Oh, and by the way, we're filming in Baja! The whole production is headquartered at Baja Studios in Rosarito, just outside of Tijuana. Built for the filming of Titanic in 1996, it's played host to films like Deep Blue Sea, Pearl Harbor, and Master and Commander. I'll be headed down in three days and will be shooting for about a week. 

Get the scoop on the film here! - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1810683/

I also played one of the lead roles in an upcoming episode of a certain "reality" tv show, which for now will go unnamed. Now that was a unique experience. Not only did I get to "win" a Corvette in an "illegal" drag race, but when threatened, I nearly started a riot with my copious "street-cred".

In other news, I had a great time shooting a spec commercial for Dickies last week! When finished, it will be entered to win a spot in their new national ad campaign. Either way, it was a lot of fun and produced some great footage to use for my reel!

I've been seeing a lot of Yichao, one of my National Theater Institute classmates, lately. In addition to getting him hopelessly addicted to Matt Smith's seasons of Doctor Who, I helped with a reading of his new original play HideSeek a few days ago and he's asked if I'd be interested in playing the role again in the finished performance later this year. Also, he's pushing for himself, Joe, and I to put together a web series! We've only just started writing and are still figuring out the logistics, but I'll keep you posted as it continues to develop. Since Joe's been working like crazy for the last couple of months, our secret audio project has fallen by the wayside for a little while, but hopefully we'll get production moving on that soon, too!

That's all the big news for now. I've got a couple of other things in the works, but I'll save them until I have more details. Until then, keep your eyes peeled! You never know when or where I could turn up while you're flipping channels or surfing the web!

Until next month,
Chuck

I'm also happy to announce that I'll be leaving comedy behind for a little while to play one of the sociopathic villains in a short film entitled "Run" that will be filming later this year. For those of you that enjoy laughing at me, have no fear; my comedy career is far from over! Besides, I'll be keeping you all abreast of the film's progress with my occasionally humorous mental meanderings all the while.

At this point some readers may be thinking to themselves, "Wow! It's great that Chuck's getting some work, but will the things he's mentioned so far be enough to pay the bills?" And the answer is emphatically no. Rest assured, however, that I've got the situation under control. I've been hired as a senior counselor at the Young Actors Camp and will be teaching an introductory stage combat course as one of the camp's elective classes! For more information on the YAC, head over to my links page and check out their website.

Until camp starts later this month, I'll be busy auditioning and working on projects of my own. Joe and I are working on getting some comedy sketches filmed, we're still making plans for our secret audio project (see my previous blog entry), and I'm meeting with another NTI alum tomorrow to chat about a web series and new theater. Also, I'll be looking forward to my trip East next month!

I'll keep you posted, so check back often!

Until next time,
Chuck

I've met up with some of the other NTI alumni that're living out here and swapped advice and ideas. There's some talk about getting together on occasion for some Droznin, yoga, stage combat, etc. if we can find a suitable place to meet. Of course, if anyone reading is interested in learning some Droznin movement technique, it's fun, improves your balance and coordination, and anyone can learn! Anyone with even a hint of interest should get in touch with me as I'd love to chat!

Finally, Joe and I have finished revisions of our secret audio project and recorded a "scratch-track" version as a proof of concept. A comedy to begin with, this particular version has the added silliness of having had all of the characters voiced by just Joe and I (which will [hopefully] not be the case in the final version, as our female characters sound slightly off for some reason). In fact, in one scene I was coming on to myself after interrupting myself coming on to myself, me not being aware that the other me was present with me. Thanks to vocal variation, this wasn't nearly as confusing as it now sounds.

Anyway, after a bit more feedback, we hope to get the ball rolling on recording in the next few weeks. Rest assured that upon completion, you'll find out here first!

Now it's time for some paperwork (and there's a bowl of Spaghetti-O's with my name on it)!

Until next time,
Chuck

P.S. My comment that interested parties should contact me for info on learning Droznin goes double for dialects, accent reduction, and acting coaching as well. Lessons are affordable and info is free!

We returned to Vegas for an afternoon of amusement. We decided to check out Caesar's Palace first, which was very cool. We looked around at the shops and things, noticed that there were an awful lot of people gathered around some fountains, and were suddenly presented with a free audio-animatronic performance detailing the fall of Atlantis. Plenty of fire and special effects. Most pleasing. More shops. Some coffee. A second audio-animatronic performance, this one depicting a party but with significantly fewer effects. (We think something must have gone wrong, because the statues kept talking about things that weren't there.)

