You Can Move Forward Even If This Hasn't Happened Yet

This might be a little "New Age" or a little "Therapeutic", but this is a good lesson for me about being able to move forward even if everything isn't emotionally stable for you.

Carrie Underwood Thanksgiving - YouTube: ""

Also, the idea that Carrie Underwood is doing Sound Of Music LIVE seems silly, and straight out of that Bill Murray movie SCROOGED.

Black Friday WORKOUT (At Home) - YouTube

The Thanksgiving Day / Black Friday At Home Workout

If you are going to eat as much as I plan to, you should probably figure out a way to work it off. I am working out on Thanksgiving day, since it's Thursday, and I work out on a Tuesday, Thursday, Weekend Schedule.

If you read "Half-Assed Health How to Look Good Naked WITHOUT Starving, Suffering, Or Surgery", then you'd know that I only work out 3 days a week, for about 30 minutes. You can knock this at home workout out in super fast time, and feel good, ready to eat your face off!


Black Friday WORKOUT (At Home) - YouTube:

You might notice that this is very similar to the Hurricane Sandy Workout... because they're the same thing.
Go for it today, and pick up a copy of the book for your end-of-year resolutions coming up!

Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream

Hanging out with actors, talking about Julie Taymor

Last night we went to see Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream in Brooklyn.

We went to see a friend Roger Clark, who I'm pretty sure was born to play regal characters, and will for the rest of his thick-beard having life. Good work Roger. 

I expected a lot from the production, since it was so well reviewed, and it is Julie Taymor. 

This is now the 3rd Midsummer performance I've seen out of the 5 Shakespeare shows in 2 months. 

That's a lot of Shakespeare.



https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=RVmCka_DsfE

Although I found a number of enjoyable things about this production, the one from The Titan Theatre Company I saw and wrote about (and saw TWICE) has probably ruined this play for me.

It was that wonderful.

The Julie Taymor production had some cool harnesses and projections, but where was the story?

Sure it was cool to see a puppet donkey head on Bottom, but then any jokes made by him were impossible to appreciate.

Yes, the forest of sticks made me understand that the characters were in the woods, but I wanted to feel the fun of it, not the dread. 

It felt like someone forgot that the show was a comedy. 

Titan Theatre Company's production never let my smile leave my face.

So my question is, what kind of impression do you want to leave your audience with?

I make a PERFECT Blog post on "Medium"- See?

I just wrote the PERFECT blog post on a new blog platform: Medium.

The title is: 

“Good” Now is BETTER than “Perfect” Never

Of course you can do better, but so what?

I ended up telling the story of how I got to write the post... Kinda brilliant, and yes- it's all true. Check it out:

*******************************************

I’m not going to rewrite this blog post.

Also, this is my very first post on MEDIUM, and the only reason I’m here is that Gary Vaynerchuk told me to be in his interview with Marie Forleo this morning.

I asked myself- what would be the PERFECT post to write about, and have I explored something before, so I can then re-direct people to my blog where they’ll maybe buy one of my books, or one of my opportunities to work from home?

I looked at my past posts to see what I could just reproduce here, and found I have actually written some pretty cool things, but a lot of them have a video in them, which I can’t do here.

So, then I looked at the documents I have on Scribd, all basically short reports designed to get people to click through and buy something else.

Now, mind you, this is all good stuff, but not really perfect for my first post on MEDIUM, I mean, fromt he homepage, it seems this is a place for VALUE, for EXPERTISE, and for REPUTATION.

So, finally, I decided I was going to write a post for Actors, since I am starting up a community dffor actors who want to learn how to not have day jobs. I am an actor in New York, and haven’t had a day job in 10 years, so I am beginning to help other people do that.

I wrote a book on it, so I figured I would write my first post in MEDIUM about how I got here, the story of the past 10 years.

I have obviously not done that (Or have I been extremely clever, and kinda done that anyway?).

