Here is the Cartoon Network commercial I shot in Toronto at the beginning of May. I helped produce the music when I worked at the music house in Santa Monica, and they used me as the harpsichordist in the bottom left of the wide shots (:01 and :40). You'd never know it was me otherwise, but now you know.
Here is a clip from the episode I did of American Dad!, May the Best Stan Win, Season 5, Episode 12, which aired 14 February 2010. I did the voice for Toshi's Father, with Sandra Oh as Toshi's Mother. I also recorded the voice for a character called CJ who comes to pick up Hayley, but that scene was cut.
Here is a commercial that aired in Brazil but was shot by my friend and colleague, Marco Carvalho, here in Los Angeles. I recorded the voice over for the spot, as well as making a cameo as the nephew. The location of the house in the beginning also happens to be where I live....
This is a little film I shot as part of This Is What We Imagine's ongoing series of art, music, film, and photography projects. Called Weekends of Wonderment, a group of creative people get together over one weekend and create interesting and unique projects that are then screened, witnessed, felt, and experienced at an event called Show+Tell. I am so happy to have fallen into this fun group of people, and can't wait to share my next project I've recently completed with them. Until then, check them out: www.tiwwi.com
I helped produce the music for three upcoming spots for the Cartoon Network, and was lucky enough to fly to Toronto for the filming. We recorded a twenty-piece boys chorus in Los Angeles on a Monday, and the composer/creative director and I flew out that Thursday. On Friday, we rehearsed with thirty boys from a school choir and ten more random boys that would make up the on-screen choir lip-synching to the prerecorded tracks. We shot Saturday and Sunday at a public school's auditorium and the set of the new Cartoon Network show, Unnatural History. I also got to play a cameo role as the harpsichordist in one of the spots!
I was this close ( ) to missing the Derby this year, something I haven't missed in recent memory. I was on set for a series of Cartoon Network commercials in Toronto for four days, and knew it would be a struggle to find a TV in the public school we were shooting in. Somehow, I was able to find a website that was streaming the race live (and illegally) just before it began. Had I known it would've been that easy, I would've tuned in earlier for the playing of My Old Kentucky Home, which is really all I wanted to see. But I did see the walk up to the post and the race, so my Derby day was not totally wasted. My only other goal was to find a mint julep somewhere in the city, but the bar we chose to go to was not equipped with fresh mint or good bourbon. So it goes. Maybe that will just make next year's that much sweeter....
It's kinda neat to be getting texts, calls, and messages from people telling me that they saw me on TV. While my screen time is only 4-5 seconds, it's still pretty cool to be recognized by friends and family across the country. The ad is the one urging people to open their doors for the census takers, and I'm the dude playing guitar who opens his door to fire trucks pulling out. Yes, those were real fire trucks, and the timing of that shot took awhile to nail. The second day of shooting involved constructing my "apartment door" on the street in front of a firehouse in the middle of Hollywood. Neat.
I shot a music video for Monsters of Folk (Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, Jim James from My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward) that came out this past month. It was created and directed by Lauri Faggioni, who has worked with Michel Gondry, Bright Eyes, and Iron and Wine (www.laurifaggioni.com). There was a video contest for the song Dear God, but this one is the official band video.
From Stereogum: "The soulful, dreamy opener to Monsters Of Folk’s self-titled album tackles big spiritual questions, and its official video tries to put this all in perspective. Director/animator Lauri Faggioni begins among the stars and zooms to the cellular level, in a clip reminiscent of Charles and Ray Eames' classic Powers Of 10 short film. Of course MOF’s video goes deeper, revealing a whole universe inside us. Wild. Members Jim James, M. Ward, Mike Mogis, and Conor Oberst are likely busy with their other projects, so you don’t get to see them here — a bummer if you were hoping to see what the universe inside James’s beard looked like."
Sooo, in debating how to handle this blog, i.e. what the hell I should write, I thought about another blog that might be interesting. You know how when you meet new people or you have a fight with someone, sometimes the words don't flow as eloquently as they do in your brain after-the-fact? And you wish you could go back and say those things? Whelp, my blog idea would be Things I Should Have Said. I probably shouldn't use AMinuteWithGuetig to discuss another blog idea, but I'll be bloggedly blogged if one blog doesn't lead to another. Blog.
I've never attempted bloggery before, but thought it might be a nice companion to my website and easier to update. Sope, we'll see how it goes and how often I'll share my thoughts and happenings with the whole innerwebs. My goal is to keep things short and sweet, so a minute is all you'll need. Welcome. You have a minute.