Last weekend I went on assignment to Rose City Comic Con for Panda Mony Toys. We are releasing our first action figure line next year and we are looking for cool shows to visit. Rose City was pretty great! Here’s a video of my adventures:
If you like t-shirts, hoodies and coffee mugs I suggest you check out our merch in our SHOP.
Filed under adventures, career, comic books, comic movies, Disney, doctor who, fan fic, fanboy, fiction, fun video friday, Game of Thrones, geek, Han shot first, hobby, horror, iron man, judge dredd, Jurassic Park, kids, Lego, Marvel, pop culture, rambling, sci-fi, star wars, super-heroes, the future, toys, travel, video, videos, Wolverine, work, working for a living, YouTube
I am currently on location in Harrisville, New Hampshire at Aldworth Manor shooting the new indie horror movie Squirrel. It’s been a lot of fun and you’re going to see a lot of it if you’re following me on social media.
Autumn is my favorite time of year and October is one of my favorite months. Rene and I got married in October, we LOVE Halloween, the weather is my preferred type with clouds and rain and chill, it’s our cup of tea. It’s really hard to be all the way across the country away from her and Frankie. They seem to be having a good time back in Portland and Frankie is super-cute in his outfits to keep him warm, as you can can see in these pictures:
But it’s still hard. So I’ve been keeping myself busy in my downtime.
In the interest of Halloween, I’m telling spooky stories here at the manor. The first one you can see here:
I’ll be doing more all month and these stories are TRUE! Also, the manor house is apparently haunted so I’m going to be going through it with some of the cast and crew later this month to see if we can “catch” anything. Here’s a preview of that from Friday the 13th:
Of course, it wouldn’t be Halloween if I didn’t post Bloody Mary again – it’s a tradition:
And since we won’t be able to do LIVE Discussions for a while, here’s one that i think is still incredibly relevant on being a journeyman actor:
You can currently order these cool designs:
Of course, our patrons have first crack at all new material and at the higher levels of patronage you get discounts on your order! You can check that out HERE.
Please like, subscribe, click the links, share, follow – you know, do all the good social media stuff! We’ll see you soon!
Rene and I have only been in Portland for about 10 weeks, but we have hit the ground running! Here’s an update on what’s going on:
Filed under adventures, Andelon, Operation: Television's Curtis Andersen, video, YouTube
Rene and I have been in Portland for about 3 weeks. We are moved in (almost) completely. We have taken the time to get to know our neighborhood (at least a little), and now it is time to get to the work that we (partially) made this move to do.
Ever since we got here my brain has been blasting like a fire hose. With fewer day-jobs I have actually had time to do a lot of things namely sleep, go to the gym, read, and cook – you know, like a normal human person. I’ve also started planning to do all the things I’ve wanted to do for months (years in some cases) but didn’t have the time or energy to complete. Working on this blog is one of those things.
When I first started it, this was a public place to talk about things. It was a real-time incubator of ideas and updates for anyone who may have cared enough to stop by. I think that it will probably do best to keep it that way, but I’d like to structure it a bit more. I’m not sure how yet, lots of ideas – not a whole lot of focus just yet – but that’s what I want to do.
On the acting front Operation: Television’s Curtis Andersen is obviously changing. Not only has the original target been met, but by moving to Portland that definitely affects what type of work is available. That will be an adventure all on it’s own.
I’m also going to keep doing the Acting 101 posts, especially as I learn to navigate the new market here in the Pacific Northwest.
Then there’s the geek front: I have had time to indulge in my hobbies again and since my D&D group is back in California and we haven’t decided on a remote way to play yet, my energies have been focused on Games Workshop games and the new Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition. Woo! It looks cool! I’m thinking of doing a series of articles/posts about my rebuilding of armies and painting progress. Would anyone be interested in that? Let me know in the comments.
Project: Iron Man is on hold. I left my comic books in California for the time being until we move to a more permanent home. I know they are popular so as soon as it is possible I’ll start that up again.
Then there are the possibilities of doing some lifestyle posts. Portland is a great city with more than a few places to visit. Rene and I have always wanted to do travel shows, maybe now is the time. People have responded really well to what we’ve posted about our move so far, maybe it’s time to expand on that.
And of course we’ll be making more videos! Make sure to SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of those.
What do you want to see more of? Let me know in the comments!
