Saturday, January 30, 2010

Mother

I want to move and work in South Korea, fuck everything else.

Friday, January 29, 2010

A Good Read

These are my books that I'm reading at the moment. You'll find Stanislavski's "Building A Character" (doesn't hurt to read it again does it?) Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story", "How Meditation Works" (if you are interested in either Zoo Story or the Meditation .pdf document then send me a mail), a wonderful glossary of Shakespeare words that is a pure life safer that I'll use from now on starting with Julius Caesar. Finish it all up with "Existentialism, from Dostoevsky to Sartre". Philosophy is incredibly fascinating, I'm not going to pretend like I can sit down and have a conversation about philosophy all day long (except for the obvious question like "what's the point of life" "do we exist?" etc) but you got to start somewhere!

I'm still trying to find a meditation course somewhere around here. Oh and I got an email from RADA's summer school, I don't have the envelope yet but looks like I got in, nice isn't it? My two acting classes start next week as well, FINALLY.

I've been having some self-confidence issues lately wether I can do this profession or not for no good reason, not like something has happened or anything... just all in my head. Thats what you get for living inside your own head for 23h hours a day instead of keeping in touch with reality. *sigh*

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Learn Shakespeare!

I can't believe I haven't written about this before, what is wrong with me? This is one of the best things I have to go by regarding how to learn Shakespeare (at least for those of us who haven't gotten educated in it yet, but even so, I am sure even the "educated" ones can benefit from this)

John Barton's "Playing Shakespeare" is like a bible to me, it has helped me a lot when it comes to understanding and reading Shakespeare and I think that everyone who is interested should sit down and watch this. It's only one part out of nine, if you want to see the rest you can buy it online or download from your nearest torrent, I'd recommend buying it of course but yes it is THAT good, this is incredible and I've probably seen them all 2-3 times at least, just keep on repeating all of em'. I actually thought of uploading all nine part on YouTube but not sure if I would get in trouble for it.


I also found this amazing thing a day or two ago, which is actually the thing that made me realize "why the hell haven't I blogged about John Barton's Shakespeare?? What's wrong with me??" It's a director who directs PROPER Shakespeare plays (no conceptual, high brow, far fetched random shit) in New York, in a theater called Folding Chair Theater. Definitely check out his amazing guides/videos about Shakespeare as soon as you possibly can!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Wise Words From Reddit

I've found Reddit not too long ago, and it's almost addicting. I love
"IAMA" (I Am A...) and "Wikipedia" most I think. IAMA is a place where
different kind of people advertise themselves like "IAMA University
Teacher i bla bla AMA (Ask me anything)" or ANYTHING you can imagine
is probably there, its very fascinating to read these posts and
glimpse into different peoples lives, and the Wikipedia section is
just people posting random amazing Wikipedia articles, addictive if
you like me is a philosopher (Lover of wisdom). It's like CRACK

Anyway, I have to share this that I found that some wise old oak (or
young who knows?) wrote down to someone who asked "Today is my 20th
birthday. Give me 20 tips for things you wish you knew when you were
20.
"

Read this because its bloody true.

By "Kerrz"

"Twenty it is:
- Put 1tbsp of butter in a sauce pan on medium-low heat, add 1tbsp
flour to the melted butter, mix until you get a doughy consistency,
and cook for a minute or two. Add 1cup of milk. Season lightly with
pepper, parmesan, basil. Let it come to a boil, then immediately
simmer it. It'll thicken up. You now have homemade Alfredo Sauce.
Prepare to impress your friends, especially of the opposite sex.

- Get involved in the things going on around you, even if it's just
your schoolwork. Sitting in a dark room using a keyboard to talk to
people a million miles away is not a social life. Talk to the people
at class, even if it's just about the upcoming test. Join a club or
something. Intramural sports are awesome. Varsity are good too if
you've got it in you.

- If it's meant to be, it'll happen. Don't rush it. It's nice to be a
fiercely passionate person in all walks of life, but it's a lot less
nice to be the guy who can't think ahead, or the girl who can't see
the forest for the trees.

- Slow and steady does not mean glacial. You're going to get spread
pretty thin in life if you're doing it right. Learn to cut your losses
on a project that's not going anywhere rather than wasting five
minutes every two months on it. Better to come back to it refreshed.

