbness. 

On the other hand, it is a good sign. It really is time to focus for me. Seeing as I have the time to do it at this moment, progress really does need to be made with regards to the writing. Especially as today didn’t reach the heights I was hoping for. I didn’t use my burst of energy from last night to the fullest at all. I’ll call it one final day of preparation. Podcasts were playing over and over again all day. A bit of a quantity versus quality issue has arisen though. An hour’s podcast might give me 3 sentences of information that are actually beneficial to me. I think it could be the end of them, too time consuming, even when I only have them playing in the background. I ended up re-listening to a few thinking I had missed out on stuff here and there. I didn’t.

Another thing I realized today, was that the advice I am obtaining from different writing websites throughout the internet, might not be the best thing for me after all. There is a load of info online for writing tips for sitcoms and all that. A load. Too much. It got to the stage today where I was reading contradicting articles, so who do I go with?! What do I do now?!! As if these things are gospel, or a maths equation. Again, pure dumbness for me initially thinking I really needed them before I could get going on the re-writes.

Enough with the structure lessons and all that. What I need, and the key thing for the script, is quality dialogue and a tight story. I can edit it down and re-work it again when I am finished. Parts which have been highlighted already for me need to be changed. I know what I have to do already! What I also realized while reading all the articles today, is that the majority of people who wrote them, never really went on to do much. Not sure about you, but I’d prefer advice from people who started at the bottom, and then did X, Y & Z to get to the top. There were no gurus of sitcom giving out pages of advice.

In fact, two of the best things I saw today, were two quotes from the same writer, Graham Linehan, which were used in a few articles. One was along the lines… “If you think you have a great episode written, read it again in a month, and then decide”. The other “Rewrites sometimes means you have to actually start again from scratch and write a new episode”. Like the podcasts, maybe wading through a few hours reading, for those two quotes alone, might have made it worthwhile? Who knows.

What I need is to get back some random, bizarre events into my life. Or at least get my blog stories from L.A back circulating around my head once again. Who would have guessed that I’d miss the gay gym so much?! A few events occurred today, that would have been perfect if I was trying to write a sitcom about a Joe Soap in a small city where not much really went on. However, seeing as I’m basing the sitcom in L.A, I need to get my mind frame back to there. It helps having the random, odd events occurring on a daily basis to keep the ideas coming. Plus, if nothing else, they provide more interesting and bizarre blogaruus. I feel bad about the lack of them recently. Not sure really why, I’ll just put it down to random guilt I like to feel every now and again. From this day on as well, I will not allow any day to be less than productive to the brim! I am turning into a broken record.

Song on, like the podcasts and articles I read, there was maybe only a sentence or two in that blogaruu of actual significance…

Foreigner

Urgent (Remix) - Foreigner

Self Help

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I’ll start with an idea which I had this morning. I think, that, like the way restaurants have the Michelin star rating, and hotels also have a star rating, surely, surely hairdressers/salons should have something similar. Some kind of rating system, to help out the poor, defenseless customer. Then, apes will not be fooled into thinking that a place might be good on appearance or price alone. It would also provide concrete proof that a hairdresser might actually be qualified to cut hair. Rather than it seemingly being purely based on the fact he/she is wearing black, and his/her hair is an extreme shade of colour, be it blonde, red or purple/black. I’m kind of surprised this system hasn’t been implemented already. Has this mini rant any connection to the 2 haircuts I got last week? The ones that have made me now sport a nice afro shrub kind of look? Perhaps.

Anyways, I have decided that the main objective for the coming week, or two, is to re-write my sitcom script. I need this as my calling card so to speak, so it must be improved, until it is perfect. Only one person really to blame for it not being done already. Yes, that person is you. When I last went to San Francisco, I purely went to write the first draft of the script. Literally, thats all I did besides sleep, eat and gym. I had no other distractions. Another handy thing, which coincided with the trip, was that I had creativity spilling out of me, from incidents and events going on every day around me in L.A. I had a pool to draw from. Although looking back, and comparing it to my current situation, I had an ocean to draw from. I need to reignite that spark, to get my brain flowing again.

