PianoFighter Nina Harada chronicles her journey of pursuing a career as an actor in Los Angeles. Follow her journey on her blog The Scene Partner.

Like a lot of people during the month of January, I’ve been doing some reflecting, re-evaluating and looking forward. I started a running list of what I want my 2012 to be about, some directly related to acting, some not, but all under the same goal of honoring Me. Seems a little selfish, but sometimes you have to be. What I mean is, doing things that I want to do not have to do, doing things that make me happy and feed my soul, fulfilling my passions and dreams, enjoying this journey every step of the way– basically, having an overall positive outlook.

A lot of it has to do with language I use: getting rid of  should’s and shouldnt’s and have to’s and replacing them with like to’s, want to’s and choose to’s. More active, less passive. I also think that a more active, there-are-things-in-my-control, perspective will result in a more proactive year. The less you make projects and activities chores, and the more you make them fun then the more likely you will do them! For instance, I kinda hate submitting. I’d think of it as something I have to do if I want to be an actor. But, throw on a little music, imagine the different roles I now have the chance at playing, and it’s kind of fun!

So, going along with the doing things that make me happy and feed my soul, one of the items on my list is to do more theater I love. In other words, not worrying about pay vs no pay, industry audience vs. family and friends, potential connections vs. none at all, or even theater vs. film. Theater was what got me here to begin with. Anyway, I got what I wanted! I am starting off the year with two wonderful shows. The first, in February at Casa 0101, is called Occupy the Heart, a short play festival exploring the Occupy Wall Street movement. The second, in March at the Lyric Hyperion, is a new rendition of the Vagina Monologues, including an original ensemble-created piece. Not to mention both shows are with very cool people I like. I think I’m off to a good start!

-Nina

I decided to write about the present and future responsibility of the human race to preserve Earth. I believe that it is our responsibility to react to the excessive trash problem that has reared its Gorgon-like head into our society. Sad as it may seem, I do not believe that we have what it takes to salvage our tattered and torn land. That is why we will have to set a worldwide control fire that will dispose of all the trash. I’m sure all the smoke and pollutants in it will ruin our ozone layer, leaving us susceptible to the harmful UV rays of the sun, but by the time our “super fire” is done burning I will have put together a team of the finest scientists, physicists, mathematicians, and mechanical engineers in their fields to begin construction of the largest super spaceship known to man. It will be called “THOR 2,” symbolically named after the Norse God of thunder and lightning. You may be asking yourself, “Why is there a 2 in the name?” Good question. It’s to make it sound more powerful and because we had tried but failed before (it’s just to excite those nerds who work at Time magazine). We will then start to load people into “T2″ by process of elimination. If you were ever obnoxiously rude and or an asshole to me then you will have to stay on Earth and deal with the underworld Trolls that have been living in underground hives. They’re not the kind to be taken lightly. Read more »

PianoFighter Nina Harada chronicles her journey of pursuing a career as an actor in Los Angeles. Follow her journey on her blog The Scene Partner.

No, not the kind that makes you famous over night; the kind that gives you a breather, time to reflect, time to relax. In a similar post last year, I wrote that actors need vacations, too. And it’s true! So much of this career is go-go-go with no real defining markers, like vacation time or company meetings or whatever else marks time. Half the time I don’t even know what day it is.

Anyway, the past two weeks were somewhat of a whirlwind of a break from all that is acting. A little Mexico, Palm Springs and San Francisco to end 2011 and ring in 2012. I found myself taking a lot in, doing little thinking about acting (which felt so nice) and a lot of thinking about other things that are growing in importance for me. It’s important to recognize that I have chosen this career path and everything in between. (I chose to get headshots from a specific photographer, I chose to join a certain theater company, I chose to accept certain projects, etc.) For the past two years, I have been going along like this, going through the motions in my pursuit of this career. And I realized, recently, that not all of it necessarily makes me happy. I do it because I’ve been doing it, letting it take control over me instead of the other way around. I made those decisions and I can just as easily make new ones. It’s kind of like when I was at NYU and miserable, fearing I was going to be stuck there for four years in my misery when I had an “aha” moment, that looking back seems so simple and obvious but wasn’t at all when I was in the thick of my unhappiness. I realized, hey, I can leave! It didn’t mean I was quitting acting, it didn’t mean I was a failure. Afterall, NYU was my dream, I strived for and achieved. But just because I decided to go there didn’t mean I had to stay there. There was nothing wrong with rejecting the traditional four-year college experience if it wasn’t working for me. It’s my life, I can do it however I want.

So I’m kind of realizing that with my life right now. They aren’t fully formed decisions yet, because I’m still processing it all. But this recent break did give me the ability to see a lot of things about my life that I don’t get to see on a day-to-day basis in the throws of acting career stuff. It’s funny, because I always say there is no “right” way to do this. No instruction guide, no ladder to climb. And yet, there are lots of things I’ve been doing because I feel I should, I have to. I need to take my own advice! I can go about this any way I want. Besides, acting is not my one and only passion, though it is the most prominent now. Over the break those other passions and desires started to speak up. It’s what made me realize that I need to change this up this year. Nor sure how or when or where, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

-Nina

People use critical thinking skills in most aspects of their lives – during work and social activities, even while simply driving an automobile. But where critical thinking skills come in handy as a Nurse or healthcare professional, is during a highly stressful life or death situation. I just had one such situation happen to me with my dear furry friend, Belly, my beloved 8 year old dog. This morning, in my neighborhood, Belly and I were taking our usual stroll down the street, which is a favorite pastime for us. I usually munch on a yummy piece of fruit or sip on my hot Blue Bottle coffee, while Belly smells every nook and cranny of the sidewalk pavement, stopping to breathe in the flowers, relieve herself by a tree, or simply rub her back against the dry dirt.