However, I realized that I had wasted about an hour with the edit screen up, the title not composed, nothing written, and the tab open waiting to find the PERFECT thing to write about and the perspective to use.

That’s when I remembered one of my favorite quotes “Good Now Is Better Than Perfect Never”.

I got mad at myself for wasting the time and energy in trying to find “PERFECT”, when I just needed to get started. Now that I just started writing, I see that not only did I get in just about every point I wanted to, I hopefully got the point across:

That waiting for the perfect moment is an exercise in futility, and often doing what’s “good enough” will suffice. And then you can “Ship it” as Seth Godin says.

Nope, it will never be perfect, and now that I look at it, I see that I never even mentioned the “Of course you can do better” part, but so what? Here it is, “Good enough”.

I would mark this first post on MEDIUM as “Good enough”, and so I’ll end it right here.

What do you think?

****************************************

Kinda clever, right?

I really wanted to edit it- I even clicked "edit" because I wanted to at least add a picture, but I chose not to. What's there is what's there. BUT- here's a picture for here- 

So here's the thing, if you're with me on the whole "Good Now is better than perfect never" idea, share this and leave a comment. 

I wanna see if you're out there. You may not be, but I'm asking.

What does ROB FORD have to do with your ACTING CAREER?

What Is Your Actor Brand?

Remember when Tina Fey got to be Sarah Pailn?

A big mistake many actors make is that since they're actors, they think they can play ANYTHING, and they may be right, but it doesn't matter-

You'll only get booked for what OTHER PEOPLE think you can play.

Just like you would use soft scrub instead of toothpaste to clean your bathtub (even though it would work!), the people who are going to hire you will mostly hire you to do something they've seen you play already.

Case in point: ROB FORD.

Now that he is branded as "The Crack-Smoking Mayor" who is clumsy, fat, and drunk all the time, guess who the internet clamored to play him:

CHRIS FARLEY.

Who died in 1997- 16 years ago.

But being a fat, clumsy, drunk slob was Chris Farley's Brand:

Rob Ford the Movie - YouTube: ""
Someone made a fake trailer for "Rob Ford The Movie" starring Chris Farley because of their brands.

Yes, the video is kinda hilarious, and of course, it fits. But I'm pretty sure that there are other actors, ALIVE ACTORS who could also play Rob Ford. Bobby Moynihan did a good job on SNL, but of course, that was to be expected too.

And that's the point.

You had better control your brand- and HAVE ONE TO BEGIN WITH- or you might not get the work that is exactly for you when it appears.

So, maybe you should find a politician who you look like, and see what kind of scandal they can get caught up in! Good luck!

By the way, The Rob Ford Television Show that was in the works was cancelled recently after the public said they would refuse to watch it. The Canadian Public. I have a feeling the US would have eaten it up!

Perform Random Acts Of Shakespeare!

Perform Random Acts Of Shakespeare?

A while ago, my friend Leah Burnette was talking about something, and she said "Perform Random Acts Of Shakespeare". I told her she should make T-Shirts and stuff.

She Didn't.

So I did! See them HERE.

But here's the thing- if someone wanted to run with this, there's an entire business plan that could go with it.

I say that you have a core group of people who perform a random act of Shakespeare flash-mob-style a few days a week, let' say at 4 different locations, and film them all.

Everyone wears the T-Shirts promoting the website.

Splice them together during the weekend, and put them on YouTube.

Make sure that SCHOOLS know you're doing this, and you could even get them to come be a part of a few of the Random Acts. They could watch them in class and discuss them, or maybe for homework- whatever.

After a while, you'd have entire plays up.

Then you could ask people to support you by buying the paraphernalia and donating to the site, or the various completed plays could be bought on DVD, or pay per view, or whatever.

Of course, it would also be a great way to promote your local shakespeare theatre group/

Anyway, the key is promotion, performance, and paraphernalia!!

