| Action | Super Mario Galaxy 2 |
| Target | Boom Blox |
| Adventure | The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess |
| Tactics | Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure |
On August 8th I made the following tweet:
There wasn't any particular reason for me to feel that way; it was just a feeling.
Three days later, on the 11th, I was looking up behind-the-scenes videos of The Dark Knight Rises. The first one I came across took place during the football scene as someone in the crowd was filming the explosions set off by Bane. Through that, I found a YouTube channel where a guy in Pittsburgh had recorded over 50 videos of various TDKR sets along with a few scenes being filmed there. What stood out to me the most was just how close people that weren't working on the film were able to get to the cast and crew during production, or even to vehicles and props used. It seemed odd, so I looked into it, and came across a site called Before the Trailer. It was there that I saw We're the Millers, a comedy starring Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston, was filming in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is only a couple of hours away from me. The website is always looking for photos of sets and actors, and I toyed with the idea of driving to Wilmington to watch them film. I decided not to as I would feel weird standing off set like that staring at people as they're trying to work. Afterward, I saw that Before the Trailer also posts casting information, including that for background actors (extras). I soon learned that Wilmington is, apparently, a popular place for filming movies and television shows, a fact my brother has known for a year now but never told me. If only I knew sooner, I could have been in Iron Man 3! Perhaps I'll be able to do Captain America 2...
After a little more research, I found Facebook pages for various casting agencies in the North Carolina area, which seems to be their main way of posting job info. I created a Facebook account - after a year of not having one - to follow the pages more closely and researched how to apply for roles properly. Four days later, on the 15th, I had gotten a role as an extra on Revolution, and then, on the 20th, I got a role on We're the Millers. I'll be writing and releasing separate posts for these and any more of my acting experiences as the movies/shows come out.
My only prior experience with acting is doing three musicals during my time in middle school and taking a drama class in high school. The first two musicals were at the Junction City Little Theater in Kansas, while the final (and worst) one was at Fort Riley Middle School. Only the first play I did, Kilroy Was Here, was any good. I'll write more about these sometime in the future. Of course, acting in a musical and doing background acting are completely different things, and I'll soon be going into more detail on just what a day as an extra can be like.
While this isn't something I'm currently interested in making a career out of (not that I could in North Carolina), I will be taking as many opportunities for background acting as I can. It's a fun diversion that pays well and gives a cool story to tell. Plus, the food is always free and delicious!
A couple of the Google+ posts I made that day.
Hideo Kojima posted this on his Twitter account earlier this morning. It's a replica of the jacket Ryan Gosling wore in Drive. Hideo says Drive is one of the top three movies he's seen this year, along with War Horse and The Hunter.
I think he pulls it off!
It was May of 2010, and I was riding around with my mom and brother in South Carolina. I can't remember why, but I started thinking about fake products from movies that were turned into real things. I got into a discussion about Tropic Thunder with my brother, and decided to see if Booty Sweat, the energy drink promoted by Alpa Chino in the movie, was a real thing. I went to Amazon on my phone to discover that it indeed was, and made the decision to order a pack of 24 cans. I was disappointed to discover that Bust-A-Nut candy bars did not exist.
"Yeah, get him chuggin' on some of Alpa's ass-water. That'll bring him around—it's a cure-all..."
I never had an energy drink before, due to having a heart condition in the past and just thinking they're not a good thing to put into one's body, but I decided that I would make an exception with Booty Sweat. I mean, it's Booty Sweat; you're not going to get a lot of chances to drink something with such a ridiculous name. To my surprise it was actually pretty good, and even seemed to keep me awake all night for some nice, extra long video-game sessions. I set aside four cans to send to Giant Bomb, as long-time listeners of the Bombcast will know that energy drinks used to be as integral to their recordings as video games.
It's two months later, and the four cans of Booty Sweat are still in my fridge. My brother and I are packing up the car the day after getting back from Japan, as we are moving out of our house in Texas and going to Oklahoma. I find a small box and wrap each can in bubble wrap, but realize that I don't have Giant Bomb's new mailing address, as this was right around the same time they moved from Sausalito to San Francisco. I go to their FAQ page on my phone to find the address but it has yet to be updated. I then hold the box on my lap for our trip north, and eventually find the address I'm looking for after getting the laptop set up in our temporary lodging. I was happy to see that my package arrived safely via Ryan Davis' Twitter feed a little while later:
Ryan's favorite part.
It was also mentioned in the "Giant Bomb Mailbag: Classy Business Edition" video that was posted on August 9th, 2010. You can catch the Booty Sweat at the 2:40 mark.
Head on over to Amazon and type in "Booty Sweat" to try it out for yourself, though currently there are only individual cans available for $12.99 each. I would wait and see if you can get them cheaper later on.
