Jeez Jon

Jon, Trendsetter

Gay Clinton Backers Defect To Obama, Eroding Her Base.  Huh.  Looks like I was ahead of the curve, once again. 

Maybe I'm Just Tired

I've been working a lot lately, so I haven't had time to do a proper post in a while. Apologies. Here's a quick bullet point list as to what's been rattling around my head lately:

• The Oscars.  The older I get, the less and less I care about the Oscars.  Apparently, I'm not alone in my Oscar apathy.  I think a lot of is the caliber of the films in the past 10 years. While a lot of them have been great (or full of awesomeness), overall, I've been rather underwhelmed.  Maybe I'm just tired.
• I've double-backed on my feelings about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I've really enjoyed the last two episodes.  They've moved very well and Brian Austin Green is actually excellent as John's uncle.  I never thought I'd ever type "Brian Austing Green" and "excellent" in the same sentence, but hey, he's good.  Maybe I'm just tired.
• In a very rare occurance, I already have a job lined up once I'm finished at Long-Running Establishment Basic Cable Home Makeover Show.  My writing partner (she's a story producer, I'm her assist) approached me last week with the line "So, I have a job offer for us."  She's worked with one of the supervising producers on The New Show before, and he offered her a job. She said she'd take it and wanted to bring me over, and they agreed.  I got the call a few hours later, and Bob's your uncle.  I'll have a week off between shows, and then I'm working late June.  Plusses in the New Show column include being closer to home (Toluca Lake instead of Beverly Hills) and a better title.  So, as you can imagine, I'm excited.  More relieved.  I dunno, maybe I'm just... you know.

And, In Good News...

One of my closest, awesome, coolest friends -- the illustrious Krystyn -- is moving here to SoCal for her new job.  It's the job she's always wanted, they pay her what she's worth, and they're paying for her moving expenses.  AND she'll only be about a mile away. 

I can't wait to you to be local, Krystyn.  It's going to be awesome.

Down And Out(Graded) By Beverly Hills

Fortunately, I have a lot of friends who aren't actors.  They give me a nice perspective, and that helps to keep my grounded.  They will ask questions about how auditions went, how casting works, etc.  But, invariably, they will all say the same thing: 

Friend: "Man, I don't know how you do it." 

Me: "Do what?"

Friend:  "Deal with being rejected so much."

Me: "Eh. You get used to it."

You do. You get used to it.  If you are booking  one job out of every 10 auditions you go on, you are doing very, very well. So, in order to deal with that ratio, you have to deal with not getting what you want.  And in a town of 100,000 actors, you more often don't get what you want more often than not. 

I used to be very superstitious about the auditions I go on. I would be cryptic with my co-workers about auditions, and not talk about them.  My twisted take on magical thinking was if I didn't talk about a possible big audition (like, 10 years ago, I auditioned for The Goodman Theater's production of Death of a Salesman with Brian Denehy), I'd keep the energy contained and that would increase the possibility of me landing the job. Weird voodoo stuff like that.  Eventually, I got over it.  An actor's real job is to audition well; everything else after that is gravy.  You have to deliver once you get a job, but you have the get the damn job first.  And even after you get every job, that doesn't mean that your work will always be seen.  Kevin Costner was cut out of most of The Big Chill, except for when he was a corpse.  Lara Flynn Boyle's first big job was Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and she ended up on the cutting room floor.  Do you remember Sigourney Weaver from Annie Hall? She's Alvy's date at the end of the film -- all you see of her is a blur in a wide shot.

So, along those lines, my latest news. I got cut out of the commercial (the official term is "Outgraded").  I got the official word on Valentine's Day.  Romantic!  Obviously, I'm quite disappointed.  But, here's the thing:  I got well compensated for my 2 days of work, so that's good.  Also, my being cut from the commercial had nothing to do with my talent, my work, or my work ethic.  It just happened that way.  And this stuff happens often. 

Quite often when it comes to acting and being up for roles, you lose out due to reasons that have nothing to do with you. I've lost roles because I was too tall, too young, too old, not pale enough, and for one Pepsi commercial, not Dave Chappelle.  So, I'm used to not getting roles for stuff I have no control over.  So, being cut out of a commercial is a bummer, but I'm not going to beat myself up for it.  It happens.  Onto the next one...

Ain't Nuthin' Goin' On But The Rent

Apparently on the ballot here in California in June, there's a ballot initiative to abolish rent control on apartments.  Uh, no.  Let's make this fail, shall we?