Buy Random Acts Of Shakespeare Stuff HERE

Building An Asset In The Digital World

Building An Asset In The Digital World

I always recommend Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki because it first taught me about the idea of "assets"- Something That Pays You.

I had never even thought of that as a concept.

Sure, I liked the idea of "making money" and he idea of "getting paid", but the idea that I could actually buy something that PAID ME was completely out of my awareness.

It was one of those ideas that "I didn't know I didn't know" about.

When I explain the idea to other people, I ask them to imagine buying a Pinball machine, and putting it in a barbershop where the kids who come in to the shop can play. You put it in the corner, and go home.

Once a week, or once a month, you go and get the money out of the machine. You haven't "worked" for the money, you haven't "sold" anything- you just collect the money.

IT PAYS YOU.

Another example is when you buy a house or an apartment, and rent it out to someone. The money that is paid by the renter is not something you worked for, and not something you sold- the renters just pay, and you collect the money.

The apartment PAYS YOU.

Online (The digital world) one of the assets you build is an EMAIL LIST.

You build a list of people who are interested in whatever your topic is, and as you send them emails, they buy stuff. You can even set up emails to go out automatically, therefore letting the emails sell automatically.

The Email list PAYS YOU.

It Is An Asset In The Digital World

I build a list with AWEBER, and I build different lists, creating several assets:

My list of Parents who buy my kids books.
My list of Artists who want to make money without a day job.
My List of Healthy People who want to look sexy.
My list of people who want to earn money from home.

If you'd like to do the same, I recommend you start an AWEBER trial:

Get Started Today For Only $1! - AWeber CommunicationsGet started
Create your own asset, and you won't need to find a barbershop, or pay for a pinball machine!

A Sure Way To "Discharge" Pain and Discomfort

Are you an actor, or an artist, or a PERSON, and Are you looking to get rid of your Pain and Discomfort?

I'm about to show you a way that does exactly that- INSTANTLY.

But you shouldn't use it.

You shouldn't use it because it actually robs you of the very thing that will make you change, grow and make you take action to make a difference.

When you have pain and discomfort, you are often motivated to change something. Whether it's the situation, how you see it, or yourself- changing something is a way to overcome it.

But most people use this technique instead.

And it gets them results.

It gets them results that relieve the pain and discomfort, but still leaves the problem.

It's called BLAME.

If something isn't working out, if you can't seem to get on top of something, or overcome something, you can just BLAME someone or something else.

And your pain and discomfort is magically..."discharged".

Here's the thing- you're probably wondering why I came to this conclusion, but it isn't mine. It's from Brene Brown and her two TED talks.

You kinda have to see them together, one after the next, and this little nugget of wisdom is sandwiched in between her talk about VULNERABILITY.

That's a whole other topic, but let me say this on it:

If you're an actor or an artist, your TRUE art only reveals itself when you're SCARED of what it will reveal about you and your soul.

The rest is funny faces... which I love too! :-D

Where does Passion Live?

Someone was recently telling me how musical theatre is all cheesy and ridiculous, and they can't really believe when people break into song.

I decided that this person had never been exposed to the real deal.

Of course a lot of it is cheese-ball hysterics and love platitude rhymes, but some of it- the REAL DEAL of it- is soul-filling love, heart-wrenching sadness, and spiritually-enlarging PASSION.

Yes, this is the cliche clip to pick but how can you watch this and not know how she feels?

1982 Tony Awards: Jennifer Holliday sings "And I'm Telling You" Dreamgirls - YouTube: ""

Maybe if you've never felt like this you have no idea what's happening here.

Maybe you just see someone singing LOUD and yelling for a paying audience, but when you KNOW what she's singing about, you FEEL IT.

Even more, when you are a performer, you WANT to get into a state like this, you WANT to take the emotions, and bring them forward so that someone on the other side of the 4th wall feels it.

The music and lyrics are NOT ENOUGH without the performer.

