The Wandering Monkey

It never rains but it pours.  Lately I've been in the Blahs because not much seemed to be happening.  This week, if things go as planned, I will film a TV show tomorrow and begin training to be an extra dancer in a movie this weekend.  The TV show is with the Beijing actress I trained over the last couple of days.  I'm not sure what is going to happen, because she says the director can be unpredictable, but I'm going to show up and we'll see how much involvement I have.

The movie is a much larger production deal.  Its with a famous director who did Howards End and Remains of the Day.  That one looks like a done deal. I'll be training with them for three days or more, then shooting for up to six.  The pay is crap.  But this is really for the experience of it.  All the time I lived in L.A. I never worked as an actor as an extra.  I really wanted to, and it's not hard work to get.  So this time I'm doing it. 

The movie is set in 1938 Shanghai, which is perfect because that's the time when swing dancing actually WAS coming over to Shanghai.  Some servicemen brought it over here and tried to dance with the local girls. 

For this movie it looks now like I will be partnered with my regular dance partner.  This is a dream, because she's the most skilled dancer out here.  I'll be able to look like I know what I'm doing!

So that's right now. Good news always seems easier and shorter to explain, doesn't it?

-J