Much Thanks

 
Well, I suppose now that Much Ado About Nothing has finished its 3 week run, I have a little too much time on my hands. Because I'm back to looking at pictures and finding things to post here on my blog. This picture is from the wonderful and outrageous cast party Given by Ken and Robert Sunday after our last show. Susan Odem graciously took this picture Ken and myself using my Nikon D80. (Thanks Susan - I have some great photos of you too!) Even though I was having a great time at the party, I'm now kind of 'down' since I don't have anything 'in the works' in an acting capacity. It's just back to life as usual. Work, laundry, chores, and all the other things that remind us all that we're mortal and not some character who only exists on stage!

Well, I just wanted to give a final thank you to Ken MacFarlane our fantastic director. You helped me and guided me in ways I can't fully express. THANK YOU! I know we shall remain friends, and if I ever get to work with you in a professional capacity again, I will welcome the opportunity.
--By Rex Hoss

Picture Posting

 

This is a picture I took a few weeks ago at a party with my beloved Nikon D80. I was playing with "Depth of Field", a technical term used in photography where part of the picture is in sharp focus and areas in front and behind the point of focus are blurred. You see it all the time in sports photography where the athlete is in focus but everything else is blurred. It's a great technique because it draws the eye of the view to the exact thing you want them to view. Anyway, enough tech talk, just enjoy the picture. Every once in a while I feel like sharing photos I took which I find interesting for one reason or another.

--By Rex Hoss

Bidding "Ado" to the Bard

  Or... Not Much Ado About...It's with a warm and fuzzy sadness that I post this post. My tango with the Bard is over. the CCPT production of Much Ado About Nothing is over and finished. Those of you who missed the show, it's really too bad. The cast and crew had a wonderful time and from all the comments we got, everyone who saw it really enjoyed it!

We had our cast party yester-night and it was also a great success! Much thanks again to Ken MacFarlane for directing the show and keeping the show on course through all the drama (both on, and off the stage). The audience turn out was pretty large for most of the shows (6 in all) and apparently we brought in a rather large amount of donations from the wonderful and generous people who came to see the show. I want to personally thank everone who came out to see me and support my acting. It means a lot to me to know that people I care about are enjoying themselves because of my efforts!

Well that's it for now. I will probably have more pictures posted from the show and some from the cast party, but for now, no more pictures. I'm off to bed to put my after show-ending melancholy to rest for the night. I have nothing lined up for acting right now so I'm feeling a little lost and without purpose, but I am going to enjoy the rest and keep my mind focused on the fact that the next acting job is right around the corner! I'm not sure which corner it is, but when I find it, I'll let you all know!

--By Rex Hoss

Will Act for Food...

  (And money's not a bad incentive either!) As I approach the weekend, I'm getting a little 'misty eyed' about my acting career. See, this weekend marks the final weekend of shows for Much Ado at CCPT in the park. It's been a GREAT experience for me and I'm so thankful to Ken Macfarlane (the wonderful Director) and all of the truly talented and awesome cast! I've noticed through various emails from cast members that I'm not the only one starting to feel a void. We spent a couple of months preparing for and now performing the show, and now it's drawing rapidly to an end.

I think what's adding to my minor melancholy is that I don't have anything else lined up at this moment. When my last play ended I transitioned right into rehearsals for Much Ado without any time to reflect or rest. So, while I'm actually looking forward to some rehearsal free evenings, I'm also going to miss the friendships I've developed, and the sense of belonging to 'something' which I've had while being part of various shows.

So, I hope this weekend's shows are terrific and fun. I have some friends planning to see the show that's very exciting to me! Thanks to all you who encourage and support my efforts! You are truly appreciated more than you know!

I hope to have some more exciting acting news SOON! I will however, be posting some more pictures from the show for everyones viewing pleasure!

--By Rex Hoss

Not Much More to do about Much Ado

Have you heard? Everyone's talking about how GREAT the Much Ado About Nothing performances were this past weekend! It was weekend number two for the cast and crew of "Ado" and speaking for myself, I thought we had a couple of great shows! Oh, yeah, there are always things which are unplanned, like an actor drops a line or two - I won't mention any names, because I've been guilty of it myself, and it's part of what makes each show special and fun - and keeps us actors on our toes! I LOVE this show, this cast and I'm having a blast! I've said it before - you guys all rock!

Well we're 2/3's done with the show. Only one more weekend so if you haven't seen it yet make plans to this weekend! 2pm at Paul Carlson Park in Culver City - admission - FREE, bring a chair, blanket (food?) and lots of your friends!

Much Different To Do About...

Feeling in a reflective mood tonight before our 2nd weekend of shows, I thought I'd put a new spin on some of the pictures I have from the show - so without Much Further Ado... here's my fractured story.

This is also known as putting a completely different storyline to a set of pictures. (The following story is purely made up and not a reflection on the real actors, story or performance.)