- Exercise really is important. We harp on it all the time, but if
you seriously want to improve the way you FEEL about life: go to the
gym. I come from a wrestling background, and Dan Gable is quoted as
saying "Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy." Same
thing with working out. If you go to the gym and work yourself out
HARD a few times a week, you will come home and everything else will
seem to fall into place.

- They've all said it already, but it's got some truth to it.
Disregard females. Acquire currency. It's nice to have someone who is
a close friend. It's nice to have someone who will sleep with you. Do
not make either a priority. If you treat people right and respect
them, they'll be there in a few years when you're ACTUALLY an adult,
and you guys can start making plans. However, you don't want to go out
there wasting your time and money on somebody that's going to have
giant life decisions to make in a few years, one of which will be "Has
it gone as far as it's ever going to go?" Treat the opposite sex well,
and feel free to spend time with them, but make it a fair deal, not a
one-sided pursuit. Don't waste your time and money on them until
you're ready to make a commitment to someone. (ps- At 20, you're not
ready.)

- Take every opportunity to travel. Broaden your horizons. See the
world. If you're lucky, and aren't digging yourself into student debt,
go on foreign-aid jobs during vacation periods. If you're like the
rest of us, and need to make money, look into working abroad for a few
years when you're done. Overseas experience is a HUGE boost on a job
application. Many countries offer "working vacation" visas.

- Always have fun. Work is hard. School is hard. Find something
that's fun and keep doing it, no matter what else is going on in your
life. Make time for it, or use it as a reward, but keep having fun.
When your life becomes all work and no play, you become one of the
drones helping to make this world a colder, more boring place.

- Control your vices. Fun is fun, but too much fun is exactly that:
too much. I like a drink. I set aside time and money to partake. It's
not a lifelong commitment, but it's something I do to socialize with
friends. I do not, however, fall down drunk four days a week. No one
ever should. Once a week is plenty.

- Milestones come and go. Woohoo! You're twenty! Big deal. You said
it already: "it doesn't feel much different at all." The same is true
with holidays, anniversaries and other celebrations. Too much stock is
laid into arbitrary dates. Make every day count. Do things for a
reason, not for a season.

- The brands you wear are less important than the total package. If
you're concerned about the way you look, it's better to spend time
learning about Colour Theory than it is to figure out where you can
find a good deal on designer
phones/mp3players/computers/pants/shirts/cars. Buy for build quality,
not perceived quality. Buy to last.

- Your taste in <insert object> does not define who you are. You are
not a collection of songs, movies and TV Shows. Be proud of what you
like, but don't turn it into the definition of your personality (see:
Goths, Trekkies, Metalheads.) Experience the multitude and be open to
it all.

- "Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi was a wise
man, and this is probably the most important thing he ever said. No
matter what you want from the world: be the exemplar rather than the
fool crying for change. Lead by example, and preach from that example,
but do not become the hypocrite who strives for a green planet while
trashing his own house.

- Respect yourself. Far too often in life do we question our
instincts and decisions. If you're faced with unquestionable evidence
that you've done something wrong, then accept it and move on. Until
then, believe in who you are, and believe in what you do. You're right
more often than you're wrong, even if you seem to be wrong an awful
lot.

- Get shit done. Work to completion. Finish what you start. Do
everything within your power to make sure that the important things in
life happen on time and with minimal worry. Procrastination is both a
valuable stress-relief tool and a dangerous enemy. Use it wisely.

- Learn the value of hard work. If you've never had a job: get one.
ESPECIALLY if you don't need it. When I was twenty, this was one of
the biggest lessons I had yet to learn. I still haven't learned the
whole of it. Learn exactly what a dollar is worth to people. Learn how
much it takes to earn one, and learn how much you can buy with one.
Learn the lessons that money can't buy you at school. Learn
punctuality and teamwork in a real environment.

- Set your goals and achieve them. Think about it now. Where do you
want to be when you're 25? 30? 40? Retired? Take some serious time and
write out some serious goals for your personal life, your career, your
fame and renown. If you want to be the billionaire madman with a harem
and your face on the nightly news: plan it out. If your goals are much
more humble: plan them out too. Even if you just want a nice, simple
job with a wife and kids... start planning. Look at the road in front
of you, or you're going to finish school/whatever and be left with no
idea where to go from here.