Do YOU do anything with this much passion?
Could you INSPIRE that much passion in someone else?
Could you EXPRESS this much passion in something or someone?

I don't know about you, but this brought me to tears, and that was after watching 4 different versions of it BEFORE I chose to write this.

I hope something brings you to tears today, and even better, that you bring them to someone else!

SHARE THIS if you believe in PASSION.

The Actor Story That Made Me Cry While Telling It

Yes, I am crying over an Actor Story... more specifically, a STAR TREK ACTOR Story.
Maybe it's just my hormones, but I saw a video that really touched me, and I knew it was going viral, but I happened to know a few back story points that I knew a lot of people didn't know...

I just told you the whole story, but in case you want to see the videos themselves, which are super-inspiring and passionate:

This is the Viral Whoopi Goldberg video that got me started:


And here's a video of Nichelle Nichols talking about her encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This video will put YOUR ENTIRE LIFE into perspective by the time it's over:


Nichelle Nichols' Encounter With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

C'Mon, after you hear all of THAT, how can you NOT keep going?

When Love Makes You Sad

Has your love for something ever made you sad?

Maybe I missed the really inspirational part of this, but the line about the sadness of love hit me really hard.
Lately I've been thinking about that the more I love something, the more obvious it is that it will end in some fashion, because everything does...

Some people will choose therefore to not love, so it doesn't hgurt as much. That's definitely one
way to avoid the pain...



Existential Bummer - YouTube:

But you already know that I'm going to tell you to "Love Anyway", and that "It's better to have
loved and lost, than to not have loved at all", but that's actually not a way to avoid the pain, is it?

What if instead, we challenged ourselves to love more, and love longer, and love deeper, only because we know that the pain will be SO much stronger, and we can CHOOSE to deepen the pain even more?

What if you chose to enjoy the pain of loss because it meant you loved deeply?

What if you could be PROUD of yourself for the pain you feel because you knew it meant you loved as much as you could?

Wouldn't THAT be a worthy way to be sad?

'via Blog this'

Amazon has it's own web series, where's yours?

Amazon.com prime is getting into the TV business!

Although, it's not really the TV business, is it?
They are creating their own web series to compete with NETFLIX, HBO and SHOWTIME's model.

Maybe it's time for Entreperformers like yourself to get on it, and create your own series?
Whaddya say?
Wanna cast me?


Entreperformers aren't WAITING for a break, WAITING to be discovered, or Waiting Tables! They are making it happen, and doing what they want, when they want to.


If you'd like to become an Entreperformer, join us, and create your own series- maybe you'll be the next series on Amazon!

Bryan Cranston Makes Your Day In This "Breaking Bad" Alternate Ending

Well, he did it.

When you're big enough, you can do whatever you want, and Bryan Cranston, thanks to his huge success as Walter White from Breaking Bad is big enough.

Right now.

He hired his old co-star from Malcolm in The Middle, Jane Kaczmarek to do a little scene with him, waking up as if he'd dreamt that Breaking Bad was just a dream.

The fans wanted it, and he delivered:

Breaking Bad Season 5 Alternate Ending

So, the question is, when you STOP WAITING, and get on with it, what will YOU do with your free time?

Will you be an artist, or will you hang out a lot?
Me? I do both, I guess!

The Fool-Proof Way To Get Your Own TV Show

If you're a talented artist, and are working hard on your craft, I want you to be offended by this.

If you're an artist, or an actor, and trying to have someone recognize your talent and hard work..

Forget about it.

Just go smoke crack, and you too can have your own TV show!

The Crack Smoking Mayor of Toronto, Mayor Ford is getting his own TV show, and you aren't.

So keep working on that Shakespeare monologue, and maybe the cameras will come watch you when Mayor Ford smokes Crack before seeing you perform in the alley behind where he SMOKES CRACK.

SHARE THIS NOW.

Why Your Marathon Is Stealing Your Sexy

I know, I know, a Shocking title. But you won't read this unless I write it this way.

