#justchris

[mrchrisreese]

Y’all ready for us?!!

[mrchrisreese]

#Weekend off to good start. Saw #TheIrishman and these nobodies showed for the Q&A. #robertdeniro #alpacino #annapaquin #rayromano #actorslife #Hollywood #dreams https://www.instagram.com/p/B46Qs1rAMB5/?igshid=1s0j4ofghpp7g

[mrchrisreese]

Me in my outfit by #ruthcarter for #dolemiteismyname. Have not seen film, but apparently my scene was cut. I was not an extra. I actually worked with and had dialogue w/ #eddiemurphy in the scene. If you want to make it in #hollywood, you gotta deal w/ the many heartbreaks. #actor (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4K30UCgzRv/?igshid=249qgykzlo7m

[mrchrisreese]

This weekend, it goes down!! The Reckoning plays Film Block 11 on Saturday Oct. 26th, and Film Block 21 on Sunday October 27th!!

https://bherc.org/festivals/african-american-film-marketplace-and-s-e-manly-short-film-showcase/

https://youtu.be/WuKJR7DS4MM

[mrchrisreese]

Here I am on the day of shooting ‘Kidding’ with Jim Carrey, filming my honeywagon.

[mrchrisreese]

Liquid Serenade (2009)

Listen at your window pane, the music in my summer pitter-patter See the meaning in my syncopated melodies Feel the gaze of my gifted pendulum kiss And let my reign fall upon you... Now take from me, all seen through the kaleidoscope Let the midnight waters serve me after your presence, and Inundate my senses with your four seasons Let your rain fall upon me, and... I will succumb to the place of your peaceful Jordan When I stand within whispers of your welcoming shore And my eye you stare to the heart of me and subdue within me the tempest; consummate my soul and let... the rain fall upon us, until... The quiet storm indulges a ravenous earth And I trace the cryptic walls of your desires deep into the cavernous places of you unexplored, tell me your secrets, until... None are left to tell, and let... my rain fall upon you... And I shall tirelessly seek the place of prestigious consent That I would knowledge in a metacarpus and cultivate in the land of milk and honey; and heroes will be made when I divert from you Boreas' intent... so let my rain fall upon you... And though my candor spills from meager lips See me Paris and... The sustenance I pour from the nectar you sip.... ...and let my rain fall upon you

[mrchrisreese]

Me and my co star from the Ice Breakers commercial.  Flew all the way to Mexico to shoot this back in November....

[mrchrisreese]

Who’s in charge here?

This is absolutely why there is no such thing as customer service in America anymore...About three months back my car was in the shop getting worked on.  It was taking longer than expected at this shop to have my car ready, so they decided they were going to rent a car for me to cover my time loss.  Once i get to the car rental place, they tell me the usual - we're going to put a hold on your cc, and when you bring the car back, we'll charge the shop.  Fast forward to my next cc statement, this car rental place, who shall remain nameless, but used to have a person named OJ as a spokesperson, charges the rental to me.  Fine, i'll just call them to let them know the situation, they'll refund/credit me back, whatever.  Weeks go by, me calling whoever's working the desk. I get, 'i'll check it out, call you back'', "will pass along to manager"  and my favorite "you can call back and speak to our district manager tomorrow, but we don't know what time he'll be here."  Not ONE time did anyone ever call me back to ask any questions, and i left my number several times.  This last time that I called to talk to the front desk person, I REALLY had to hold back from letting resurface that more impulsive guy from my younger days.  After their inability to at the very least, return a phone call, they tried to make me feel as if i was bothering them, and even tried to pass the buck of things not getting resolved, onto me - basically inquiring why i didn’t just go get my refund from the car shop.  The way I saw it, it was their screwup.  It was their responsibility to make it right. Principality. YOUR job to fix.  Even if it was not their normal protocol for issuing refund, any manager/DM worth ANYTHING, would’ve identified the opportunity to break from whatever established procedure, and seen the benefit of handling refund, as far outweighing any cost.  Even if said manager/dm would’ve had to take money out his/her own pocket, just to make the pain in the ass go away.  The price for their loss of customer -  $28.45...Was it just me????

[mrchrisreese]

On the studio lot auditioning this week. Trying to ramp these auditions up. Me and my agent are on the case to try to do so...

