Just Hanging around

Thursday seemed to be a rather uneventful day for me.  A couple TVC castings, of which I certainly won’t get as I am not exactly a prime example of some that is good at dancing to Bollywood music.

Friday was a cluster of a day that involved the girls being late for pretty much everything they could. I am a pretty chill guy and it takes a lot to get me ticked off, but tardiness is not something I tolerate well.  I understand that there are circumstances that we all come across that prevent us from arriving precisely on time, but generally within a few minutes is no big deal. For me, the line is drawn with blatant disrespect of time, and failure to acknowledge the actions. A number of the girls have done this to us respectively this week. Some of this might be a bit of a cultural thing as it frequently is Brazilian girls that do this.  Not all of course, and it is a bit of generalization based on observed actions. Juliana did this to Irwan and I twice in Singapore, then again at a job, now here in Bangkok it has been happening frequently.

Kevin and I had a botched casting because the casting was run incredibly poor; we ditched that for a casting with Thai Airways.  This casting was much more pleasant and I feel very confident that one of us has what they are looking for.

Now onto the fun for the evening, all of the models with the agency were “booked” to attend a wedding of a very prominent professional’s son. This was hand down one of the most impressive receptions that I have ever been to. Rather than just talk about it, picture time.

More details about the TVC, I will be writing it later tonight and hopefully posting tomorrow. The TVC is going to be broadcast in France and is advertising an pool cleaning robot who is out on the town for an adventure.  I happen to be the window-cleaning guy who has the robot pass by while hanging from a skyscraper. Fortunately I was only about 30 or 40 feet up for the filming. 

Feeling a little spiritual * TONS OF PICS*

As usual when I start getting busy my dedication to writing diminishes. Formerly this would upset me, but hey I am writing to keep happy. I am presently sitting in a cab in bangkok rush hour. It's been 52 minutes and we have moved a total of 3.8 km. But today's trip was totally worth it. 

Before I get to that however, some house cleaning. Fill everyone in on the past few days. That shoot on saturday, the one that required me to shave my legs, no it wasn't to make me a lady boy (number one guess), it was for a underwear shoot. That's right, I am officially a Thai underwear model. No thongs thank god, but the shoot certainly involved some testicle carriage in the form of briefs. As usual I always have fun shooting, and being in my underwear was no different. With music playing I danced around a bit giving big smiles and laughing at the fact I had the clients, crew and my bookers totalling 12 people watching the shenanigans.
Marlon was in town over the weekend so I managed to meet up with him after and grab a few beers. He introduced me to some new friends in bangkok as well. It was nice to get out a bit even though I was tired from shooting.
Sunday and Monday consisted of many tvc castings. 5 between the two days. One casting for a hair conditioner involved me pretending to be a hair getting toasted by the evil hair straightener and blow dryer. I also had the opportunity to cast for the main role in a toothpaste ad. As I mentioned I don't have a ton of experience with acting, but I can feel myself becoming more comfortable and natural with actions when I am being put in front of the camera. 


Another casting was a callback for a salad company. It was great I met the directors and everything. Unfortunately I didn't get casted for it. But I did get casted for a different TVC. Thats right I will officially be making my first TV commercial appearance in the very near future. It's for a vacuum cleaner in France. I will be taking on the role of a window cleaner on a high rise building and looking in and seeing a beautiful woman use some incredible vacuum. 

Warning: Tons of Pics!

I had nothing to do today! For the first time since arriving in Bangkok I didn’t have castings or work. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, as a matter of fact I like being busy. Anyway, I wasn’t the only one that had time Tuesday to spare. My little sisters here also had the day free, so we made a little detour to The Grande Palace. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a ton of them. Link to more pics

Barbara so happy that she had to throw a shall over her pants

Its 40 degrees and I had to wear jeans. No showing your legs or shoulders in religious temples

The entire Grand Palace was incredible. I spent much of the time with my jaw dropped, also keeping track of the little'uns. My favourite part was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, unfortunately no pictures of this as photography is prohibited. The inside of the temple was very elegant and had incredible paintings all over the walls and the roof, I immediately thought the Cistine Chapel when seeing this. 

We toured around outside the palace as well. People are incredibly pushy trying to hawk their goods. Silk books, wooden elephants, tuk tuk rides, boat tours, etc. 

This one is going to involve some acting

 

In the past I have never really regarded myself as an actor, but this aspect of work is starting to inch its way more and more into my daily life. While in Canada, modeling was modeling, while in Singapore, it was modeling with a few additional movements and the odd acting on camera. Now that I am in Bangkok, there are many more TVC (TV commercial) castings that all involve acting to some degree or another.  

I have had a casting for at least 3 TVC this week, and I have to more on Sunday. Hopefully I start to become more comfortable and normal looking with it so that I can get booked. It was great for one I just had to talk and eat a salad (you know me and my veggies). Personally I am starting to feel like I am not looking as awkward when doing some of these things, but you never know.

My past acting experience (with the exception of a few corporate video jobs) ended when I was in grade 9. I was the leader of the green elf gang (the short elves) in a Romeo and Juliet type production, with a knife fight and everything haha. 

I am trying to provide a very quick update for you guys, as I am about to run to a shoot this morning. Another interesting aspect of my Bangkok life is that I have work of some sort, every single day. It’s nice; the time has been flying by. The downside of course is that I haven’t exactly had much opportunity to explore.

Here are some examples of a few meals I have dug into lately. The first was 45 baht at the food court outside my gym.

Followed by what I like to cook at home. Chicken, brown rice and vegetables, I could not believe how much I missed that meal, can and likely will eat that or some form almost every day.

And the last meal is a Thai Curry Rice dish that was a bit more expensive, 149 baht at a restaurant. You will also notice a pair of hipster socks as its recently been discovered that Kevin is a bit of a hipster. 

