Rejection & Survivor

I'm a big fan of SURVIVOR. I've auditioned for every season except the first two. However, this guy, Greg Insco, walked (on heelies of all things) from Cincinnati, Ohio to L.A.to turn in his SURVIVOR application in person to the casting directors of the show. It was a 2,200 mile journey where at one point he got so hungry he ate a rattlesnake that tried to bite him and sometimes was so dehydrated that he drank water from a toilet. The producers and casting directors turned him down telling him he "would get eaten alive" and that basically, he was, too nice.

I wasn't aware of this beforehand, but apparently for the past 12 editions or so, SURVIVOR hasn't even casted people who applied to the show, but recruited people to be on it. Only 4 of the last 16 contestants actually went through the entire formal application process. The other 12 were short-cutted through.

I shouldn't be surprised, because it is Hollywood, but I am a bit. Of course, I'm going to keep sending in applications because as Charlie Brown says, "Even if there's not a million-to-one-chance, there's at least a billion-to-one-chance."

THE SILO PROJECT

I don't have time for a long post, but I did want to put something out there. There's this cd that will soon be released and a movie that might be coming to a city near you in the next year. They're called THE SILO PROJECT. You should really check it out. I spent the weekend with some of these guys. They are phenomenal musicians. Catch them before they become big so that you can say, "I saw them before they were stars."   http://www.thesiloproject.blogspot.com/  

Star Wars Vs. Star Trek

Here's an excellent example of why Star Wars really is better than Star Trek.

THOR AT THE BUS STOP

Despite the obvious very low budget, there's just something about the entire premise of this movie that makes me really want to see it. The synopsis of the film is this:

"THOR AT THE BUS STOP is a comedy that begins with Thor, the Norse God of Lightning, as he makes his final journey through a suburban neighborhood on the day he is going to die fighting to save the world - and nobody cares. Thor starts a chain reaction of interweaving story-lines packed with zany characters and themes about goodness and the power of cool."


Sounds brilliant to me.

GLEE

I finally had the opportunity to watch the premier episode of GLEE. I have to say, I'm impressed. Here's the teaser finale.



From the commercials, one was led to believe GLEE would be meta-comedy, ala ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, in a high school setting. While it's true, there are all kinds of comical moments in GLEE and the premier episode was full of pop cultural allusions, the show appears to be deeper than that; full of lifelike drama and ethos. This final scene is a great teaser because it seems to foreshadow struggle and conflict to come, for example between the Glee Club and the school's huge money-making and nationally recognized Cheerleading Team. And it's all united through joy. It'll be interesting to see how the show unfolds because lately it seems that a show that is ambitious as GLEE fails to find an audience until after it's been cancelled, ala ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and PUSHING DAISIES.