"Great show tonight kid, you really pack in a crowd."

Ah yes, Film Noir. That oh so short lived era of film where deception, deceit, seduction, murder and death were relative topics when combined with some pretty fierce sexual undertones. (Wait a second, wasn't that just on a recent episode of "Gossip Girl" or something?!)

This past weekend I had the great opportunity to work on a sketch written by our own Corinne Chooey for Cold Tofu's "CTV" channel debuting on YouTube right now. (The title of this post is a line from our script). Our sketch, entitled "Forbidden City Rhapsody" is the story of starlet Lorna Tong (skillfully played by our good friend Contrary Mary, Denise), who un-be knowing to her husband, is having an affair with club owner Barkley Lau, played by moi. The short scene takes place in Lorna's dressing room right after her show. It plays out as Barkley's attempt to get Lorna back into his arms despite the fact that she's married and has subsequently moved on (kinda).

I've never done a film noir "film" before, and I have to say that this was fun! Not only was I able to dress up in period costume (a tux, a white scarf AND greased down hair!), I was able to use film noir-ish dialog to convey sexual undertones so prevalent of the era. It was awesome! And to top it all off, my co-star, Denise had the incredible opportunity to kiss ME on screen and on film! How cool is that for her?! Superb I say! Superb!

Great times everyone! I'd like to thank Dom our director for choosing me to play the role of Barkley Lau, Corinne for writing the piece, Johann for shooting it, Aaron for holding up the mic pole for us, Sachiko for helping us out with costumes, Kennedy for being a terrific PA, and Wanru for being our script supervisor. Did I miss anyone? I hope not! If I did, thank you for all your help with the production!

The raw footage is being edited right now, but once it's out, I'll definitely put a post out on where to view it. Actually you'll find it right here. Do check out our other two videos posted up on it already. I have a quick postman cameo in one of them.

And now, on with the photos from the shoot!

Denise, as the "strikingly beautiful" Lorna Tong.

Trust me, it takes muscles to hold up a boom mic like this. Way to go Aaron.

Dom directing the eccentrically hot Wanru for her scene in Forbidden City.

After all that kissing, Denise definitely had to re-apply more lipstick.

Writer Corinne and director Dom (seated) looking at their monitor during filming.

Another shot of Denise prepping for the camera.

My favorite shot of the day, Wanru about to make her entrance into the scene.
I just love her expression and the lighting on her!

Camera man extraordinaire, Johann Diel.

Finally, I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to ONE month old Amelia, who had her 1 month celebration yesterday. I posted about her a month ago and boy has she grown! Thanks for the invite John & Stef :)

Despite the love, adoration and gifts bestowed upon Amelia yesterday, I have a feeling
she was thinking more about getting some good sleep! You rock kiddo!

Thanks for stopping by today gang, and please do leave a comment if you liked the photos or post!

I'll Explain this photo tomorow

The Artist's Life

Whew! What a past couple of weeks it has been! Not only did I shoot two weddings (with one more on the way this upcoming weekend), I've been trying to catch up with a lot of post-production stuff affiliated with all this shooting! Needless to say, I'm busy. Then again, it's better than not being busy.

For those of you who know me, not only am I a photographer, but I've been a professional actor now for a large part of my life, and I attribute that experience and training to the images I capture as a photographer. I believe that in order to be a well rounded person (not the "I ate too much" variety) one should experience as much as possible in this life. I say this cause with my improv group, Cold Tofu, I'm able to explore different beings, scenarios, relationships, etc. and have too much fun in the process! I've blogged about this before, and I blog about it again, cause last night concluded our session with the incomparable Tracy Burns (not to be mistaken with this Tracy Burns, but a hottie nonetheless). Tracy has worked with us in the past, and with this session she worked with our A-Team on some super-secret-government-only improv training that was not only fun, but super hilarious! I could describe what we learned to you right here, but it's better seen than read (plus, I'd have to kill you anyway).

I think I may have posted past sessions with Tracy before, but this time, I wanted to try something different with our last class photo, so I set these shots up. Thanks to Tracy and the guys in class for going along with me. I think it turned out great!

Despite Tracy's expert teaching, some of the guys STILL don't get it.

In the end though, we all love us some T.B.!

A special thanks goes out to Tracy for spending 8 weeks with us! You rock! We'll do "Corn" with you anytime!

That's it for now folks. I'll try to get up some more images from my last two weddings, particularly from Saki & Taka's wedding two weeks ago - I love these two! They're Golf Rock Stars! Plus, I had a great time at their wedding. Thanks again you two!

Till next time! Enjoy!