not actually traveling anymore

I've actually been back for a while, and just posting my entries that I wrote while on vacation. Needless to say, I'm back safe and sound and have been as busy as ever. I just got back today from filming Antero Ali's new film "The Invisible Forest". It's been a two week process of workshops and finally filming up on Mt. Tamalpais. Antero and I haven't worked together since 1999, so this has been a real treat to reconnect. It's also allowed me to spend time with the reclusive doting father, Nick Walker and my old Ubu Roi castmate Juliet Tanner. While I single out these old faces, the entire cast was a delight to work with and I hope to work with each of them again in time. Of course, in the case of Jessica Bockler, this might be difficult as she came out from Liverpool to do the film.

I grew my hair and beard out for four months in preparation for the film, and Jenene Curtis took brave new leaps in hair design in bleaching and dying not only my head silver (as she had done for "Chain Reactions") but my beard and moustache as well. The effect was striking, but not quite complete and required me to acquire some white shoe polish to clear up the banana- yellow spots on my lip and chin. The end result was effective enough that the cameraman, after spending three days with me in the woods, was astonished to find out that I was four years younger than he was.

I may have mentioned this here before, but I was playing an actor in a theatre troupe, and my character was developing the role of Prospero, from The Tempest. Thus, my aged appearance.

I could not shave my beard off fast enough when I got home. It's immense size had been irritating to me for several reasons, but having it full of shoe polish was just too much. Still, I find it odd that there is no longer anything upon my chin to stroke.

I have returned to an immense amount of work for WestEd, which I will be tackling as soon as I finish this post. I've had enough people email me, commenting on how they know I'm on a boat somewhere, that I felt I should clarify what's been up.

There are many, many pictures of both my time on the boat, and on the set of the film, on my Flickr page. (see the link to the right).