The Alchemist

Hey everyone… keep an eye out for me in a Bandai Power Rangers TV commercial that will be airing all over the place this Christmas season.

(Oh, and if you follow the link above and click on the “MEGA MISSION HELMET” link at the bottom, it looks like they’ll eventually have the TV commercial online there as well - although they didn’t when I wrote this.)

I finally put a web page up on my IMP Films (Indie Motion Picture Films) domain! Yea!

It was so exciting to sit with my family and watch history being made last night by Barack Obama. I honestly had wondered if it would be possible for a black man to be nominated this year… but I couldn’t be more thrilled! And with his acceptance speech, he has shown again why he must be elected president. There are so few moments when you can feel the course of history being changed for the better by true leadership. I believe that Barack is a truly a great leader for our generation.

I’m officially scared for America.

I was recently disturbed by what I saw in an attack ad that (after taking Barack Obama’s words completely out of context) claimed that “Christ would never advocate turning the other cheek to terrorists and America’s enemies.” (By the way, this ad has been viewed on YouTube 1,366,432 times!)

Now, I’m not a Biblical Scholar - so some things are totally incomprehensible to me, but it seems to me that the war hawks that support Mr. McCain’s “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” policies should be reminded of Jesus’ actual teachings. They should reread Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and his reconsider Jesus’ action and admonishment in Gethsemane when Simon Peter cut off Malchus’ ear (”All who live by the sword shall die by the sword.”).

But there is something far more insidious going on than the deliberate misconstruing of Obama’s words by these “Christian” people. That video was forwarded to me by a woman that told me: “My heart tells me if he isn’t the antichrist that he will usher him in.” And come to find out, far from being a lone, off-the-wall crackpot, a large number of Americans today actually do believe that Obama is the antichrist! Holy crap!

To be fair to the Bible, this kind of thought is far less based on that book than it is on the otherwise seemingly innocuous “Left Behind” series of fiction and Nostradamous‘ unintelligible ramblings. However, it seems increasingly apparent that many “Christian” Americans simply don’t have the faculty to separate fact from fiction or even the book of Revelations from other random prophecies.

A TIME/CNN poll finds that more than one-third of Americans say they are paying more attention now to how the news might relate to the end of the world, and have talked about what the Bible has to say on the subject. Fully 59% say they believe the events in Revelation are going to come true, and nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted the Sept. 11 attack. - Time Magazine

Worse than what otherwise might be simply accidental mingling of information, however, it appears that Senator John McCain (or at least someone in his campaign) is aware of this trend and may even be attempting to take advantage of these misguided folks in his “The One” series of attack ads. Yet another frightful sign from someone who has a fighting chance of being the most powerful person on our planet in just a few months!

All of this nonsense could be chalked up to just a bunch of fascinating human psychology - if the fate of the country, and indeed the world, didn’t hang in the balance. But given the stakes, it leaves me with this sobering thought: Christ may or may not be returning, but if some of these people have their way, the end times will be that much closer.

Hey all, many of my friends on FaceBook and MySpace noticed my enthusiastic status message yesterday of “Scott Ganyo just met Wayne Brady!” and have demanded the story. Well ok then.

Yesterday I auditioned for a music video for the song “You and Me” from Wayne Brady’s new album. Now frankly, I don’t normally submit for music videos (they just don’t interest me very much), but when I saw that it was Wayne Brady, I decided to make an exception. The guy is just too fun and talented not to pass up a chance to work with him! And good news! They granted me an audition.

There was no script, just pure improv based on a scene description for the opening scene of the music video. I was to be a news reporter on the scene outside the courthouse prior to Wayne’s divorce hearing. I was a little nervous as I wasn’t sure what to expect at the audition, but I had done some research and filed away all the important details (names, locations, etc) to work into my improv when I ran it. (No, I didn’t write myself a script. I wanted to preserve the improvised feeling.)

