So it's come to this... yea... it has. I'm here, sitting in front of my computer screen and I have exhausted all and every current resource available to me... that's code for I'm bored, a rare state of being that a productive, passionate, upstanding kid like myself should never under any circumstance ever have to encounter. It's a saturday night, and while I should be out playing hooky with the cool kids or working on a premise for my next screenplay... I'm not. The truth of the matter is that I am indeed sitting here... starting this blog... and the fact that I really couldn't be more content at this moment hopefully conveys the true subtleties of the truly dire state that I am currently in. A cry for help might be in order... but the pure vanity that comes with seeing my thoughts blissfully scroll themselves out before me basically negates that option off the top.
My name is Cal Barnes. For those of you who don't know me... you will... I promise... so just be prepared for that when the time comes... until that glorious day of arrival I'll do my best to fill you in for the time being. I'm an actor/writer/ and producer living in Los Angeles. Originally from Oregon, I grew up like Tom Sawyer... I built tree-houses, scouted out exclusive swimming holes, jumped cliffs, sported a teenage mutant ninja turtle backpack, kissed a girl on my last day of kindergarten, and got into fights with other cool kids about who would win in a death-match between superman and batman... yea... I was that kid... and I wasn't
Junior High was all music and skateboarding. My dad had a boat so I grew up on the water. First it was tubing... then the notorious knee board that I rocked pretty hard for a while, then I took to wakeboarding... I could throw down some basic 3's and backflips which was a big deal at the time... the I started this thing called wakeskating which is basically skateboarding and wakeboarding combined... to this day it is still one of my favorite things to do in the summer. I played some sports too. I was fast and I could jump over my own height at one point in time (5'11)... not bad for a white kid.
I always had a muse... always... and probably always will. My daily prescription says "hopeless romantic" on the container but I don't think that's accurate. What it should really say is "Creative as Possible" because I find that's what a muse gives me... unlimited creativity. Whoever the lucky girl happens to be at the time is an eternal well of fascination which springs forth from her loveliness an endless supply of inspiration rendering what I believe is the most truthful and soulish art that I am capable of producing. My friends say I do it to myself... I say... hell yea. First it was all the indie darlings at summer camp (Camp Crestview, Portland, OR what what!). Then it was the senior track star... who I had a shot with, blew it on purpose, then beat myself up for years about it. Inspiration, that's all I have to say. Then it was the 25 year old girl from Portland who only dated christian musicians. Really? Why do I do it? Because I have too. It gives me a reason to live. It gives me a reason to wake up and it gives me a reason to write the brilliant blog to make all your pearly whites show. Would I like one to stick eventually? Yes. Do I have one right now? Of course... I'm doing the best work of my life... but I'll do her the honor of not writing about her until the future plays out. Bottom line... if I'm doing creative work... I'm musing hard. Yes this counts.
After Highschool I went to Maui, Thailand, and Nepal for half a year. Met some cool people. Then went back to my hometown and chilled hard for that Summer. It was a crazy summer. Some crazy shit went down. I donned the green apron at starbucks, became a vegetarian, ate nothing but donuts and pizza, drank nothing but coffee, started smoking, successfully became the most unhealthy vegetarian on the planet, bought my first car which I still have that I crush around LA with, a white VW 98 GTI Bang, Bang, hung out with the coolest girl I have ever met... everyday, and a whole, whole lot more. It was my Nineteenth summer... the summer that changed everything... the summer of my life.
That fall I enrolled in Portland State for a year for general study and creative writing... I had some good times... played in a few bands... chilled in a few coffee shops... was a bonified hipstar for while. How can I say that? Just follow the signs man. 5'11 a buck thirty five, skinny jeans, claimed he was in a band, a facebook holdout, a diet consisting of coffee, beer, pizza and cigarettes... alright... alright... that's enough.
After finding some success in an acting class I took while in college I decided to come on down to the land of kicks and giggles... a lot of kicks... not to many giggles... at least for the first year, now things are going pretty good... after two years of reading terrible scripts I know what a bad script looks like... so it is my personal plight to simply write good ones... not just for my own sake, which it is, but for the benefit of my fellow actors, friends, and the other good people in this industry. I have written three original scripts so far... and have found the process to be one of the most liberating things i have done since moving to Los Angeles, just second to the art form that is self producing.
So now that you know a bit about me... who I am and whatnot... let me state the sole purpose for the existence of this blog. I want to document what I consider to be a pretty unconventional life... for my own entertainment yes but also hopefully for the enjoyment of others. This brings me to my first and only clause. If I'm going to do this... I'm going to do it right... and that's raw and uncensored. When Erika Albrecht from the SOCIAL NETWORK says things such as "The internets not written in pencil, Mark, it's written in Ink." She's spitting facts. Facts. And I intend to ink those facts hard. Here you will find everything relative as it pertains to an aspiring artist life in the land formerly known as Hollywood... nothing less... nothing more... this will cover everything from success stories, film experiences, screenings, premiers, parties, venues, film festivals, miscellaneous reviews, to nights out, everyday life and just the general randomness that happens all the time in this town. This is strictly a documentation of real life. No structure. No etiquette. Just documented opinions on things I experience. If I feel like writing something... I will sit down and write it at my convenience for all to enjoy as they munch their top ramen graham crackers from the other side of the computer screen . I just wanna be real guys (tears).
At the end of the day... I love LA... and am really excited about some of the cool things I think I have going here. So flip off the facebook and untwittle the tweets or whatever and trade one vice for another as you tune into what will be some of the most useful reflections on life written into existence for surviving on the streets of LA! BAM.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm glad you decided to do a blog, Cal! :-) Keep up the great work.
ReplyDelete