Writer's Block ... AS IF!!!

Today’s Quote:

“Endeavor to penetrate the psychology of persons around you toward whom you feel unsympathetic.”  -Michael Chekhov

Today’s Song:  L’idolo Di Oro by Erik Siegling THAT’S MEEEE!

 http://soundcloud.com/eriksiegling/lidolo-di-oro 

Dreams: 

A little off the format, but I had a dream last night while I was sleeping about some actress.  She was flying from one gig to another.  First, a commercial shoot, then a photo shoot, followed by a rehearsal, and a talk show appearance.  Busy gal right?  The thing is:  She’s ‘working’.  That is the kind of effort needed in this career.  Thanks dream!  Good reminder!

What did I “DO” this week?

I met with an alumnus from my college for coffee and we chatted about what he knows about the acting industry.  He gave me some good reminders and some awesome tips.  I’m working on a video audition for a role in a feature length SAG film to be shot in Colorado this summer.  And I bought enough groceries to fill the pantry and the fridge, just so I stop getting down on myself for not having food in the house…Winning.

House Keeping:

I’m thinking about changing the blog format.  What do you (the reader) think?  Stanislavski wrote his acting books like a sort of 1^st person novel narrative.  I hated reading that style, but I thought it might be cool to try.  It could flex my writer’s muscle and pay a little tribute to the acting pioneer.  Also, I’m thinking of including actor’s exercises for readers to try at home.  Comments!  Make them!!!

Ok, I couldn’t help myself.  I’m submitting an audition this week for a western feature length film and I thought it’d be fun to throw down some western pazaz for the song of the week. 

Anyone who keeps a mild eye on my facebook knows that I’m pretty diligent about posting news articles that have something to do with politics in America today.  Sometimes I even get feisty enough to post some political comment.  Well, I guess it was only a matter of time till that bled onto here.

All I want to say about it is this:  We’ve gotta start listening to each other.  If there’s anything we are proving by meticulously arguing our points to each other, it’s that not a single person or ideology has got it totally right or totally wrong. 

As actors, (you know who you are), we have this incredible occupational hazard associated with our job.  If you look back at the Chekhov quote at the top of this post, you’ll see what I’m talking about…  Any actor who is worth their salt should be able to flex their empathy muscle at any given moment.  Acting is not about finding out what is similar between our character and us; acting is about truly understanding what makes the character one unique, whole being. 

And that is how actors will save the world!

But seriously, a good example is one of the button issues of today:  economic philosophy.  There is this great divide about full capitalism versus socialism in American society.  Both sides are really good at finding what’s wrong with the other side and how it could never work.  Socialism takes power from people and puts it in the hands of government, (Dangerous).  Capitalism takes power from people and puts it in the hands of the corporation, (Dangerous Again!). 

What if both ideas work.  Seriously!  What if there could be happy countries that use different methods to attain social equality?  The thing is, there are.  Sweden evens out social equality through taxation and the re-distribution of wealth.  Japan does it through a more capitalist approach.  Both countries have half the social inequality of the United States (whom currently has one of the largest in-equality ratings of the already developed world) Sweden and Japan both have thriving and productive cultures and are moving forward.  So, maybe we should stop fighting about which philosophy is right or wrong.  Our country is too impossibly big to figure that out anyway.

So, this had nothing to do with writer’s block, but I figured the title would get folks to click on the link to this blog.  Oops.  Sorry if you were looking for more art stuff, but hey, we artists could be the ones to get this country moving on to the happy train of mutual understanding! 

Yesterday, a friend asked me if I was reading any good inspirational books of if I was just getting high on God.  Honestly, both.  God is awesome!  The books I've been reading are proof of that.  The books are:  "The Four Agreements" and "Think And Grow Rich" Good reads.  

Screw writer's block!