Thursday was Hippie Day at rehearsal. I was personally getting a little burned out over the themes and just slapped a peace sign on a plain white t-shirt and wrote FREE HUGS above it LOL I think everyone is starting to get a little tired with all the themes and stuff. It is great for spirit...just might need a break. Especially considering that the production crew has set up a spirit week involving games, themes and more...lol We ran the big show stopper FRIEND LIKE ME which was fun. We worked through the part where I go into the Cave of Wonders and then all of the scene leading into the big number. It's a monster...not so much for me, I just sit and watch most of it literally but for the dancers...uhg! There are some steps they have to climb fast that are steep as shit! I was told that if one person falls or trips towards the top, it will be a large domino effect.
Friday more of the same with FRIEND LIKE ME. The thing is that there are several cast members learning multiple roles so we have to keep doing it over and over to let them work into their spots. I got to do some more harness work which is difficult as shite for the beginning of this scene. It hurts, I'm high up and I dangle for a bit...It looks so much easier than it is, believe me. Aloha Friday was a good hit considering how many Hawaiians we have in the cast. One of the Aladdin's, Eddie forgot totally but was just able to claim his spirit because of his last name, which to be honest, I don't think I can say correctly, let alone attempt to spell.
We finished and went into our half weekend. We knew we had rehearsal on Sunday because of the days off for thanksgiving, so there were mixed feelings about heading into the weekend.
I actually picked up a shift earlier in the week at the Apple Store and by the time Friday night rolled around, I was regretting it. I woke up and went in to work and it was weird considering that I haven't been in there in like 3 weeks and there are always new people in the store. I also managed to attract every weird or complicated customer in the store. Of course, I felt a little rusty because of my time away, but not only that, I had people asking me every question about everything that was either new, or I didn't know the answer to...Other than that, it was nice to be back in there and it reminded me how lucky I was to have the show to go back to the next day. Don't get me wrong, I actually like working for Apple a lot, it's just not what I am here for. I also was reminded that I was going to have to attend a meeting Sunday night after my rehearsal for Aladdin.
That night, I was supposed to head to Ray's for a little shindig, but I realized that I wouldn't have any other time to do my laundry and clean before heading to STL so I made the ultimate sacrifice and stood in and did laundry on Saturday night.
Needless to say, I was a little upset at the thought of not being to watch my football games today, but at least I had a fun day ahead of me. Wolfy looked up at me confused this morning, he had a look on his face that said, "Where are you going, it is your day off...my day for the dog park!" We finished filling in the gaps with the Genie number and I got to work with a few of the other Blue Men...crazy! LOL It is going to be a blast doing a show and working with all these different people. I drank about 4 cups of hot chocolate today and i'm feeling it now... :( We ended up getting released early around 4:30 which was nice. I thought I'd get home with about 3 1/2 hours to spare before my meeting at Apple, but of course traffic had different plans for me...
I still had enough time to play with the Wolfster, clean my room and get some clothes ready for my trip to STL! I'm getting excited to visit the Stegemans and see Queenie's two little dogs. I'm also excited to cook. The deal is that we all have to cook something. I've got an interesting surprise brewing...edible of course :)
To my right, I can hear Wolfy tearing apart the bone I bought him today LOL he's got little burgundy stains on his little white paws from the bone, but he is loving it. Gotta give him a bath before we take off. He'll be staying with Alex and Stanley, a huge golden retriever that Wolfy knows from back in the day ;)
It's nice to listen to some Christmas music although the weather won't commit and let me feel like it is cold enough to be listening to it.
QUESTION FOR YOU ALL IN LOS ANGELES! Do you ever listen to the Coast radio station on 103.5?? They play some good Holiday music, but their DJ's are funny as hell when they talk on the air. They tell these funny stories in this weird deep, jazzy, smooth voice and it is ridiculous. Please, do me a favor and check it out! You'll die!
Giants are 10-1! Our former QB looked good though against them today. Kurt Warner is still kicking man. I tell you what, you can't take anything away from what Favre has done, but if he wasn't around all the talk would be around Kurt Warner in my opinion. There will be a movie about him one day, I guarantee you. I may even write it ;) "From Grocery Stock Boy, to Superbowl MVP!" I'm excited for the next few weeks of football! All the division and rival games are coming up!
My body is lagging today, usually this is my rest day...I'll have to settle for the plane Tuesday morn!
TiLL NeXt TiMe!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Ninja’s, Lunch Rendezvous and Hazing
So the tech's at Aladdin were starting to get jealous because they couldn't participate in our color or theme days. So we decided to make it black day in honor of them. Actually...it was already announced last week that today would be Ninja Day, but we just combined the two...don't tell.
So I'm dressed in all black today and find the perfect way to turn a t-shirt into a ninja mask and decided I wanted to try it out before stepping out of the house. Erin was passed out in my bed and her dog Wolfy was licking her every few seconds. I stepped into the kitchen and put on the mask and then came back into the room in true stealth, ninja fashion. Wolfy looked at me and I just stared at him for like 20 seconds and then started to slowly creep in. He backed up and then...he started to bark and jump back and forth on the bed, waking Erin. She looked up at me in my full Ninja garb not impressed and insisted I stopped, while I kept on egging the dog on lol. Her main problem with it was that he wasn't going to know when to bark at the real danger...real NINJAS? LOL She wasn't fully awake and had just been taling in her sleep for like 5 minutes on and off. I decided, my outfit was complete.
I showed up and before going into the green room, I put my mask on and got into Ninja mode as I crept around the room. Everyone was looking, trying to figure out who it was and then there was a, "that has to be Ace. Of course it is!" LOL I then proceeded to find a small table next to the piano and got Juan to lure people over, who I then scared at random intervals until we were called into the theatre. There were quite a few people who were dressed in black, but not really celebrating full Ninja spirit. Apparently, people are still not getting the memo's so we will need to find a more effective way of announcing our color/theme for the day.
We went into the theatre and I was crawling and rolling around as I made my way to the front to hear our speech for the day. After we got our assignments, I ducked out of my Ninja clothes and became a civilian to rehearse...not for long...at one point I was being harnessed in for the effect where I fly across the stage and of course, it was time to bust out the ninja mask. Sure enough I put it on and I was surprised that the techs were cool with it. I thought I'd at least get yelled at after my jump, but no. One person asked me if I could see well and of course I could and he was fine and off I went. I threw imaginary smoke bombs at the people on stage below me as I flew across and looked like something out of a Jackie Chan movie. Kudos to Sam for giving me the idea though. A few minutes earlier he soared over in a pose from Crouching Tiger.
It was then time for lunch and for the safety of a few other ninjas and of course my own, I can't openly say what 3 of us did. Let's just say there were some screams, maybe some scares, perhaps a drop or two, and of course...Ninjas...all under 10 minutes. We were back before anyone could telll we were missing, but what else do you expect from three deadly Ninjas?! Let's just say that there were people after us that were not as lucky and they did not make it back...happy.
Back to rehearsal and after eating two portions of lunch I had a nice little Ninja bulge as I readied for a full on run of One Jump. Fast forward a bit and we are on a 15 and after showing some signs of jealousy over Sam's braided locks, Helen offered to give me an, "Updo". Not that I knew what it was, but oh well...why not. So she proceeded to work on my hair and let's just say that 4 different people said I looked like the little girl from Monsters Inc. LOL Oh! If that wasn't enough, Oscar offered her some of his makeup(??) to use on me and after some of the other vets mentioned this would be my right of passage, I figured to give in...lol not really, I would have done it anyways, who cares?
Pics to follow at some point this week. I'm sure I am already tagged in some on facebook.
Jason D- Hang in there! We all want accomplices'! LOL
Hope you are having a great week and I'm looking forward to my trip to St. Louis next week!
Ace
So I'm dressed in all black today and find the perfect way to turn a t-shirt into a ninja mask and decided I wanted to try it out before stepping out of the house. Erin was passed out in my bed and her dog Wolfy was licking her every few seconds. I stepped into the kitchen and put on the mask and then came back into the room in true stealth, ninja fashion. Wolfy looked at me and I just stared at him for like 20 seconds and then started to slowly creep in. He backed up and then...he started to bark and jump back and forth on the bed, waking Erin. She looked up at me in my full Ninja garb not impressed and insisted I stopped, while I kept on egging the dog on lol. Her main problem with it was that he wasn't going to know when to bark at the real danger...real NINJAS? LOL She wasn't fully awake and had just been taling in her sleep for like 5 minutes on and off. I decided, my outfit was complete.