[mrchrisreese]

Flawedsome

So my email I have this saved on, says I wrote this in 2012.  I am posting one of my poems because my wife told me the other day, that she remembers liking my poetry that i let her read when we first met.  I honestly don’t remember letting her read some of my stuff...

‘Flawedsome’

I was born flawedsome

Perfection, not my birthright

How is this to be

When this is what I see

When I turn on the tv

And thumb through the zines

…And yet, I don’t see me

I was born flawedsome

A far cry from one hundred’s most

And a place where all that glitters is gold

Where screams of ‘look here’, ‘look here’ fight to push their way past the flashing bulb

And masses gather to throw out the temptation of Agamemnon

But,…

Through this inundation and barrage of homage to the Gods

I suffer to seek the value of self

In as much as the worship given to our erected temples

Am I only a required ‘these’, so that ‘those’ feel they are more?...

From this ponderance, I consume doubting thoughts

Because I am convinced by men to abase my cost

Where it should have been all the time

To think assuredly of myself in my mind

For what is sown inside of me, is what is grown

I grant impunity from my mental sufferings, and…

Henceforth, stand and give declaration

I shout to the world and proclaim my awakening

I am magnificent in my everyday ways

And so shall it be, to the end of my days

From the particular swag of my gait, and un-fashionable weight

To the label rack, of the threads on my back

The enunciation of my voice, and my melanin’s choice

The texture of my hair; the framing of lens through which I stare

The ‘seen for miles’ of my less than Hollywood smile

The oh so sweet simplicities of my noncommercial personality

You see, all I be, is fine by me

Because you see, I pepper a world with my originality

Never again am I to stake my worth

Against a praise of idolatry

For, I AM flawed

And yet, still awesome

I am who I know me to be, and…

I.

Am.

Flawedsome.

[mrchrisreese]

UCB 301 post graduation show pose! (Yes, our show was actually on Easter/April Fools)

[mrchrisreese]

Holy Man

There’s no denying that if you want to be in the entertainment business, you need to have VERY thick skin.  You must have the ability to take rejection constantly, and keep pushing despite.  However, even the best of us can get in a funk about a seemingly stagnant-at-the-moment career.  Lately i’ve been there in that funk, trying to figure out the things that I should do or try, to get my career to the next step.  Many times, that funk is mixed with self doubt and depression, and the lack of control in the timing of your career.

So the other day, I was coming out of a meeting in a building on Wilshire blvd, and I got into my car parked on the street right in front of the building in which i just came out.  While i was sitting there in my car (can’t exactly remember why i hadn’t driven away yet), i notice a man out of the corner of my eye slowing down and repeatedly looking at me.  He was wearing a turban (not the big elaborate kind), and I presume he was Sikh.  He approaches my car and paraphrasing, tells me that he is a spiritual advisor, someone that can know and see things the average person can not see.  Then he proceeds to say something that most people in L.A. that have a dream can only hope to believe - that looking at my face he could see this vision of my future, one of great success so to speak.  The timing of our two paths crossing is a little eerie to me, and what he says piques my curiosity, but i’m cautious.  I know he is looking to gain money, and from his side, he knows he has to give away something free, in order to get.  So we play a game where I guess it is suppose to prove his ability to predict things.  He tells me to think of something ‘flower like’ (could’ve stated a different term, i don’t exactly remember), and he proceeds to write something on a piece of paper.  He balls it up and places it in my balled up hand.  He asks me my answer, I say ‘rose.’  He tells me to blow on my hand, and then tells me to open it up and read the paper.  Whaddya know?  It says ‘rose’ on the paper.  I’m still not really convinced of anything.  I’m thinking maybe he used suggestion, or is some kind of street magician.  Having proved his ability to ‘divine’ apparently, he makes his move to try to gain money.  He shows me a paper with different money amounts, the least of which being $200 for ‘poor man’ as he has written.  There’s no way i’m giving him what could be considered a days salary.  He knows i’m not going for it, so he proceeds to tell me that he can tell me my mother’s name.  I call him out on it and tell him that i might give him money if he can do that, but only if he can tell me first.  The story ends with him not attempting to guess my mother’s name, but i do give him $2 for the effort and entertainment.  

