Sunday, February 24, 2013

New Year Trip part 5

I’m going to Bali tomorrow. I’ll meet Ryan at Hong Kong Airport at lunchtime, which means he has to wake up bright and early in the morning to be at Fuzhou Airport on time. Ryan is not exactly a morning person. Waking him up early is always a chore. Fortunately, I don’t have to do it this time. Unfortunately, if he sleeps in late, he will miss his flight, and there’s really nothing I can do about it. If he can wake up early enough and get to the airport on time, we should be in Bali by dinner time. It’s a relatively short flight from Hong Kong to Bali, but it will be a long day for Ryan.

I’ve been working more than usual, especially since Chinese New Year. He’s been working more than usual, which does not really say much in his case. Hopefully we’ll be able to just sit around the beach and our villa and not do anything except enjoy each other’s company. I’m sure we’ll see some of the sights during the week, but not too many. This trip is all about doing as little as possible.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

New Year Trip part 4

We’ve decided to go to Bali for our big vacation. We’ve both been working a lot lately and we want somewhere we can relax and not worry about having to get to all the tourist sights by a certain time and deal with traffic, crowds and schedules.

I don’t doubt that Tokyo is a great city, and I still want to go there, but it doesn’t seem like the best place to relax.

Seoul was never on the top of our lists. I’d like to go there one day, but Korea just doesn’t call out to me for whatever reason. Jeju might be relaxing, but Seoul is probably just as hectic as Tokyo.

Thailand seems like it might be a great choice, but most of the flights are to Bangkok, which probably isn’t any calmer than Tokyo. And then we would have to take a train or bus from Bangkok to the relaxing parts. That’s just more transportation to more places, more crowds of people all trying to get somewhere, and more hurry up and wait.

We can fly directly to Bali and not have to worry about trying to go anywhere else. I’m sure Indonesia has a million things to see, but for this trip we’re just staying on one island. I don’t even know how much of Bali we’ll see. We’re not going to try to cram everything in. The point of Bali over the other choices is to stick with one place and relax.

We booked a private villa because that’s what you do on Bali. They’re not at all expensive. I’m just hoping the low price doesn’t mean low quality. I know you usually get what you pay for, but February isn’t the big tourist season, so maybe prices are lower than usual. I also love the idea of a villa over a standard hotel room. Unless you pay far more or far less, most hotel rooms are pretty much the same. It’s what you have outside the hotel that matters. With a villa on Bali, I think where we sleep might just be one of the main attractions.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

More Auditions part 2

I went to the audition and everything was going great. Up until it didn’t.

They liked my song. I did “A Wonderful Guy” from South Pacific. Then they wanted me to do “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys. I don’t know if they were looking to see if I could do such a drastic change of pace, or if their song was more the type they want in the movie than my song. Maybe both.

They liked both songs. They liked my singing. And then they hit me with the bombshell. I was auditioning for the part of a singer in an orgy scene. All of the characters are going to be completely naked and having an orgy party, while the singer provides background entertainment. I don’t know why you would need a live band to play at your orgy, but that’s what this scene is all about. They told me it would be shot like a music video to show the audience that it’s a dream scene and not really happening.

I was visibly surprised when they told me, which I’m sure they expected. All in all, it’s probably a good thing that they’re telling everyone right away instead of waiting after callbacks and wasting everyone’s time. I don’t doubt that they’ll find enough actors to do the scene, but I’m sure more than a few will pass.

I was even more surprised when they told me the band, including the singer, are also supposed to be naked in the scene. I can’t imagine why the band has to be naked, but then again, I can’t imagine anyone would hire a band for an orgy. It’s not like they’re calling this movie Ears Wide Shut.

Maybe the scene will make sense in context. I don’t know. Maybe shooting it like a music video will be good for most of the actors, since music videos tend to have too many quick cuts and shaky camera work, but it’s not so great for me. I’d be uncomfortable in that scene even if I were fully clothed. Being part of the orgy is totally over the top. I know no one will actually have sex. It’s a movie. But the actors are still actually naked.

I also know that pretty much every actress you’ve ever heard of has done at least partial nudity. People sometimes say it’s exploitation, but I think Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Diane Keaton and Kathy Bates know what they’re doing. I know that if I’m going to have any kind of career on screen, I’m probably going to end up doing some kind of nudity sooner or later. Maybe someday I’ll be ready to do some tasteful nudity in a great work of art movie, but for now, I know I’m not willing to do some gratuitous orgy scene in a low budget Hong Kong movie.

Based on my reaction when they told me about it, I’m reasonably sure they won’t call. But if they do, I’ll say thanks but no thanks.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

More Auditions part 1

I got another audition. When it rains, it pours.

This is just a singing part, so it’s not going to make me the next Helen Hayes, but it’s in a movie, so I’ll get some exposure.

Now I just have to prepare the perfect song that stands me out from the thousands of other girls these people are going to hear sing all day.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

New Year Trip part 3

We still haven’t decided where to go on our big trip. We really need to hurry up because time is running out. We have to find a hotel and book the flights. I don’t want to do everything at the last minute.

Right now the short list is:

Thailand – Bangkok and/or Phuket
Ryan wants to go to Phuket because he keeps mispronouncing it, even though people keep telling him it’s Poo Get, which is not really much better. I don’t know if I want to go to Bangkok, which sounds terrible no matter how you pronounce it. There are too many easy temptations for him.

Tokyo
We’ve never been to Japan, and Tokyo seems like a good place to start. We only have a week, so there is no way we’re going to see most of Japan anyway. I think we should go to Tokyo the first time and then some other part of the country the next time.