I showed up and before going into the green room, I put my mask on and got into Ninja mode as I crept around the room. Everyone was looking, trying to figure out who it was and then there was a, "that has to be Ace. Of course it is!" LOL I then proceeded to find a small table next to the piano and got Juan to lure people over, who I then scared at random intervals until we were called into the theatre. There were quite a few people who were dressed in black, but not really celebrating full Ninja spirit. Apparently, people are still not getting the memo's so we will need to find a more effective way of announcing our color/theme for the day.
We went into the theatre and I was crawling and rolling around as I made my way to the front to hear our speech for the day. After we got our assignments, I ducked out of my Ninja clothes and became a civilian to rehearse...not for long...at one point I was being harnessed in for the effect where I fly across the stage and of course, it was time to bust out the ninja mask. Sure enough I put it on and I was surprised that the techs were cool with it. I thought I'd at least get yelled at after my jump, but no. One person asked me if I could see well and of course I could and he was fine and off I went. I threw imaginary smoke bombs at the people on stage below me as I flew across and looked like something out of a Jackie Chan movie. Kudos to Sam for giving me the idea though. A few minutes earlier he soared over in a pose from Crouching Tiger.
It was then time for lunch and for the safety of a few other ninjas and of course my own, I can't openly say what 3 of us did. Let's just say there were some screams, maybe some scares, perhaps a drop or two, and of course...Ninjas...all under 10 minutes. We were back before anyone could telll we were missing, but what else do you expect from three deadly Ninjas?! Let's just say that there were people after us that were not as lucky and they did not make it back...happy.
Back to rehearsal and after eating two portions of lunch I had a nice little Ninja bulge as I readied for a full on run of One Jump. Fast forward a bit and we are on a 15 and after showing some signs of jealousy over Sam's braided locks, Helen offered to give me an, "Updo". Not that I knew what it was, but oh well...why not. So she proceeded to work on my hair and let's just say that 4 different people said I looked like the little girl from Monsters Inc. LOL Oh! If that wasn't enough, Oscar offered her some of his makeup(??) to use on me and after some of the other vets mentioned this would be my right of passage, I figured to give in...lol not really, I would have done it anyways, who cares?
Pics to follow at some point this week. I'm sure I am already tagged in some on facebook.
Jason D- Hang in there! We all want accomplices'! LOL
Hope you are having a great week and I'm looking forward to my trip to St. Louis next week!
Ace
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Week 4 begins in the THEATRE~ Carpet Training, Flying in a harness & an Elephant
So Monday was our first day moving into the Theatre. Holy shit, I have never performed in anything that big. I think the stage at Middlesex was close, but the wing space in this theatre is huge as well. It was really exciting to walk into the house and look up at the balcony. It's going to be great to see that house full!
First up was going to be the introduction to the harness that we would be putting on for our effects in the show. So I don't spoil the show for all of you who will no doubt come to see it, let's just say that Aladdin does some flying across the stage that will be a pretty cool part to watch. I was a little nervous at first, because this thing is flinging me across the stage at probably 20ft in the air, but after getting down the technical things, I was just having fun doing it over and over. One part will suck because I have to sit hoisted like 50ft in the air for a few minutes by the lights and I'm sitting in this uncomfortable harness that squashes anything in it's way if ya catch my drift ;)
After that, we headed up to learn the, "Gantry" and fly the carpet through the house above the audience. This by far was one of my fav's of the day, because this was like a freaking ride at the park. It was a bit scary at parts for SURE! First of all it dips down and it looks like you are going to fall, but then it levels out and runs its course dipping and diving, flipping and jiving. It's just like the movie, we do flips and duck under trees and what not LOL...just kidding, but you'll see, it is really fun. There was one part that one of the veteran Aladdin's named Eddie wanted to warn us about and the tech guy was just wanting to discover it on our own LOL It's called the surge, and it is a point through the carpets flight pattern that it shoots up really fast and you feel like you are going to fall off. The first time I was ready for it and it still made me cringe. We ran it again and I was challenging myself to not hold on to anything to see what it would be like during the show and I was chatting with the Jasmin who was up there with me and I almost died. I had forgotten about the surge and it started to climb and it was too late to posture up, I mean we are strapped to the carpet, but I don't care to find out what it would feel like if I were to fall off. I f'n grabbed on to the closest thing and held on for dear life. Well worth price of admission ;) I'm also glad to see that the tech's in the show have a sense of humor to scare us poor newbies. It's also weird for me to call them techs, I'm used to crew.
After lunch it was time to learn how to ride the elephant. Now, in case you forgot or haven't seen the movie, Aladdin rides up to the Princess in an elephant right? Well, this is Disney kids and we are doing it in style here. It was pretty cool to sit in this thing and, it is quite large. His name is Babar. Just kidding, I don't know if it his a name. But he's really nice and he drops me off right at the foot of the stage. Wait till you see it.
Today (Tuesday) we met some more vets and we began to block One Jump on the stage which is a new experience with moving set pieces and scenery. I also have to run down two flights of stairs and sprint right into the beginning of the number, which we staged today. Mark, one of the other Al's showed Carl, Marc Oka and I his method, which was basically grabbing the railings and jumping as we slide down on our hands (if that makes sense.) I've done this a lot before, so it wasn't a big deal, but the other two guys were not having it LOL The last flight, I pretty much have to run down and just hit every third or 4th step. I also managed to scare, "Poison Oka" twice by gabbing his foot as he was looking out of one of the high windows and then another time, by joining in with his singing by staring at him from the window right next to him. One Jump is a blast with everything and I did it 4 times. 2 back to back with a break and then the next two. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good after each. I think I'm starting get used to it. I actually was not breathing hard at all, the sweat was still there, but even that was better.
Earlier in the day all of the Al's and Jas' were called to work on Whole New World with the Vocal Consultant, Todd. This was the first time that all of the Aladdin's were together. We are all so different. It's surprising.
I got to fly in my harness a couple of times today, which was also a lot of fun. A group of us were having a backstage chat and I almost missed my cue for my entrance...ok I did miss it and was like 2 steps behind, but I recovered ;)
We also took our spirit days to a new level and introduced our first theme. Today was 80's rehearsal. Last night I got home and passed out around 9:30 and woke up without my alarm at 7:30 which gave me a half an hour to get everything ready. I was panicking because I didn't know what to wear. After a quick search on google, I came across a suggestion that mimicked Miami Vice. So I grabbed my white blazer, put on a light green tshirt, some khakis, shoes and sunglasses and I was ready. As I looked in the cabinet for the hair dryer to style my hair, I noticed a can of gold spray hair color. I thought of Don Johnson and sprayed that shit on...granted I looked like I had a grey hair and some people thought I was taylor hicks, but on some level, people guessed right away. One of our cast members Matt came up to me and said he had a hard time figuring out my costume but then he finally got it. He then went on to reveal that he thought I was just dressing like an 80 year old and that it was a joke, get it? Like I was supposed to be in my eighties! LOL
At lunch, there were a few hairs Juan's cup of water and we started to joke around to dare someone to drink it and then, I pulled a gross one. I started pour a little bit of everyone's lunch, most of which was left over into the cup of water/hair. I told them I would drink it for some dough. Some of the stuff I poured in: Sour Cream, Honey Butter, Baked Beans, Left over tortilla wrap with something in it, chicken gravy with chunks of chicken and who knows what else, pepper...i forget what else. By this point, some people were beyond grossed out, Juan was telling me that I had to chug the whole thing for his 5 bucks and Will was grossed out and just kept repeating how much of a bad idea this was. LOL He kept reminding me that I was going to be running around all afternoon in One Jump, which I was nervous about, but by this point, there was no turning back. The deal was that I would have to take a big swig, pause to show it to the camera and then swallow. I brought the cup to my mouth to prepare and I heard someone dry heave, I looked over and it was David and this probably grossed me out more. After I saw he was laughing I went back to the cup and as I tilted my head back, I could hear the groans and yells. I paused as the nastiness reached my toungue and opened the mouth to offer another gross moment to everyone and the did the deed. People were standing up and walking away, some of the veteran cast members, who I only knew for 3 hours at this point were just in shock and some random guy on his phone was trying to figure out what everyone was grossed out by. The fear factor concoction I drank at Universal definitely was worse, but this one looked pretty bad. Not sure what I gained from it, I didn't even get my 5 bucks because I didn't drink the whole thing. But oh well..
A fun day once again.
Other random goodness. The cafeteria that we have to eat at now that we are at the Theatre, sucks. We were spoiled before. It's also a bit of a walk it seems. However, there is a food truck that comes by while we are in the middle of rehearsal, but I was lucky to catch it today and it looks to be food truck quality. Parking is easier (knock on wood) so far though. It is always cold in EVERY building in Disneyland! WHY?! We have a nice little green room that has plenty of games, two pianos, free coffee and hot choc, a massage chair and comfortable couches. Don't spray gold/white hair stuff in before sweating in rehearsal...