I will also share with you some pictures of my recent changes to my appearance. The result of the job I will be working today has led me to the challenging task of removing the majority of my body hair. This is truly weird for me as the last time I shaved my legs was Mr. Mount competition where I lost to Mr. MacAulay in his daisy duke shorts.

I have told a few of you what the job would be. For those I haven’t told, any guesses?

In Russia, Megafon phones you

 

Sunday as I mentioned was great day as I found out that I had booked the job. Getting that first job out of the way with is nice, kind of a breaking the bubble moment for me. 

The fitting was scheduled for Monday. These people sure work fast, the shoot was Tuesday. I found this fitting kind of funny, as it really wasn’t to see how the clothes fit as much as to see how the clothes looked together. My shot for this ad, involved me and 3 other business professionals.  Myself being the yuppie hotshot, show dresses a little trendier and my counterparts being in their early to mid 30’s. The shirt they provided for me was too large, and had a very thick collar (not exactly trendy, but roll with it. My well-fitted navy suit would hide the size factor of the shirt.  Did I mention the suit would be outside?

The remainder of Monday was laid back. I went to the gym for a few hours and hit up the food court in Seacon Square mall. A chest/shoulder workout was on the menu for the day:

Set 1,2,3

Decline DB Press

Set 4,5,6,7

Seated Arnold Press

-       Pushups to fail

Set 8,9,10

Bent Over Cable Punch

Set 11,12,13

Front Plate Raise

-       Pushups to fail

-       Double Crunch 15

Set 14,15,16

Smith Machine Pressed Leg Raise

-       Inverted Pull-ups w/ L-sit

Yesterday ended up being a very long day for me. Almost 12 hours from the time I left until the time I came home.  I had the shoot, which started out waiting for hair and makeup with a gay gentleman and a lady boy, which I have no problems with until they hit on you the entire time. Awkward to say the least. 

It was a scorcher of a day yesterday, easily encroaching on 40, if not hotter, and to top it off the humidity was insane. But welcome to Thailand that’s pretty much every day. We shot eating sandwiches and running from one meeting to another while going through the park. How strange is it so have to bite into a subway sub for me. I have not had real bread in my mouth in years. I immediately spat out the bread once it touched my lips. Thank god I wasn’t in Singapore for that, would have got a fine.  

Upon wrapping up my driver was waiting for me to take me to the next casting. This one was for Zalora.th an online clothing catalogue. Everyone there was very pleasant and fun. The casting was short, sweet and efficient.

Following this casting I had what I thought was a casting but was actually a fitting. Curated fashion is a designer in Bangkok here and there will be a show Sunday for it. I am fortunate enough to have been booked for this as well. The downside is that we got lost on our way to the fitting during rush hour BKK traffic, what a nightmare. 

Sorry Guys no pics today. 

Models help people

 

This picture was never published in the ad for the condos but I love it and wanted to share it. 

I think the most quoted movie in the past 4 months by me has been Zoolander. One of my first posts I mentioned it and will continue to. So much of that ridiculously stupid yet incredibly hilarious movie can be applied in a humourous manner. So before I get on sharing what has gone on over the past few days, I wanted to put some props out to one of my buddies in Singapore.  A little bromance if you will, no homo.

When I first met Andrew it was at the small little gym at the condo. I was frustrated that another person was tramping in on my already small gym territory; ironically enough he mentioned the exact same thing. We chat, he was born in Canada, lived in the US and came to Singapore about the same time as me.  He has been an awesome buddy for me since. Naturally he was looking to lose a few lbs., nothing major and he was by no means fat. I introduced him to my circle of friends, including models and that helped motivate him to push harder.

Props for Andrew!

On a number occasions we chatted about nutrition, and even shared some ass kicking workouts in the gym. I wanted to share with you the results.  The credit I take in this is minimal other than maybe additional motivation and the odd little tip. Andrew did most of this on his own. This picture is from Mid January to Mid March; over that period he lost 7 kilos.

  

Ok back on task. Friday was a fun day, despite being trapped in a van for what seemed to be an eternity. We had weigh ins at the agency in the morning. I weighed in down 1 kg from Tuesday, which was no surprise as I was up 1 kilo on Tuesday from what I expected. That my friends, is water weight, for those that don’t know your body is typically composed of 50-70% water and its not uncommon to see a 5% swing.  

From there, Kevin, Jessica, and myself had a shortlisted casting with body glove. This was a super fun casting; we tried on some close and took a few test shots. The clients were great too, which is always something that helps.  From there Jessica and I had to find our way to a fashion show casting to meet our booker and a few other models.  This was my first BTS (or sky train) experience, these trains are packed, not it makes rush hour Singapore MRT feel comfortable.  Fortunately it was only a few stops and the stops are announced in both Thai and engrish. 

I don’t want to even get started about this casting, but overall it was frustrating and terrible. So I will just let you know I was there for almost 3 hours and it wasn’t productive.

Following that recipe for frustration, I had an emergency casting to head to. The van drove me there with a car full of cranky ladies. One was hungry, one was tired and one was bored. Woosa! Deep breathes. This casting was very last minute and for a Russian telephone company. I had fun with the casting agents for the little video we shot and few snaps shots. 

Friday was a relaxing evening for me, this lead me to my Saturday. I had a callback Saturday for the phone job, followed by a TVC audition for Nutrilite. Followed by a couple hour back workout and an incredible dinner. The dinner was about 300 baht ($10) and it included a 6 oz. chicken breast, 1-cup wild rice, and unlimited salad bar. I didn’t have my phone to take a picture but I easily ate 4 cups of veggies at this meal.

Best news of course. I found out today (Sunday) that I booked the phone job and have a fitting tomorrow morning. I am officially pumped to start working!