| A Life In Films |
[29 Dec 2008|12:38am] |
A year after my last post, I realized that I've done a lot of films in just this one year. The fact that I got a new camera in the holiday season of 2007 had boosted my creativity. This entire year, all I did was make films. One after the other. I film so much. Edit so much. Wander online so much. So engulfed in my work. It's become a part of my life. A large part of my life. Even though it led me to a lot of opportunities, world wide exposure, and garnered me a major award, I sometimes feel like I missed out on life.
My last remaining years as a college student will be spent at San Diego State and their theatre arts department. My first year there, I did not make a new friend until John came a long. Still after that first year I didn't have time to hang out at parties (I was only invited to two of them out of more than a dozen I’m sure) or any other theatre event and had no time to talk to the kids at the benches, nor did I have anything interesting to say to them. I was never really good at first impressions or making friends quickly, so I pretty much stayed in my own world, thinking about films and filming and the next film to film after that. Most of the young thespians had already established friendships and groups anyway, so I spent most of my time on the opposite side of the infamous hangout by myself. The only time I'd get to know someone is when I film with the few that I ask. That's my way of making friends I suppose, because I don't have any other interesting aspects about me to offer. I'm pretty much boring without my films. I think because of my work, my social skills suffered greatly.
Luckily, each movie I released during the 2008 year helped to boost my reputation, good and not so good, in the SDSU theatre circle that once was uncaring of my presence. People started coming up to me now asking me to put them in my movies. I stopped casting people who ask me upfront like that because of experiences with that long ago, so instead, I pursued those that didn't. I still do that to this day, but maybe that'll change. It's just that the people who had asked, didn't think twice about me before. Now all of a sudden they start talking to me and acting like a friend out of the blue. It doesn't seem right.
I've been complaining about not making friends and not having time to make friends, that now when people want to be my friend or want to talk to me, I start complaining about that. Why is that? Well maybe it's because when people approach me, all they ask about is my movies and don't invite me to the next get together. Issues? Maybe. But I don't have much longer in college and I pretty much missed out on the social life that's included with in the package which people say will be the best times in your life. And pretty soon, I’ll be too old or in a station in life where it’s not as accessible enough to make friends.
But something happened in January. It's probably the most significant thing to happen in my SDSU life that impacted a lot of things. I met this interesting girl who I theoretically haven’t seen around campus before in a class that shared a lot of familiar faces. This girl, who intriguing in many ways, was to me at first some typical pretty girl who was a hardcore theatre buff. I was wrong about that. She was outspoken, opinionated, followed the beat of her own drum, and seemed to lack some confidence. The start of our friendship was rough. We had our share of head butting during class discussions and I did ask her out on a date indirectly, which had me ostracized by her for a while. I was pretty down about it for some time and it questioned my ability to form relationships. But it was because I showed two of my movies that soon enough, we started talking and our friendship started to form. I asked her to be in a film and from getting to know her I found her to be a really cool girl who had some of the same geeky interests as I did. She was someone I can relate to and someone I could enjoy being around with. Now I think besides John, she is one of the first friends I made at State whom I actually hang out with. I feel that because I put her in some movies, people started to take notice and became openly friendly to me due to the fact that a lot of the students in the department respected her a great deal. After filming a major movie with her though, I started to question my relationship with her because things started to get weird. I didn't know if it was me or what we did in the movie, but every so often after that I'd get the cold shoulder from her or a rough response to something I say to her. I felt like she was avoiding me. But I found out she was super stressed with school on top of having to do that particular scene in the movie with me. I still don’t know what to make of it. It did have an affect, but we’re still friends. Though to this day, she remains unpredictable to me. We have our moments of complete friendship and moments where we pay no attention to each other or have some sort of misunderstanding. Either way, it was because of her that I’m becoming more assimilated and accepted by the other students.
Just recently, I won a supposedly major award for my work on one of the shows in the department and am invited to attend the awards gala. I invited said girl to be my date and was nervous asking her. I figured it was the least I could do for her for accepting me as a friend, being in my movies, and indirectly assisting me in meeting new theatre people. Also, it’s really nice to have a gorgeous lady by my side on the most important night (so far) of my theatre career. Oh, and yeah, she said yes.
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| My Dog Nalah |
[03 Dec 2007|02:36pm] |
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Coming home from San Fransisco yesterday, my mom calls me and says, "Nalah died." I was shocked. She had cancer and her kidneys were failing. She wouldn't eat for a couple of days and mom found her lying unconcious on saturday in her pen area my dad made for her. She was really sick and they thought she was dead right there. They tried to wake her and she opened her eye and was very weak. Mom and Christine took her to the vet and the doctors said that even if they perform emergency surgery, they can't garuntee that she'll recover.