Filed under adventures, creativity, day in the life, diy
No reason to bury the lead, Rene and I are moving to Portland, OR in May and we’re really excited! We’ll be blogging and videoing and maybe even Snapchatting the process, so make sure you follow us on all of that (links below).
Here’s the announcement video:
Social media links:
Curtis Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CurtisAndersenFanPage/
Curtis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curtisandersen/?hl=en
Curtis Snapchat: TVs Curtis Andersen
Rene Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReneBordelonFanPage/
Rene Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renesrevolution/?hl=en
Rene Snapchat: Rene Bordelon
Filed under adventures, in real life, moving, rene, travel, update, video, YouTube
Picture by Molly Hawkey
Hi.
My name is Curtis Andersen and I have been an entertainment professional for over 30 years.
I started working professionally when I was 8 years old and haven’t ever stopped, but some years were definitely better than others.
From eight through my mid-twenties I made my primary living as an actor, you can see a list of most of what I did at IMDb. But then in 2005 I thought I’d have more control over my career if I tried producing. It went fine, made some movies; sold some TV shows; and made a lot of music videos, but something was always missing. It was not creatively satisfying, at least not in the way acting is for me, and a majority of the job was hunting for financing. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried independent film financing, but I don’t recommend it. It takes a lot of time to get a “yes” and then there are a thousand ways that are beyond your control where that “yes” can suddenly turn into a “no.” In 2012 I lost the funding for three projects on the same day – it was the next six months worth of work – and I started thinking that being a producer was probably not the path I wanted to follow.
At the end of 2014 I was ready to be done with producing. I was very pleased to be a part of the first year of Fun Size Horror, but found myself having a lot more fun being in the shorts than being behind the scenes. That’s when the final decision was made – I needed to be a working actor again!
That being said, becoming a working actor in Hollywood, even when you were one for over 20 years, is not easy. It takes dedication and persistence and a lot of hard work. I’ve decided to chronicle my path back both here and on my YouTube channel. I’ve created a playlist of the videos I’m shooting, you can see it down below:
I’d love to hear your comments as this keeps going either here on the blog or on the videos.
Let’s see if we can make the nickname “Television’s Curtis Andersen” a reference to me in the present instead of the past.
The last time I was in the city was over ten years go. The city is quite a bit different than it was then. I’m quite different than I was then. Before I really enjoyed being in the city, but I didn’t feel like I was a part of it. It was a location and I really couldn’t see myself as being included in it. I was an outsider looking in on the swirling mass of activity that was the city. I felt far more included this trip and that was primarily due to the fact that we had so many friends there to help bring us in.
When Rene and I got to New York we were surprised and delighted to find that we knew a lot more people in the Five Burroughs than we realized. Nearly all of them are artists in one way shape or form and doing things that we found either inspiring or motivating. I’ve actually been struggling with this post because there’s a part of me that wants to share all the cool stuff we did and all the cool people we did it with – just toss it out into the public and share, but the other half is having a really tough time being like, “these are the people we saw and here’s what we did with them.” It feels a little too personal for a public forum.
Pictures, however, I’m very comfortable sharing. So I’ve created this slideshow of cool stuff we did with cool people who I hope we see again very soon.
See you next time.
Filed under adventures, travel
After last taking extra time with “Time Travel Sucks…” I knew I didn’t have a full week to produce the next story. I wanted to keep to my schedule, though, and decided to try something so I wouldn’t fall behind. This story was written a bit like a stream of consciousness. I gave myself a topic and then just wrote it out as it came to me. There wasn’t a re-write pass, only a typo pass. This is effectively how the story came out of my head.
The topic was: What if a wife was ready on time?
Filed under 52 in 52, 52 stories in 52 weeks, adventures, fiction, marriage, married, short story
For four weeks I will be gluten and sweet free.
Now I’m feeling much better.
On the 24th, my last day for food freedom, I did indulge a bit much.
I had a muffuletta from New Orleans:
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| Photo by Deep Fried Kadzu |
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| Photo by CookieMadness.net |
And some New Orleans King Cake:
Between working out and cutting ALL sugar I’m hoping that the summer beach bod will be in full effect sooner than later.
I’ll update as it’s worth updating.
See you next time!
Filed under challenge, food, getting fit
First of the Year Dash!
JANUARY FIRST!
NEW DIET!
NEW WORKOUT!
NEW LIFE PLAN!