TiLL NeXt TiMe!
First up was going to be the introduction to the harness that we would be putting on for our effects in the show. So I don't spoil the show for all of you who will no doubt come to see it, let's just say that Aladdin does some flying across the stage that will be a pretty cool part to watch. I was a little nervous at first, because this thing is flinging me across the stage at probably 20ft in the air, but after getting down the technical things, I was just having fun doing it over and over. One part will suck because I have to sit hoisted like 50ft in the air for a few minutes by the lights and I'm sitting in this uncomfortable harness that squashes anything in it's way if ya catch my drift ;)
After that, we headed up to learn the, "Gantry" and fly the carpet through the house above the audience. This by far was one of my fav's of the day, because this was like a freaking ride at the park. It was a bit scary at parts for SURE! First of all it dips down and it looks like you are going to fall, but then it levels out and runs its course dipping and diving, flipping and jiving. It's just like the movie, we do flips and duck under trees and what not LOL...just kidding, but you'll see, it is really fun. There was one part that one of the veteran Aladdin's named Eddie wanted to warn us about and the tech guy was just wanting to discover it on our own LOL It's called the surge, and it is a point through the carpets flight pattern that it shoots up really fast and you feel like you are going to fall off. The first time I was ready for it and it still made me cringe. We ran it again and I was challenging myself to not hold on to anything to see what it would be like during the show and I was chatting with the Jasmin who was up there with me and I almost died. I had forgotten about the surge and it started to climb and it was too late to posture up, I mean we are strapped to the carpet, but I don't care to find out what it would feel like if I were to fall off. I f'n grabbed on to the closest thing and held on for dear life. Well worth price of admission ;) I'm also glad to see that the tech's in the show have a sense of humor to scare us poor newbies. It's also weird for me to call them techs, I'm used to crew.
After lunch it was time to learn how to ride the elephant. Now, in case you forgot or haven't seen the movie, Aladdin rides up to the Princess in an elephant right? Well, this is Disney kids and we are doing it in style here. It was pretty cool to sit in this thing and, it is quite large. His name is Babar. Just kidding, I don't know if it his a name. But he's really nice and he drops me off right at the foot of the stage. Wait till you see it.
Today (Tuesday) we met some more vets and we began to block One Jump on the stage which is a new experience with moving set pieces and scenery. I also have to run down two flights of stairs and sprint right into the beginning of the number, which we staged today. Mark, one of the other Al's showed Carl, Marc Oka and I his method, which was basically grabbing the railings and jumping as we slide down on our hands (if that makes sense.) I've done this a lot before, so it wasn't a big deal, but the other two guys were not having it LOL The last flight, I pretty much have to run down and just hit every third or 4th step. I also managed to scare, "Poison Oka" twice by gabbing his foot as he was looking out of one of the high windows and then another time, by joining in with his singing by staring at him from the window right next to him. One Jump is a blast with everything and I did it 4 times. 2 back to back with a break and then the next two. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good after each. I think I'm starting get used to it. I actually was not breathing hard at all, the sweat was still there, but even that was better.
Earlier in the day all of the Al's and Jas' were called to work on Whole New World with the Vocal Consultant, Todd. This was the first time that all of the Aladdin's were together. We are all so different. It's surprising.
I got to fly in my harness a couple of times today, which was also a lot of fun. A group of us were having a backstage chat and I almost missed my cue for my entrance...ok I did miss it and was like 2 steps behind, but I recovered ;)
We also took our spirit days to a new level and introduced our first theme. Today was 80's rehearsal. Last night I got home and passed out around 9:30 and woke up without my alarm at 7:30 which gave me a half an hour to get everything ready. I was panicking because I didn't know what to wear. After a quick search on google, I came across a suggestion that mimicked Miami Vice. So I grabbed my white blazer, put on a light green tshirt, some khakis, shoes and sunglasses and I was ready. As I looked in the cabinet for the hair dryer to style my hair, I noticed a can of gold spray hair color. I thought of Don Johnson and sprayed that shit on...granted I looked like I had a grey hair and some people thought I was taylor hicks, but on some level, people guessed right away. One of our cast members Matt came up to me and said he had a hard time figuring out my costume but then he finally got it. He then went on to reveal that he thought I was just dressing like an 80 year old and that it was a joke, get it? Like I was supposed to be in my eighties! LOL
At lunch, there were a few hairs Juan's cup of water and we started to joke around to dare someone to drink it and then, I pulled a gross one. I started pour a little bit of everyone's lunch, most of which was left over into the cup of water/hair. I told them I would drink it for some dough. Some of the stuff I poured in: Sour Cream, Honey Butter, Baked Beans, Left over tortilla wrap with something in it, chicken gravy with chunks of chicken and who knows what else, pepper...i forget what else. By this point, some people were beyond grossed out, Juan was telling me that I had to chug the whole thing for his 5 bucks and Will was grossed out and just kept repeating how much of a bad idea this was. LOL He kept reminding me that I was going to be running around all afternoon in One Jump, which I was nervous about, but by this point, there was no turning back. The deal was that I would have to take a big swig, pause to show it to the camera and then swallow. I brought the cup to my mouth to prepare and I heard someone dry heave, I looked over and it was David and this probably grossed me out more. After I saw he was laughing I went back to the cup and as I tilted my head back, I could hear the groans and yells. I paused as the nastiness reached my toungue and opened the mouth to offer another gross moment to everyone and the did the deed. People were standing up and walking away, some of the veteran cast members, who I only knew for 3 hours at this point were just in shock and some random guy on his phone was trying to figure out what everyone was grossed out by. The fear factor concoction I drank at Universal definitely was worse, but this one looked pretty bad. Not sure what I gained from it, I didn't even get my 5 bucks because I didn't drink the whole thing. But oh well..
A fun day once again.
Other random goodness. The cafeteria that we have to eat at now that we are at the Theatre, sucks. We were spoiled before. It's also a bit of a walk it seems. However, there is a food truck that comes by while we are in the middle of rehearsal, but I was lucky to catch it today and it looks to be food truck quality. Parking is easier (knock on wood) so far though. It is always cold in EVERY building in Disneyland! WHY?! We have a nice little green room that has plenty of games, two pianos, free coffee and hot choc, a massage chair and comfortable couches. Don't spray gold/white hair stuff in before sweating in rehearsal...
TiLL NeXt TiMe!
Monday, November 17, 2008
New Apartment - Getting rid of anything?
So we headed over to our new apartment today to take a look at some stuff that Jay and Laura might be getting rid of. It was awesome to be in there and just vision living in a better environment with a great new roommate ;) It's bigger, brighter, a better area AND CHEAPER! It looks like the four roommates our going to have a great time in the new space. More so than anything I'm looking forward to enjoying my time with Erin and arguing over how the place will be decorated LOL I think she already is winning this battle. It will be great to finally have people over for parties, fights, sports games or just to plain hang out in our new place. So many plans, so many things to spruce up and so much fun to be had. It can't come soon enough. The time will fly though because after this week, we are off to St. Louis for the Holiday and then once we return, it will be time to call a new place home.
We may need some assistance from someone with a pickup truck to move our stuff. It won't be so much for Erin's stuff, because she literally lives across the street from the new place. It will be more for me. I need to get my futon and bookshelf over and possibly a small computer desk. I don't think it will take long at all. Most of the stuff can be taken over in my car.
We've also already begun checking out craigslist for free stuff for the place. Of course we may even spend a few bucks too if it's nice ;) LOL
We're in the market for a few couches, chairs for a dining room table, computer desk, book shelf...and I'm sure some other random shite.
We may need some assistance from someone with a pickup truck to move our stuff. It won't be so much for Erin's stuff, because she literally lives across the street from the new place. It will be more for me. I need to get my futon and bookshelf over and possibly a small computer desk. I don't think it will take long at all. Most of the stuff can be taken over in my car.
We've also already begun checking out craigslist for free stuff for the place. Of course we may even spend a few bucks too if it's nice ;) LOL
We're in the market for a few couches, chairs for a dining room table, computer desk, book shelf...and I'm sure some other random shite.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
UFC 91 - Lesnar Champ - Randy still has it.
Wow, what a night. I had quite a few people message me about my picks for this UFC event in my last blog. You can all go to hell because I was 6-3 with my picks LOL more on that towards the end for you fakers!