Mom spent a ton of money for my grandmother's operation in the Philippines because she has cancer too, so we didn't have enough for Nalah's surgery. So she decided to have the doctors put her to sleep, since she had very little chance of recovery anyway.
Mom told me when her and Christine went to say goodbye to Nalah yesterday at the vet, she opened her eyes and looked at them and lifted her head. Mom said, "Goodbye Nalah, you're a good pet. We love you." and then she layed down and closed her eyes.
I had Nalah since I was 12. So that would make her 12 years old in human years. It's so weird to see her pen and dog house empty. Last time I saw her was when I fed her last wednesday night. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her.
I miss her.
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| New Laptop |
[29 Sep 2007|12:47am] |
 Can do work away from home now. |
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| LA Again |
[18 Sep 2007|09:25am] |
Last Sunday I went to LA because I was hired as a stuntman by one of my independent film collegues, Todd Roy of Kwoon (who's now working for a major studio), by the recommendation of my other indie friend, Vlad. Oh and our buddy Steve Reedy (MTV Movie Award Nominee) was the Director of Photography too, so it was like a melding of several indie group individuals in one project. The Independent Action Film community is generally close and we call on each other when projects come up. I guess it's true what they say: It's who you know.
Anyway, Vlad was the stunt coordinator for a webseries produced by Warner Bros. and directed by Todd. They were looking for a young looking guy to get hit in the head with a watermelon, so Vlad called me up and asked me if I could do it.
When Vlad and I got to the set, my job got extended. Not only did I get hit with an edible projectile, I got to do a table fall and get pelted with eggs and lettuce by a bunch of high school kids. As you can guess, the scene was a high school food fight. The pay wasn't much, but if the show takes off, I'd get more work.
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| Why? |
[19 Aug 2007|10:57pm] |
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I went salsa dancing tonight cause Whitney told me to and I found it kinda fun and interesting. Maybe I'll keep taking lessons.
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| Sinbad's Crew |
[01 Aug 2007|10:31pm] |
I got an acting gig in LA yesterday through a guy I worked with in the San Diego Opera. He referred me to his director friend and I was hired almost instantly when he called me two weeks ago.
The film was for a pre-show video for a Sinbad ride in a South Korean theme park. It was a fun shoot. I was in a Malibu beach for five hours playing a crew member named, Rat, alongside Moose, Arrianna, and Sinbad. I had a few lines and all I had to do was get out of a boat, walk off to find fresh water with Moose, and then get hit with one of the water jugs. That's all I had to do for a really sweet paycheck. Shit, I would have done my usual insane filpping manuvers for this kind of pay.
So if you happen to find yourself in this Korean theme park, you'll see me on the monitors in the Sinbad ride's line.
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| Comic Con |
[27 Jul 2007|01:48am] |
So today Sunny and I went to Comic Con for the second day in a row. We were only there for two hours cause she's couldn't go until after 4. She got recongnized by a bunch of my friends who saw her in our movies and she's was really excited about that. Tomorrow and Saturday we're dressing up as our Emo Movie Review Show characters.
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| I Just Had To |
[27 Jul 2007|01:28am] |
I stated yesterday that I watched Arrested Development for the first time. Well, I went out and bought the complete series on DVD. They were only $14.99 each at Best Buy so I couldn't resist.
 The Complete Series! |
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| Arrested Development |
[26 Jul 2007|02:18pm] |
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I caught Arrested Development on G4 TV today and it's probably my new favorite TV show now.
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| I'm Wayne Brady B... |
[21 Jul 2007|10:22pm] |
So at work today, show 3, one of the uhsers run to me, Shannon, and Brittni, freaking out saying, "Oh my god! Wayne Brady is in the audience!" So Shannon and I start freaking out as well. Wayne Brady was with his family having a day at Legoland, so they all ended up checking out our show. The king of improv watching our show, which has a lot of improvised moments in between, so we better not fuck up. As the show goes on we, the whole cast energized something fierce, put on our best show in a while. Totally solid. During the course of the show I kept looking at Wayne and back away quickly. The whole cast probably did the same. After the show, Wayne with his kid, came up to us and said, "Great job you guys. That was a great show." All of us smiling, we thanked him.
Wish we had a picture with him.
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| Life is... |
[10 Jul 2007|08:13pm] |
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- I love my job.
- I work at Legoland as a stunt performer and get paid big bucks to flip around and spray kids with a fire hose.
- I got to perform on the big stage. The San Diego Civic Theatre with the San Diego Opera. Never could have known my first professional show would be in an opera.
- I got paid to do fight coordinating at Grossmont College.
- I still wrestle and I get paid to do it now.
- I finally get paid to perform.
- My first semester at State I made a ton of friends who now work with me in my movies.
