blog (Page 8)

It’s amazing how fast time flies by. It has almost been 2 weeks since I was out in LA to get the scan done for the movie. It was quite an educational experience and I had a blast asking questions about how the stuff is done and seeing some of the projects they’ve worked on. To start with, Stephen and I were flown in and put up at a hotel about 2 blocks from the studio. The studio is called Gentle Giant and is one of the top modeling shops in Hollywood. It seems that almost every aspect of CG work is done in stagesRead More →

I don’t know how people do it, eat in chain restaurants all the time. I purposefully try and find places to eat that are tasty, but also have some personality. Today I found a good one. My wife’s great grandmother is turning 94 tomorrow and I just happened to be visiting them this weekend so the family decided to take her out for her birthday. She chose a spot in Slippery Rock that has been around longer than she has, which is saying a lot. It used to be a funeral parlor, but today is a restaurant that has good food and quite an atmosphere.Read More →

On Monday I will be flying out to California to finish off the part I shot before Thanksgiving. I will be sitting in a chair to have my head scanned. Sounds a little weird I know, so let me explain. I was shot as a double for the principal actor, thus I was dressed and made up to look exactly like him. With modern movie making, that isn’t enough. The visual effects department needs to get a perfect anatomical scan of my head and face to help them with their job in post. Basically what they will be doing is that any shot in theRead More →

One of the greatest parts about what I do for a living is meeting people while traveling. I love meeting new people and have made a lot of great friends over the years. Last month, I was performing in Florida and I finally was able to meet up with one of my old team mates, Son Nguyen. If you’ve been involved with jump rope for over 5 years or so, you’ve probably heard the name, or at least you’ve heard of some tricks he made up. The most famous ones that he created were the son rise, the son set and the sonny-d. I’m willingRead More →

Merry Christmas! It is that time of year and what joy it is to have my parents in town for my first Christmas at home in 4 years. I do mean this in a positive way as I really do enjoy having my parents around, they make me laugh. Anyway, things have been clicking along since I got back from my last trip. I’ve been finalizing the travel plans for my upcoming trip to New Zealand in May and oddly enough, it looks like I will be stopping in to perform at a bunch of American Air Base schools in South Korea and possibly JapanRead More →

I’m headed to the airport shortly to fly out for my last few shows of 2010. I start with a show tomorrow in Florida then catch a flight on Monday to California. I will be performing at a couple schools there as well as a mentoring programs Holiday party. It should be a fun final grouping of shows for this year. I also am quietly working on a potential last minute trip overseas at the end of next week, but I won’t find out whether it will happen until Monday. Ah, the joys of the traveling man. I’ve been talking with the producer who isRead More →

To finish off my commentary on what happened during the movie shoot, I’ve decided to combine days 5 and 6 together. Day 5 was scheduled to be our day off, though it turned into a bit of a circus as we had to practice and finding a location was quite a hassle. Madison Miller from South Carolina flew down to be our 4th person in the routine. This was essential as any good double dutch routine requires good turners. I am quite happy she was flexible enough to make it down with such crazy last minute scheduling issues. She was quite adamant that it wasRead More →

Day 4 has been the least amount of jumping I’ve done so far, but also the most I’ve been involved on set. They were filming the scene that starts as soon as we finish our routine so we had to be there to show how we finish and our spacing for blocking purposes. We ended up being on set from 8 am to about 4 pm. It was interesting to watch how they do a shoot where one person is playing 2 characters. In the movie, the lead is playing both main parts, so every shot has to be done multiple times as him playingRead More →

Today was a lot of fun and really frustrating at the same time. First off, we showed the director what we had come up with, he stopped us half-way through and told me I wasn’t doing my character properly. I haven’t seen my character at all so I was hoping for some direction on how they act. I got a rough idea from the director and another guy, but was still not comfortable with knowing what to do. I made a point of finding one of the guys who was doubling the character in the film and met up with him to get an ideaRead More →

Today we finally got some direction on what we’re supposed to be doing and what they’re looking for. I can honestly say that I will be doing tricks that I never thought I would do in my life, but if that’s what is needed to make the movie right, then that’s what I’ll do. We were able to come up with some pretty neat looking sequences, but the character is quite goofy so we had to add some moves that portray that. The day started off with us getting a call at 7:15 saying the director wants to see you now. So we rushed upstairsRead More →