Whether the guy was a con man, hustler or street magician, i still couldn’t get over how eerie it felt that the guy was being used as a vessel.  Although I didn’t really trust the guy himself, i couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe some thing was addressing my thoughts and talking directly to me....because more than anything, i want what the spiritual advisor guy told me to be true.

[mrchrisreese]

Are you kidding me???

Today I went to see Ready Player One.  The show time was 11:40 a.m.  I was running late and pulled into my parking space at about 11:45.  No problem.  I know that they show previews.  I’m still good.  A short walk of probably five minutes to the theater box office.  Crap!  There’s a line.  Not a ridiculously long line, but long enough where this now can potentially run into my movie starting before I am in my seat.  And now that many theaters are doing reserved seating, it’s just slowing up the process at the box office!...By the way, did you know that AMC is doing this thing now where there is a general line for people wanting to buy tickets, and another line for people who are some sort of program member, and get taken care of first when they walkup to the boxoffice?  Yeah, like some damn amusement park selling ‘front of the line’ passes now!...So I’m in line for about seven transactions before me.  I would guess I was in line about 8-10 minutes...  I think 13-15 minutes of previews -  I can do the math.  The movie started at 11:55.  Damn!  I hate missing the opening shot!  I buy my ticket, and quickly make my way up the stairs, to the main entry lobby of the theater, give my ticket to the usher, and rush to my number theater to see....What the eff?!!  A preview of Rampage starring the Roc!  Are you kidding me?  You mean  all these people in this theater been sitting here for twenty minutes, and this damn movie hasn’t started yet?  YET???...Let me just say this.  I am an actor, living in a city where exposure means EVERYTHING.  I have a direct tv commercial where some people have told me they’ve seen this commercial run while they were there in the theater!  It is quite possible that this very same commercial ran while I was running late to the movie ta-day!...But the time it’s taking from the time printed on your ticket, until the time they actually start the damn movie has gotten waaay past RIDICULOUS!!!  OUT. OF. CONTROL!!   That movie didn’t start until a couple minutes after noon! That’s officially 20+ minutes. Enough is enough!  Theaters need to get previews down to 7-9 minutes total - promos, trailers, commercials and all - even if they just show my commercial and only a couple trailers; cause they gotta show MY commercial!...   They should’ve started that movie when I was at the box office taking up time trying to pick out my seat, and the people behind me were probably cussing me out!!!............................But i’m glad that they didn’t HAHA

[mrchrisreese]

The official poster from my 2018 short film, ‘The Reckoning.’  Currently, the film is an official selection of two film festivals:  The Las Vegas Black Film Festival and The Silicon Beach Film Festival

[mrchrisreese]

Yeah, I said it!

Can we all just agree that now we have moved the clocks forward, it’s actually Christmas?  Because in a few days, it will be warm.  Then a few days after that, the summer movie season will start, which will really be in April.  Then when summer actually begins, it’s over before it starts.  A couple of cool days, Halloween - a stone’s throw from Thanksgiving.  And at 6pm that day, black Friday starts, which means...exactly!  Christmas!  So why aren’t you out holiday shopping???

[mrchrisreese]

Silly American Rabbit...

So, what do you call a person that speaks more than one language? Multi-lingual. What do you call a person that speaks only one language?  An American...

I was told this joke by a Russian brother of mine (brother meaning someone that trains along w/ me in the martial art that i study).  When he told me this, i didn’t laugh uncontrollably, but i did chuckle, amused from the certainty of truth within the joke.  I find this joke to be a perfect way to preface my story.

One of the misconceptions of being an actor in Hollywood, is that if you have a gig, you’re a working actor.  In reality, we’re all unemployed until we find our next gig.  So until you become a name in the biz that’s instantly recognizable, we all definitely have to have a side hustle that will allow us to keep paying the bills.  Well my hustle is Uber.  Not exactly the most prestigious job in the world.  Most people i’m sure think that, you have to be crazy to be an Uber driver - to put all those miles on your car, driving strangers around?  And in L.A., no less, where insane drivers, drive like they couldn’t care about their own car and lives, much less you?  But you know what, I find this to be the best job that I’ve had while trying to make it in Hollywood.  I can work as much or as little as I want.  I don’t have to ask for anyone’s permission to go to any of my auditions.  And, I actually feel like I’m helping people by getting them on their way.  And most of the people I pick up are okay - MOST.  It’s still L.A.

