I had a fantastic acting workshop last night with Will Wallace (feel free to insert Braveheart jokes here).

Will is an incredibly talented and personable actor, coach, producer, writer, and director (not necessarily in that order), and last night was a great opprotunity for fun and learning.

Be sure to check Will out in Sonny's Last Shot, running at the State Theatre (719 Congress). The play runs Thursday through Saturday nights (and a Sunday matinee) January 6 through February 5. Call 512-469-SHOW for tickets.

In class, I did a piece from Sexual Perversity in Chicago (David Mamet). It was the "singles bar scene", and I was Bernard Litko. You can actually read the scene on Amazon.com. For those who are worried, we stopped the scene on page 12 (though it's actually page 15 where things get interesting; if no more family-friendly) ... ;-)

By the way, Mamet wrote The Untouchables, one of my two favorite all-time movies. Now you know a little more about me ...

One of the in-class scenes (that wasn't mine) I most enjoyed was one from the sitcom Dharma & Greg, with talented classmates Frank Brantley, Chel Simon, and Adam Powell (dude needs his own website). These three absolutely nailed their roles, and it was a pleasure to watch.

We also did a "get-to-know-you" exercise where the men/women in the class paired up and cycled through 1 minute, 1-on-1 conversations, and wrote one-word "first-impression" summaries anonymously on notecards stuck to our backs.

The summary I netted?:

• Sensitive
  
• Intelligent
  
• Leader
  
• Well-rounded
  
• Beautiful (never got this one before; I wanna know who wrote this)
  
• Enthusiastic!
  
• Funny
  
• Family Man
  
• Very Nice
  
• Engaging
  
• Awesome!

Awe, shucks ...

Seriously, I was encouraged by the diversity of reads I got by just being me, and talking and listening to other people.

What else did I learn in class? A bunch of stuff that it never hurts to hear over and over again. just a couple of examples:

1. Don't "mock" actions in an audition (opening doors, driving a car, etc.), unless specifically asked by the auditioner.
   
2. Don't try to "justify" the scene -- let it work on its own.

On a more sober note, I learned some of my fellow actors don't "connect" unless it's "necessary" (like for a class scene, audition, etc.). When we finished with the class, while I was trying to chat with a few folks who I didn't know, they kind of brushed me off as they waited in line to try to get to Will. Bummer.

Folks, it's about the relationships -- it's not about the networking. At least for me ...

Luckily, I've been blessed with genuine relationships with a number of authentic actors, and enjoyed chatting it up with them.

Special thanks to actor extraordinaire Adam Langley who organized and coordinated this whole thing, and gave up his birthday to attend and make sure it ran smoothly.

Also thanks to CastingWorks LA for generously hosting the whole thing! With special, special thanks to Leigh for hanging out late to lock up afterwards ...

Ooh -- another toy!

My discipleship mentor just got me one of the new Toybiz Marvel Manga Twist 'ems -- Captain America. And he has "shield attack" action.

If he sees the Captain, he gets it for me. It's kind of like a comic book sugar daddy thing. But wholesome. Or something.

Anyway, this thing totally rocks, and the whole Twist 'ems line is really cool.

This just in from things-that-make-a-full-body-skin-graft-look preferable:

So, while running around my old stomping grounds in Idaho Falls over the holidays, I was doing really well until my last day there. That's when -- while out to coffee with my mom, one of my sisters, and my current -- I ran into my ex.

Yeah. Awkward. Coulda done without that.

While driving back to Texas (a treat in itself), we were iced in in Kansas. That was better than that whole awkward situation ...

I put an audio snippet from my audition for the Marvel Enterprises contest, "THE ULTIMATE VOICE TALENT SEARCH" (back in November).

Check it out here!

As a quick re-Cap (hah!), Marvel is making an animated DVD of The Ultimates (their modern incarnation of the Avengers), and are supposedly using the contest to find voice talent (Check out my original blurb here).

I filmed my audition at the Production Block in Austin, Lainie Frasier directed, and I mastered and mixed the audio, video, and soundtrack.