 

I was thinkng it's about time for another performance of "Much Ado About Nothing". That's such great news I should tell somebody!

 

Hey, did you hear - It's the weekend. Time for another performance of Much Ado About Nothing at the CCPT Summer Theater!

 

WOW! That's AWSOME!!!

 

You've made me so happy I could kiss you!!!

 

I thought you loved ME! How dare you get all friendly with that guy!... What, it's because it's time for another performance of MUCH ADO!

 

Kiss Me you fool! That's most excellent news!


(Photos by Larry Matsui - Used by Permission)

Harry'ed Potter

Just to jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon. I figured I'd do a post on the latest, and last(?) Harry Potter book, the Deathly Hallows. It's in stores at midnight and available online now (though it won't ship until tomorrow). At any rate, just for the record, I haven't seen the latest H.P. Movie yet (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). I'm probably one of about 20 people in the world who hasn't seen it yet. I actually have never READ any of the books, preferring to see the movies instead. Stop screaming at me all you Harry loyalists, who claim the books are better!!! They probably are, but I just never read any and figure why buck tradition now! Perhaps after they've made all 7 books into movies, I'll go back and actually read the books, but don't hold me to it.

Tech Tips

My tech tip today is a little self-serving. We're going to talk about Browser add-ons. Now if you use Firefox, like I do, there are a TON (literally) of cool add-ons, especially if you use GMAIL for your email. Anyway, I also wanted to let you know about Adobe Flash Player. It's a browser add-on that allows you to view Flash Animations (pretty much the standard for cool web animations these days). If you don't have it installed, it's easy to do go to Adobe's site and install it. If the little "F" Icon does a dance, you're set, if not, download and install it. Note: This may not be possible if you don't have administrator rights on your PC. Many corporate environments prevent users from installing software on their PCs (mine included).

Why do I bring this up you might be asking? Well for one, my Cool Picasa (By Google)slide shows which I've been posting various pictures in, won't work unless you have the Flash plugin (add-on) installed on your computer! So, now you know. B.T.W. it's free (love the sound of that word) so go for it!

Tribute to the King - Part 2 (or is it 1)?

In a somewhat circular fashion, I'm posting more pictures of King Midas, for those fans and friends (and cast members) of the show. I say circular fashion, because these pictures from from the biginning of the show through where I started in my other post. Sunday I was able to watch the show from the beginning. Well, if you're not completely confused by my explanation by now - enjoy the pictures!

Much Updated Photos

Hi everyone. Thanks Much to my friend and fellow Nikon aficionado, Larry Matsui who attended the Sunday show of Much Ado About Nothing, and took some amazing photos of the show. So now I have some really nice pictures to show of the show! I tried to get at least one good, or interesting picture of every cast member (I think I got everyone at least once). I didn't want to inundate the posting with hundreds of pictures, and for those not involved in the show, I want to leave something to the imagination as an incentive to COME SEE THE SHOW!

Did I mention, there are only two more weeks left? For the full schedule see my previous post or visit the CCPT website. For now enjoy the pictures, I can't wait to do it again this weekend! Cudos to all the great cast and crew of the show! You've all made this an amazing experience for me!


P.S. Feel free to post a comment and let me know what you think!

Much News

In a follow up to my post about King Midas, I just wanted to report that we all made it through the first weekend of shows for Much Ado About Nothing! Sunday's show was in many respects a Much better show. We got over our opening day jitters, and everyone gave a good show! The audience turn out was really good - don't know the actual numbers (maybe Suze can pass that info along to me). I'll have more pictures from King Midas posted later. I got to watch the whole show on Sunday and was really impressed. It's a cute story and all the actors did great. My favorite part - when the King's daughter turns to gold before our eyes!

A good friend of mine was at the Much Ado show on Sunday and took a bunch of great pictures which I'll post as soon as I can get my hands on them. I saw some and there are some really nice ones. He has a Nikon D50 and like my Nikon D80 takes amazing shots! (sorry about the blatant plug for Nikon cameras, but I do like my Nik.)

Look for pictures to be posted later tonight. I get to bowl with my league tonight (after 3 weeks away due to Much Ado rehearsals) so I'll be rusty, but fun!

Books I'm Reading

Well, I finished book 9 "Winter's Heart" of the Robert Jordan Magnum Opus "The Wheel of Time" series. I'm on to book 10 called Crossroads of Twilight. Book 9 was mostly about the main characters on-going character development and Rand's desire to clean the taint from the male side of the One Power known in the books as Saidin. The taint is a foulness which pollutes the power and can eventually make the male using the power go mad and eventually kill him. So obviously, Rand has an interest in cleansing the taint from the One Power.

