July 10, 2010 4

“Extra”-ordinary Day.

By in men, sketches, women

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I got to be on TV again. A series called Blue Mountain State is shooting here, at the local agricultural wing of our McGill University, which also houses something called John Abbott College. That’s me above, after a long hot day of work. I essayed the role of “Homeless Person,” in the morning, and then found religion and got upgraded to “parishioner” for the afternoon. However, my hair didn’t get the message.

Macdonald College is a pretty good stand-in for Blue Mountain State (wherever that is), and carries on as a regular school while shooting continues over summer.

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Didn’t get any shots of the guest star, Denise Richards, that day, because amateur cameras are frowned upon on set. But I did spend our considerable downtime sketching people. Also getting coffee and sweat all over the book. Anyways, I drew faces of other extras, and Denise Richard’s extraordinarily perky nose is in there, too. Still no scanner at the moment, so the slide show below is of snaps I took, the style of which I hope adds to the atmosphere.

Since this was kind of an “Animal House/American Pie” kind of thing, there were lots of hunky jocks around, and pretty girls in extra short skirts. I don’t think my role as homeless guy gave me much of a cachet, however.

It was hot-hot-hot, and you couldn’t keep the air conditioning running because of the noise that would make in the background. Filmmaking isn’t always easy (I prefer writing, but it’s fun to work at being an extra, when called. My schedule is very flexible).

What was neat was seeing how a comedy was directed, and the enthusiasm people put into their performances, despite the heat. One of the creators of the show even got into a super-stuffy mascot costume, and bounded around, despite the 30+ c day, and withering humidity.

You can watch episodes of the first season of the show here. It’s actually kind of enjoyable, in a dumb way. The ones with Denise and I will be showing in October, supposedly.

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4 Responses to ““Extra”-ordinary Day.”

  1. Alston Adams says:

    Looking good, Jack.

  2. Jack says:

    Thanks. I thought I was making “crazy eyes.”

  3. Joanne Carnegie says:

    So the photo with the “crazy eyes” would be the parishioner?

    I agree with Alston’s comment that it’s a good photo. What kind of crazy were you aiming for?

    I’m asking because I would define the look as “intense,” not “crazy,” but now that I think about it, intense + suit and loosely-knotted tie could frequently = slightly off one’s rocker.

    Who knows? A home-made fertilizer bomb under the jacket?

  4. Jack says:

    At that point, I was trying to hold my eyes open. Thought I was getting starey face, but maybe it works. Gotta practice the G. Clooney look.

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