Author Archives: JimArnoldLA

My Year of (Under)employment, Job 1: Background Actor

After I slapped myself in the face, trying to stay awake

As the year rapidly comes to a close, I figured I should contemplate, in retrospect, what I have done/haven’t done with those hours, days, weeks and months.

Sure, some if it was spent scouring craigslist, indeed.com, mediabistro and other sites for job listings that turned out to be meager. However, a considerable amount of time was actually spent doing part-time work.

The first job I got after lay-off was that of Background Actor. I had signed up with Central Casting at other times in my life, and had done a few jobs, and generally liked it. I figured since I was older and grayer now there’d be less competition in my demographic – what I remembered from the cattle calls in Burbank was that the vast majority of people wanting to be “extras” were between the ages of 18 and 30.

Perhaps one instance in which age worked in my favor?

This time I also signed up with a calling service that would book me so I didn’t have to spend hours each day using precious minutes on my cell listening to annoying casting directors rant. I got an age break here, too: since I was such a fossil, the monthly fee was reduced! Take that to Denny’s for your lunch.

I did a few movies, a few TV series, a couple of pilots – probably the only one you’ve all heard about is Entourage. I played the crucial role of a hospital administrator in the season finale. I was issued a badge and clipboard of my own.

I noticed a couple of things I hadn’t remembered from earlier stints at this: the pros bring their own foldable lawn chairs – or chaises in some cases. They get the best “base camp” spots. Background actors tend to segregate themselves as to age group – so there was no way I was going to infiltrate the cool kids camp – sort of like high school. Straight guys my age, unfortunately, tend to be blowhards who want to talk about politics or how bad this or that is, instead of more fun and youthful topics, like dick, what the leading lady is wearing, of figuring out the sexual orientation of the entire cast.

When I moved to Palm Springs, I stopped this work as the commute just didn’t make any sense. When I’m back in L.A., good chance I will sign on again.

What I liked about this work:

Insanely easy. If you can follow simple directions as to what to wear, how to get there, and what time to show up, you can succeed at this job.
It’s fun. I love playing pretend, I love even being on the fringes of acting. Doesn’t everyone?
Truly temporary. Your job ends when you leave for the day.
They pay quick, usually within a week or so.
There’s free food. Beyond craft service, they give you actual meals, many of which were quite elaborate, considering.
There’s really a lot of downtime where you can do other things: flirt, read the paper/book, work on your script or novel on your laptop. Yes, everyone brings laptops now.
The AD’s. That’s assistant director, the person(s) who control the set. Without exception, in my experience these were professional, competent and enthusiastic people who treated us great.

What I didn’t like about this job:

The hours suck. To make the takeaway non-union wage of about $100 a day, you got to work about 12 hours and maybe get lucky enough for meal penalty payments and other little bumps. If for some reason they let you go early, you might only get your minimum wage of $64 a day. Also, the call times are usually quite early in the morning. This didn’t bother me much as I’m an early riser.
The pay sucks. See above. Then again, it’s really easy and you’re just sitting on your ass most of the time.
You have to provide your own wardrobe. Which seems counter-intuitive – as if, we’re doing this as a lark! We’re all fucking poor, out of work or just out of school, and don’t have hugely diverse wardrobes full of many “looks” and “colors”! I learned that you can just bring what you have, and if they don’t like it, they give you something from the wardrobe truck after belittling you for not having the right clothes. “What do you mean, you don’t have a camel trench coat? What’s wrong with youuuuuuu?”
You have to be available. You never know if you’re going to work the next day or not, but you have to assume that you are, so you can’t really plan anything (unless you’ve notified your calling agency in advance). This was difficult to get used to, and once I was not able to “accept my booking” and got put on probation! A scarlet letter! Again, it’s like being in high school.

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Male Beer Belly, Back Hair, Sweating, Hair Loss, and More Body Problems

Slideshow: Male Beer Belly, Back Hair, Sweating, Hair Loss, and More Body Problems.

Fun for Saturday: Is this male bashing at its finest? I’m searching for the analogous “Embarrassing Female Body Problems” on WebMD but so far have not found it.

Anyway, I digress. Ah, the grossness of being a man. Or not. It’s up to the guy, right, to decide what’s embarrassing about his bod or not? For instance, I know a great many men who like their distinctive smells. Some call it B.O. Others call it manly perfume.
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I guess I used to have a kind of unibrow. At least, I seem to remember one. I used to shave it off, but then, it just stopped growing. Just one more problem with aging – hair stops growing places you want it, like your legs, and starts growing places you don’t want it, like your shoulders and ears.

I guess that I’ve come across a majority of these “problems” every once in a while. Since I no longer have a prostate, I conveniently can’t have prostate problems, though problems resulting from a lack of a prostate probably figure in. And, I suspect, hearing loss is something on its way – but please, please, take your time.

So what about you? Are these problems, or just part of the glory of our gender? Also, please tell me why bad breath, gas and belching are solely male problems?