Too often people tell me that want to lose weight, so they get on the treadmill for two hours a day and other long-time non-effective strategies.

Muscle is sexy, and Marathoners don't have any. They look skinny, but flabby and UNsexy:

Whose Body would YOU rather have?

In my book "Half Assed Health", I talk about doing sprints instead, but people want to fight with me over it all the time. Well, maybe they won't fight with the research:

"One group performed four to six 30-second "sprints" while the other group did cardio for 30 to 60 minutes. The results were nothing short of amazing. Despite exercising for a fraction of the time, those in the sprint category burned more than twice as much body fat."

Here's where the article lives- On HUFFINGTON POST where a fan of my book sent it to me.

ROAR! This Katy Perry Burlesque Routine Makes Me Say MEOWWWWW

ROAR! This Katy Perry Burlesque Routine Makes Me Say MEOWWWWW!

Have you ever giggled and been turned on at the same time?

Well, my friend Amanda Trusty just did a tap dancing burlesque routine to Katy Perry's ROAR that will make you giggle in your pants... also, it makes my point from one of my books super-strong:

A little back story makes this video so much sweeter:

I met Amanda doing "In The Heights" as our choreographer, and no, she didn't like me very much, as I tend to be a little outspoken. There's a club I think for people who feel that way about me, and she jumped in with both feet. However, we eventually got to be buddies, and she confided in me a little bit about herself and about career as a dancer:

She wanted to get more work as a dancer and get more men in her life, and so for that, she wanted to get absolutely skinny.

I remember her coming back from an audition and being so upset that the director had chosen a bunch of "rail-thin teens" for the show, and feeling rejected by the whole industry.

But see, Amanda has that quality that is essential for success- COURAGE.

She knew that I had written a health book (Half-Assed Health: How To Look Good Naked WITHOUT Starving, Suffering, or Surgery), and a book on dating (Captain Kirk's Guide To Women) and wanted advice on losing weight and on being more confident in her dating life.

I gave her a recipe for breakfast, but that wasn't what was important. See, one night after our opening, we all went out to celebrate, and she was in a spectacular mood. She wore a great dress that showed off her body, her fantastic red hair, and her dazzling grey eyes.

But it was her attitude that night that made her absolutely stunning.

Now by that time, I think we were enemies again (I kept looking DOWN during that number!), but it didn't matter. She was in a great mood, I was also, and we had a bunch of fun together after sharing a shot of Jameson.

I told her at the end of the night that whatever she was BEING that night is the part of her that was irresistible.

Irresistible.

That is the version of her you will see in this video, which also uses 3 features of a viral video as I outline in my YouTube Book (The YouTube Money Machine):

1. A Popular song- Katy Perry's Roar
2. A combination of Genres- Tap Dancing and Burlesque
3. A Girl getting Naked for some reason!

I'm super proud of her, because as some people have mentioned, she is willing to stand there, not be a "rail-thin teen", dance and give us what is on her mind, show us her struggles, and reveal herself in several ways at once.

Showing us her COURAGE, showing us her ROAR, and making me

MEOOOOOOW!

You GO Trusty!

Beautiful Day In Central Park- New York City Without A Day Job!

Beautiful Day In New York City - YouTube

I wanted to let you see what you're missing on a great fall day in New York City.

We are in Central Park, up on the hill at 104th street, and look at how great the trees look! You can even see the Empire State Building.

It was Saturday, but I could be out enjoying it any day of the week because I don't have a day job to tie me down.

What would YOU do without a day job?

An actor walks into a deli at 2am

Right now, I'm at a deli in Brooklyn at 2am after being at a high energy Tony Robbins seminar all day.

Because I was booked to do a scene for a trailer for an indie film...

As an Indian deli owner.

The actual deli owner is Egyptian, and thought that I was too... "Ah-lan" he says (not in any way the correct spelling), and since I've encountered this before, I tell him I'm not Egyptian.