- I finished summer school.
- I worked on the True to John Woo short film with my new friends Trever, Joan, and Omar.
- I'm going to see Avenue Q with my cousin Nathan tomorrow.
- I'm going to Comic Con with Sunny.
 I play at Legoland  I like my hair. Life is swell so far. |
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| I Got the Wii Baby! |
[20 Dec 2006|04:49pm] |
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mood |
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I wasn't in dire need of a Wii to begin with, but after playing it at my cousin's house, I was interested in getting one sometime down the road. More like six months. I didn't have the money for sure to go out and buy it and there wasn't many in sight anyways so I really didn't care to have one. Besides, I don't have much time for video games these days. It was then at the night of the VGO Network company party that I would receive the grand prize of the night.
There was a raffle near the end of the night that was restricted to staff only and the CEO announced that the big prize was gonna be the biggest giveaway in the company history. It would have been the PS3 he said, but those are almost impossible to get in stores and impossible to get from the internet at a resonable price. So instead, it was the The Nintendo fuckin' Wii! A system that people actually wanted to keep. PS3s were mere tools for online peddaling to desparate gamers and holiday shoppers, so the Wii was a nice keeper and a great way for me to save $250 down the line.
I wasn't expecting to win that thing considering my odds and the 20+ staff writers there are in the company so I didn't really sweat it. I just sat there thinking about something else. The names were written on pieces of torn paper and put into a styrofoam cup. They were shuffled around a bit and soon after, big boss Harry pulled a name from the cup and did not announce the name. Instead he looked right at me and said, "Do you even have a Wii?" I said, "No!" and he handed it to me. I was excited as fuck and held the box over my head in complete and utter triumph yelling "Yes!" to the disappointed applause of everyone in the room. I even considered pulling off a "Nintendo 64 kid" tiraid, but that would have been a bit much.
 Hey, I got lucky I guess.
Now I have to go out and buy a damn game. I really don't see anything I like or actually want to spend money on, so there is no point in going out and getting one. Legend of Zelda looks really cool, but I could always borrow that from my cousin. I hope the Wii comes out with lots of cool games, or it'll just be a waste for me to have one.
In the end I was happy that I got one. But I have only actually taken it out and played it once. That's it. Not really interested in playing it right now. But the time I did play it, was really fun because I got to play it with my whole family. That never happens with games. I was excited yes, but will I even put it to good use?
-Jay
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| First Step, Second Step... That's Ippo! |
[09 Dec 2006|01:10pm] |
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music |
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Chris Cornell - You Know My Name (Casino Royale Theme) |
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Geez let's get this year finished already. It's been the not the best of years for me. I get seriously injured, betrayed, fired, and hurt. Fuck. I'm ready for 2007 and I'm hoping it will be a better year. I probably need to sever several ties and just have a different plan. The only thing I can really think of that was worth making this year bearable was gaining two great friends and hanging out with them as much as I could. Other than that, this year was the worse. And It's not over yet.
 The Heroic Trio
It was great to finally meet Joe after three year of talking on the internet and the phone. We've been fans of each others movies and we finally had a chance to make one together with our individual skills. I'm surprised he tolerated me for 7 days in a row. I'll be visiting the punkass on his turf in the first week of 2007. I've never been to the east coast before, so I can't wait.
Ahh school is almost over. Didn't really come to me as a surprise it was so quick. Even though Human Biology was the most boring class ever, the semester went by real quick. Speaking of which, my group for the final project got a 100%. I made a video for our group and the class loved it.
I thank my buddy, Jenna aka Silent J*Rea, for coming over and giving me moral support while I sat on my computer editing the thing for hours on end and watching the Heroes maration with me. And for decreasing the bordem in class by making co-op drawings.
  (left) Fun time drawings in class with Jenna. (right) Taking a Japanese style picture while working on our project.
Is it me, or do it seem that I only hang out with white girls? My friends say I should find an nice Asian girl, but I haven't, and it's rare for me to be attracted to one in the first place. What's funny is that Asian girls like me, but white girls don't. Ugh. I just need to find a nice girl. Period. One that I can stand for more than a month. And one who's single.
Oh yeah, San Francisco was fun. I was there for only 3 hours to play some video games. I got a pirate book and a friend out of it. How nice. Free trips and free alcohol is always good.
  (left) At the airport. (right) San Francisco.
Go see Casino Royale. Daniel Craig is boss. Go.
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| To San Fransisco |
[29 Nov 2006|04:25pm] |
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My boss at VGO messages me last night and asks me if I want to go San Fransisco on Thursday for a video game company's conference. I said yeah. All of a sudden, today I get an e-mail from the airline with info on retrieving my boarding pass. So now I'll be heading to San Fransisco tomorrow afternoon. That was quick.
