Would you intervene if you saw a woman being attacked?

I was asked this question the other day and had this tale to share:

I was in a nightclub one night, sitting at the bar, minding my own business. Next to me, a young lady was sitting with one or two of her female friends, having a drink - looked like a "girl's night out" sort of thing.

Some guy walks up to the lady sitting next to me and gives her a straight right cross square on the jaw. She flies off the barstool and lands hard on the ground, stunned.

Being the ever chivalrous gentleman, I stood up and told the guy that wasn't any way to treat a woman, and suggested he try that move on me.

We went at it, and I was doing more than well against this sorry fuck; I had studied Vunak and Cucci along with a few others and could more than hold my own in HTH. All of a sudden the bouncers grab me and hold me, completely ignoring the fool who started this whole encounter. The girl on the floor gets ups and starts hitting me, screaming "Don't hurt my boyfriend" and now that I'm restrained by the bouncers, mr. lame fuck girlfriend beater takes a free swipe at me with a bottle. I have a nice "Harrison Ford chin scar" to show for that chivalrous act, and a few stitches on my head somewhere.

So no, to be quite honest, I don't think I would lend a hand again. I did it once because once upon a time it was the right thing to do - today I'd probably get sued, or shot, or both.

I'm so disillusioned with most of the @$$-wipes out there I couldn't care less what they all do to each other. I know it's a selfish mentality, but years of disillusionment with people in general will do that to you.

My public key for PGP encryption

In case you didn't know, email is the electronic equivalent of a traditional "snail mail" postcard.

No envelope, readable by anyone who happens to be between you and your recipient.
Not the sort of way you'd want to send delicate information. For those with "conspiracy theory" mindsets and other Orwellian fears, having email so open is scary.

There are a lot of ways to protect the privacy of your message; PGP (pretty good privacy) encryption is easy, and FREE.

It is not within the confines of this post to explain PGP and how it works, but, a Reader's Digest condensed version would be:

You have a private key, and a public key. Your public key is shared with anyone who wants to send you an encrypted message.

When you receive an encrypted message, your private key decrypts it.

Of course, you have to find a way to get your public key into the hands of anyone who is going to send you an encrypted message, and you have to have the public key of anyone to whom you are going to send an encrypted message, but once that's done, you're ready to begin.

What does an encrypted message look like?

Well, the post you've read so far would look like this if I sent it in an encrypted email...


-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) - WinPT 1.2.0
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=LMqc
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----



Now, you'll need software to generate the private & public keys, and to encrypt and decrypt the messages. You can download a free, easy to use program for Windows at

http://www.gpg4win.org/


If you are comfortable with the command line interface, you can learn more here

http://www.gnupg.org/



I realize I'll probably NEVER receive an encrypted message from anyone, but, JUST IN CASE, here is my public key...



pub 1024D/7C1ED339 7/6/2009 Christopher Cho
Primary key fingerprint: 7217 33ED 1BC0 BC2D 8339 E741 0559 FFF2 7C1E D339

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) - WinPT 1.2.0
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BBUCCAMEFgIDAQIeAQIXgAAKCRAFWf/yfB7TOf0gAKCbYXBXe2JhHRieG8AZr2BS
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8tt3hCoKk41JCVyyAm+p2D1IUsiOuDRu2ZZK4wUFx9GErkc2OTyAc98l6hHErXQj
4ROwZCpsbJIdjf4QuVSszTkdY2QGhYKv4awni0XyUGrjfv0N12Db00cd42xN64h1
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gELGt/5CTRUFKctp/9dtg+UbbelS4iLKi/RPitrjBlmZlTLAjyp4+c2sljdit+Zt
uErrHX+0Tgq6WQlg2qH+8w9Ozgu7neEctBCISQQYEQIACQUCSlKUBAIbDAAKCRAF
Wf/yfB7TOaX/AJ4nKauU8d7BfGedH17B3oVaqvDnFQCgoCN7r442vYRrg/RE4zwr
D+qtMx0=
=gsIg
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----




Feel free to send me a message, and include your public key so I can return a nice private message as well.

Is the safe choice the wrong choice?

Last night I put up some work from a play titled "Guilty Conscience." I feel my work was pretty good, considering I have no director, and I had to edit some of the script to make it a workable one man scene. When I was asked how I felt about my performance, I said I thought it was pretty good - I wanted to work on showing the choices I had made for this character - detail oriented, obsessive -compulsive, analytical, and competent almost to the point of being arrogant, and I wanted to see if I could portray the character, his alter ego, and characters that the alter ego references all onstage. (It would be much easier to do on film with camera angles, wardrobe, etc.)

All of my objectives I accomplished with great success, he indicated.

Then he made an interesting observation.

The work that I've done so far (granted, only two pieces, but that is what he's seen) has been very clinically precise. My choices are clear and well presented, but they are, to use his term, "safe choices." There isn't any "thinking outside the box" for lack of a better term.

Now, in all honesty, I probably do tend to take the safer choice. Is that the wrong choice? I debated some on the way home last night--does thinking "outside the box" allow you to disregard the intention of the writer? And how far does that translate in casting?

