welcome aught eight

well, tonight's the last night of a long, luxurious visit to fort worth, where i had little to worry about besides the IRS (which was enough) and writing an article or two. tomorrow morning i fly to new york to be with monica for new year's, and on the 2nd, i take the express train to boston to begin rehearsals for julius caesar. an extremely exciting way to start the new year!!

russia was a success, although the trip back had to be the worst plane ride of my life. i was sandwiched between a temper-tantrum-ing toddler and a big obnoxious guy who drank (too much) cognac for the entire flight. even dad's super-powered Bose earphones couldn't drown out that kid, and i didn't have noseplugs for my other neighbor's fragrant belches. to top it off, the electronics in my seat didn't work, so i could not douse my light, or listen to the audio of the movies they were playing. now it seems like a good setup for a comedy sketch, but then i was miserable!

xmas was amazing, gorging myself on more sweets than i could name in a single breath, and spending quality time with dad, darius, and all the lovely ladies in my life: mom, emily, anahita, and monica.

happy new year to you!

one dub down, one to go

spent the last 8+ hours standing in a huge dark studio staring up at the movie, listening to audio in headphones and trying to talk along. the fun part is i don't just have to do the lines and make them match my lips onscreen, but i also need to make all the 'sounds' of my character as well, which includes breathing, laughing, grunting, exhaling exasperatedly, etc.... then it's wacky to hear your emotive grunting booming back through the room over the loudspeakers.

 

now after a couple of beers in the casino (aka hotel lobby) and a good dose of jet lag, i'm ready to hit the hay and try again tomorrow. i've been invited to my director's house for dinner tomorrow night, which, according to my friend jenya the translator, is a rare honor. apparently he has a world class modern art collection in his home. it's gonna be a trip!

 

still miss xmas in texas though.

russia, again

things have been great in fort worth- family friend betsy is in town and we went out for dad's 62nd birthday the other night, dining with some serious zeal at Lanny's. the next morning was reminiscent of pre-xmas saturday mornings of years long past- waking up to the sound of christmas music on the twin bed that is way too short for me, padding downstairs and receiving a made-to-order egg breakfast from dad. my longtime friend the cap'n came over to install some bathroom cabinets that he'd been working on, and i sipped coffee and yakked with him while he worked.

 

so it was with some major reluctance that at around 2pm i piled into the car with dad and betsy to take me to the airport. after nearly 24 hours of interminable travelling, i arrived last night in the Korston Hotel and Casino in moscow. i tried to postpone sleep, but succumbed at 8pm after wolfing down room service pasta.

 

so now it's 6AM, i've been up for a couple of hours and i don't go to work doing ADR for the egypt movie until 330 PM. i've wandered the hotel lobby which is basically a full-service casino and filled with a lot of tired looking gamblers.  of course i don't have an adapter for my laptop, and of course the hotel doesn't supply or sell them. so i'll read and watch bbc news for the next several hours until it's time to work. i know once i'm in the studio i'll have fun, but i just want to get this over with and get back home to xmas!!

 

 

from cairo to cambridge (with a layover in moscow)

it's been a month since my last confession. i mean post. and a lot has happened!!

the great news is i'll be headed to cambridge on january 2 to start rehearsals for 'julius caesar' at the american repertory theatre. i've been to many auditions in the past month, but this one was the first one i went to after returning home from cairo. it's awesome to be hired by the a.r.t. again! the show is going to be weird and awesome. it runs from early feb to late march, and i'll be updating this blog during the rehearsal process.

the medium news is i'm going to moscow this weekend to record audio for the russian film! it's going to be two days of flying and two days of work (for not a lot of money) but it's worth it to me to have my voice in the film. already one of our number has withdrawn, which means a new actress will do her voice... this has very negative repurcussions on the film, and on its potential to be marketed in america.

the bad news is i'm being audited here in fort worth, which is really what the holidays are all about, right? seriously, it's a pain in the booty. if you want to be prepared for an audit, this is what you should do: keep EVERY bank statement on record for five years. on every bank statement notate EVERY deposit and mark whether it was a payment, and if not, where it came from. keep copies of every tax return and every earnings statement. keep detailed receipts of every expense, dated and itemized. all things i SHOULD have done, but also all things i've never heard of anyone doing. and they are practices which i get to start now because a. getting audited is like a financial bar mitsvah, and b. getting audited begets getting audited, i.e., chances are high that i'll get this privilege again in the next couple of years.

and full circle to great news again: at least the audit is an excuse to be home in texas, hanging with dad. we've been baking and decorating and generally being holiday-ey already, and been getting mutually excited to have the family together for xmas. the house is fully anahita-prepared, with high chairs and changing stations and a truckload of toys. all told, anahita, emily, darius, mom, dad, and monica & i will be here for the holiday. that makes me very happy.