Pride in Work

I haven't always been the hardest worker, nor the best, but when I do, I take a certain amount of pride in my work. I've recently been reviewing some of my past jobs, and what I did while I was there. The one that has caught my attention the most was when I was a Partnership Developer at Plattform Advertising, specifically on the Self Growth Engine. For those that remember, that was the project that encouraged me to truly pursue an acting career.
Out of nostalgia I went and checked on the website to see how it has progressed in my absence. To my dismay, it has not. I can not find any articles added after I was let go (Dec. 2010). The only new content seems to be comments posted by scammers to drive traffic to completely unrelated websites. They do this in order to make their websites look like they have more people posting links, which makes Google think they are more popular than they really are.
I know that I have no real reason to be upset about this. But I put a lot of hard work and research into that project. So seeing it abandoned, and left to the whims of unethical spam companies hurts a little. That website had a great potential to help so many people, and now it's being used like a $5 whore in a frat house!
Sorry about the vulgarity, but it bothers me to see something that held such pride for me in that state of disuse.
If I could, I'd by that property, and fix it.

Gonna Be a Good Year!

Third day of the year, 2nd post, I think it's going to be a good year. I just had to get on and update everyone. Back on December 5th, 2009, I auditioned for a short film and after not hearing from anyone for the whole month I was convinced that I just wasn't what they were looking for. Then on New Year's Eve I get a text message from the director asking if I could do a call back reading. Of course I was stoked! We met at the West Port Coffee House yesterday, and I read for the Lead Male role "Derrick" with Mandy who is the Lead Female "Eiley". The call back lasted for 2 and a half hours (most of this was us just talking and laughing our butts off) and at the end I was told that I would be getting a phone call to let me know what they decide.

The news...

I got the Part!!!!!

I've already read the entire script, and I love it. The movie is titled "The Truth about Why" and it is kind of a self growth, self disscovery type film.

Also, I am calling The Agency on the 5th to set up an interview because they are possibly interested in representing me! So I might have an Agent soon! I'll keep everyone updated! This is looking like a great year!

*Also, I'd still like to know what everyone's New Year's Resolutions are, or why you didn't make one!!*

Best Day of My Life

Today I am single, carless, and unemployeed,

But Today is the best day of my life!

A couple of years ago, Jo and I got into a discussion on what the best day of our lives had been. And I realized that I could choose one day from my life to be that day, it could be the day I graduated high school, got my eagle scout, gave my mother's hand in marriage to an amazing man, met Jo, or any other day. But no matter what, none of those days will compare to today. Why? Because today I am here and every one of those days gone by is still a part of me. I feel that if I were to label one of the days from my past as the best day of my life, then everything from there out would just be a downhill ride.

Yes, most people would look at my life today and say "Really, this is the best day of your life?", I say yes it is. Right now my life is on the edge of a bottomless chasm full of infinite opportunity. I am in a position to completley change the course of my life and once again redefine myself and my future. So yes, today is the best day of my life, and thank you for being a part of it. I can't wait to see what today is like tomorrow!

*So what would you choose as the best day of your life?*

November

Is it just me, or does it seem like November just flew by? It really does seem like this month didn't really happen. Of course I've been really busy, yet it seems like I never have anything to do, but I always have somewhere I need to be. What an odd sensation for an entire month.

Anyway, acting classes have continued apace, and I am still really enjoying them. Last week we performed the pieces that we had cold read the week prior. This time through, my scene is with a talented lady named Monica, and it has been a pleasure getting to perform with her. Last week I had a first when it came to a "rehearsal" type performance (it was performed for the class, but not for an audience). For the first time ever, I completely forgot everything that was happening outside of our scene. My world narrowed to Monica and myself. I forgot the cameras that were right on us, the dozen or so classmates, and our director/ instructor Brian. I wasn't worried about getting my lines right, or even if I was portraying the character correctly. I didn't care if the director was taking notes, and I didn't try to decipher every little sound and reaction from the "audience". In fact, I didn't even notice if Brian, who was sitting four feet away, took notes on our scene at all! What made me happier was that Monica said the same thing, so it made me feel like our characters had a true connection, which is good because our characters are in lust! Next week we will do it again, only this time we have to "change it up", we have to find something to do different...hmmm the challenge.

Let's see, what else...oh, I updated my Resume, check that out over in the right side column. I also have to decide if I am going to do the next set of courses. The problem is that I have to purchase a car, and don't know if the expense of the classes is justifiable when I need a car. Right now I've been getting around because my sister Traci is a truly wonderful person, and has been letting me borrow her Neon, but as soon as it starts snowing she needs it back (she has a mustang that doesn't do so well in the snow). There is my dilemma, to take classes or to not take classes, that is the new question.

Oh, and always a shameless self promotion, if you get the chance, check out some of the Fitness and Exercise blog posts I've been doing for www.selfgrowthengine.com!