As far as the main event, I don't want to hear anything. Most of you who gave me crap about my pick for Randy couldn't even name 5 past opponents of Couture and I'm certain, you have no clue who Lesnar's first win was. As I explained to most of you in my replies, I knew Lesnar would be a champ would day, and have been pulling for him since his arrival, but I didn't think he would be able to adapt and respond to Randy's offense. I assure you that when he steps in to fight someone closer to his size, he will have a much more difficult time. It is easy to sit back and say what Randy should or shouldn't have done, but he got beat. He was fighting a good fight, but didn't go his way. However, for shits and giggles, consider this:
Randy weighed in at 220 lbs and considering that the weight limit is 265, he probably didn't cut down to make that weight. Lesnar on the other hand had to cut down to make the 265 limit so he probably was at least 280 lbs by the time he stepped into the cage. For arguments sake, lets say he wasn't 280 and walked in at 265. He outweighed Randy by 45 lbs at least. Let's see...If you want to consider a similar weight difference, let's make a fantasy fight- Let's take one of today's winners, Kenny Florian and put him against a current Middleweight Contender (and gym partner) Patrick Cote who fights at 185 lbs. That would be a difference of 30 lbs. Let's also pretend he wanted to step in and fight Quinton Jackson at Light Heavy. Kenny would weigh in at 155 lbs and Rampage would be 205 lbs which would make a 50 lbs difference, which is closer to the difference in weight between Randy and Brock. Just like I'm sure this sounds crazy, why should it seem any different in the heavyweight division? Granted Couture chose to fight at that weight, so he has to deal with it...but when Randy said, "He caught me with a big shot." maybe it makes more sense. Brock looked good though all in all. He got hit hard by a couple of the shots Couture landed and if you want to think about another heavyweight who couldn't take a jab from an off-balanced light heavy weight, he actually has a legit future. Please, no more talk of Kimbo/Brock- Do you honestly think that the bearded beast would have a chance? If so, continue to watch your youtube videos and pretend to have a clue.
Here are how the fights turned out in case you were not able to catch it tonight-
Matt Brown Ryan Thomas Submission (Armbar) 2
Mark Bocek Alvin Robinson Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 3
Jeremy Stephens Rafael dos Anjos KO (Punches) 3
Aaron Riley Jorge Gurgel Decision (Unanimous) 3
Demian Maia Nate Quarry Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 1
Gabriel Gonzaga Josh Hendricks KO (Punches) 1
Dustin Hazelett Tamdan McCrory Submission (Reverse Armbar) 1
Kenny Florian Joe Stevenson Submission (Rear-naked choke) 1
Brock Lesnar Randy Couture TKO (Punches) 2
By the way, You can all kiss my bum because I was specific about my picks, I didn't just take the easy way out like most people. It is easy to show up to watch the fight and call out a few of your winners by picking one of the two fighters. Your odds of winning are a 50/50 - A monkey could easily do the same LOL get educated and make specific picks next time ;)
As far as the main event, I don't want to hear anything. Most of you who gave me crap about my pick for Randy couldn't even name 5 past opponents of Couture and I'm certain, you have no clue who Lesnar's first win was. As I explained to most of you in my replies, I knew Lesnar would be a champ would day, and have been pulling for him since his arrival, but I didn't think he would be able to adapt and respond to Randy's offense. I assure you that when he steps in to fight someone closer to his size, he will have a much more difficult time. It is easy to sit back and say what Randy should or shouldn't have done, but he got beat. He was fighting a good fight, but didn't go his way. However, for shits and giggles, consider this:
Randy weighed in at 220 lbs and considering that the weight limit is 265, he probably didn't cut down to make that weight. Lesnar on the other hand had to cut down to make the 265 limit so he probably was at least 280 lbs by the time he stepped into the cage. For arguments sake, lets say he wasn't 280 and walked in at 265. He outweighed Randy by 45 lbs at least. Let's see...If you want to consider a similar weight difference, let's make a fantasy fight- Let's take one of today's winners, Kenny Florian and put him against a current Middleweight Contender (and gym partner) Patrick Cote who fights at 185 lbs. That would be a difference of 30 lbs. Let's also pretend he wanted to step in and fight Quinton Jackson at Light Heavy. Kenny would weigh in at 155 lbs and Rampage would be 205 lbs which would make a 50 lbs difference, which is closer to the difference in weight between Randy and Brock. Just like I'm sure this sounds crazy, why should it seem any different in the heavyweight division? Granted Couture chose to fight at that weight, so he has to deal with it...but when Randy said, "He caught me with a big shot." maybe it makes more sense. Brock looked good though all in all. He got hit hard by a couple of the shots Couture landed and if you want to think about another heavyweight who couldn't take a jab from an off-balanced light heavy weight, he actually has a legit future. Please, no more talk of Kimbo/Brock- Do you honestly think that the bearded beast would have a chance? If so, continue to watch your youtube videos and pretend to have a clue.
Here are how the fights turned out in case you were not able to catch it tonight-
Matt Brown Ryan Thomas Submission (Armbar) 2
Mark Bocek Alvin Robinson Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 3
Jeremy Stephens Rafael dos Anjos KO (Punches) 3
Aaron Riley Jorge Gurgel Decision (Unanimous) 3
Demian Maia Nate Quarry Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 1
Gabriel Gonzaga Josh Hendricks KO (Punches) 1
Dustin Hazelett Tamdan McCrory Submission (Reverse Armbar) 1
Kenny Florian Joe Stevenson Submission (Rear-naked choke) 1
Brock Lesnar Randy Couture TKO (Punches) 2
By the way, You can all kiss my bum because I was specific about my picks, I didn't just take the easy way out like most people. It is easy to show up to watch the fight and call out a few of your winners by picking one of the two fighters. Your odds of winning are a 50/50 - A monkey could easily do the same LOL get educated and make specific picks next time ;)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Week 3 Wrap Up~ Run Throughs, NEW APARTMENT, Run Throughs
What a week. I think I mentioned in my last blog, that Carl (the actor from NY who is also learning Aladdin) hurt his back during rehearsal on Wednesday. When you see the show, you'll see that Aladdin moves quite a bit in the show. Carl especially has a lot on his plate, because he is also learning an additional chorus role and has to learn some of the dance numbers as well. Well, somehow something in his back was not having it and he ended up in the hospital. Thankfully, it seems to just be strained bad and he will hopefully be back within a weeks time. We're pulling for you dude!
Beginning Thursday, we sang through the show from beginning to end, which was a little nerve wracking for me. We had to stand in front of the new cast members and the veterans and sing to them! LOL I felt a little behind on my first number and Whole New World went better...probably because the focus wasn't entirely on me.
We then started to actually run the show all the way through. Immediately, I felt in the zone since I was moving. I'm just the kind of person that needs to be physical with my work. However, right after the big number in the beginning, I was drenched and breathing hard from running around at full force and about 5 seconds after the song ended, they stopped us and had us start again from the beginning of the number! LOL I had about 30 seconds to catch my breath and we were off again! It ended up going well the second time through and we moved on through the show. I'm going to be in crazy shape from this show. Now, those that know me well, know I can eat. A couple people from the cast laugh at me because of how much I eat. I usually bring my full lunch from home and then end up buying some additional food to eat as well. Even still, I realized that I've lost about 10 lbs. I have not been this weight for at least 10 years LOL. Anyways, we ran the show again before the day was through, but it was going great!
Between our first and second run-through I received a phone call from my friend Jay about an apartment that was going to be available. I've had my eye on this place for a long time and I was stoked to hear that it was going to be opening up. It's in Brentwood, which is only 5 minutes from where I live, but is close to all the major highways and still less than a 8 minute drive to the beach. It's also a very expensive area to live in for Los Angeles, but this apartment was a steal. We ended up getting a great 2br apartment in a great area and I couldn't be happier. Erin and I will no doubt he having some parties and it's great knowing I will have triple the space for so much cheaper than what I'm currently paying! We looked at a lot of places, but kept true to our promise of not settling and making sure we found a place that we really liked...little did we know, it would find us! The age old saying proves to be true once again, "Good things come to those who WAIT!"
Friday came and they actually had one of the verteran Aladdin's run the first two run-throughs. They also used one of the veteran Jasmine's too and it was interesting to see the different performances from everyone. Usually, it is weird to watch other people do your role. Sometimes, you can over think and question what you do, but this was different. Maybe it's because all along, I've been rehearsing with another person learning the same role. But even aside from that, the production team has been great about communicating that there are a few of us and we are all going to be different, in fact they encourage it and we definitely are different!