With that in mind, I have decided to self educate myself some more until I feel the flow returning. My writing knowledge and foundations are unknown as it is, so any help I can give myself will be worthwhile. Yesterday I copped on to why my laptop’s memory is full to the brim. Not really with all the music I have, like I had thought. It was all the writing podcasts I had signed up to before, and then completely forgot about. These are actually turning out to be gems. You can get a load of free podcasts related to writing, screenplays, film making, sitcom tips etc on iTunes. Whatever about the books I am reading, which are helpful, parts of these podcasts are brilliant, as they answer questions I have had for a while. Ones which the books weren’t really answering. I would highly recommend checking them out if you are ever trying to write something. Especially if you don’t really having a formal background in the field. And are pretty clueless. So you are relying on good old fashioned home education.

Some of the podcasts are fairly long, up to an hour, so I have been trying to weed out the key info I need. Some of the best points I got today were: 

 – Don’t have too much information in the script. Don’t be too descriptive.

 – Remember it is a visual medium that you are writing for, not a literary one (Sounds obvious, but it can turn into a book at times for me).

 – All about the arcs. Ensure your story outline is good before you start.

 – What’s your point? Say it, make it funny, get out.

 – Have a collection of work. Do as much as you can, to show a range. T.V scripts, short movie scripts, feature scripts, the more the better.

 – Write spec scripts for other shows!

The first and third will help me re-focus for the script re-write. Cut out the flowery details, kind of thing, which I think I may have an abundance of, re de de. Such as, re de de. The last two are ones which I badly need to cop on to. Without spec scripts, to accompany my original pilot, it will be harder to get a break. Apparently. I should really have copped on to this point already. Seeing as I am at the stage now where I need to optimize all my chances, I need to get these things done. 

While I was going through other notes as well today, in my day of home school, I saw something I wrote down from one of the acting classes. That is you probably need to sacrifice relationships to pursue a career in this line of work. I am beginning to see this more and more. It is not that I am avoiding people, it is just having to prioritize what I want. I just don’t want to get into a rut of familiar ways or old habits seeping in. Self discipline and self motivation are the toughest two areas to maintain at times. Have to plough on though, no-one else to hound me into doing any of it.

Just by writing all of the above, I think it has rekindled some of the motivation and creative spark again, wuu huu! Along with the help of Sigur Ros’ fine music, I can feel a flow coming back. Self medicate through the struggle!

To finish on a good note, for me, a step in the right direction was made towards a visa today. C’mon the dream, shine on! One final thing which was in some acting notes I read through earlier, was how it is always good to change your daily routine, in some way. This then will stop you just going through the motions, and make you more aware of your surroundings. Which is meant to be useful for acting out daily events. Loosely, and I mean loosely based on that, I might try a vlog soon. Ha, I’ll wait until something exciting or fun happens first though!

Song of the day is…

Yeasayer

Sunrise (Pocketknife Remix) - Yeasayer

One last song actually, just came on my iTunes, jive on!

Stevie Wonder

 Part Time Lover – Stevie Wonder

Digits

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It has been a week of numbers. Hit and miss. A fruitless week might be another good way to describe it. Well, maybe a few nuggets of productivity, scattered amongst a field of frustration and stop-starts. However, it was Tuesday  that started my decline, from which I never fully recovered. Literally I had a fairly bad hair day, succumbing to getting not one, but two dodgy haircuts. Oddly enough, since then, the amount of people to mention to me that I should really go get a haircut for myself, has risen. Unfortunately for them, number 3 is not on the cards anytime soon. 

This week I had 4 gigs lined up, 3 DJ and 1 stand-up. Yes I know, I(think)’m brilliant. Oddly, the stand-up one was probably the best of the lot. If I never have a stranger gig than that one though, I will be disappointed. It was bizarre. To start, lets just say it was intimate. As in not the usual amount of people were there, the numbers were down from the hundreds that regularly pack into the venue. For some reason, the atmosphere was ridiculously tense. I suppose the fact a couple were breaking up at it, a family with jet lag didn’t really respond to an orgy joke, and a couple of comedians not having the greatest of banter with the crowd, did not make for a happy buzz floating about the place. It was intense, like sticking a load of people into an elevator and doing a gig there. And if everyone in the elevator also wanted to fight each other for some reason.