What's In a Name

I need everyone's help! In my last class of my first 4 class series, my instructors Jill and Brian talked with me about head shots, resume, and the things I need to start looking at to attract an agent. One of the things I had not yet considered is how I am going to Brand myself, in other words, what name am I going to use. I would love nothing more than to be known as Mike Davis, it's me, it's who I am, but I'm not alone. There are over 15,000 Mike Davis in the United States, about 2,500 of them have the middle name Robert. Even worse, there are hundreds of them listed in IMDB for acting and acting related careers. What does this mean, it means branding myself as Mike Davis is a BAD IDEA! So here is my challenge, what name do I want to go by? Do I want something similar to my real name, or do I want to create a whole new identity? I've also thought of using versions of my Ancestry names: Jones, Hancock, Strauss, Lowery.
This is where I need your help! I need ideas and votes. Below is a list of names that have been suggested, one of them is the name I'm leaning towards, but I'm not telling you which one it is. Currently the only way I can get this is if you respond in a comment below, so PLEASE leave your vote. If you don't like any of these, vote for other, and leave a suggestion so others can see it! Please leave any feedback you wish to share.

Names:

1. Jonsi Michels
2. Davis Hancock
3. Laurence 'Laurie' Michels
4. Mike Davesse
5. Davis Michels
6. Other ___________
   

Acting Needs: Head Shots

(The One that gets Sent Out)

Thanks to the amazingly talented Adam, I now have some head shots to share! If you will glance over to the right side of your screen, you should see a sideshow of some of the best pictures. Also, a new addition over to your right and down a little, you will see a teaser for the The Beast Who Cried "I", a short animated film done by non other than the same amazingly talented Adam, with voice over work by Yours Truly, and music by the lovely Nolan! (Warning to Marmee: don't view the full screen version)

So now that these steps are completed my next step is to get some of these wonderful head shots printed off with a copy of my Resume on the back and start mailing myself out! Hopefully, now that I have all the necessary ingredients, I might be able to attract an Agent (insert dramatic dahnt dahnt daaaaa music here)! I wonder, do they make a pheromone that will help with that...? Anyway, I'm just happy that I am making progress, here's to the hope of continuing to do so!

One last thing, and this is just a shameless self promotion, don't forget to purchase your tickets to this years Phantom's Feaste: Frankenstein's Creation, where I'm performing as Igor, the doctors Lab Assistant. So get your seats reserved now by clicking HERE!

Acting Needs: Training

Last night I attended my very first Film Acting class! Thanks to Bailee and KCStage I found a great little training studio just up the street from where I live. It’s Brian Cutler’s Commercial Actors Studio, and the main instructor is none other than Brian Cutler. The class set-up is done so that all the levels are in the same class together, just working on varying degrees of difficulty. Every time you take the class, you move up to more difficult levels, and new students join in and get to learn not only from the instructors, but from the more experienced students as well. Last night was the first night of a 4 week On-Camera Class, and we started with Commercials. So the two other new students and myself got to watch the dozen other actors perform what they had been working on (oh, almost forgot, they film it all with lights and sound so you get a feel for the camera), and then received a little extra instruction about marks, slating, and things to keep in mind before we did our own one-line commercial. We were then given notes, and got to try a couple more times. Before the night was over everyone had a couple more commercials to shoot, and us first timers had some larger ones, and a partner one as well. After everyone presented what they had been working on, we then got to watch and critique all the shoots we just did. During all of this Brian and Jill (who was running the camera) were giving constant feedback, and would take the time to talk about auditions and agents, even what to and not to wear to a Film audition (guess what color is most suggested to wear…blue! Blah!). The great part was the other people in the class, everyone is very welcoming, supportive and encouraging.
I realized that I have a lot to learn. While yes my experience in theatre will help me, I've always been winging it when it comes to camera work. There are some very little things that I could do to be better. For example, I need to work on keeping the action and energy of a scene going until the director says cut. I usually would freeze when the scripted action was done, I did this because I didn't know what else to do. What I was doing was making the directors job more difficult by giving them less to work with. The second major thing is that I keep shifting my eyes away from the camera. I've become so used to being told not to look at cameras (photo, not video) that I've adapted it to film as well.
Next weeks class will be cold reading of scripts! The format will be very similar to the commercial class, I can't wait!

Today we Launched a Website!!!

Okay, it might not sound like an extremely enjoyable or even exciting event, but to me it is. For the past two and a half months I’ve been working on this project for work, it is called the Self Growth Engine (www.selfgrowthengine.com). For those of you who don’t know, I work for an Advertising Agency, as a Partnership Developer. Strange title I know, but it’s what I do.

So on to the Self Growth Engine! Basically we have designed this site to become the place where you can go to get the information you need to change whatever area/s of your life you are dissatisfied with.

*At this point you might be asking “Does this have anything to do with your Blog?”

The answer is yes, it has everything to do with it. I have been doing a lot of research into self improvement, self growth, and how people in our world have changed their lives, and yes, this encouraged me to start my own transformation. When you do nothing but research how to make your life better for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it tends to have a lingering affect.

One of the main things I have found about all of this is that if you don’t change your life for the better, no-one else will do it for you. You are the only person who can be responsible for your own happiness.

So who knows, maybe you’ll find some inspiration too. Check it out: www.selfgrowthengine.com