Statistics, Love and other musings...
The wisdom of toddlers is sometimes so profoundly simple that when these moments of brilliance occur, it can send one into deep contemplation. Well at least my almost 3 year old does that for me.You see, I have gone back to college to earn my Bachelor's degree... online. The thing about online education is that you are basically teaching yourself. I mean you're given all the materials needed to complete the class but if there are concepts you are trying to understand you really have to do the research. Nothing is given to you. That's okay for me because one of the things that drives my work is the process. For my education, it's in the research and the learning. That doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating...
Back to my brilliant, almost 3 year old... I was working on a particularly involved Statistics problem and after working it over several times, I still hadn't solved it. My frustration was growing and apparently it was becoming visible on my face because my daughter comes up to me, grabs ahold of my face with her two tiny little hands, looks me square in the eyes and with a look that could make the devil say "awww", she says, "Be Happy, Daddy". With that, she let go, turned around and resumed her business.
I of course, was immediately charmed and my frustration melted away that instant. I went on to solve the accursed problem and after, caught myself laughing at how brilliant my daughter is. I have read how our emotional state can effect our cognition. This is a great example of how that happens. So how does an actor get emotional while at the same time, be able to cognitively navigate through a complex scene? I mean, if I am thinking about how much emotion I should allow, my acting becomes false. My goal in any acting situation is to lose myself in every possible moment.
Speaking of losing myself, this summer will be a busy one for me. I have two pictures I will be going to work on starting in June through August. The first one is called Hard Sun and it is a very realistic look at pushing the stresses of a family to the breaking point. All set in the desert backdrop of the California Joshua Tree forests. I have seen some of the test footage of this and it is going to be beautiful to see :)
The second one is called Get Away and it is a wild ride, action, horror, juggernaut! So if you like action and horror, this one will satisfy both!
Both of these movies will be so much fun to work on but I don't wanna drop any spoilers just yet because I think you will have just as much fun watching them as I will working on them.
Okay, enough of that... Have any of you guys been watching The Game of Thrones on HBO? I have to admit, I am completely hooked into that show. It's quite frankly a little embarrassing how much! So, Like a dutiful fan, I went on to Amazon and bought the entire series of books. There are five books with a sixth one rumored to be published in about a year. All I can say is HBO hit a home run with the first season and if you haven't seen it yet, do so. The characters are so richly written that you can't help but get involved. The biggest surprise for me was how closely the first season follows the storyline of the first book. The second one... not so much... BUT, I will say that I understand why they
deviated. George Martin, the author of the books brings a
ton of characters in and I can't imagine how HBO would be able to afford to keep the story going with the number of characters and how deeply involved they become as you move through the narrative. Being somewhat of a purist when it comes to honoring a writer's intention, I have to say so far HBO is pulling off the changes well enough to make it work and it continues to capture my attention and imagination :)
Here's the first book (although I am currently in the middle of the fourth) from the series. I promised you guys that I would share what I am reading at the moment so here's the link :) A Game of Thrones
I know, usually I have a tendency to wax a little philosophic but I think this time I'll just make this a fun chat this time and save the serious stuff for my next post. I wanna talk about food :)
So, be well, be courageous, and above all, let go every once in a while it's so much fun when you do LOL ;P
As Always, Much Love and Success!!!
