Just some thoughts

 
Well, it seems my efforts to blog more consistently have fallen all apart. But I suppose that's ok. I was playing with my camera last night - experimenting with a new background and some lighting techinques I mostly learned on Strobist.com. I'm only posting this one picture, and while perhaps not what some pro's might call a PRO picture, I'm quite happy with it. Doing self portraits is always a challenge because it's hard to set the lighting and exposure and then be the model too. My dilemma is that I like both sides of the lens. But I found a cool trick on my Nikon D80 which allows me to display the photograph just taken on a TV monitor, instead of the little screen on the back of the camera. This allows me to see the results of the shot immediately, without having to get up and run to the camera to see how things look. It made it much easier to adjust things as I was playing last night.

In other news, Notes from the New World is progressing and I think will start filming in June. I'm excited about that. This is the longest film I've been involved with which hasn't actually done any filming yet. So it will be nice to get rolling with that. I've just been doing a lot of behinds the scenes photography for the director, and unfortunately, because of legal restriction, I'm not sure if I should be posting those pictures on MY blog, though I'd enjoy doing it and need to find out if I can. There are now several photographs I've taken for the movie. Mostly headshots for the website. However, I did get a fun challenge because part oft he storyline of the movie requires a photograph of one of the actresses who's playing a call girl. The picture they were using was just her headshot and they needed a much different kind of picture for the movie - so, I got to do a photo shoot with Amanda (the actress) and we got some very fun pictures. So the photograph I took, will be featured as a prop in the movie. That's pretty cool.

That's it for now!

--Rex Hoss

Drop Bush - Not Bombs

A searing commentary on his legacy. Worth the watch, and I couldn't have said it better.

Acting Fantastically Wicked

I was going to start by saying that I'm probably one of the last people in LA to see the Smash Musical Wicked, but judging by their packed house last night and apparently no end in sight for selling tickets (after recently celebrating their 1 year anniversary in LA), There are tons of people who still haven't seen the magic, or are going multiple times. Yes, I FINALLY got to see Wicked last night and what an amazing, delightful, stunning, (can I think of anymore positive prose to pontificate with?), show!!! As an actor myself, I'm amazed at the amount of work, both on, and off-stage which goes into a production like this. The actors were all superb, Laura Woyasz played Glinda, and Caissie Levy played Elphaba, and both were magical and mesmerizing in their performances! The rest of the cast was incredible as well with a special nod to Jo Anne Worley as Madame Morrible!

On first entering the Pantages Theater you are struck by the intricate stage which only gets more incredible as the show progresses. For those who don't already know, is the story of how the witches of OZ came to be. It's a well though out story which intersects nicely with The Wizard of Oz, which this story spins-off from.

I can't recommend it enough, and now I know why several people I know have gone over, and over, to see this show. It's rekindled my acting bug and got me thinking about doing another stage show. My work on "Notes from the New World" is coming along. The movie is still in preproduction and we're nearing shooting which I believe will start sometime in June. More details to follow in another post - so stay tuned.

In the mean time - go see Wicked - you'll indeed be enthralled!