After lunch, it was time for me to step in and run the show. We ended up running it twice and it was a blast! I actually ended up running it with some of the older cast members, which was obviously different, but fun all the same. I love when things are different and this was an awesome experience that kept me on my toes! The returning cast members are really talented and very supportive in the room. It is a great environment and I am looking forward to working with more of them. Everyone is working so hard and this is becoming a great show, not to mention it is SO fun to do. I feel so lucky to be in this position. I would easily do this for free so it's a pretty sweet deal. I had a few cast members come up and give me some great feedback, which meant a lot considering the high level of talent in the show. I also had some great feedback from the Director, Choreographer and Vocal "Consultant" which really made my day. I can honestly say I am giving it 100 percent and it feels good. I'm also very lucky to be surrounded by some great performers in the show and they are all great people. We have a great time together and they really help to make it the good time that it is. As I mentioned in my last blog, Carl, Emily and I started to get everyone to wear a chosen color for the day and it is catching on quick. Within a week we went from 3 people to about 25 people dressed in similar colors LOL We are actually kicking it up a notch and we are starting themes as well. Tuesday is 80's, which will totally be fun, but I have no clue what to wear. It looks like the rest of this coming week is already set with colors/themes for the day.
We ended the day with the learning of the, "carpet toss". At one point in the show, I have to help flip the carpet and I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous. We eventually got it down and it will be a cool little move, once it is set.
After our long rehearsal 8 of us headed into the park for some fun in DCA and then we came back to Disney to hit up Pirates, Indy Jones and watch Fantasmic. It was great to hang with everyone and drain what little energy I had left. But it was all worth it because after all, the next morning I was not going to have to get up and look for apartments!!! We went on Tower of Terror which was a hilarious experience. Ray was screaming the whole time and his picture looked funny as hell. I was actually ghetto and took a picture of the picture on my camera and will post it later LOL
Monday we will be moving into theatre finally and we will be flying on some carpets and jumping across the stage in a harness that will no doubt give me a huge wedgy! Pix to follow ;)
Also, I want to extend an invite to anyone who wants to come enjoy the park. I have a hookup and if you are interested in taking advantage before the new year, let me know! If it is during the week, I can join you after I am done rehearsing.
Other than that, I'm ready for football. Time to watch my Giants notch another W on the board. By the way, I know the Giants are the Superbowl Champs, so there are no doubt a boat load of fans who have jumped on the bandwagon. Just like people were quick to do it with the B.S. Yankees. It is funny how NY teams attract so many temporary fans. But you should at least know that they actually play in New Jersey. Just like the Jets...which come to think about it, that's probably why they are actually doing decent this year...throw in Farve and some luck left behind in the stadium they share with the champs and who would have thought they'd be decent? Let's see if it lasts.
Beginning Thursday, we sang through the show from beginning to end, which was a little nerve wracking for me. We had to stand in front of the new cast members and the veterans and sing to them! LOL I felt a little behind on my first number and Whole New World went better...probably because the focus wasn't entirely on me.
We then started to actually run the show all the way through. Immediately, I felt in the zone since I was moving. I'm just the kind of person that needs to be physical with my work. However, right after the big number in the beginning, I was drenched and breathing hard from running around at full force and about 5 seconds after the song ended, they stopped us and had us start again from the beginning of the number! LOL I had about 30 seconds to catch my breath and we were off again! It ended up going well the second time through and we moved on through the show. I'm going to be in crazy shape from this show. Now, those that know me well, know I can eat. A couple people from the cast laugh at me because of how much I eat. I usually bring my full lunch from home and then end up buying some additional food to eat as well. Even still, I realized that I've lost about 10 lbs. I have not been this weight for at least 10 years LOL. Anyways, we ran the show again before the day was through, but it was going great!
Between our first and second run-through I received a phone call from my friend Jay about an apartment that was going to be available. I've had my eye on this place for a long time and I was stoked to hear that it was going to be opening up. It's in Brentwood, which is only 5 minutes from where I live, but is close to all the major highways and still less than a 8 minute drive to the beach. It's also a very expensive area to live in for Los Angeles, but this apartment was a steal. We ended up getting a great 2br apartment in a great area and I couldn't be happier. Erin and I will no doubt he having some parties and it's great knowing I will have triple the space for so much cheaper than what I'm currently paying! We looked at a lot of places, but kept true to our promise of not settling and making sure we found a place that we really liked...little did we know, it would find us! The age old saying proves to be true once again, "Good things come to those who WAIT!"
Friday came and they actually had one of the verteran Aladdin's run the first two run-throughs. They also used one of the veteran Jasmine's too and it was interesting to see the different performances from everyone. Usually, it is weird to watch other people do your role. Sometimes, you can over think and question what you do, but this was different. Maybe it's because all along, I've been rehearsing with another person learning the same role. But even aside from that, the production team has been great about communicating that there are a few of us and we are all going to be different, in fact they encourage it and we definitely are different!
After lunch, it was time for me to step in and run the show. We ended up running it twice and it was a blast! I actually ended up running it with some of the older cast members, which was obviously different, but fun all the same. I love when things are different and this was an awesome experience that kept me on my toes! The returning cast members are really talented and very supportive in the room. It is a great environment and I am looking forward to working with more of them. Everyone is working so hard and this is becoming a great show, not to mention it is SO fun to do. I feel so lucky to be in this position. I would easily do this for free so it's a pretty sweet deal. I had a few cast members come up and give me some great feedback, which meant a lot considering the high level of talent in the show. I also had some great feedback from the Director, Choreographer and Vocal "Consultant" which really made my day. I can honestly say I am giving it 100 percent and it feels good. I'm also very lucky to be surrounded by some great performers in the show and they are all great people. We have a great time together and they really help to make it the good time that it is. As I mentioned in my last blog, Carl, Emily and I started to get everyone to wear a chosen color for the day and it is catching on quick. Within a week we went from 3 people to about 25 people dressed in similar colors LOL We are actually kicking it up a notch and we are starting themes as well. Tuesday is 80's, which will totally be fun, but I have no clue what to wear. It looks like the rest of this coming week is already set with colors/themes for the day.
We ended the day with the learning of the, "carpet toss". At one point in the show, I have to help flip the carpet and I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous. We eventually got it down and it will be a cool little move, once it is set.
After our long rehearsal 8 of us headed into the park for some fun in DCA and then we came back to Disney to hit up Pirates, Indy Jones and watch Fantasmic. It was great to hang with everyone and drain what little energy I had left. But it was all worth it because after all, the next morning I was not going to have to get up and look for apartments!!! We went on Tower of Terror which was a hilarious experience. Ray was screaming the whole time and his picture looked funny as hell. I was actually ghetto and took a picture of the picture on my camera and will post it later LOL
Monday we will be moving into theatre finally and we will be flying on some carpets and jumping across the stage in a harness that will no doubt give me a huge wedgy! Pix to follow ;)
Also, I want to extend an invite to anyone who wants to come enjoy the park. I have a hookup and if you are interested in taking advantage before the new year, let me know! If it is during the week, I can join you after I am done rehearsing.
Other than that, I'm ready for football. Time to watch my Giants notch another W on the board. By the way, I know the Giants are the Superbowl Champs, so there are no doubt a boat load of fans who have jumped on the bandwagon. Just like people were quick to do it with the B.S. Yankees. It is funny how NY teams attract so many temporary fans. But you should at least know that they actually play in New Jersey. Just like the Jets...which come to think about it, that's probably why they are actually doing decent this year...throw in Farve and some luck left behind in the stadium they share with the champs and who would have thought they'd be decent? Let's see if it lasts.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Staging Complete, Injury, UFC Picks and of course Thanksgiving early by Moving Out
We have officially completed the staging of the show today with the exception of some of the stunt work that we can only work once we are in the actual theatre which is next week. We were drilling the big opener today like mad and Carl and I were switching in and out of that crazy diddy, while jumping in and out of the other rehearsal room where we were rehearsing our three big scenes with the Genie. All I know is that I happened to be in the room doing a scene with our Genies and on a break I went next door and everyone was crouched around the other new Aladdin, Carl on the floor. I noticed one of our trainers running in and new something was up. I turned out that Carl had a weird back spasm during one of the bits and was having a hard time moving. They took him to the trainer's office and iced his back and after rehearsal was done, I went over to check to see if he was ok while I grabbed some ice for my own soreness and they said they were taking him to the E.R. I spoke to him on the way home while he was sitting in the E.R. waiting room with Terri. Hope you have a speedy recovery Mr. Man!