Speaking of soundtrack, you'll notice the music is from the Halo 2 soundtrack. The recent incarnation of this franchise consuming a chunk of my life, so I thought some tunes from Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, Nile Rodgers, and .. oh yeah, those Breaking Benjamin guys would really juice up the clips.

Video of the booth session coming soon (in theory) ...

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?" (Batman).

OK, so I like toys. Not the embarrassing-to-find-during-an-airport search kind, just gadgets and action figures.

I had a goal to make nice to myself everytime I landed a gig, but I've lowered my expectations and now make a mad purchase when I feel I've done really well at an audition. I tend toward the more obscure toys, like Beta Ray Bill (who gets a new limited series starting January), Kingdom Come Hawkman, etc.

So, thanks to my Southwest Airlines swimsuit audition a couple of weeks ago, I recently added Archangel from the Toybiz Marvel X-Men collection. This thing looks awesome, is "super poseable" (his hands are segmented, and his freakin' feet are jointed!) and faithfully captures the resurrected character.

For those in the know, you'll remember that the Angel (Warren Worthington III), had the wings he was born with amputated during the Uncanny X-Men "Mutant Massacre" story arc (the same arc that saw fan-favorite gentle giant Colossus kill someone for the first time). X-Men enemy Apocalypse grafted a new costume and cybernetic wings onto Warren, which was kind of like Warren trading in his soul to be able to fly again.

If the stigma "geek" can be attributed to it, I'm probably interested in it ...

And they're "Action Figures" -- not "Dolls"!

I had an industrial audition for PPD (the pharmaceutical company) at Casting Works LA.

What made this one fun is that it was a non-dialog piece where we had to mime-open a non-existent medicine cabinet, choose a real medicine cabinet item (mouthwash, floss, etc.), do something with it, put it back, and "close" the cabinet.

I figured they're seeing several dozen people open and close this fake medicine cabinet, so I showed in pajamas and slippers. I was there to have fun, and I did. Wish it wasn't such a short audition, though ...

I did an a.m. voice audition for Arnie Reyes (Floppy King Productions, LLC). This for his film, Sticks & Stones, for 3 VO roles (News Anchor, Televangelist, and "Ethereal Voice"). We'll see what shakes out of it.

Floppy King Productions, LLC was also involved in Brilliant Blue Films, LLC's Bunny & Clydo, in which I have a small featured part (in theory; I havent' seen the final cut, yet). Watch the trailer at iFilm.com -- it rocks.

I'm trapped on travel for the toy job, and had a great connection tonight with Selina, a Bay Area bartender.

Those that know me may wonder at the connection (aside from my fascination with alliteration), but Selina and I had a great conversation about our three-and-a-half year-old daughters, the "ah-ha!" of realizing they're becoming their own people, the need to let go as parents, religious attachment in a non-compatible world, and some other brief but immensely important topics.

All a tribute to the importance of people listening to people, folks is folks, or ... something ...

... Plus she had this awesome dual dragon tattoo she showed my co-workers and I at the small of her back ...

MangAdam likes turkey. And pecan pie. Really likes pecan pie ...

I had an interesting audition for Beth Sepko Casting today, for a Southwest Airlines spot.

I say "interesting" because it's November, and the spot required us to be in swim suits; I wore a bright yellow one. Ah, those Southwest folks are wacky! Here we are, a bunch of actors cycling through the casting office in our swim wear. Yes, Dear, the audition did take that long. And the carpet is ... uh ... blue? No -- Yellow!

In all seriousness, kudos to Beth for making what could be an awkward and stressful audition feel safe and comfortable.

And she didn't say I looked like a fuzzy banana, which I thought was kind.

This just in from I've-been-googled: I've been googled!

How cool is that? I review my Web traffic logs on a weekly basis, and I've finally been directly googled (that is, people typed "Adam Creighton" in Google).

No, I wasn't the one who typed it in. And yes, it feels good ...