We visited the Venetian again, this time with camera in hand for some pictures. The ceiling paintings at the Venetian were better than at Caesar's Palace, but the entertainment (specifically the free kind) wasn't as good. The only statues around were the living ones (people dressed as statues) and their performances were quite brief and had no special effects to speak of. Soon, we were off to the Hooter's Casino for lunch. Wings!

As we digested, we did a bit of gambling, each of us setting a five dollar limit for ourselves. I looked for a Blackjack table, and though I found several with five dollar minimums, none had empty seats, so I joined Joe at the slot machines. Having tipped the living statue at the Venetian (despite his not being nearly as entertaining as the ones in Paris [The city, not the casino]), I had three dollars readily available. I tried the one armed bandit... and won! Thirty dollars and fifty cents. So, I lost three dollars to win thirty for a net gain of twenty-seven fifty. Not bad! Joe lost everything. Poor kid.

Next, we headed to the Treasure Island casino, hoping to see their free pirate show. After a brief, but meaningful visit to the Kahunaville bar (which came highly recomended [...for the decor, of course. Never have I seen so many Kahunas in one bar!]), we went outside for the show. It rained. The show was cancelled. We went to see the Mirage casino, planning to return for the second performance of the pirate show. It sprinkled. The show was cancelled. Having stayed an extra hour and a half to see a show that never happened anyway, we decided to cut our losses and proceed to Brian's apartment in L.A.

We arrived at one in the morning and promptly crashed on the futon (or, in Joe's case, two chairs pushed together. [Don't worry! We're alternating which of us gets the futon each night.]) The next day, we got straight to work. We drove around, looked at all the addresses that Joe had picked out online, wrote down phone numbers for apartments with vacancies, and had a lovely lunch at Porto's Bakery, apparently a  Burbank staple. After popping into Target for some groceries, I got a call from Josh (a high school friend of mine, currently studying film at the New York Film Academy here in L.A.) and we visited his apartment for a bit.

Tuesday was primarily spent calling all the apartments for which we had collected numbers and scheduling appointments for tours. Then it was off to a film shoot. That's right, loyal fans! I had a film shoot the evening of my second day in L.A.! Granted, it was a student film project Josh is working on, but work is work, and it ought to turn out pretty well. It's a sort of pathos-comedy and I play the main character!

Yesterday we toured a bunch of the apartments that we had called, a few of which were pretty promising, and then I went to another shoot. Today was entirely dedicated to what was meant to be the last shoot for Josh's project, but sadly one of his actresses backed out at the last second, so we still have a scene left to shoot tomorrow night.

Lots of appointments and filming tomorrow, so I better get some rest. More updates to come as stuff happens and time allows!

Chuck

P.S. I can't believe I haven't been to the beach yet!!

P.P.S. It's been dreary and overcast since we arrived, so maybe that accounts for my lack of beach. Maybe tomorrow..?

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. The last couple of days have been just packed! In a good way. So let's see what you've missed...

When we last stopped, we were resting up for the next days visit to Roswell, NM's UFO Museum and Research Center.

After a period of about thirty minutes which neither of us recollect (except for a vague impression of being lifted and extremely bright white light) Joe discovered he was missing a small (almost microscopic) patch of skin from his left hand. We also both felt vaguely sore in the posterior. Fatigue from driving? Probed during abduction? You decide. The rest of the day was spent driving to Holbrook, AZ, where we spent the night.

The next morning, we backtracked a bit to see the Petrified Forest National Park. Now, THAT was awesome. Joe kept up for most of the day as we explored the fields of petrified wood, gazed at the painted desert, and took pictures of ancient petroglyphs. As a side note, had we done a blog entry at the end of that day, it would have been titled "Joe's Bad Day", mainly due to his feeling ill and having spilled water on his pants in a rather embarrassing location that morning.

Then we were back on Route 66 and headed for Kingman, AZ, where we spent the night. We checked out the next morning (with an inn-keeper that had one tooth) and headed to the Grand Canyon West. Little did we know that Grand Canyon West was only accessible by a thirteen mile unpaved road (of death). We survived and went on to pay the exorbitant fee charged by the natives to see anything. We decided against going on the Skywalk, the glass bottomed walkway over the canyon, but we still got to see quite a bit and even sat right on the edge! We also saw a brief demonstration of Northern Traditional Native American Dance. (Loyal fans should note that this is the very dance style that I learned in the Order of the Arrow [and took third place in at a section competition], so needless to say I was excited!)