An Arnold hits 90

My Aunt Joan

I couldn’t decide whether to post something on this or not, and hemmed and hawed about it for a few days. In the end, as evidenced by what you read, I decided to acknowledge my aunt’s birthday, which was Tuesday, December 14.

The reason for my hesitancy is that she’s a private person who doesn’t like the spotlight. But I know she’s also kind of a feisty neo-Luddite (to put it mildly), and I know (and hope!) the chances that she’ll see this are pretty low.

Probably, the number of nonagenarians in the world is greater today than ever. My aunt, however, is not your typical 90-year-old, or at least, she seems unique to my undoubtedly prejudiced eyes.

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If that’s not enough, she volunteers in her spare time. She makes sandwiches for the homeless for her church, and she also volunteers cataloging birds for the Natural History Museum. At one time, she got an award from then-Mayor Koch for her work with the blind.

In her younger days, she acted off-Broadway and is still a huge theater fan. A typical New Yorker, she’s got an opinion on everything, jaywalks, and will cut you off mid-sentence if she has a point to make.

She’s also taught me, as a single person like her, what it’s all about to age with some grace. I think that message is that it’s about others and the world around you, being engaged in civic life, helping the less fortunate, and being grateful for the rich life you have. I believe it’s that sense of purpose which has made her so vital throughout her life, and I cherish that lesson.

Prostate Cancer Detection: Genetics Can Help Determine When A Biopsy Is Needed

Prostate Cancer Detection: Genetics Can Help Determine When A Biopsy Is Needed.

Benediction

Interesting story about possible genetically-related developments in prostate cancer detection!

Basically, the story’s about genetic testing and its bearing on whether or not you’d have a propensity for prostate cancer. Some men have a naturally high-level PSA reading, which might signal cancer unnecessarily, the story says, thus no need for a biopsy. Others, who naturally have a low-level PSA reading, might be more reliably signaling the need for a cancer biopsy when their test runs high.
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Confused? I sure am!

It’s cancer math. Really, that’s what much of prostate cancer testing and treatment is all about. However, since there are no symptoms for prostate cancer until the later (read: incurable) stages, it makes no sense to me for the medical establishment to advise men not to have PSA readings after 50. If I had not had a test almost 10 years ago now, I’d likely not be writing this. Of course, I was nowhere near 50 at the time.

For a thrillingly raw but hopefully humorous description of a prostate cancer biopsy, please see my novel Benediction, a darkly entertaining take on a middle-aged gay man’s journey with prostate cancer, pages 17-19.

Mary appears in Wisconsin, but you won’t be taking a train there

Link to: Church affirms Virgin Mary apparition in Wisconsin – latimes.com.

Mary

I’m happy to report that Mary sightings from eons ago have stood the test of time and the Vatican, and that now the appearances of Mary near Champion (not far from Green Bay) have the same church weight as those in Lourdes and Fatima.

Honestly, I grew up in Wisconsin and lived there for nearly 20 years and never once heard of Mary’s landing at Champion. Not that this means it didn’t happen – but, well, you know I’m skeptical – especially since the recipient of the sightings was blind in one eye.
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But OK, you can believe this if you want and you can make your pilgrimage. But you won’t be taking the train there, because the good Republicans who’ve taken over the great state of Wisconsin have torpedoed the future – the building of a fully-paid-for segment of a high speed rail network that would go through Wisconsin.

Fair enough, this particular train wouldn’t go anywhere near Green Bay or Champion. But if you, say, were a car-less pilgrim from points east or west, you could get a hell of a lot (pardon me, Mary) closer before you had to rent a car or take a bus. There’s not many air options into Champion, I fear.

Perhaps now that she’s been made legit, this Champion Mary can work her influence on the poor soul of Governor-elect Scott Walker – who’s already lost thousands of jobs for Wisconsinites and he’s not even in office yet. Perhaps there’s a future in building a Mary Highway from Milwaukee or Madison to Champion, though I don’t believe you’ll be able to get stimulus funds for it.

Dangerous times: Third pedestrian killed near Ramon Road and Sunrise Way in Palm Springs

Link: Third pedestrian killed near Ramon Road and Sunrise Way in Palm Springs | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun.

Ramon near Sunrise, location of 3 recent fatalities

Disturbing story of yet ANOTHER fatal accident last night at the same intersection where 2 other pedestrian fatalities have occurred in the last couple of weeks.

I live a couple of blocks from here. There are a number of circumstances which contribute to the danger level of this particular intersection:

it’s fracking dark. Palm Springs just loves to be able to see the stars at night – and it is nice – but the result of that obsession is that there are hardly any streetlights in town. So, when it gets dark, it gets really, really dark and it’s nearly impossible to see anything that’s not lit up like a Christmas tree.
We go fast. Both Ramon Road and Sunrise Way have speed limits in that area of at least 35 if not 40 mph. People speed – I’d say most cars go at 45 which makes it nearly impossible to stop if there was, say, a man lying in the street – which there was (one of these fatalities sounds like a suicide).
People jaywalk. Not only is there a park (Sunrise Park) directly across the street from this little shopping center (which includes a Ralph’s, a Starbucks, a CVS, a Domino’s, and more) but people (many homeless, many high school students during the day) jaywalk from the park to the shopping center driveway halfway up the block from the intersection. It seems to be worse during the day when the high school kids run across the street dodging cars (the HS is about a block east of there) but at least you can see them and teenagers generally run fast.