For example:

Let's say the role calls for the following:
A tall, elegant man in his late 40s, dressed immaculately in a three piece suit. His attitude is one of absolute self confidence - his enemies would call it arrogance - that is tempered by a wry and amused self confidence.

It seems to me that playing this guy like a young Robin Williams on crack cocaine would be an prime example of thinking outside the box, but totally wrong in regards to the intention of the writer. So how does one resolve this conflict?

Wimping out and letting the director have the final say is one easy route to follow, although I seem to think that generally the writer and director are somewhere near the same page in regards to the vision of the project. This is one time where I think my intellect is getting in the way of my creativity.

I'll have to stew on this for a while, no doubt....

Discipline vs Perfectionism

Last night in class, a pair of young actors put up a scene from one of my all time favorite movies, "Broadcast News." The scene was the one in which Jane comes over to see how Aaron's shot at weekend anchor went, and ultimately Aaron confides that he is in love with her.

Now, maybe I was being particularly harsh because I love this movie.

Maybe it was because I've done this particular scene before.

Maybe it's because I write as well, and I'm a HUGE proponent of sticking with the script.

Maybe it's because I'm a perfectionist.

Maybe it's because I'm older than most of the others and my age is showing.

But I had a hard time giving the scene anything more than a C+ because they both were VERY far off the script that I remember reading. The actor playing Aaron was really just taking the idea and putting his own words to it, using what he could remember and filling in between with his own stuff. I guess another way to describe it is the explanation in Jurassic Park about where they got dinosaur DNA - they took what they had and filled in the rest with frog DNA - that's sort of what he was doing... except his dinosaur was more like a gila monster.

As I drove home, I reflected on why exactly I was grading the scene so low, and a large part of it was the actor's disregard for the script as it was written, which in turn may have tainted my evaluation of whether or not he was really emotionally involved in the scene. So then I started to wonder if my desire to stick with the script is getting in the way of my creative process.

I've always thought the actor's job was bringing the character that was written to life - unless the director tells me that the script is just a guide, I try to nail the lines exactly as written - I might be a halfway decent writer myself, but it seems to me that if the studio/network/producers liked the script, it's my job to bring that script to life, not make up my own.

I guess I'm gonna hafta think about this... maybe I'll write a monologue on the subject while I'm at it...

A personal sort of revelation

I recently joined an acting class after a hiatus of many years. I attended for about a month before putting up a monologue so I could get a feel for the class and the instructor.

Personally, I loathe monologues, but it seemed a logical choice for several reasons. No one in the class knows my level of proficiency onstage, and no one really wants to go up with someone they've never worked with before and risk embarrassment in front of their peers. In addition, right now my schedule is such that rehearsal with someone else would be very tough to schedule, so in the interest of expediency I chose a monologue from a play titled Key Exchange.

I did my piece and then the instructor and I had a brief dialogue. His first question to me was asking how I felt about the work I just did. I answered that I felt rusty - it's probably been 10 years since I've set foot in a classroom environment. Yes, I've worked on the set, but even there it has been over two years since my last gig. I felt rusty.

"Yeah," he answered dryly. "Rusty like a well oiled bicycle."

I cannot recount verbatim his critique, but, in short, he was very complimentary-- saying I was extremely talented and that I took to the stage with seemingly effortless grace. I took his praise with my usual stone faced countenance. He even commented on my expressionless response to his praise, saying I shouldn't be dismissive in what he was saying because, although he does say it pretty regularly in his class, it seems that genuinely talented people have a way of finding his class, which is why it appears that nearly every critique bears some testimony to the performers' level of talent.

Now, I'll be honest, I certainly enjoyed drinking from this seemingly endless fountain of flattery, but I admit I was skeptical in its honesty simply because of the situation: I am a tuition paying student - my continued attendance is a requisite for the continuation of his school, and, thus, it would seem a scathing review would be un-wise, especially for the premier performance of a plebe. The instructor gave me one suggestion--something I had considered in my preparation, but since it never blossomed during the performance, I opted not to "push it" and simply remain honest and in the moment. I guess that's a good thing, because otherwise, the instructor noted, he really wouldn't have had anything to say.

As I contemplated all of this days later, I found myself wondering if I was giving the instructor a fair shake; is this simply my inability to take a compliment? I was raised with the philosophy of not singing one's praises, and letting the final result do the talking. I try to keep with this school of thought in everything - it is rare for me to proclaim my proficiency in anything - I prefer to, as they say in certain circles, "let the cards speak for themselves." So why is it that I'm always hearing how good I am, but I'm still standing here sans career? I guess I find it hard to take a compliment when my resume doesn't reflect the same apparent level of proficiency that everyone sees when I do work.

Of course, no one likes to examine themselves closely and find the subject wanting, but since I pride myself in personal objectivity (in of itself a contradiction, I realize) I think perhaps I should give my newfound mentor some length of rope with which he may either hoist me up, or hang himself.