After driving the unpaved road (of death) a second time, we headed for Las Vegas, NV, crossing over the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the time lapse pictures I took of the dam at night. My bad. Then we drove through Vegas looking for a place to sleep, stopped in the Venetian, looked around for awhile, and eventually decided everything was way too expensive to bother with. So we left. Not just the Venetian... Vegas. We spent the night in Boulder City, NV, just outside Vegas. We looked for food, but nothing was open, so we went to an Albertsons Grocery store that had recently been robbed. Twice! There were five police cars in front when we got there! Exciting! Finally, we came back to the hotel to eat our turkey sandwiches, brownies, and cheese. We have cheese. That was when I executed a perfect thirty-eight point turn in order to back into a spot that would have been otherwise impossible. Long day.

Anyway, we'll be in L.A. later tonight! Talk to you then!

Chuck

The last two days have sure been interesting! Yesterday morning we left Joplin, MO and headed south. After a few hours of listening to the original "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy" radio programs, we stopped in Amarillo, TX. It was here that we saw The Big Texas Steakhouse (which claims on one of its many highly tacky signs [with a bizarrely high level of accuracy] to have fed Joe's father.)

We didn't eat the 72 oz. steak, but we did spend awhile in their gift shop... which I'm pretty sure was just what they wanted us to do.

After some deliberation, we decided to push all the way through to Carlsbad, where we managed to finagle a reduced room rate from a motel-keeper that thought Joe was homeless. Joe felt guilty for the rest of the night.

We awoke this morning to find our left front tire totally flat. A quick jaunt into a wholesale meat shop, an emergency air fill, and a trip across town later, we were having our flat fixed at Forrest Tire.

Then it was off to Carlsbad Caverns (which should probably be renamed Carl's Pretty Sweet Caverns) for some spelunking and an incredibly late (and slightly disappointing for those who've seen it previously) bat flight.

While waiting for the bats, Joe and I ignored the supremely flatulent youth in front of us by deciding what Whistle Fart and Rubber the Duckie would be named if they had been German. We settled on Heinrich Von Whistle Fartke Schtinken and Doctor Rübber Von Quack. (Remember, these can only be properly pronounced with outrageous German accents.) Finally, we headed to Roswell, NM, while shouting pleasant things to each other in harsh German accents and discussing how likely it is that we'll be abducted tonight. Probes! Don't ask. Won't tell. If I notice any body parts missing tomorrow, I'll let you know. Anyway, gotta get some sleep now so we can check out the UFO museum in the morning!

Chuck

P.S. This was amazing.

We left Effingham, IL this morning, got some ice for the cooler (we only missed our turn once...), and headed for St. Louis.

We looked around in the Museum of Westward Expansion for a while before taking the tram to the top of the Arch and looking out over the city.

Next, we took a trip to the Anheuser - Busch Brewery for a free tour and sample. We got to see the Clydesdales and the brewing and bottling process. It was here that we saw the G.G.W. tour bus in the parking lot and witnessed true westward expansion!

Soon, we were back on the road and headed toward Amarillo, TX. Unfortunately, we had a little scare when we discovered we were quite low on gas. Driving into the middle of nowhere, we opted to take a detour back to a nearby gas station. Somehow, we wound up on a dirt road that led us (after five or more miles of driving on empty) back to the road we had been on and eventually a gas station. The moral? Always check the gas when leaving populated areas. Duh! Next, it was four hours of Star Wars audio dramas followed by a brief but powerful thunderstorm, all topped off with some French onion soup at an Applebee's in Joplin, MO. More to come soon!

Chuck

Our trip was pretty eventful: our battery died during our lunch stop and needed a jump, I got a mild migraine (and Joe had a yourgraine), we missed our exits four times, and we spent the rest of the time listening to Bob Newheart, Anthony Daniels, and Classic Rock. All in all, we made good time, though! Four states today: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana (where we stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Terre Haute), and Illinois.

So, here we are in Effingham (now THERE'S a great name...) at the Motel 6. There's no fridge in the room, so we can't re-freeze the ice pack for our cooler. Our solution?

Fill the sink with ice. We keep it classy. Now it's bedtime for Bonzo! We'll be up bright and early tomorrow to see the St. Louis Arch!

We'll keep ya posted!

Chuck