A unique bio marker derivative! Say what?

As previously mentioned, there was one more job. After a season in Bangkok that I didn’t produce many TVC, things ended on a high note.  I am ending on a Geddy Lee high note. The company is a well known as Brands, a health drink that is supposed to help with brain function. Booking a big company like this is great, but further excitement livens things up as I am the lead as a scientist and there is a script.

The last time I had a script, I was in tears. Do you remember?

Okay, so for this commercial I wasn’t overacting or being voiced over by a high pitched Thai man; instead it would be my accent gracing the ears of the audience.  My so called “American Accent”, which isn’t American at all but a neutral accent, if you meet people from most cities in the states there is noticeable difference in speech patterns. I would say I most closely resemble California accents than say Texas, NYC or Seattle.  

My nutrition background came in handy for this shooting, as I was to play a scientist. A key researcher for Brands Essence of chicken, I discussed neurotransmission and American ginseng.  I also checked the data of a co-worker and sent her on her way. In the casting I distinctly remember them asking me to lecture about a scientific topic. Naturally I went right to Omega-3 EFA, explaining how they help with brain function and that we typically don’t consume enough of these. Continuing into the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in the current diet and how we need to bring it closer to 1:1. The casting director and crew left knowing more in my 5 minute casting than they ever could have imagined. They key of course was to portray confidence in my knowledge, to be a real expert. And it worked!

By the time the 4^th script was in my hand, I had corrected the grammar a final time and was ready to sling some verses. With my tie all mic’d up, I stumbled through the words. Wait what? Yes I ended up getting a little nervous when the time came. One or two takes and my feet were back under me as if they had never left.  I think reality had set in that yes they were using my voice and that it would be my voice for the entire commercial. Pressure was up and my equilibrium must have been off kilt.

This commercial became more interesting when the green screen became involved. It was fascinating to be in front of the green screen and see myself on the video. I felt like the weatherman, except instead of predicting a storm I was scanning fields of ginseng to find only the best. The feeling is very strange when you are trying to position yourself while looking at the TV screen, a fun new experience though. 

After finishing up all the camera work I was to rerecord all my voice again in a separate room. This time with things set up to muffle the sound and get a crisp clean recording of my voice we set off. Reading several versions, timing differently and enunciating the more complex words we recorded the voiceover. 

Overall this ended up being a great way to finish up in Bangkok on a positive note.

Is this real life?

We can all take different approaches to every situation; some can lead to untold stress, a feeling of hopelessness or on the positive side a series of enlightenment. The end of last week raised many stressful feelings, but in the end I refused to let it keep me down. 

Thursday and Friday were precisely days that could go either way. Starting out with 3 castings and by midday there were 5.  3 castings were for higher fashion (2 shows and a magazine) and 2 were commercial.

I am not sure if I have ever enlightened you to the two primary types of models. First there is high fashion, these are the ultra skinny, tall, and possess very unique looks. These models are usually associated with Milan, Paris and Tokyo.  High fashion models work mostly magazines, fashions shows and big name designers like Louis Vuitton and Prada. 

Contrast to high fashion is the type of model I am. Commercial models are more normal looking.  Not quite as tall, much more muscular, and often referred to as being esthetically attractive. Trying to explain this as modestly as I can, but commercial models are referred to as handsome while high fashion has this x factor that leaves you curious. Commercial models work for clients like Samsung and Coca cola.  Typically people will associate themselves with a commercial model and that’s why it’s used in more common advertising. 

Showing up at a casting it becomes immediately obvious when I don’t fit in. At 185 cm and 78 kg, I appear giant like and even obese next to the high fashion 189 cm and 60 kg guys. My barrel chest of 39.5 inches dwarfs the 34 and 36 inch chest of these boys who are barely men.  Unfortunately this is what clients like for high fashion. This could explain why after 6 years of modelling I have yet to book a fashion show from a casting.  I am fine with this though, I am happy with my body, my size and I have no desire to drop 20 kg. 

These castings can take a very long time as 80 models are asked to show up at the same time.  Right now, modelling is my job and I will continue to arrive on time to them as long as necessary. My point of stress arrives when I miss a commercial type casting (catalogue for jeans) by attending a useless casting.  The last casting of the day was quite possibly as far from my apartment as I can get along the train line.  With poor directions and a unorganized client, I arrived less than happy.  Sitting as number 15, and having 14 long gone I waited and waited. After 2 and half hours I decided “fuck this!” It was 50m down the road the client ran to get me. Apparently my booker called and told them to get their ass in gear. No longer caring about booking this particular job, I explained to the clients that they were being very unprofessional and that they have wasted my time and I am now wasting their time as I would never work for them. 

This is a long story as I am counting 2 days. After the first day of frustrating shenanigans, I decided not to let it get to me, laugh at the situation if you will.

I booked a TVC and had a fitting. The clients were great, I met some co-actors and ran around with a smile. Following I attended a casting to play a surfer getting attacked by a shark. With an espresso in hand I was enjoying life.  

Stricken by time I was afraid I missed a castings. I was not the only one. 2 other models and I met up and ventured to the furthest west we could get in Bangkok to meet the clients. Waiting, waiting, the clients stuck around until 5:30 for us.  A 3 hour trip involving bus, then walking, followed by train, more walking, another train and then taxi we made it.  A quick 15 minute turnaround and one more casting to go.