On a personal note, while the series of books is overall very good, I feel the author is long-winded in his story telling. I find myself wanting to get to the good stuff and he seems to get bogged down in telling minutia of details. While details do make the overall experience of the story more rich and full, as a reader, I find myself a little disinterested in knowing every little detail about each character's dress choice on a given day, exactly what they ate, and how they liked it and so forth.

Again, if you choose to read this series, start at the beginning, there's just too much back story in each book, and it's definitely written as a series, without any really satisfying conclusion to each book.

So now it's on to Book 10 Crossroads of Twilight. We'll see where this book takes the story!

Tribute to the King

Well we made it through opening day of both King Midas and Much Ado About Nothing. I won't say it wasn't without it's glitches - at least for me, but that's live theatre and I'm working hard to make every performance better!!! Anyway, I did't get any pictures of Much Ado, but I did manage to get a bunch of King Midas (well the last few minutes anyway). You guys were GREAT! I hope to see the whole play tomorrow and get more pictures for you. Leon, you make a great King. Feel free to pass this along to the Midas people, since I don't have their email addresses.

Much Ado at CCPT Final Rehearsals - Finally

The Ancient One, Blessed Be He: Rehearsals are Over. . . Now the Real Thing (CCPT)My friend, and fellow actor Leon Cohen (Dogberry in Much Ado) and the title role in King Midas (both opening tomorrow at CCPT's Summer Season, has on his blog, posted some great pictures of our final, Dress (imagine that) rehearsal for Much Ado. We open tomorrow and I know everyone in the cast is excited. As a side note, worth the noting, I think it's great that Much of the cast is 'getting their Harry Potter on' tonight! It's great to see friendships strengthen, and spend time just having fun away from the Much and Many rehearsals we've been having!

Friday Fun

In a completely un acting related post, I found this website which has complied a list of almost 2000 uses for the infamous WD-40 lubricant! It's pretty fun reading and there are bound to be many uses for the product which I'm sure you'll find useful. Some of my favorites are "clean waterspots from mirrors", "remove ink stains from blue jeans", and "cleans peanut butter from shoestrings". Not sure how useful that last one is, but it certainly gets points for creativity! Enjoy, happy Friday - I have a show to prepare for tomorrow! Unofficial WD-40 Uses

Much Tech Ado

Hi everyone, we had a VERY productive weekend of rehearsals. We had our second (and last) tech rehearsals in the Park (before opening this coming weekend). We finally got a sense of what the costumes will look like and are still putting finishing touches on them this week. We have a full week of rehearsals to tighten up the show even more and make it wonderful for everyone. Here are some photos I took over the weekend. Notice the variety and sometimes lack of costumes we had. It was fun for everyone to get to perform in the space and at least partially in costume. As an actor, things really start to gel for me once I'm in costume and can really start to become the character. Everone is SO GREAT in this play, I'm proud to be a part of it!!! You guys all ROCK! Just a note - If I don't have a picture of you in this bunch, it's not because I don't want to, but it is difficult to be papparazzi AND perform so I only got to snap pictures when I wasn't in, or preparing for a scene. (In the credit where credit is due category - thanks Leon for the great pictures of me!) If anyone has pictures they'd like to send me to add to the collection, let me know!!!

CCPT Schedule - Much Ado

Presents its 2007 Summer Season

Much Ado About Nothing

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Ken MacFarlane

Performances: Saturdays and Sundays

July 14, 15,21, 22, 28, 29

At 2:00 PM

The Good Doctor

by Neil Simon

Directed by Dean Edward

Performances: Saturdays and Sundays

August 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19

At 2:00 PM

and

The Children’s Popcorn Theatre Production of

King Midas

Written & Directed by Heidi Dotson

Performances: Saturdays & Sundays@ 12 noon

July 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29

August 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19

All performances are at Carlson Park

(corner of Motor and Braddock in Culver City)

Admission is FREE!!!

Bring your own lawn chair or blanket. Seating is on the grass.

Much Ado Tech

 
 
A BIG thank you goes out to Milton Chen (Playing the Friar and Oatcake in Much Ado, for sending me these pictures he took of me at our Tech Rehearssal for Much Ado last weekend. He was diligently snapping photos while I was stressing out about my lines and the songs I sing in the Play. Thanks a TON Milton, they're great, and I have to give you much props for you amazing work on your parts. I'm quite impressed with your mastery of the roles.

Happy 4th

fireworks_85x.jpg (JPEG Image, 1199x778 pixels) - Scaled (98%) Though I didn't take this picture, I like it a lot because it's on water! Hope you all had a great, enjoyable and safe 4th celebration. This year I didn't do too much except hang out with some friends and take a lot of pictures at the party - but none of actual fireworks - I had to leave the party before the pyrotechnics started due to some obligations and even though I have a great view of LA from my house, I don't see any good fireworks from my place - so no fireworks shots this year! Maybe next.

Well it's back to real life again, more working and rehearsing for the play. Hope to see you all in the park! Two weeks and counting!