There was the comedian as well who pushes his own boundaries to the max while being on stage. As in he is close to snapping, or a melt-down, each time he goes on stage. I think he’s half good though, he commits to full on nut-job at least, plugging away at a joke until the uncomfortable silence from the crowd eventually turns into genuine laughter. I suppose its a cheaper option than paying for therapy. Another comedian did not have any rapport with the crowd. At all. Half the crowd ended up starting a coalition against him, not taking to his banter in the slightest. On the other hand, he did not take well to their criticism either, and was close to getting off the stage and fighting certain members of the audience a few times. All in all, a great atmosphere for a comedy gig.

Thankfully, I was up next. My nonsensical ramblings put the crowd at ease, and managed to appease some of the tension. Almost hit the 15 minute mark, which would’ve have been achieved if I didn’t see the MC flashing his phone at me to wrap it up. Like the blog, quantity, if not always quality, is being reached in the stand-up routine. Also managed to get in a brief Q&A session with the audience before I finished up. Which was nice. My buddy gave me a good roundabout compliment afterwards. Roughly, he reckoned only 5% of the laughs I got were fake ones. A step in the right direction I suppose. All in all though, those 15 minutes were definitely worth a trip up to Dublin. Still not sure if that definitely is a sincere or a sarcastic one. Have to wait and see. I did record it though, so I’ll stick it up here for anyone that might be interested. Something to laugh, or wince at, at least.

The 3 DJ gigs were just superb. Really great. Mainly as I got paid. Wuu, superb. The first on Friday was a bit different than I expected. In fact, if I never have gigs better than Friday, I will be disappointed. I kind of have gotten used to the fact that I can’t play just what I like. Play to the crowd and all that. So, after being briefed on the crowd for gig one, I thought I had a good set of songs lined up. Em, not necessarily. In fact, I had to revert to 80’s all the way (not really the good kind of 80’s either). Singalong and controlled chaos seemed to be the order of the day. Part of my soul was left behind at the venue, but had to be done, I’ll build it back up.

The second gig was in a cool place, Everyman Theatre, I would recommend heading along to it sometime. However, it was a few gems in the crowd here who threw me off. Particularly the girl who insisted on telling me that she split her drink on the dance-floor. I couldn’t figure out if she expected me to clean it up, or buy her a new one. It was odd. Likewise, the girl who told me, numerous times, that she didn’t like the bouncer, was a bit strange as well. Not sure how that was relevant to me. Not that I am calling her dumb, but seeing as she requested a Michael Jackson song, while the actual song she wanted was playing, made me think something was up. Maybe I was just too sober to see her drunken logic. Still though, the more gigs the merrier.

And my final gig, last night, was the best of the lot. Showed up, prepared to the brim after being taken aback the night before, pumped to go! I had even ironed my shirt for the occasion! And, obviously, there ended up being no gig. A mix-up with equipment being delivered, or not, as it turned out, ended up with a lack of necessary tools for me to be able to play. Which was only figured out by myself and the owner when we showed up at the same time, but was by then too late to sort anything else out. Anyways, being paid some money to show up for 10 minutes and then go home, is better than nothing I suppose. All counts towards the L.A fund!

My biggest achievement of the week, might have been finishing the book Zen & The Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance. It only took me 203 days to complete. I know this, as I started it on Christmas Day. An embarrassingly long time to finish a book, but it was worth it in the end. Read on, if you haven’t already, even if it does get bogged down in certain places. Speaking of books, I would recommend The Road Less Traveled. I am having to draw on lessons I learnt from that a lot this week. That is, you have to struggle and persevere through the bleaker times, in order to appreciate the good times more. All part of the cycle! I am in the Dark Ages. Struggle on, the only way is up!

Song of the weekend… I think this video is ridiculously good, similar to my dancing style really!

Foreign Born

Winter Games - Foreign Born