This venture would send me to the farthest north part of Bangkok, via train and then taxi. Well it would be via taxi if it wasn’t Friday at 8 pm and the notorious traffic jams are in full force.  With no taxi’s willing to take us for less than 400 baht (which may not seem like much, but my most expensive taxi to date has been 200 baht and even that was an hour and over 30 km). With the client refusing to meet us another day, I spent half an hour on the phone with my agent trying to negotiate.

With stress budding, happiness was far from my thoughts. My buddy said lets just go home its not worth the trouble. He was right, the negatives were building and I needed to remove myself from the situation.

Arriving for the model dinner I had calmed down. Laughing at how silly the situation this really was. The stress of Friday was all rather insignificant. In reality I am living an adventure everyday. Few get the opportunity to take these shots and many can only dream.  In the end I am really asking, “is this real life?”

And we danced! Big thanks, 15 000 views was cracked!

My entire body is pumped up right now. Always deciding to vary workouts I opted for a 1000 rep challenge to myself. Who doesn’t like a challenge, one that pushes the floor farther and then leaves a pile of your bodies tears to be mopped up. These tears of course are sweat. Tears of joy. Here is what today’s lactic acid adrenaline  rush of a workout entailed. 

1. Bench Press (60 kg) – 100 reps
2. Inverted Row (BW) – 100 reps
3. Air Squiat (BW) – 100 reps
4. Full Sit-up – 100 reps
5. Standing Shoulder Press (30 kg) – 100 reps
6. Ab Rollout – 100 reps
7. Deadlift (60 kg) – 100 reps
8. Pushups (BW) – 100 reps
9. Barbell Curl (20 kg) – 100 reps
10.  Barbell Extension (20 kg) – 100 reps

                                                = 1000 Reps of mayhem 

Instructions are to complete 100 reps of each exercise. Must finish 100 reps before moving to the next exercise. Do this all for time.  My time: 36 minutes

Onto something less serious, work. Every day I am thankful for the opportunity to do what I am doing. As the less than 0.01% of the world population to work the way I do. Sometimes it can be shitty, like a look book I had the other day with an asshole photographer/stylist. Fortunately those are few and far between.  This week I managed to work 4 jobs; a lookbook, a Burberry Event, L’Officiel Magazine shoot, and an incredibly fun Supersports shoot (remember Golferman?).

The casting for L’Officiel was a few weeks ago. This is a high end fashion magazine that seldom uses men. Written off I was shocked when I received a message from my booker at 12:30 am. The client had just contacted her (no rest for the wicked).  2pm the next day I was to shoot in the Penthouse of Sofitel Luxury Hotel.  3 shots and 45 minutes of shooting and I was done.  Great styling and an awesome photographer (good communication) make a big difference. There is a really cool shot of me checking my beard in the mirror after a shower.

I must say I quite like Supersports and they like me too. My build very much fits the athlete specs.  Golf, tennis, and football (no longer in north America so can’t call it soccer, were my sports of the day). Also it was great to work with other models. On set I can be a bit of a goofball and like to have fun, including dancing. Here are a few shots. 

Oh yeah and this is how I felt walking down sukhumvit the other morning: 

Sexy women popping up everywhere

 The pool was great last night. It really helped me feel cool again. 

I had a pretty standard morning, wake up eat something, and I think it was oatmeal and an apple. I pulled out the DVD for Insane abs and did that as my workout for the day. 40 minutes of insane cardio and abs exercise. It was awesome, even with the A/C set at 16 degree I still was a ball of sweat.

I had a meeting set up with the ladies at the agency to pick up my allowance, take care of some picture things and to film two more casting videos. One video was done to be casual and another one a little more formal, dress shirt and dress pants.

TIP: Wear solid colours. Stripes and patterns take away from your face.

After we finished these, Vivian and I went to go grab some lunch. She helped me find a beef noddle dish that was awesome. After grabbing this I headed back to the agency avocado juice in hand.  Shortly after sitting down, Geri showed up at the agency.  She had just bought herself an iPad, completing her Apple family. We discussed meeting up to go shop a bit and check out some fly cars in the garage.  Pat handed me the address to my next casting, a commercial casting for Axe Body spray.

It would be about 45 minutes until I arrived at my destination. Google maps gave me directions but Barbara was way off. She wanted me to walk an extra 4 km. You can’t always trust the lady in the box.

After doing some standard video casting stuff, where you introduce yourself and show your different profiles, we dove into the meat and potatoes of the ad. This will be for a TV commercial. This is one of my first times acting so it was fun and exciting. For those of you that know me, I am always up for a challenge and learning something new. When I don’t get challenged is when I become bored and unsatisfied.

The scene is to have me come out from the shower (this is the mirrors view), I check out my face see if I need to shave, decide I am satisfied and then pick up my body spray. I spray it all over. Then a noise out of the corner happens. I kind of imagined a POP! Very animated type pop. And then beautiful women from all over the world start popping up. I am supposed to be curious, then surprised, followed by elation, satisfaction, excitement and happiness. This was a real test for me, as I know how I would in these situations and I was required to be much more expressive. Cool!

I have no idea how many men are going to these castings, but I will remain confident.  

For dinner I had Clay pot Gung Bao Chicken legs and congee. It was great. But way to much carb for me with the congee. Thankfully it was on the side so it was much easier to portion control.