Tomorrow we have our first stumble through of the show which will be exciting as it will give us that first real sense of it's rhythm. It's also Mellow Yellow day and we will be wearing yellow t-shirts to rehearsal. This all started after Carl, Emily (our new Jasmine) and I showed up wearing a red shirt and black bottoms without PLANNING! Everyone however thought we DID plan it, so we decided to pick a color (PINK) and wear it on Tuesday. This obviously seemed odd and after telling everyone we planned it, we had some people that wanted to join in on the fun and today about 10 of us wore Blue.
THREE days till the big day where we will decide on our apartment and begin living a fun, spacious life with the pets. Out with the old and in with the new! That day will also have a tense evening around fight time at 7pm...who are you pulling for?
The main event is no doubt one that I am excited about, and will no doubt spark the interest of people that casually follow the sport but claim to be big fans. However, there are a lot of fights on the card that are actually really solid and will more than please the real fans.
I'm making my picks here:
-Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar : Randy takes this one via SUBMISSION in the later rounds. I think Brock is a pure athletic specimen and I feel he will be a champion one day for sure. I actually have a hard time with this fight, because I like Lesnar a lot and want to see him grow in this sport, but call it nostalgia, but I can't go against Captain America and I want to see Randy's legacy continue to grow. I feel once Randy applies his game plan to avoid Lesnar's early aggresiveness, his experience will continue to win him points as the fight wears on. I don't think that he will outright go for anything crazy right away. He will be patient and trust his ability to create opportunities and will eventually catch an inexperienced Lesnar in a submission, before he realizes and can defend it.
-Gabriel Gonzaga (7 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Josh Hendricks : I think Gonzaga goes streetfighter Blanka on Hendricks and finishes via ref stoppage midway through the 1st round. Most of Hendricks wins have come via submissions and I don't see him catching Gonzaga.
-Joe Stevenson (10 Lightweight in the World)* vs. Kenny Florian: another tough one to call, because I have been fans of both these guys since their arrival under the UFC Banner. I think Stevenson is similar to a Sherk, but way more dangerous at this point in his career. However, unlike when Kenny faced Sherk, he is ready and can handle someone with Stevenson's power. All you have to do is look at three of Kenny's recent wins to see that he has progressed well enough to hold his own against powerful wrestlers. Alvin Robinson, Joe Lauzon and Roger Huerta couldn't utilize their wrestling against Florian and I think Stevenson will fair the same. I think Florian picks him apart on the feet and cuts him in true Ken(Blood)flo fashion with one of his razor sharp elbows. I think it will go the distance, but after a war, Florian will emerge one step closer to that second crack at the title.
-Demian Maia vs. Nathan Quarry: Call me sentimental, but I like Quarry and his crazy story so I'm pulling for him. However, he hasn't looked the same since he returned from his injury that Doctor's said was so bad he would never fight again. Where I think he win's by just being able to step in the cage, I don't think he will be crisp enough to take Maia. I see Maia bringing him down and tapping late in the second.
-Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory: Two scrappy dudes who are going to go to war with passion even more now since it was announced today that their fight would air live due to Amir pulling out due to injury. I think Hazelett takes this via tko in the second.
Preliminary Bouts:
-Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos : Lil Heathen Stephens takes this fight on the feet and drops Rafael in the 1st, but after getting overly aggressive, he will get caught in this Gracie trained fighters triangle.
-Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek: This is one of these fights that will fly under the radar, but has fight of the night written all over it. I think this will be a high stakes fight for both fighters considering their position within the company and division. I look for Alvin to come out aggresive and after a few minutes on the ground, Bocek will turn up the heat and will outlast Robinson but won't be able to finish him. They will go back and forth with Bocek taking an exciting decision.
-Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley: Jorge Gurgel WILL NOT BE A CONTENDER IN THE UFC. He will lose or win another boring decision and will once again apologize for both and leave us all wondering why they keep bringing him back. Please Aaron, destroy...fast!
-Ryan Thomas vs. Matt Brown: Matt Riddle injured - Matt Brown steps in on two weeks notice. I like Matt Brown and thinks he has heart and should have received the nod in the controversial Dong Hyun Kim fight. I think he poses a lot of medium level threats to anyone, but with two weeks to prepare, I'm not sure he can pull it out. I think Thomas takes this one via sub in the 3rd.
We shall see...
Tomorrow we have our first stumble through of the show which will be exciting as it will give us that first real sense of it's rhythm. It's also Mellow Yellow day and we will be wearing yellow t-shirts to rehearsal. This all started after Carl, Emily (our new Jasmine) and I showed up wearing a red shirt and black bottoms without PLANNING! Everyone however thought we DID plan it, so we decided to pick a color (PINK) and wear it on Tuesday. This obviously seemed odd and after telling everyone we planned it, we had some people that wanted to join in on the fun and today about 10 of us wore Blue.
THREE days till the big day where we will decide on our apartment and begin living a fun, spacious life with the pets. Out with the old and in with the new! That day will also have a tense evening around fight time at 7pm...who are you pulling for?
The main event is no doubt one that I am excited about, and will no doubt spark the interest of people that casually follow the sport but claim to be big fans. However, there are a lot of fights on the card that are actually really solid and will more than please the real fans.
I'm making my picks here:
-Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar : Randy takes this one via SUBMISSION in the later rounds. I think Brock is a pure athletic specimen and I feel he will be a champion one day for sure. I actually have a hard time with this fight, because I like Lesnar a lot and want to see him grow in this sport, but call it nostalgia, but I can't go against Captain America and I want to see Randy's legacy continue to grow. I feel once Randy applies his game plan to avoid Lesnar's early aggresiveness, his experience will continue to win him points as the fight wears on. I don't think that he will outright go for anything crazy right away. He will be patient and trust his ability to create opportunities and will eventually catch an inexperienced Lesnar in a submission, before he realizes and can defend it.
-Gabriel Gonzaga (7 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Josh Hendricks : I think Gonzaga goes streetfighter Blanka on Hendricks and finishes via ref stoppage midway through the 1st round. Most of Hendricks wins have come via submissions and I don't see him catching Gonzaga.
-Joe Stevenson (10 Lightweight in the World)* vs. Kenny Florian: another tough one to call, because I have been fans of both these guys since their arrival under the UFC Banner. I think Stevenson is similar to a Sherk, but way more dangerous at this point in his career. However, unlike when Kenny faced Sherk, he is ready and can handle someone with Stevenson's power. All you have to do is look at three of Kenny's recent wins to see that he has progressed well enough to hold his own against powerful wrestlers. Alvin Robinson, Joe Lauzon and Roger Huerta couldn't utilize their wrestling against Florian and I think Stevenson will fair the same. I think Florian picks him apart on the feet and cuts him in true Ken(Blood)flo fashion with one of his razor sharp elbows. I think it will go the distance, but after a war, Florian will emerge one step closer to that second crack at the title.
-Demian Maia vs. Nathan Quarry: Call me sentimental, but I like Quarry and his crazy story so I'm pulling for him. However, he hasn't looked the same since he returned from his injury that Doctor's said was so bad he would never fight again. Where I think he win's by just being able to step in the cage, I don't think he will be crisp enough to take Maia. I see Maia bringing him down and tapping late in the second.
-Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory: Two scrappy dudes who are going to go to war with passion even more now since it was announced today that their fight would air live due to Amir pulling out due to injury. I think Hazelett takes this via tko in the second.
Preliminary Bouts:
-Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos : Lil Heathen Stephens takes this fight on the feet and drops Rafael in the 1st, but after getting overly aggressive, he will get caught in this Gracie trained fighters triangle.
-Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek: This is one of these fights that will fly under the radar, but has fight of the night written all over it. I think this will be a high stakes fight for both fighters considering their position within the company and division. I look for Alvin to come out aggresive and after a few minutes on the ground, Bocek will turn up the heat and will outlast Robinson but won't be able to finish him. They will go back and forth with Bocek taking an exciting decision.
-Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley: Jorge Gurgel WILL NOT BE A CONTENDER IN THE UFC. He will lose or win another boring decision and will once again apologize for both and leave us all wondering why they keep bringing him back. Please Aaron, destroy...fast!
-Ryan Thomas vs. Matt Brown: Matt Riddle injured - Matt Brown steps in on two weeks notice. I like Matt Brown and thinks he has heart and should have received the nod in the controversial Dong Hyun Kim fight. I think he poses a lot of medium level threats to anyone, but with two weeks to prepare, I'm not sure he can pull it out. I think Thomas takes this one via sub in the 3rd.
We shall see...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Week 2 in the Bag, Pilot, Being replaced, Fitness Test and PAIN!