Bali
Neither of us thought about Bali until people started suggesting it. We assumed it would be too expensive, but it’s surprisingly cheap. Hotels are reasonable and plane tickets are next to nothing.

Seoul or Jeju
Seoul is like Tokyo. We’ve never been to Korea, so it seems like a good place to start. Jeju is supposed to be the Hawaii of Asia. I’m sure it’s not. Whenever Asians say something is the whatever of Asia, it’s nothing like what they’re comparing it to. Like Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia. Macau is nothing like Las Vegas.

There are direct flights to all of these places from Hong Kong. That’s one of the great things about living in Hong Kong. You can fly all over the world. We want a direct flight because we don’t have enough time to wait around at airports all day. One week is pretty short when you add in all the airport bullshit.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Chinese New Year 2013

Tomorrow is the start of Chinese New Year. It actually starts on Sunday, but tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, which a lot of people celebrate.

It’s a pretty big deal around here. It’s like Christmas, Thanksgiving and 4th of July all rolled into one.

Adults give each other gifts and give extra to the children, just like Christmas. The big difference being that most of the gifts are money and food. No one gets a toaster for Chinese New Year. Everyone travels all over the country to be with their families and there are a lot of dinners, just like Thanksgiving. Only instead of one day, it can last a full week. There are fireworks all over the place, just like 4th of July. There are fireworks every night in Hong Kong, but this is different. They really go all out during the Chinese New Year. There are special fireworks shows at Victoria Harbour, Disneyland and a bunch of other places.

It’s great to see everyone having fun, but the holiday doesn’t really mean anything to me. It’s not my culture. I can appreciate the celebration of spring and family and whatever else it’s supposed to be, but I’m never going to have their childhood memories of it just like they’ll never have my childhood memories of Thanksgiving and 4th of July.

The main difference for me during the Chinese New Year is that I work a lot more. I’m really going to need the extra money now that we’re taking another big trip.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

My First Real Movie part 6

I did my reshoot and everything went well. I liked shooting in a studio better than at a real restaurant. It just felt more like a real movie to me in the studio. In the restaurant, it was like a bunch of people playing pretend.

We did hair and makeup in an actual dressing room. That felt more professional than what we did in the back of the restaurant. It was mostly the same people, so it also felt more familiar.

My part was mostly the same. There were some minor changes now that they already filmed the fight scene. They probably should have shot the fight first anyway since that is the harder element. We also did it all in fewer takes. The studio set had far more room for all the equipment, so no one was crashing into anyone like they did in the confined restaurant. The star seemed more confident. Maybe because we were in a studio. Maybe because he already did his big part. Maybe he just wasn’t as intimidated by me anymore.

They gave me an extra line of dialogue that takes place after the fight. We shot that immediately after the beginning of the scene. I thought my line was kind of stupid, but what do I know? Enough, I guess, because the director didn’t like it either. After we did the first take, he said he didn’t want to use it. So now I’m back to only having the beginning. I went from two lines before the fight to two lines before & one line after, back to just the two. Easy come, easy go.

The director thanked me for coming in to do the reshoot and I went home. They could have easily replaced me since I’m only in one scene. Maybe it was easier to reshoot with me than recast. The whole day took a little over three hours.

Monday, February 4, 2013

My First Real Movie part 5

They want me to come back to do a reshoot. Apparently, there were a lot of problems with the big fight scene in the restaurant and they had to reshoot it in a studio. The restaurant set in the studio doesn’t look enough like the real restaurant, so they’re reshooting everything they shot in the restaurant.

Now they want me to come to the studio and reshoot my part that happens before the fight scene. The PA I’ve been talking to said the director also added a line of dialogue after the fight. So now my part is before and just after the big fight. That’s good news for me. It makes it seem like I’m in the entire scene.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

New Year Trip part 2

We’re trying to figure out where to go on our big trip. We don’t have a lot of money. We’ve been saving like crazy, but I don’t want to spend too much because then what’s the point of working so hard to save? The whole reason Ryan is living in Fuzhou is to save as much money as possible. If we’re just going to spend it all on vacation then I’d rather he stay here with me.

We both want to go to Europe, but that’s about as expensive as you can get from here and most of it gets reasonably cold in February. We’re from Minnesota, so we would easily survive, but why not be as comfortable as possible on vacation. We’ve talked about other parts of Asia, but we can’t really decide on a place we both want to go. We’ve been living in Asia for over two years and we haven’t seen most of it. I want to go to the most exotic places, but Ryan is a bit burned out on Asia. He’s not at all impressed anymore. I can understand that. He’s living in Mainland China, which is more like real Asia than Hong Kong. Hong Kong is in Asia, obviously, but it’s more international and a lot easier to adapt to culturally than where Ryan lives.

We talked about digging into China. I still want to see the Great Wall and I haven’t been anywhere north of Fuzhou, but Ryan lives in China, so it’s only natural that he wants to get away on his big vacation. It’s kind of funny that I’m so close to the Great Wall of China, relatively, but haven’t seen it yet. I could go there over a long weekend and not really spend that much money. If I went from the United States, it would have to be a big trip and cost a fortune.

We’ve ruled out going back to the United States. We were just in Minnesota last summer and anywhere else, like New York or Los Angeles, is an expensive trip from here.

We’re thinking about Australia. It’s almost like our culture and we can speak the language. That’s important when you live someplace where you can’t speak the language. I work with a few Australians and they’ve been giving me helpful suggestions. Best of all, flights from Hong Kong to Sydney only take about eight hours. Most Australians tell me to avoid Sydney. They say Melbourne, Brisbane and even Perth are better, but most of the flights go to Sydney. I’m sure getting from Sydney to Melbourne can’t be too difficult.