He is slightly disappointed.

But I've been practicing my Indian accent by watching some clips on YouTube, and I'm ready for my scene.

And am super tired.

And then after this shoot, which will probably go into the morning, I will go back to the next day of the seminar.

And the next morning, be up early for a kids show... In Brooklyn.

Someone asked me "Why the hell are you doing all of that?"

The answer is: Because I want to, and more importantly, I want to BE the person who does that.

Instead of being upset about the schedule, I'm grateful that I'm wanted so much!

Is there a better answer?

I UNLEASHED My POWER with Tony Robbins!

Last night I went to "Unleash The Power Within" seminar with Tony Robbins. It's actually all weekend, so I'm just writing this quick post and video to show you how excited I was at 1am to have walked on FIRE!!

One of the little tidbits I walked away with is that PROBLEMS and STORIES can become addictions if you get love and needs fulfilled from them. I took a lot of notes, and maybe I'll expand on it later.
For Now, I'll just say "YES!!!"

Actor Audition Story: "Quick! Can you do an Indian accent"?

http://www.BonesRodriguez.com
http://www.Entreperformers.com

I got a text from a friend at 3pm asking if I could do an indian accent to be a deli owner.

Sure I can. I've been asked to do that before, and frankly, the guys at my local Subway were SURE I was bengali, and have taught me a few phrases. Good enough.

Apparently, my friend is doing a short film and the actors of indian decent that they saw weren't really able to do the scene to the director's liking, so they were kinda desperate, and they were about to cut the scene.

"Let me try my friend Bones" she said.

I got the text. I was there 1/2 hour later.

I looked at the scene for 15 minutes, they auditioned me, and they asked me to do the part in a few days. The entire process took about 45 minutes.

I started to think about what that meant as an actor.
It meant that they were happier to go with a guy who looked "kinda" indian who could do the scene rather than cutting  the scene entirely.
It meant that unless my friend KNEW WHO I WAS, they wouldn't have seen me,

It made me think about how often I am upset at Hollywood for not using Latino actors, or whatever, but maybe sometimes the few that they do see just aren't doing what the director wants, so they find someone else.

Who Knows?

The point is, I got the job!

Auditioning with Laura Valpey Rodriguez, too exciting to be quirky!

Auditioning with Laura Valpey Rodriguez, too exciting to be quirky!

Today I auditioned with my cute wife and boy was a lot of fun!

We went in and we were supposed to be very Wes Anderson but instead I think I was too enthusiastic...

When we talked about Christmas, doing Christmas we have to go all over Seattle to see so much of her family, whereas when we're in New York, it's all just my family for one night bang and its over.

Tomorrow I'm auditioning for two different things we'll see how they go; I am enthusiastic and have to remember to calm it down all the time.

We Went To The NYC Halloween Parade 2013

BEING A PART OF IT IS BETTER THAN BEING A SPECTATOR.

So for some crazy Global-Warming-Is-Going-To-Kill-Us-All reason, it was 70 degrees here in NYC on Halloween.

It is normally FREEZING cold, and because of that, I have never wanted to walk in the parade.

But this year I did!

So, When I got home from an audition I had, I asked Laura if she wanted to just throw together a costume and GO FOR IT! She Said Yes!

We looked around the apartment for what we could wear as costumes, and found a few things. Eventually, we came up with Jayne Cobb and River Tam from FIREFLY.

Not many people knew who we were, but those who did RAN UP to us and sang songs, fist-bumped, and quoted lines from the show. It was super fun to walk in the parade:



What was really wild is that there were so many people lined up to watch the parade, 8 and 10 people deep, huddled closely, hoping to get little glimpses of the creative people go by.

It was FAR more fun, exciting, and entertaining to walk because we could see everything, AND be a part of it.

That's the Life lesson there- BEING A PART OF IT IS BETTER THAN BEING A SPECTATOR.