- It's okay to fail. Sometimes you are going to make the wrong
decision. Accept it. Move on with your life. No one's perfect, they
only pretend to be. Learn from your mistakes, but don't be afraid to
make them. Someone's already said it above, but you learn more from
what you do than what you don't do, and when you're old and dry,
you're going to regret more the things you shied away from than the
things you threw yourself into.

- Don't argue on the internet. There are exceptions to the rule. It's
one thing to make a strong argument. It's a whole other thing to be
dragged into a drawn-out fight with an anonymous stranger. Avoid the
latter. It's a waste of valuable time and you're going to gain what
from it? Superiority? Be the better person to start with and walk away
from the fool that wants to waste his time arguing trivialities.

- Stop asking for advice on the internet. How much time have you
spent, TODAY, watching this thread for updates? If you NEED advice,
the internet is a great place to get diverse viewpoints. You didn't
NEED advice today, though. Go outside and play."

Thanks Reddit, your new frequent visitor.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Ricky Gervais + Karl Pilkington + Steven Merchant

People might not know this, but I am a HUGE Ricky Gervais + Karl Pilkington + Steven Merchant fan. I have ALL of their podcasts, all the six seasons and even the early four seasons of XFM days, and I have even listened to all of those SEVERAL TIMES, not just once. Past two years I'd imagine I have listened to Ricky and the gang more then I have listened to music on my mp3 player.

I just had to officially let everyone know, and I'll leave you with this.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Learn To Play An Instrument

I want to learn to play at least one instrument in the not so distant future, I can't decide wich one to go for though, I am thinking either a violin, a piano or a cello.

A friend made a good point that violin is an instrument that goes better with other instrument then alone, but with cello and piano you could play it solo so yeah, that might narrow it down the options.

Music is something that can't be explained with words, it just does something to a person doesn't it. For several years I've been in love with classical music, not ALL classical music but the ones I've found over the years, like Chopin, Cecilia Bartoli's "Sposa son disprezzata", too many soundtrack pieces which has violin and piano (and the alikes) to mention etc. I keep going through the imaginary motions of playing the piano with my fingers of the violin/cello with my hands and arms over and over again, of course completely wrong because I have no idea how to play for real but you get the gist.

Violin, cello or piano. I'll make my mind up sooner or later. Leaning towards the piano right now though.

Addendum: What about the trumpet? Is there anything more jazzy and suave/sexy then that? Maybe not. Anyone who has listened to Michael Bublé's "My Funny Valentine" from his album "With Love" knows what I'm on about.




Saturday, January 16, 2010

Mein Kampf

So I went to a reading/audition yesterday to for a play by George Tabori called "Mein Kampf" directed by the german director Christian Tietz. I got an email so I signed up and went to god knows where on the outskirts of somewhere and ended up in a dungeon basically.

There is a difference between amateur theater and AMATEUR theater innit? One is with a bunch of young hopefuls with brilliant ambition like me, and the other one is people who have fuck all to do and think "ah fuck it, i'll try some of this in my old age"... sadly this was the latter, fuck me. I was the youngest one there BY FAR, at 24 years young, I could've been these peoples grandson, no joke. Everyone was retired and I could smell someone cooking up a huge batch of onion soup in the room next door to feed everyone "just like when I was young" -_-.

Sadly this immediately halted my hopes of working further with this play because I didn't want to go through the hassle of someone having a heart attack in the middle of the play, which is sad because on the face of it, it seemed very cool. I play a 20-something year old hitler who tries to get into art school, fail, and decide to hop into politics (I bet those who were in charge of administration in that art school are kicking themselves now). And working with this nice german director (coincidence? I think not :))... At least I went and had a look and had a go, which is what counts because I knew that I would regret not going otherwise.

Uh this town is so dead, it's going to be a struggle and take a few years I'd imagine to get out of this place, get into acting school somewhere where I DON'T speak swedish (because speaking swedish for me is so boring, like pulling teeth, no feeling of film/acting in it). It's going to take a while... hopefully I don't hang myself until then.