THIS IS GOING TO BE THE YEAR THAT I DO IT BECAUSE IT’S JANUARY FIRST AND NOTHING CAN STOP ME!!!!!!!
I would be lying if I didn’t cop to having these feelings. Every January is the beginning of a new year, it feels like the slate gets wiped clean, and since most people have time off it is really easy to start new things or try to make new habits. This leads to gym memberships, hobbies, playing musical instruments, writing, the list goes on and on. Just last week I posted a half assed resolution post about getting re-focused (which I’m totally sticking to, by the way).
But here’s the problem, by March a lot of resolutions and plans all fall apart, or at least show signs of cracking. After I wrote that post about focus I started thinking about what that was going to mean for the rest of the year. 2015 is kinda’ spoken for as of now. Fun Size Horror 2015 is going into early prep, there are shows to do, and I’m mapping out my teaching/speaking schedule. That doesn’t even include any acting opportunities that may pop up. If I’m 100% honest with myself, that means that I have very little that I can safely commit to and the new year is just starting. First World problems for sure, but I’m the kind of guy who is going to be upset about having to say “no” even when it’s the responsible thing to do. So I had to take a pretty hard look at myself and what I know I want to accomplish this year and examine why my best intentions in previous years always seemed to drift into trouble.
I am not going to speak on how this affects people in a general sense, I don’t have the qualifications for that, so everything that I talk about in this post refers to me personally. Looking at my past, you don’t even have to go that far back to see good ideas and habits get dropped – perfect example: 52 in 52. Not managing to stick with this actually upset me quite a bit. It’s an idea that I was/am really excited about. I was pleased with how things were going, but a story a week ended up just being too much. To be fair, the things I gave it up for; Fun Size Horror and all the shooting we were doing; were absolutely worth it, but it still stings.
I won’t lie, my gym membership has been pretty useless for a while now too. I just don’t make the time for it. I should (who shouldn’t?) especially since I spend so many hours in a chair, but my discipline is bad when it comes to the gym. And eating better. I still eat like I’m in college. Rene has made some noble in-roads and had some effect, but I still love me some cheeseburgers.
So how does it come to this? What gets in my way to keep me from achieving the desired goals? Goals that pretty easy to achieve in a practical aspect when it comes down to it:
These are not small resources. But then I take an honest look at what gets in the way:
Most of these I can get past. Lack of time usually translates into lack of rest. Instead of doing the things I’d like to do when I’ve completed what I have to do I fall down an internet rabbit hole of YouTube videos and random Wikipedia research because my brain is tired. A quick nap is usually the best fix for this or turning in early if I can manage it. Distractions are tougher, but that’s what this year is about fixing. For example, I should have completed this post hours ago, but I got distracted by an episode of “This Week Tonight” and ended up marathoning about ten episodes. Avoiding distractions is going to take a little practice. Trepidation of trying something I have no experience with, more commonly known as “fear of the unknown” or “resistance” by Steven Pressfield in his book The War of Art (which I highly recommend for everyone and have a link for at the bottom of this post) is something that I prefer to face head-on. I find that once you realize that everyone has to do something a first time it’s actually just a matter of girding yourself up and charging forward. The War of Art suggests a lot of great ways to achieve this. I can’t recommend it enough.
Lack of funds – this is the big one. Money is such a sensitive thing. There’s a certain amount of investment that you need to make into anything you do, that’s just an economic reality, but I hate parting with any funds unless I can “see” the return or a way to recoup. This only makes me pinch pennies more when those envisioned returns don’t show up. If I had unlimited funds (c’mon lottery!) or a benefactor (c’mon mysterious uncle who won the lottery!) I would probably feel differently about this but, put on news announcer voice in these trying economic times, it’s a tough thing for me to get past.
Putting all of these things down on “paper” makes them feel manageable. Putting them out in public makes me want to take ownership of them. Knowing that this makes me vulnerable to scrutiny makes me want to be responsible. Sometimes it takes the possibility of looking like an idiot to motivate you.
…Of course you can always end up looking like an idiot anyway, but if I let that stop me I wouldn’t have had a career.
How are you doing this far into the new year? Let’s talk in the comments.
See you next time.
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Filed under Andelon, art, artist, business, challenge, commentary, Curtis Andersen, doing new things, evil plan, general, in real life, insight, inspiration, learning experience, making movies, marketing, money, musings