Occasionally, I’ve been known to give Belly the remainder of my apple core so she can get some much needed fiber in her diet (I am so thoughtful!). And this time in particular, she gave me those pleading puppy eyes, so I handed her the piece of fruit without hesitation – why let the fruit go to waste? But unlike other times I’ve handed Belly some remaining food item, where she usually breaks it into pieces, Belly started choking on the apple core I gave her – clearly she tried to swallow the thing whole.

Read more »

Enjoy this TOM TOM, a relic from the notebook-paper-laden past.

Also enjoy this slightly modified from the original version rap via eViaN-DuBsCH3ST3R

The line in Mugwumpin’s press release for Future Motive Power (Jan 6-29) that caught my eye was this: “…created for the vault level of the historic Old Mint.” Hell yeah. After missing We Players‘ Hamlet staged on Alcatraz, I made a sort-of vow that I would see any show produced on or at or in or for some cool location. And the Old Mint is definitely a choice spot. TICKETS ~ MORE INFO ~ TICKETS ~ MORE INFO

To be fair, the subject matter of Future Motive Power, Nikola Tesla, has inspired great art before, most notably this. According to Mugwumpin, FMP “weaves fragments of biography, fiction, science demonstration, and magic into a performative fever dream.” That’s right, fuckin magic. And, “Mugwumpin overlays Tesla’s makeshift Manhattan laboratories onto the Old Mint, built around the same time Tesla was active.” Also cool, they divide the audience at different points in the show, so if you and your friend/date/Tesla-fetishist get split, you’re going to see different shows overall. Read more »

PianoFight is executive-producing a short narrative film called Low Shoulders. Find out more at www.lowshoulders.com.

The past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about when our movie is going to screen. It’s a good thing—I’m glad people are still interested. I wanted to give you all a quick update, so you know what’s what. So here is the update:

The No One's Home Editing Bay

A few months ago (around October) I purchased a Mac Pro tower to edit on. This machine is FAST. It starts up in literally 8 seconds. It has two 2.8 Ghz quad-core processors, for a total of 8 cores, and 32 GB worth of memory for lightning fast rendering and exporting, a killer graphics card for perfect real-time video playback, and I now have approximately 8 Terrabytes of total hard drive space on 5 separate drives so I can back up the entire project 5 times. Rule #1: always back up your footage!

But not long after the purchase, I had to take a short hiatus from working on Low Shoulders to concentrate on some personal life stuff. But now, it’s a new year, and I have refocused my energies on completing what is, at this point, a one and a half year long project.

Cutting together the last couple scenes of Low Shoulders

The good news is that, with my full attention now on this project, everything should proceed exponentially. In fact, I’m very happy to announce that I currently have fully completed a 45 minute rough cut of the entire film. It’s looking great. There are some really beautiful scenes and some powerful lines in the film. The ending is particularly engaging.

I’m working alone on the editing with literally hundreds of hours of footage, so it’s been a lot of work and a lot of time to get where I am, and I am extremely happy to have gotten this far.

On the other hand, that doesn’t mean we’ll be ready to show next week. There’s a lot of work left to do. We’ve got to compile a soundtrack, record all the ADR (post-dub work) that we need, film a few pick-up shots, fine tune the edit, clean up the soundtrack, record any foley (sound effects), and color correct. Then we print. Then we show. Read more »

We’ve long been fans of Jamie DeWolf, founder and producer of Tourettes Without Regrets (which you can catch the first Thursday of every month at the Oakland Metro Operahouse). Since we met Jamie a few years back in the basement recording studio of Hyper Raje Records while he was dubbing his upcoming feature film Smoked, he’s been somebody in the Bay Area arts scene that we’ve got on well with and really admired. The man is a born hustler, working on films, live shows, his own spoken word and stand-up all seemingly at the same time without pausing to sleep or eat or shit or even play hop scotch. Oh yeah, and he’s raising a kick-ass daughter who’s also an artist.

Point is, we like Jamie and his work a lot. And so does NPR’s Snap Judgement. The spoken word and poetry radio-staple, which is now producing fully-filmed live shows, recently honored Mr. DeWolf with its Snap Story Performance of the Year Award. When I started writing this post, I thought I’d try and write about Jamie’s story. But that just wouldn’t do it justice. I’ve mentioned everything in the title except Scientology, so if you’re curious about how that plays into everything, sit down, grab some popcorn, and watch the following clip.

As I said, we’re big fans of Jamie but haven’t had the chance to collaborate on anything. That is ’til now. On March 1st, PianoFight will take the stage at Tourettes Without Regrets and we are effing stoked. To date, PianoFight has only played one show in Oakland, which of course was a rocking good tasting good time. And when saddling up next to the MC’s and poets at Tourettes, you can bet your ass we’re gonna bring it.

-Rob