Ok, Apologies Apoglogies! I'm sorry for not getting this out sooner. Please stop yelling at me(you know who you are), I'll get better with the updates I promise! I put a new pic up didn't I? LOL Well, I actually had some stuff to write, but I was working on getting my pics in the blog too and then I got tied up with something else and forgot to come back to it...Anyways, there are new pics under ALADDIN REHEARSALS and RANDOM DISNEY FUN. I'll do my best to get this blog at least up to this week (3) and I will definitely be sure to update again before the week is out!
SO! I can't remember what we did last week after the last blog! LOL I know we worked hard, probably learned some new songs and scenes...Oh! I started to do my work and pranked one of our cast members who had the bad luck of showing up for work late on the same day the past two weeks. One day he woke up late after being drugged at a club and the following week he forgot his id at home and couldn't get past the Disney Guards without it. So on Friday, I decided to give him a call and pretend I was the scheduling department and put on a whole show until he let on that he knew it was me. I made the most basic mistake of NOT blocking my number, which usually is not a problem. Most of you know how I am and can usually tell when I have pranked someone, because you'll get a call from me and the number is blocked...well I blame it on the fact that it was early and I wasn't awake! LOL He actually said, that he was worried for a bit. He saw my number and thought it was me but then after I kept up with him, he started to think that maybe he had put in the wrong number somehow...Oh well, it won't be the last. In fact I got someone good today, more on that later. So we were released early on Friday and instead of sitting in traffic, I decided to head into Disney's California Adventure to check out my future home at the Hyperion Theatre(hence my new picture). While I was there I hit up the Tower of Terror, which was my first ride ever in DCA. While I was on the ride, some other employees of Disney who were sitting next to me and taking advantage of their free park pass invited me to join in with them for the night. They ended up being real cool and we had a great time. We later went to watch the opening show of Fantasmic which was AWESOME. It was my first time seeing the show and it was great. I saw my next job at Disney during the show. I want to be one of the stunt pirates on the Hook's ship during the Peter Pan skit! After that I took off and headed home to rest for a long day of apartment hunting on SAturday.
So we still don't have a new place, so no need to go into any details of Saturday afternoon. However, we saw some potential places, but nothing we loved...it is nice to have time to look and not settle for the first thing! Saturday night Erin and I went to see, "Zach and Miri...Porno." The first 30 minutes I was really feeling like we had maxed out on those Judd Apatow like films...it just felt like every other word was an f-bomb or something that just felt unnecessary and out of place. It was making it hard for me to believe anything in the movie, including their relationship. I also felt like she was too winning to believe that she could be in such a shit hole. Thank god the middle picked up and oddly enough when it was time to "make the porno" there was a lot of heart that came through in the story... Wait for the rental.
Sunday was just a lot of time to brush up on my stuff for Monday and then FOOTBALL. I ended up meeting with a buddy E-Kan at Big Wangs in NOHO to watch my GIANTS face his EAGLES. I actually ended up being a competitive game, but of course the champs pulled through! 8-1!!!!
Now time for Monday (Yesterday - getting close!). So we found out we would be doing our fitness evaluations with the Athletic Trainers for the show. Oh yes! LOL I was ready for these guys! Not because I'm in great shape or anything, but because I was looking forward to finally meeting with them so they could see where I was and set up a good program to get me into tip top shape! I had my smirk on the whole time because I had gone right after a few dancers who had incredible flexibility and what not and I clearly am not that. It went as I expected...I'm not flexible and I have some things to work on. Can't wait! I'm actually sitting here now on Tuesday night with a lot of soreness in my legs from the damn eval! LOL I didn't feel too bad, because some of the dancers were sore today too.
We then went into a meeting with other Disney Cast Members where we heard all about the future goodness coming to both Disneyland and California Adventure. It's going to be great! A lot of great stuff is on the way! Make sure you go online and sign up to celebrate your birthday at Disney for free in 2009! I'll join you and maybe get some of your friends in! LOL We also were informed of a show that might be taking our place! AGH! We haven't even opened yet! LOL Nothing to worry about....or is it? ;) We rounded up the day with some good ol' banner work for me personally since I'm doing SO good with them and then we started to chip at the ONE JUMP AHEAD song - the beast that it is!
Today was great, we showed up and it felt like the room was packed! I got to meet a couple of the other Aladdins, Genies, Jafars and so forth. Everyone always asks if it is weird seeing the other Aladdin's cause we all look the same, but you'd be surprised...we are very different. We learned our parts to ONE JUMP and it is going to be crazy! Thank god I have that Fitness Program on the way! My knees are hurting but they'll get used to it.
Random shite...I missed out on an audition for a movie today that may or may not be starring George Clooney. I got called in from a Casting Director who saw me in School Girl Figure this past month. While I'm bummed I couldn't make it do to the crazy day today, I'm excited for next time. Erin got cast in the film though and will be doing a scene with or without George Clooney! LOL UFC's big fight is this weekend and I'm figuring out that so if you are interested let me know. The last thing is that the pilot I shot in NYC before I moved out here FINALLY appears to be completed...It was very promising at the time and had people from Sony and HBO behind it if I am remembering correctly. It is actually a creation from the Grammy Award Winning Record Producer, Andreao "Fanatic" Heard. It's crazy to see after almost two years of waiting, but so is the way of this biz right? Better to see it period I guess. I'm in two parts of this trailer...one of which I guarantee you will miss but the pilot will be great! Please check it out! I will also leave you with a little message that he wrote us:
"We are now about to begin the shopping process to many different
networks and with our countless contacts, we should be able to secure
a situation very shortly. I myself take pride in the casting for the
show and there were a lot of great performances and many stand outs.
I wanna thank you for bringing my vision to life and interpreting the
characters exactly how Kevin and I envisioned them. We are hoping
that we will be able to keep our cast intact once a network picks up
the show. We will push for you guys to remain as part of the cast.
One way you can assist us in this process is by having your family and
friends leave comments on our youtube page about your specific
character and about the show as well. Please do not leave obvious,
transparent or contrived comments. The networks that we'll be
approaching will be monitoring our page carefully. Thanks again for
your support and a job well done."
Here it is:
SO! I can't remember what we did last week after the last blog! LOL I know we worked hard, probably learned some new songs and scenes...Oh! I started to do my work and pranked one of our cast members who had the bad luck of showing up for work late on the same day the past two weeks. One day he woke up late after being drugged at a club and the following week he forgot his id at home and couldn't get past the Disney Guards without it. So on Friday, I decided to give him a call and pretend I was the scheduling department and put on a whole show until he let on that he knew it was me. I made the most basic mistake of NOT blocking my number, which usually is not a problem. Most of you know how I am and can usually tell when I have pranked someone, because you'll get a call from me and the number is blocked...well I blame it on the fact that it was early and I wasn't awake! LOL He actually said, that he was worried for a bit. He saw my number and thought it was me but then after I kept up with him, he started to think that maybe he had put in the wrong number somehow...Oh well, it won't be the last. In fact I got someone good today, more on that later. So we were released early on Friday and instead of sitting in traffic, I decided to head into Disney's California Adventure to check out my future home at the Hyperion Theatre(hence my new picture). While I was there I hit up the Tower of Terror, which was my first ride ever in DCA. While I was on the ride, some other employees of Disney who were sitting next to me and taking advantage of their free park pass invited me to join in with them for the night. They ended up being real cool and we had a great time. We later went to watch the opening show of Fantasmic which was AWESOME. It was my first time seeing the show and it was great. I saw my next job at Disney during the show. I want to be one of the stunt pirates on the Hook's ship during the Peter Pan skit! After that I took off and headed home to rest for a long day of apartment hunting on SAturday.
So we still don't have a new place, so no need to go into any details of Saturday afternoon. However, we saw some potential places, but nothing we loved...it is nice to have time to look and not settle for the first thing! Saturday night Erin and I went to see, "Zach and Miri...Porno." The first 30 minutes I was really feeling like we had maxed out on those Judd Apatow like films...it just felt like every other word was an f-bomb or something that just felt unnecessary and out of place. It was making it hard for me to believe anything in the movie, including their relationship. I also felt like she was too winning to believe that she could be in such a shit hole. Thank god the middle picked up and oddly enough when it was time to "make the porno" there was a lot of heart that came through in the story... Wait for the rental.
Sunday was just a lot of time to brush up on my stuff for Monday and then FOOTBALL. I ended up meeting with a buddy E-Kan at Big Wangs in NOHO to watch my GIANTS face his EAGLES. I actually ended up being a competitive game, but of course the champs pulled through! 8-1!!!!