Anyway,  a couple days ago, I pick up a passenger and she’s headed to Glendale community college.  She’s young of course, personable, and she’s from Thailand.  She tells me that her career plans are nursing, and also, that she’s dreading heading to school because she’s not good enough or fast enough to keep pace with her english class.  Now with the exception of her accent, i would have never known she didn’t grow up speaking english.  There wasn’t a moment i didn’t understand her, and there wasn’t a moment she didn’t understand me.  She tells me that learning to read and write english is a different ballgame from learning to speak it, which i guess I could understand.  Then i proceed to ask how long it took her to learn to speak english after she came to the states...Two years she tells me...Mind you, two years for a language that I understand is very difficult for people to learn because of inconsistency.

I was amazed at the rate of speed she was able to learn to converse fluently in english.  And personally, i was a little embarrassed at the fact that I’ve been living in L.A. for damn near eighteen years, and i still couldn’t hold a basic conversation in spanish, which is even crazier because isn’t that how Rosetta Stone is supposed to work?  Immersive environment and all?  It’s immersive as hell in L.A. I should be speaking some other language beside english, if not Spanish.  

From the side of those learning to speak English, it’s understood the necessity for doing so.  We as a country are the dominant superpower in the world.  But even more, if you’re wanting to make a life in this country, learning english means assimilation, which equates to opportunity, which equates to MONEY! Nothing like the idea of making much more of the almighty dollar to help incentivize ESL students in search of the Amercian dream!

Not too long ago, I was in Mexico for work.  I had often heard before I went outside the U.S., that travel is the best education.  Mexico is the only place i’ve been thus far.  While i was there, I was able to speak with Spanish speaking actors, whether they were Mexican, or had moved to Mexico.  I got to chop it up with one actor guy named Juris, who spoke at least three languages.  He was a cool guy, who had taken it upon himself to be an informal host/translator on our long ride to a wardrobe fitting and lunch.  On our way to our fitting, I was curious, so I said to him, “i always wonder what people who don’t live in the U.S. think of Americans.”  His response, ‘rich and ignorant.’  Maybe this should have made me mad, but it didn’t.  I think i actually chuckled.  I didn’t have to think hard to understand how he we earned this image, at least in his eyes.  As Americans, i think we have earned the reputation of thinking the world revolves around us.  There’s probably far too many of us who could give a rat’s ass of the other people outside our borders, that we have to share the planet with.  Many of us who don’t think about other’s suffering, struggles, hopes, dreams, culture...or even language.

Now i suppose as Americans, ‘it’s our God given right’ not to give a shit about other people that aren’t Americans.  You could have difficulty in finding Americans that gave a shit about other Americans.  But that’s the privilege of being Americans. We don’t have to give a shit about anything or anyone.  That’s the great thing about this country.  You can do what you want, or nothing at all.  The only thing you have to do, or that is certain, is death and taxes, right?

Still, even though we don’t have to care, i think there’s so many of us that don’t want to care.  Or that have the slightest interest in expanding our world.  Caring or wanting to do beyond necessity.  I myself, am not without some guilt in this.  Although, in my defense, I will say that I do care, and i want to do better.  I want to travel more.  Soak up various cultures.  Volunteer my time helping in needy countries.  And at the very least, I want to learn another language.  I honestly feel that a life is incomplete without having learned to play at least one instrument (however good or bad), and having learned how to speak another language.  Personally,  I’m at halftime, and a little bit behind on both counts.  I honestly can’t give you a good reason why i’m here.  Maybe it’s not having had the time.  Maybe it’s energy.  Maybe personal obligations.  Life.  Maybe that’s all just an excuse, and i need to stop being lazy.  I hope the latter is not true, although i’m afraid it is.  Maybe i should hang with a few ESL students.  I’m sure they can show me how motivation is done.

[mrchrisreese]

I’ve been having difficulty building any kind of theatrical (tv/film) resume - more difficulty than I think i should be having, even for a minority in the business.  So i’ve been thinking -  since it seems to gain you work and respectability, I’m just gonna start talking in a British accent!.....whaddya think???