Another two-days-in-one post

I guess you'd say things are picking up a little bit. Yesterday was martial arts choreography in the morning and then filming in the afternoon, and we got through the filming so quick that we went straight into the review instead of doing it today. The instructors said the fights had been improving over the course of the workshop, even though mine was criticized again for low energy and a lack of acting. I got video of it, though I'm not sure I want to post it at this point. Danny told me he wanted me to go crazy in the next fight to try and put some action into me.

After the review, Dave said we were ahead of schedule for the first time in stunt school history, which troubled Stephen and I. If there are twice as many students as usual, and we're ahead, doesn't that mean that we're getting even less time devoted to us than when there are only 30 students? It's a troubling thought, and more and more I'm becoming skeptical about the administrative elements of the school. We had the business meeting this afternoon, discussing networking and proper behavior when it comes to getting and keeping jobs, which restored a lot of my faith in where this school is taking me.

During the meeting, Danny mentioned the importance of having a professional voicemail message (I need to double check mine. It's pleasant, but not very professional) and a professional e-mail. He specifically used "number one stuntman" as a bad example, so I'm hoping that this blog URL will be taken the way it was intended: a joking reference to a Big Tymers song from 2000, which feels so very, very long ago. I need to ask Danny if maintaining my school email will reflect well on me for my prestigious education, or if it'll just look like I'm a student forever.

Overall, though, I'm feeling pretty tired and a little disenfranchised. I don't feel like I've picked up a lot of new information here, though Dave said that it would take three or four days of SAG work to make the cost of the school back, so hopefully it'll pay for itself quickly.

Stair falls

Moving right along

I was way too tired to write anything yesterday, so I'll touch on what we did briefly.

Yesterday was the first time we did anything remotely new to me since I've gotten here: tackling and the mini trampoline. There really wasn't much to the tackling, just making sure both people go down as one so there aren't faces and shoulders knocking into one another. It involved a lot of running and yelling and sudden impact, and the time spent outside on Sunday had my allergies acting up. Before long, I got a sinus headache. Yay!

The trampolines got a lot of use during the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show, where the shot would show Sarah Michelle Gellar grabbing some hapless vampire and beginning a throwing motion, then the angle would switch to them soaring through the air. Off-camera, conveniently, was a trampoline, and that's what we did: acting like we were being thrown or forced unpleasantly through the air.

Today we started out doing some martial-art kind of things, which in stunt terms is just fighting for the camera in a more controlled, stylized fashion. It was really, really boring, but I'm looking forward to choreography tomorrow. Then came the only part of this school I was at all concerned about: stair falls. The instructors built two sets of stairs for us to go down and then padded us up. We'd get varying amounts of padding based on the jobs we got in the future, but for the training part we were allowed to get comfy.

If you have ever heard the expression "as easy as falling down stairs", you should know that it is a gross, horrible lie. Falling down stairs properly is complicated as hell. The way Jason put it during his explanation is that we can fool gravity in two ways: going really slowly by controlling our bodies, or by going fast enough that we set the pace before gravity gets a say in things. Falling down stairs involves the latter. One thing he said made it seem a lot easier: just imagine the stairs as a floor with holes in it. The edge of each step has a surface to it, and there's some space between them. And it's at an angle. These things are all window dressing, the surface is the important part.

Once we finished up with class, we took a trip out to the Value Village to get clothes for our fire burns next week. Pictures of that here: hope this works!

When the video of the stair falls finishes uploading, I'll post it. Goodnight!

First day off!

I actually slept in today, which is a weird concept. Before I left to come out here, Kenny was over and talking with dad for a bit when Seattle came up. He said he'd be out here visiting his sisters at the beginning of August, which happened to coincide with my first day off.

I called Kenny the other day and we sorted out how things would work. His sister Sandy got me this afternoon and we went by her place where she and Kenny were putting in a new bathroom. They still had some work to put in, so she dropped me off in Kirkland by the waterfront and I walked around and explored for awhile. They got me a little later and we went to their other sister Diane's place. Diane's husband Kent made a bonfire and grilled corn and salmon. There was a salad with edible flowers on it, which were really pretty but I couldn't get much taste out of.

Afterwards their friend Jason finished up a cobbler he'd made with blueberries from his yard, and we sat around the fire with their dogs and talked. It was a nice day off, and I'm rested and ready to kick some ass tomorrow. Mini tramp and bulldogging!

Second fight video

I wasn't able to film the actual filming of the fight, so I recorded the review session. Jason stops the fight halfway through to complain briefly, but he has a valid point. Dave was a lot gentler this time around!

It's official!

I love you, mom. I love you, dad. But the simple fact remains that this is the first blog post I've made while being somewhat drunk.

Tomorrow is our first day off, and everybody had kind of a fantastic time. Right now, I'm not 100% sure where my Roma zippy is, but I think it's with some girl one floor down. Let's do this chronologically.

Class went well, we got our knife and club choreography and it was absolutely awesome. Zack was a great partner, I was less comfortable with him than I was with Stephen, so we stepped it up a bit. I handed off the camera to Stephen to film, but he missed the fight, so I caught the review version, so enjoy the messed up color and Jason criticizing us during a long pause sequence. The intensity was kicked up a ton, and it felt awesome.

After class, I talked to Kenny briefly, and his sister will pick me up tomorrow afternoon to attend a barbecue (which means free lunch/dinner!) and I get some quality time out of the hotel. Stephen and I had more teriyaki chicken, which will probably be a staple of our dinners since we have so much rice and so many chicken breasts. He stayed in to talk to his girlfriend while I walked with Greg down to the Olive Garden where Danny and Jason and about thirty students were getting dinner.

I ordered a martini the way I like it at the bar (Bombay, two drops of vermouth, up, olives) and the bartender turned the bottle upside down and kept going. I watched her intently the whole time, my smile spreading with each negligent second. It was the strongest martini I've ever had for less than eight dollars. Everyone else ate, and I had a great glass of Chianti (no farva beans or liver, unfortunately).

We moved on to a karaoke bar I can't recall (four nights of karaoke a week, completely unacceptable) but Joon and Jana were buying round for everybody, so I proceeded to enjoy myself. If it weren't for my dramatic necessity for perfect spelling, this would be horrible. I got up and sang The Strokes' "Reptilia", which is probably the song most suited for my vocal range, loaned out my jacket to this girl Erica who was too dumb to wear sleeves, and got a ride home with Danny. We listened to his lyrical stylings on his iPod on the way home, including the stunt school theme song, and a charming little ditty called "You're A Stupid Cunt".

Danny is a good person, and I love him dearly.

Armed combat

There's really not a lot to be said about today. We split up into two groups and switched off. I paired up with a guy named Zack from Chicago who had also played Romeo in the past, so we shared some common ground. We went over knife work, which was really just like the unarmed stuff except with something in your hand, and then switched over to club work, which was just like swordplay. It was easy to work up a sweat in either environment, but the technique is all pretty simple. Tomorrow we'll do choreography and that will be exciting. Plus, there will be another video up!

I went on an adventure, trying to find a liquor store out here because I thought gin and tonics would be a good way to unwind after days of violence, and the nearest one is about a half hour walk away. It was therapeutic, and I realized I was walking around a strange city I'd never been in before. It's kind of fun thinking about it like that.