There is nothing more dangerous to your morals than hanging around like-minded people.
The internet is a cold and lonely place. If you are looking for a friend, adopt a dog.
All places are cold and lonely. If you are looking for a friend, adopt a dog.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Not Quite Matinee Idol Looks
What do directors and casting agents look for in an actor? Obviously, resume and experience. Suitability to the role. But what is also marketable is distinctiveness. Memorableness in appearance or voice.
It's not always the handsome actors who stay employed. Often it's the reverse. Actors unusually marked or homely may find roles not available to others. For example:
Ron Perlman. One of my favorite actors, beginning with his role on the TV series "Beauty and the Beast." Liked him in "City of Lost Children" too. Haven't seen the "Hellboy" series.
Richard Lynch, burn victim, who found himself more in demand after his accident than before. Arch villain of the B movies.
Tommy Flanagan, the recipient of a "glasgow smile" as gangsters slashed his mouth; you will remember from "Gladiator." "300," and "Braveheart," among others. I don't know if plastic surgery could hide his scars but if so, he'd probably have more trouble finding work.
Billy Drago, who is almost handsome in an eerie psychotic bent way. Like Lynch, he has made a comfortable living playing psychotic, homicidal bad guys. Remember him as the hitman in "The Untouchables"?
Dyrk Ashton, who has a hell of a resume in the theater and movie business and sometimes, thanks partly to his unique appearance, acts. Check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/dyrkkhan
We might also mention Danny DeVito, John Malkovich, Richard Kiel, and Christopher Walken. Many others. I'll try to add them as I think of them.
ADDED--
Point being that what keeps you employed as an actor is not so much a pretty face which are a dollar a dozen with inflation, but a distinctive memorable face that fits in with the characters being played.
It's not always the handsome actors who stay employed. Often it's the reverse. Actors unusually marked or homely may find roles not available to others. For example:
Ron Perlman. One of my favorite actors, beginning with his role on the TV series "Beauty and the Beast." Liked him in "City of Lost Children" too. Haven't seen the "Hellboy" series.
Richard Lynch, burn victim, who found himself more in demand after his accident than before. Arch villain of the B movies.
Tommy Flanagan, the recipient of a "glasgow smile" as gangsters slashed his mouth; you will remember from "Gladiator." "300," and "Braveheart," among others. I don't know if plastic surgery could hide his scars but if so, he'd probably have more trouble finding work.
Billy Drago, who is almost handsome in an eerie psychotic bent way. Like Lynch, he has made a comfortable living playing psychotic, homicidal bad guys. Remember him as the hitman in "The Untouchables"?
Dyrk Ashton, who has a hell of a resume in the theater and movie business and sometimes, thanks partly to his unique appearance, acts. Check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/dyrkkhan
We might also mention Danny DeVito, John Malkovich, Richard Kiel, and Christopher Walken. Many others. I'll try to add them as I think of them.
ADDED--
Point being that what keeps you employed as an actor is not so much a pretty face which are a dollar a dozen with inflation, but a distinctive memorable face that fits in with the characters being played.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Eyeglasses Rant
Who's a good optometrist? Where is a good place to buy glasses?
As for optomotrists, I've been to a half dozen starting with Craig Wallace years ago and have no complaints with any. Eyeglasses are a whole other story.
Many complaints are about the frames. Overpriced, mis-labeled junk.
Perhaps the best looking frames I ever bought were some preppie-looking Geoffrey Beene tortoiseshell plastic frames. Had them a month and stooped over to pick something up, brushed the frames against the handle of a lawnmower, and the glasses fell off my face in two pieces. Problem was, the plastic consisted of differently colored resins (tortoiseshell, duh), and the frames tended to break on the lines where the resins were inadequately bonded. I explained this at the place where I bought them; they didn't buy my reasoning that the frames were defective; had to buy new ones, which lasted six months with care before breaking in exactly the same place.
Super glue didn't work for me. I stuck the glasses back together by heating a length of paperclip red hot and mashing the glasses halves back together on that. Not pretty, but functional.
My current frames are metal. One pair was labeled "Titanium." Guess I was taken in by that label, because they sure weren't titanium in color. Nor in durability. They are corroding on my face. I have to take sandpaper and sand off the corrosion to keep the temples from wearing grooves in my skin. Another pair bought at the same time was labeled "Marine." I imagined this was an allusion to their durability under salt-water conditions. Nah! The temple piece corroded in two, and I had to splint it by slipping on part of the ink tube from a ball point pen. Then the hinge broke.
Been shopping for frames online. After my experiences, I want either of two materials, nylon or stainless steel. I looked up "stainless steel" at Frames Direct and found a line called "Casino Stainless Steel." In the description, the frame material is stated to be ... plastic. Stainless steel plastic.
No listing found for nylon. But nylon frames have been used by those in the military and by athletes. If you are jumping out of an airplane or kicking doors on a SWAT mission, or competing in the decathlon, you don't wear ordinary crummy glasses frames.
Lenses. My last glasses were bought at Eyeglass World, where I was guaranteed fast service, 24 hours, something like that. Turned out, they had to send the Rx to Austin or Houston or someplace and it took weeks. When the glasses got in, I checked the lines of the trifocals and found they were not in a straight line, in fact, one lens was turned about 35 degrees in the frame and the other about 20 degrees the other way. I sent them back. Waited another couple of weeks. Checked the new lenses, same thing, had to return them. After six weeks to two months, I got two pairs of glasses I could live with, not perfect, but acceptable. Until the frames started to decompose.
