CutebutDeadly.net

this just makes me so happy

i don’t know who this kid is, or why he made this video, but watching him dance makes me so damn happy. good music too, even though the clips are super short!

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

my first role on a show!

wohoo! it aired this weekend, and here is a little screen shot of me and Sally Field!

my scene is tiny…literally just two lines, but still…i’m happy about it. and you know what, they all say that sometimes it’s these little one or two line roles that are even harder for actors to get right because they try to do too much (they being casting directors and agents and managers i’ve spoken with).

if you wanna catch the episode for yourself, you can see it on ABC’s website!

Grandma Update

MY GRANDMA WOKE UP!!!!! i wish it had been while i was in taiwan, but the good news is that she’s conscious, she can speak and move her arms, but she’s pretty out of it. she needs dialysis every couple days, but she’s breathing on her own. talk about a tough cookie at age 93. maybe we can squeeze a few more good years out of her. it’s hard to say. but at least my family gets to hang with her some more.

THIS SUNDAY!

OK folks, if any of you care to watch it, the episode of Brothers and Sisters that I worked on airs THIS COMING SUNDAY at 10pm on ABC! Apparently they used a clip of my scene in last week’s “Next week on Brothers & Sisters….” commercial they always play at the end of an episode. Sweet! I’m excited, because once it airs, my IMDb credit will appear. Yay! So….if you see it, let me know what you think? I dunno if i’ll catch it sunday…i don’t get cable…haha. But i’m getting the episode taped by a video editing company so that I can use the footage for my reel. Neato.

sleepless

it has been seven days since i returned from taiwan and i’m still feeling a little outta wack. working late nights doesn’t help the cause, since i get home after 2am and i’m still amped. so i guess i’ll share these sleepless nights with you muthers. so, since i’m on a video posting trend, i want to share the short film that i shot with some classmates from Lesly Kahn & Co, this acting studio i studied at last year. The lady who started the school, none other than Lesly Kahn, decided to hold a film festival competition of sorts for her birthday. We had about three weeks to come up with an idea and shoot it, but there were rules.

1. Film should be no longer than 3 min.
2. Everyone in the class must have a speaking role.
3. No person with professional experience editing, directing, writing, or producing may do those jobs.
4. The story must have a beginning, middle, and end.
5. There should be a twist at the end.

There were a few more, but these are the big ones. Anyway, it took us a week to decide what my class was going to do. I pitched an idea, and another dude pitched an idea. The class chose mine! Wohoo! So, I had a story framed out, but we needed to write a script. There were two guys in my class who were really excited to participate in shit. Nick Lusk, and Jason Williams. The three of us wrote the script together off of my outline. While shooting, Nick and I set up pretty much all the shots and lighting, although we did sometimes have help from our classmates. We also directed a majority of it, and did all the editing. Jason also helped quite a bit.

All in all, I proudly had a big hand in making this little short happen in about two weeks time and I am very happy with the end result. So…..here it is! Oh, and in case you were wondering–yes, the photo that i use as a header for my blog is from the shoot.

if you want to compare it to any of the other films made by other classes, HERE is a link to those. We lost to one of LESLY’s OWN CLASSES. the one called “monday night class” when you go to the link. Favoritism anyone?

TOKYO!

This looks fucking rad and I can’t wait until it comes out. March 6th I believe.

Give Me Mah Money!!!

Oh yeah, i found this on YOUTUBE today. it’s my pizza hut commercial that I shot before the holidays. I think it’s airing in parts of the country. Let me know if you see it on TV! You can’t even really tell which one is me, but i’m one of the pizza hut kids…haha. reeeaal classy.

guilty pleasure

posting photos in LOOKBOOK!!!

ahhhh…..stateside again

i’m back! got home on friday and proceeded to go to my day er, night job bartending at the hotel cafe. what was i thinking??? exhaustion aside, i made some much needed cash.

before i go about my usual routine, i want to post a few pictures from my trip. this little one on the left here was me dicking around outside my grandma’s house. during our last trip into the country, we visited my mom’s cousin’s house. he has 6 daughters and one son, several of whom are married with children. all of these adults were milling about, but they mostly speak taiwanese so i have a hard time communicating with them, plus the big culture clash. i’m the “american cousin” and noone really knows how to interact with me very well.

at one point one of the little kids comes and asks me to go outside to play with the dog. i go out there and these five kids ranging from the ages of 5-9 start playing with me and we run to the elementary school close by. it was by far the most fun part of the trip. i didn’t worry about not being able to answer any questions or if my chinese was ok. we just played…like kids! once again–like i was a child again! they loved when i took their pictures, so i took a bunch. i just want to share a few. the last one is my favorite–you can already see their individual personalities…so cool!

Flashback

i’m still in taiwan, spending some family time with my bro and the ‘rents. in many ways, it’s like i’m home in north carolina or something. rather than trying to go into taipei every opportunity like i did the last two years i visited taiwan, we’ve just been hanging a lot at home watching movies on the english channels. it’s a sign of the times when 3/4 of us are glued to our laptops. but even my mom gets skype calls from her friends in NC. pretty funny if you think about it.

something struck me today, while i rode in the backseat to freaking costco of all places…haha. mom was driving, dad was in the passenger seat, and as i took in the scenery it dawned on me how i felt just like a kid again. i was riding with mom and dad while they talked about stuff in chinese. being here, i can’t really do anything on my own. i mean, i can speak mandarin conversationally, but i can’t read or write it. it would be really hard to navigate anywhere beyond taipei city. so it occurred to me how much i felt like a child. so dependent on my parents for EVERYTHING.

in a way, i’m totally realizing a fantasy that i conjured around christmastime–partly why i decided to stop drinking and smoking–of reverting to a youthful sobriety, where life experiences were all i got drunk on. i wanted this because i can remember an intensity of passion and belief i had in myself and all my dreams when i was a kid. i’m not saying i was free of insecurities and self-consciousness when i was young–far from it. but along with those things, i also had this unwavering belief in myself and my dreams. and i dreamt BIG. HUGE.

somewhere in between then and now, i sold myself short a little bit. i had to convince myself of what i could accomplish instead of just KNOWING it. i know now that it’s partly because i found out how much i DIDN’T know about the business, and didn’t know HOW to go after what i believed in. it’s also partly because i just got rusty and out of practice. the good thing is that it’s shifted again. i know what i want, i know what i can do, and i know that i will do it.

even though i have to find new representation now, during a very challenging time for actors, i am more excited than i have ever been about my career. i am so excited to find an agency on my own–to meet with agents and to pitch myself and my ideas. aack!! i can’t wait to get back to LA!!!