Last night's Austin Callback showcase absolutely rocked on so many fronts!

With 80+ folks in attendance, our pilot two-act (rather than the full three-act) film community showcase let people see 14 actors in professional, finished film clips -- some of which have never seen distribution.

Act II of the showcase saw four actors (two sets of two) doing a "public cold read", having received scenes an hour before the performance. The actors would run through their scene, then run through it again after receiving awesome coaching and direction from Mona Lee, who by her generous participation kicked off the event in big way.

Along with Mona, actors Ron Tater, Vivian Vives, Rick Azulay, and Sarah Paige courageously put themselves out there in front of a huge crowd, took risks, and showed us the craft they love. And Sarah's second performance was probably the highlight of the evening.

Creator and co-producer Brad Koester still got to enjoy the fruits of our collective vision, despite running around like mad on the technical front.

Of course, I don't think I'm being overly immodest in saying that Frank Brantley and I absolutely ripped it up as the tag-team, separated-at-birth Emcee duo.

Thanks to all of the actors, technical staff, sponsors and participants, and audience members who made last night possible. And if you thought this was good, wait until the first of the year ...

Who is this MangAdam, anyway? ...

What a great day in the acting life today!

This afternoon, I did an audition for Joel Block at The Production Block Studios for Houghton Mifflin. The gig would be for reading books to pre-K kids. In theory, this should be right up my alley, but I talk fast -- keep up, Kiddos!

Then, it was off to Mean-Eyed Cat for an Austin Callback planning meeting. This Friday is our "pilot showcase", so please come and support this film community showcase.

Then, it was off to Van Brooks's Film Acting class. We brought out own scenes tonight. I don't get to do the Joss Whedon scenes I wanted to do, but I do get to do a sweet sentimental scene from the animated X-Men: Evolution episode, "On Angel's Wings" -- and I get to be cyclops!

Great day in the acting life; not such a great day in the toy job life, so I'll be playing catch-up tomorrow.

MangAdam is coming ...

It's 5 p.m. in Austin, and it's cold, foggy, and rainy -- in other words, great! Naw, I couldn't live in Seattle, but this Idaho Boy is actually starting to get comfortable as the weather cools down a month later than normal.

In keeping with a theme, when I walk into a restaurant I'm a freak; fortunately, this time it's because I'm in a short-sleeve knit tee, and the rest of the patrons are in parkas. Thin-blooded, small-lunged Texans ... (I'm going to get jumped by a bull-rider, I just know it ... ;-)

Be sure to check out the Bunny and Clydo slick teaser trailer (stylized Asian action short)!

Even if my featured part gets chopped out of the film, I really encourage people to see it anyway -- which I don't say often ...

Billed as "John Woo's Face/Off meets Guy Ritchie's Snatch", why would you want to miss this?

Rocky Jo, Damon Chang, and Arnie Reyes are incredibly talented folks with whom to work, and I really enjoy watching actor Luke King.

I had an audition last night with Ari Briskman of Snowy Owl Productions, for Understanding Stella. Understanding Stella is one of those important films, bringing to light the "trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a Houston family raising their two daughters, the youngest of which is autistic."

The film started out as a documentary, and now will be an HD narrative, with video footage shot for the documentary cut into the story.

I tried out a new dramatic monologue ("What Have You Done?" by William Shatner). It was a bit stilted, and attempting to do Shatner spoken word is kind of like trying to do Jack Nicholson or Tom Cruise from A Few Good Men. Ah well, I'm not in this business to play it safe ...

This just in from
Hilarious-movies-people-should-see: I think
people will have a blast with The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera. This film is a riot, and is a modern re-take on 1950s sci-fi flicks. It's intentionally campy, playfully jabbing at specific titles and genre foibles. Check it out!

I just got back from Rockin' da vote! Hmm ... funny ... MTV made it much sexier when I was growing up.

Ah well. I'm just praying folks are voting based on convictions and voting/track records, and not making decisions based on the media or anti-/non-campaigns.