I wonder though: about those bifocals and trifocals without lines-- is that a way of hiding errors in the way the lenses are ground? How many eyeglass wearers are going around unaware that the reason they don't like their glasses is because the inset lenses are at the wrong angle? You can test this by moving your head horizontally while looking at a small object.
And there can be errors within a lens. Years ago, I discovered that by looking at an object and moving my head the object would "jump," because of a blip in the lens where the grind was not uniform. The lady at the optical company was not happy, but did replace the lens. Since then, I've checked each pair for "blips."
The other day I broke a lens that fell out of the frame. Glass lenses, breaking them is not news, like a dog biting a man. But this lens was plastic. Didn't know plastic lenses would break straight across like that.
Then there is the service. Years ago, I would be fitted by a lady who was not afraid to get close to my face and microadjust everything without being told. We're talking face to face, breath to breath, eye to eye; it was like being on a date. Now, the young ladies just hand me the glasses and ask me how they fit and stay well away from my face and my person (Is it bad breath? That I hadn't bathed in a week? Because I forgot to shave that day? Am out of deoderant? Or just old and unattractive? Bet Pierce Brosnan gets his glasses fitted right). If I can communicate a problem, they grudgingly bend and twist and hand the glasses back to me as though ridding themselves of something distasetful. And wanting to be rid of something even more distasteful.
When a pair of new Wal-Mart purchased glasses broke on me, I went back to the place where I bought them and was ignored by three employees who were busy discussing something among themselves. Disgusted I went to a different Wal-Mart and encountered a quite different employee, who took care of my problem with concern and speed.
As for optomotrists, I've been to a half dozen starting with Craig Wallace years ago and have no complaints with any. Eyeglasses are a whole other story.
Many complaints are about the frames. Overpriced, mis-labeled junk.
Perhaps the best looking frames I ever bought were some preppie-looking Geoffrey Beene tortoiseshell plastic frames. Had them a month and stooped over to pick something up, brushed the frames against the handle of a lawnmower, and the glasses fell off my face in two pieces. Problem was, the plastic consisted of differently colored resins (tortoiseshell, duh), and the frames tended to break on the lines where the resins were inadequately bonded. I explained this at the place where I bought them; they didn't buy my reasoning that the frames were defective; had to buy new ones, which lasted six months with care before breaking in exactly the same place.
Super glue didn't work for me. I stuck the glasses back together by heating a length of paperclip red hot and mashing the glasses halves back together on that. Not pretty, but functional.
My current frames are metal. One pair was labeled "Titanium." Guess I was taken in by that label, because they sure weren't titanium in color. Nor in durability. They are corroding on my face. I have to take sandpaper and sand off the corrosion to keep the temples from wearing grooves in my skin. Another pair bought at the same time was labeled "Marine." I imagined this was an allusion to their durability under salt-water conditions. Nah! The temple piece corroded in two, and I had to splint it by slipping on part of the ink tube from a ball point pen. Then the hinge broke.
Been shopping for frames online. After my experiences, I want either of two materials, nylon or stainless steel. I looked up "stainless steel" at Frames Direct and found a line called "Casino Stainless Steel." In the description, the frame material is stated to be ... plastic. Stainless steel plastic.
No listing found for nylon. But nylon frames have been used by those in the military and by athletes. If you are jumping out of an airplane or kicking doors on a SWAT mission, or competing in the decathlon, you don't wear ordinary crummy glasses frames.
Lenses. My last glasses were bought at Eyeglass World, where I was guaranteed fast service, 24 hours, something like that. Turned out, they had to send the Rx to Austin or Houston or someplace and it took weeks. When the glasses got in, I checked the lines of the trifocals and found they were not in a straight line, in fact, one lens was turned about 35 degrees in the frame and the other about 20 degrees the other way. I sent them back. Waited another couple of weeks. Checked the new lenses, same thing, had to return them. After six weeks to two months, I got two pairs of glasses I could live with, not perfect, but acceptable. Until the frames started to decompose.
I wonder though: about those bifocals and trifocals without lines-- is that a way of hiding errors in the way the lenses are ground? How many eyeglass wearers are going around unaware that the reason they don't like their glasses is because the inset lenses are at the wrong angle? You can test this by moving your head horizontally while looking at a small object.
And there can be errors within a lens. Years ago, I discovered that by looking at an object and moving my head the object would "jump," because of a blip in the lens where the grind was not uniform. The lady at the optical company was not happy, but did replace the lens. Since then, I've checked each pair for "blips."
The other day I broke a lens that fell out of the frame. Glass lenses, breaking them is not news, like a dog biting a man. But this lens was plastic. Didn't know plastic lenses would break straight across like that.
Then there is the service. Years ago, I would be fitted by a lady who was not afraid to get close to my face and microadjust everything without being told. We're talking face to face, breath to breath, eye to eye; it was like being on a date. Now, the young ladies just hand me the glasses and ask me how they fit and stay well away from my face and my person (Is it bad breath? That I hadn't bathed in a week? Because I forgot to shave that day? Am out of deoderant? Or just old and unattractive? Bet Pierce Brosnan gets his glasses fitted right). If I can communicate a problem, they grudgingly bend and twist and hand the glasses back to me as though ridding themselves of something distasetful. And wanting to be rid of something even more distasteful.
When a pair of new Wal-Mart purchased glasses broke on me, I went back to the place where I bought them and was ignored by three employees who were busy discussing something among themselves. Disgusted I went to a different Wal-Mart and encountered a quite different employee, who took care of my problem with concern and speed.
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