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I’m not absolving any of the drivers here by any means – in fact, this latest accident was apparently a hit and run. Drivers – you need to slow down and keep your eyes open. Pedestrians – you need to cross at the light and don’t trust that drivers will see you and stop. When it’s you vs. a 2-ton mass of steel, plastic, human frailty and highly combustible fuel, there’s really no match.

Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian

Link to: Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian.

David Wojnarowicz

God how I loved this Frank Rich column on Saturday.

Everything from his acknowledgment of the gaybashing at the Smithsonian, to his remembrance of the AIDS chapel at Grace Cathedral in San Fran – where I set a key scene in my novel Benediction – which reminds me of a terrible time that keeps scratching at that door of forgetting.
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Just talking about Keith Haring and David Wojnarowicz is practically a subversive act in the corporate America we find ourselves in these days. These are men who raged (and that might not even be strong enough a word) against the dying of the light.

I remember holding them in awe when they were alive – and so many more, the men and women of Act Up, those who fought against the indifference of another time. If they were alive today they’d be leading the marches down places like Wall Street, where the criminals in the towers would not dare to leave their offices.

Quick, lock the doors. We’re not safe.

If you’re reading this you’re a survivor of the age of AIDS. I’ve always felt compelled to honor those who didn’t, sometimes by doing something compelling and which never seems to measure up, or in the end, just by living every day.

The Mesquite Tree

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~ Joyce Kilmer

The HOA decided that this mesquite tree (which I planted about four years ago) in my yard was just too damn big for the space (true) and would have to go. The gardeners came on Friday to get rid of it.

I loved this mesquite tree – home of various desert birds, including the little hummingbirds. I will miss its shade, and the glorious whoosh sound it made when the wind blew through its feathery branches.
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I’m sure we’ll replace it with something smaller, but it just won’t be the same.

Friday morning

Friday afternoon

Alfred W. McCoy: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire: Four Scenarios for the End of the American Century by 2025

LINK TO: Alfred W. McCoy: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire: Four Scenarios for the End of the American Century by 2025.

McCoy’s piece is well worth reading. It’s depressing, quite frankly, and was unsure about reposting it here, after all, it is the holiday season, and we’re supposed to be cheery and rosy-cheeked and happy and gay and all that.

Basically, in the piece, McCoy gives a few scenarios about how the end game of American dominion might/will come to an end, and quicker than we thought. Not that this is news, but still it’s like a slap in the face.

I remember my first encounter with the concepts of Peak Oil in the 90s, and walking around shell-shocked for a few days. But after that, I consciously thought about my own fuel use, and how I could reduce it if not eliminate it. A decade later, I have a very fuel-efficient car (OK, it’s not a hybrid, that’s the next car if indeed there is a next car) which I try to use only judiciously (I work from a home office). I’ve learned to love walking, biking and public transport.

Just a small illustration of change that can come internally, then builds like a wave when more and more people get the message. I’m still hopeful that Americans can somehow avoid the most horrifying of these scenarios – but it just so often seems like we’re walking off that cliff, eyes wide open, for some reason refusing to see what’s apparent to the rest of the world.

Oh, Happy Tuesday! And It’s Pearl Harbor Day – Remembering you.

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Employers Won’t Hire The Jobless Because Of The ‘Desperate Vibe’

Link to: Employers Won’t Hire The Jobless Because Of The ‘Desperate Vibe’.

Interesting article. Suggests that those who have been unemployed for a while emit this desperation, this hungry look, like starving dogs salivating for a handout of wilted french fries.

I guess there’s some truth to that. At the same time, extraordinary times like these require extraordinary measures. Thus, for the purposes of securing a job interview, maybe nobody has to be unemployed who doesn’t want to be.

Please explain!

Job counselors always suggest that the main purpose of a resume is to secure that all-important face-to-face interview. Substance, be damned! We’re encouraged by those who are supposed to know about such things, to tailor our resumes individually for each and every job opening, borrowing and parroting key words and phrases used in the job description so that Company XYZ’s scanners spit out our CV indicating “YES! This one looks like a fit!”

It’s not so much that you actually have any knowledge or experience in what they are looking for as it is that you can convince them that you do in person. I can tell you, from being on the hiring end of such things, rarely does the mid-size company have the wherewithal to check every little thing – especially one or two jobs back – especially colleges you might or might not have attended – especially awards, volunteer positions, board memberships, and – you get the message. Continue reading →