Now time for Monday (Yesterday - getting close!). So we found out we would be doing our fitness evaluations with the Athletic Trainers for the show. Oh yes! LOL I was ready for these guys! Not because I'm in great shape or anything, but because I was looking forward to finally meeting with them so they could see where I was and set up a good program to get me into tip top shape! I had my smirk on the whole time because I had gone right after a few dancers who had incredible flexibility and what not and I clearly am not that. It went as I expected...I'm not flexible and I have some things to work on. Can't wait! I'm actually sitting here now on Tuesday night with a lot of soreness in my legs from the damn eval! LOL I didn't feel too bad, because some of the dancers were sore today too.
We then went into a meeting with other Disney Cast Members where we heard all about the future goodness coming to both Disneyland and California Adventure. It's going to be great! A lot of great stuff is on the way! Make sure you go online and sign up to celebrate your birthday at Disney for free in 2009! I'll join you and maybe get some of your friends in! LOL We also were informed of a show that might be taking our place! AGH! We haven't even opened yet! LOL Nothing to worry about....or is it? ;) We rounded up the day with some good ol' banner work for me personally since I'm doing SO good with them and then we started to chip at the ONE JUMP AHEAD song - the beast that it is!
Today was great, we showed up and it felt like the room was packed! I got to meet a couple of the other Aladdins, Genies, Jafars and so forth. Everyone always asks if it is weird seeing the other Aladdin's cause we all look the same, but you'd be surprised...we are very different. We learned our parts to ONE JUMP and it is going to be crazy! Thank god I have that Fitness Program on the way! My knees are hurting but they'll get used to it.
Random shite...I missed out on an audition for a movie today that may or may not be starring George Clooney. I got called in from a Casting Director who saw me in School Girl Figure this past month. While I'm bummed I couldn't make it do to the crazy day today, I'm excited for next time. Erin got cast in the film though and will be doing a scene with or without George Clooney! LOL UFC's big fight is this weekend and I'm figuring out that so if you are interested let me know. The last thing is that the pilot I shot in NYC before I moved out here FINALLY appears to be completed...It was very promising at the time and had people from Sony and HBO behind it if I am remembering correctly. It is actually a creation from the Grammy Award Winning Record Producer, Andreao "Fanatic" Heard. It's crazy to see after almost two years of waiting, but so is the way of this biz right? Better to see it period I guess. I'm in two parts of this trailer...one of which I guarantee you will miss but the pilot will be great! Please check it out! I will also leave you with a little message that he wrote us:
"We are now about to begin the shopping process to many different
networks and with our countless contacts, we should be able to secure
a situation very shortly. I myself take pride in the casting for the
show and there were a lot of great performances and many stand outs.
I wanna thank you for bringing my vision to life and interpreting the
characters exactly how Kevin and I envisioned them. We are hoping
that we will be able to keep our cast intact once a network picks up
the show. We will push for you guys to remain as part of the cast.
One way you can assist us in this process is by having your family and
friends leave comments on our youtube page about your specific
character and about the show as well. Please do not leave obvious,
transparent or contrived comments. The networks that we'll be
approaching will be monitoring our page carefully. Thanks again for
your support and a job well done."
Here it is:
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Week 1 finished
So last time I wrote, I think I was going into my second day of rehearsal.
I guess a couple of days have passed since LOL
Suffice it to say that we've been working REALLY hard, but it is still a blast. Definitely a lot to take in, but we have 4 weeks still and the show IS only 40 something minutes.
Let's see, we staged the big FRIEND LIKE ME number which is going to be a lot of fun...actually almost everything is staged at this point, except for the crazy ONE JUMP AHEAD song. Thank god, because it'll give me a little time to get my cardio up for task. The day the other Aladdin - Carl and sang through the song, we had to run around the rehearsal hall pleading our case to the rest of the cast while we were being chased by our Vocal "Consultant", Todd. If we finished the song without being caught, he owed us $5, if he caught us, we owed him a Lincoln. He never caught me and someone owes me 5 bucks - CARL! Needless to say, I was wiped after that, but it certainly gave me a good idea of what the number would feel like.
The week was full of new faces and a lot of information both from the show and about Disney stuff. Clocking in and out is a bitch. The drive is not a problem at all for me and my body is starting to adjust to the early hours. We have a guy that reads palms, is a professional rub down man, does astrology, karate and is great dancer. HMy voice is starting to warm up nicely. I'm sore after each rehearsal, which is cool because we have trainers that help keep us in shape and healthy.
Thursday was out last day of work for the week since we were off for Halloween so some of us decided to hit up the park; part celebration, part time to have some fun as guests. Not to mention that the last thing we worked on in rehearsal was the ending number that involves lots of spinning gold banners, which are not easy to get down. Let's just say it was a kind of irritating way to end the week, but I was ready to come back and conquer(hence my profile pic). Unfortunately for me, California Adventure was already closed so I was once again denied access to the park and have still not stepped foot inside of it. We hit up the buzz light year ride that you sit in a car and shoot shit. I just kept firing the gun with one hand and took pictures of everyone with the other. We then hit up two more rides before we found out that the park was going to be closing. Short lived, but so what...we work there everyday and will continue that adventure another day. I posted pictures and will get them in here if it doesn't take too long.
Fast forward through a weekend that involved a haunted house, a toga, looking at new apartments, watching my Giants notch another win along with some fun with the pup Wolfy. Monday was great because the Steelers beat the skins, so that puts Giants up 2 in their division for first place!
Monday at rehearsal we finished the golden banner fiasco and set the curtain call. I've never worked on a show where the curtain call was set so early! Tuesday was singing through WHOLE NEW WORLD, which was a lot of fun. We actually got to work with not only our Jasmine, but one of the show's veteran Jas' also. GO OBAMA!
Today we finished working on WHOLE NEW WORLD combining two songs and the scene as one. We also started working on PRINCE ALI which I will ride an Elephant through the audience in LOL
That's all for now, I just wanted to get something out, before I forgot more. It's amazing how it feels like we've already been there for a month.
TiLL NeXt TiMe...
I guess a couple of days have passed since LOL
Suffice it to say that we've been working REALLY hard, but it is still a blast. Definitely a lot to take in, but we have 4 weeks still and the show IS only 40 something minutes.
Let's see, we staged the big FRIEND LIKE ME number which is going to be a lot of fun...actually almost everything is staged at this point, except for the crazy ONE JUMP AHEAD song. Thank god, because it'll give me a little time to get my cardio up for task. The day the other Aladdin - Carl and sang through the song, we had to run around the rehearsal hall pleading our case to the rest of the cast while we were being chased by our Vocal "Consultant", Todd. If we finished the song without being caught, he owed us $5, if he caught us, we owed him a Lincoln. He never caught me and someone owes me 5 bucks - CARL! Needless to say, I was wiped after that, but it certainly gave me a good idea of what the number would feel like.
The week was full of new faces and a lot of information both from the show and about Disney stuff. Clocking in and out is a bitch. The drive is not a problem at all for me and my body is starting to adjust to the early hours. We have a guy that reads palms, is a professional rub down man, does astrology, karate and is great dancer. HMy voice is starting to warm up nicely. I'm sore after each rehearsal, which is cool because we have trainers that help keep us in shape and healthy.
Thursday was out last day of work for the week since we were off for Halloween so some of us decided to hit up the park; part celebration, part time to have some fun as guests. Not to mention that the last thing we worked on in rehearsal was the ending number that involves lots of spinning gold banners, which are not easy to get down. Let's just say it was a kind of irritating way to end the week, but I was ready to come back and conquer(hence my profile pic). Unfortunately for me, California Adventure was already closed so I was once again denied access to the park and have still not stepped foot inside of it. We hit up the buzz light year ride that you sit in a car and shoot shit. I just kept firing the gun with one hand and took pictures of everyone with the other. We then hit up two more rides before we found out that the park was going to be closing. Short lived, but so what...we work there everyday and will continue that adventure another day. I posted pictures and will get them in here if it doesn't take too long.
Fast forward through a weekend that involved a haunted house, a toga, looking at new apartments, watching my Giants notch another win along with some fun with the pup Wolfy. Monday was great because the Steelers beat the skins, so that puts Giants up 2 in their division for first place!
Monday at rehearsal we finished the golden banner fiasco and set the curtain call. I've never worked on a show where the curtain call was set so early! Tuesday was singing through WHOLE NEW WORLD, which was a lot of fun. We actually got to work with not only our Jasmine, but one of the show's veteran Jas' also. GO OBAMA!
Today we finished working on WHOLE NEW WORLD combining two songs and the scene as one. We also started working on PRINCE ALI which I will ride an Elephant through the audience in LOL
That's all for now, I just wanted to get something out, before I forgot more. It's amazing how it feels like we've already been there for a month.
TiLL NeXt TiMe...
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