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| Aww Yeah! |
[10 Oct 2006|01:50pm] |
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Okay go - Here It Goes Again |
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Got a digital camera finally. The Canon Powershot SD630. YAY!
 Nice!
I also got a Nintendo DS Lite, Onyx color.
 Sweet!
This is the last week for my show, Fortinbras. Come and watch me! And remember, you know you want to see an Asian Hamlet!
-Jay
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| #7 |
[25 Aug 2006|12:21am] |
Guess who's Hamlet in Fortinbras?
Yo.
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| No Subject |
[20 Jul 2006|01:26am] |
San Francisco was cool.
The party at Sunny's house was crazy... especailly after I had left. Damn.
Comic Con is going on this week. Let's go.
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| I'm no longer a professional wrestler |
[01 Jul 2006|11:55pm] |
I am offically retired. And it was by choice.
Last Saturday I performed in my last wrestling show at the Ocean Beach Fair. I had four matches in three shows in one day. I also participated in a battle royal. I won three of those matches.
(Left) The Knuckle Duster to Buster. (Right) Sunny Side Up on the same guy.
My first match was with my long time rival, Buster. I lost that match, but it's okay, cause I did a lot of cool moves. My second match was perhaps my favorite, surpisingly. It was against Mase. I never wrestled with the dude before so I was nervous. Especially when I found out that my two friends, Amy and Sunny, came to see me. It was their first time to watch me wrestle so I was equally excited and nervous. It went over well though. I got to hit on Amy and Sunny as my character which was a lot of fun. I asked Sunny, "How much did your boyfriend pay you?" and said to both, "You girls see me after the show. ;)" They played along really well. Mase and I hit almost all of our spots and did some neat combinations and moves. After I defeated him with the Spring Valley Driver, I went over to my girls, sat with them, and kissed them both on their cheeks to celebrate my victory. Loads of fun.
(Left) Spring Valley Driver to Mase. (Right) Being chased by Black and Blue.
After the match I hung out with Amy, Sunny, and a few of Amy's friends. We walked around, looking for something to eat, went to the beer garden to get a drink, and hit up a bar to get more drinks and play pool. An Asian guy with four white girls lol. You know I had fun! At the bar, Amy kept talking to these two guys and eventually brought them over to play pool with us. Haha! Silly Amy! Also, Sunny and I renamed one of my moves after her. My standing shooting star press is now called the Sunny Side Up. Cool name huh?
In my third match, I went up against Black and Blue (Malcom). It was a lot of fun cause this time I did more spots with Amy and Sunny and they cheered for me more. During the match I would go sit with them for comfort cause I was scared of my opponent. Malcom interacted with them too. after he did his devstating fisherman branbuster on me, he yelled to them, "Now I know you liked that!" and thrusted his hips towards them. After I defeated him, the girls yelled at him and said, "I know you liked that!" and did one of my gestures (the crotch chop) at him. It was fabulous. After the match I went to the girls and kissed them again. But this time I was so frickin' tired. So I sat with them until they left.
(Left) A painful headlock on Ryan Stone. (Right) Me with two of my biggest fans, Amy and Sunny.
The last match was a surprise. An injured Ryan Stone wanted me in the ring. So I took up his challenge and manhandled him in a squash match. That means I was all offense and he didn't get any attacks in. So I beat him in less than five minutes. The last thing I participated in was a battle royal with about 9 guys in the ring beating the shit out of each other. I managed to avoid fighting most of the time, but I eventually got thrown out of the ring and eliminated. So much for that.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Everyone wanted me to stay, but I didn't want to. I figured out this past year of wrestling that this business is not for me. So I'm done with it.
Jay
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| Why is our country remaking great Asian films? |
[30 Jun 2006|12:00am] |
Lack of originality I suppose? Ran out of ideas?
I saw The Lake House last week. Reason why I saw it was because I vaguely remember that it was a remake of a South Korean movie called Il Mare. I actually liked The Lake House. Now I'm interested in seeing the original. I'm buying it tommorow from either Amazon or a Korean DVD site. A 3 disc special edition with a neat looking box. I heard that the original S. Korean version was a lot better, which is usually the case.
There are a ton of Asian movies that are being remade recently:
Il Mare (S. Korea 2000) - The Lake House (2006)
Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong 2002) - The Departed (2006 dir: Martin Scorsese)
My Sassy Girl (S. Korea 2001) - US remake (2007)
Oldboy (S. Korea 2003) - US remake (2008)
A Fist Full of Dollars was good, even though it was a shot for shot remake of the samurai film, Yojimbo.
As long as the remakes aknowledge in the opening credits that it was based on the original (like The Lake House did), then that's cool.
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