I arrived at the audition (exactly one day after I mistakenly showed up for the same audition on the wrong day - sigh) at some seemingly hole-in-the-wall dance studio - but one that apparently has had a lot of celebrities come through - judging by the number of autographed photos on the wall! I found the room and began waiting in line in the cramped hallway for the chance to perform for the casting director (Renee Garcia) to put me on tape.

So I’m standing in line with a few other people when lo and behold, Wayne Brady walked up with his cute little girl, Miley and said hi! He was extremely gracious and took the time to shake all of our hands and thank us for coming to audition. It was right about then that I started to get nervous. I had definitely not planned on doing my improv in front of a guy so well known for his fantastic improv work! Needless to say, I felt the stakes go up considerably! Well, after the pleasantries, Wayne disappeared into the audition room leaving me to my musings. He quickly emerged a short time later, however, and left.

It was my turn after that, so I entered the tiny little room. It was bare except for a little table behind which Renee was sitting with a little camcorder. Stark. I introduced myself and chatted with Renee a little bit and learned that Wayne had completely unexpectedly stopped by just to tell her hello. (What a nice gesture!) Renee then slated me then announced, “Ok. It’s your show. Action!”

Well, I won’t even try to remember what I actually said and did, but was some wild mix of breaking news, Wayne Brady, divorce, Summer (his ex) and Miley arriving, some pantomiming of trying to get an interview with her over crazed paparazzi, and finally failing back to my viewing audience.

Overall, I’d say things went well. Could it have been better? Of course! But did it embarrass me? No. Which is good, because Renee said that Wayne will be reviewing the tape…

So that’s the story. Next chapter: How I worked with Wayne Brady. (I hope!)

By the way, now that you know how nice a guy Wayne is, you might appreciate this sketch he did on Dave Chappell’s show. It’s one of my favorites. (But it’s not safe for work or kids.)

Hey everyone, I’m on the hunt for a good theatrical agent in Los Angeles and I need your help!

If you know anyone or know anyone who knows anyone that has a relationship with an agent here, I could really use a referral to help get some attention.

Please let me know. Thanks!

I really like this latest reel. It’s low key and focuses directly on my acting. I think it’s what my reel should have been all along! I hope you enjoy it. Feedback is welcome.

Scott Ganyo’s Demo Reel from Scott Ganyo on Vimeo.

Update: I replaced the YouTube video with a Vimeo video because the quality is SOOO much better!

The records being broken are just darn impressive, for one (via Deadline Hollywood):

1 - LARGEST NUMBER OF OPENING THEATRES WITH 4,366 (MORE THAN THE 4,362 DEBUT THEATRES OF PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END IN 2007).

2 - BIGGEST MIDNIGHT PREVIEW GROSS WITH $18.489 MILLION IN 3,040 THEATRES (BEATS STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH AND ITS $16.9 MILLION IN 2,915 THEATRES IN 2005).

3 - BIGGEST IMAX MIDNIGHT PREVIEWS SET AN NEW RECORD WITH $640,000 (INCLUDED IN THE $18.489 MILLION PREVIEW NUMBER).

4 - BIGGEST SINGLE-DAY GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $67.850 MILLION (BESTS THE $59,841,919 SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007).

5 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY WITH $155.340 MILLION (BESTS THE $151,116 MILLION SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007).

6 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS FOR AN IMAX RELEASE IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY WITH $6,214,061 MILLION IN 94 THEATRES WITH $66,107 PER THEATRE. (BESTS THE $4.7 MILLION SET BY SPIDER-MAN 3 IN 2007.) IMAX SHOWING AT FULL CAPACITY $1.9 MILLION ON SATURDAY ALONE.

7 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND OF 2008 WITH $151.340 (BEATS INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL’S $101.137 MILLION FROM MAY 23-25, 2008)

8 - BIGGEST JULY OPENING EVER (BEATS PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST’S $135,634,554 ON JULY 7, 2006).

Hey all, I just noticed this on YouTube: The Cablevision commercial I did when I first moved out to LA…