(Thanks to David for the link.)

So True

A nice parody of the Obama "Yes We Can" video, featuring a former colleague of mine, Andy Cobb!

Funny stuff.

The Killer Robot Girl Schtick Is Starting To Bore Me

I think I'm giving up on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  It's become plodding, dull, and repetitive, and we're only 5 episodes in.  Rather sad. 

Mitt Romney Out Of Race, Vows To Take His Ball And Go Home

Mitt Romney has officially dropped out of the 2008 Election.  While making his speech, he claims he's dropping out so the Republicans will win so we don't get hurt by terrorists.  How desperate is that? 

My Pre-Super Tuesday Experience

As a gay union member in the entertainment industry, I don't vote Republican as it would so be against my better interests. A lifelong Democrat, my choices were down to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  I've watched my fair share of the debates, and I tend to agree with both of them on many issues.  But, the big one for me is obviously gay rights.  Since neither of them have talked publicly about LGBT issues in a long time, I wanted to refresh myself with the two senators' stances.  Imagine my dismay when I went to each of their websites and didn't find "Gay Rights" or at least "Same-Sex Marriage" under the Issues heading on either website.  (Go ahead and check them out:  Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton) I looked for a while and couldn't find anything at either site, neither of which have a "Search" function.

Somewhat ticked, I decided to take things up a level and call their local offices here in Los Angeles.  For Hillary's office, I got voicemail, where I left a message wanting more information and expressing confusion about the website.  When I called Obama's office, I got a slightly-harried but very polite receptionist. I explained the situation to her, and she took down my e-mail address so their Deputy LGBT outreach person could get back to me. 

An hour later, I get an e-mail from the Obama camp.  Mr. Smith (his real name) first apologized for the confusion on the site, and then gave me directions on where I could find Sen. Obama's stances and history on gay & lesbian issues.  (For the record, that can be found right here.)  Mr. Smith then went on to differentiate Obama from Hillary on both "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and on the execrable Defense of Marriage Act.  Needless to say, quite informative.

Four hours later, I get a call from Hillary's office.  A gentleman said he was gay, so I guess that means he's part of their outreach program.  I explained the situation and instead of enlightening me about Hillary's stances on gay & lesbian issues, he handed me off to some intern.

Me: Yeah, I'm having problems finding information on the website about Hillary's stances on gay & lesbian issues.

Huffy Intern:  Well, it's on there.  We have a lot of stuff on there about LGBT.

Me: Yeah, but it's not listed under the "Issues" heading.

Huffy Intern:  That's dictated by the main office in Virginia. The issues listed are updated by then to keep them up to date with the issues that are currently being discussed.  Back in October, this was a bigger issue.  Now, it's about the economy...

Me: Wait. I can't help but feel that I'm at the back of the bus here.  Because we aren't being talked about, you guys don't have any links to LGBT issues?

Huffy Intern:  Look, I'm not that familiar with the website.  I usually just use Google to search the website. Just type in "HillaryClinton.com: lgbt" and that stuff should be coming up.

Me: Why should I use Google to search your own website.

Huffy Intern:  [SIGHS]  Look, just use Google, okay?  I'll pass along your concerns to my superiors.  Thank you for calling.

Amazingly irritated, I followed the intern's advice and got a fact sheet. I called the main office in Virginia, told them what happened, and they then sent me the same fact sheet I pulled up using Google.  I looked both over, and made my decision:

Obama.

For obvious reasons, if Obama doesn't get the nomination, I will totally and wholeheartedly support Hillary.  I actually really like her and I think she would be a great president.  But yeah, I'm pulling for Obama.

Why I Rarely Sport A Beard

Over the holidays, I decided to grow out my beard. I know, I know, you're asking "But why, Jon?"  I did it, 'cause frankly, I knew I wasn't going to have many auditions, and hey, why not?  First off, I can actually grow a full beard, not some scraggly poor excuses for beards you see dudes sporting these days. And, with my genetics, it's several colors:  red, blond, and brown (and a bit gray in parts). It wasn't a strike beard, even though I do totally support the writers, natch.  So, Tom took a picture of me with the beard.  Here's what I looked like:

Tom then looked at the picture and said "You know what?  You kinda look like Dustin Diamond."  Check this out:

As you can imagine, I shaved pretty soon after this exchange.  Thanks, Screech.