Keep on truckin' and stay in there hopeful.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Song Of The Day


School starts tomorrow... *huge sigh* Can't I just do acting full time? Acting classes aint until February. Turns out I aint going to the ABF semi-full time acting course... don't have the moneys. Oh well, fingers crossed for RADA. STILL HAVEN'T GOT MY DAMN PAPER, STILL FUCKING WAITING.

Over and out

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Hope Leaves The Theater

You guys are fucking lucky I am around you know that? Fucking fell on your feet when you found this blog you people.

I was chilling by the balcony with the door slightly slanted smoking a cigar and listening to Chekhov's "Swan Song", it's like 18 minutes long and it's so lovely, it's like me 50 years from now and you can find it and enjoy the hell out of it on the closest torrent tracker near you.

But I actually made this blog entry to let you know about Charlie Kaufman's radio theater with Meryl Streep among others, check the youtube description for the full cast and other details but this thing is brilliant. Skip the first two videos in the playlist, it's another radio theater but it's only two parts out of 12. So listen to Hope Leaves The Theater :)

If you wish, you can download both of these audiobooks/radio theater from Charlie Kaufman's website! Highly recommended!

Enjoy!

Update: Having listened to "Sawbones" now too, it turns out it was really just two parts long rather then what I thought 12, because my .mp3 from Charlie Kaufman's homepage was 1h 20min long, but I didn't know it was Sawbones + Hope Leaves The Theater together :). So enjoy em' again.

Monday, January 4, 2010

My Favorite Films #3 - Synecdoche, New York


I am a bit confused and surprised. While going through some archives from my site I didn't find a SINGLE POST about Charlie Kaufman's masterpiece "Synecdoche, New York". Now I am sure I have mentioned this amazing film more then once, and I am more then sure I posted the most beautiful song from said film called "Little Person", but I can't find it no matter what, which leads me to believe that said post has been deleted in some mysterious fashion, what the fuck?

Anywho, still scratching my head about this, but still moving on. The film that is the most underrated film in the decade, and I say this because it was GROSSLY overlooked by the academy people, hence why I hence forth don't give a crap about them ^_^

A shower of Oscar statues should've rained upon this film the second it came out, but nay, people who are like fucking cave people can't see genius when it's taking a piss on their heads as it turns out.

It has (just like oldboy and all the others) a brilliant soundtrack that is a MUST for me to convey a mood, feeling etc and it's MANDATORY for me... it's probably largely due to me growing up with video games that always had a brilliant soundtrack to them that set the tone for me for the rest of my life (Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Diablo, Stracraft, Grim Fandango, Max payne etc). The plot of the film is of course great, just read this;

"A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a lite-sized replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play."

I mean, how can it NOT be good right? Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant as usual, definitely one of my favorite actors, and Charlie Kaufman's directing and screenplay is as usual as good as they come out of Hollywood nowdays, *tip of the hat*. There aren't many people I dream of to especially working with but Charlie Kaufman is one of them that I dream and hope I'll meet. Even if he said he got a role where I play a raging rapist homosexual I'd do it in a heartbeat... famous last words -_-.

I'll leave you with a favorite song of mine that happens to be out of this film and the trailer. GO AND BUY THE DVD OR FUCK OFF OUT OF MY BLOG.

Trailer,


"Synecdoche, New York - Little Person", I might've shed a few tears as the curtains fell and this tune rolled up, but let's leave that where it belongs.

John Barrymore, Svengali and Shakespeare

Last time around I gave you 'Moliere', and here is another classic that I really like, Svengali from 1931 with legendary John Barrymore. You'll also see John Barrymore perform Henry VI, Part III which is just truly epic, I hope you folks enjoy them because you won't see this stuff usually.

Svengali Partt 1/10

Henry VI, Part III

Friday, January 1, 2010

Relax To This

Found something amazing to relax to, to meditate to. Just enjoy, good way to start a new year.

Don't forget to USE YOUR HEADPHONES when listening to this.

"Sleepy sound of beach waves"

"Sounds of rain and thunder on the river"

"The sound of rain without music"

"The sound of rain without music #2"

"Sound of rain and crickets"

Something to fill your iPod with, amazing isn't it?