"'I have -ent- porn??' Talk about getting wood!" by Rob
Thursday, June 1, 2006 at 7:39 PM

Ok...so my computer froze the first time I tried doing this...let's try again shall we?

I'm not going to bore you with my new excercise regimen (perhaps thats why it froze in the first place) so I'll spare you why I was so sweaty. That's ok...cause the computer freezing made me take a much needed shower...don't want me talking to you when I'm all sweaty now do you?

Ok...(big breath) before I start this weekends tale *and she's right..it will be long* I need to fill you in on a few things to establish some stuff. Here goes...

I have a few friends. I don't like to brag but I seem to make them pretty easily. One of those friends is my girl Merideth. If you've seen anything from Media Blasters...she's done the graphic design for it. The Fogler Eye Giant Robo Box set? Hers. The Invader Zims house Box set...yup. You get

the idea. I knew Deth *as we call her* since before the turn of the century. She was in college at the time going to the lovely Pratt in downtown Queens. You can probably picture the neigborhood. We became good friends I can't exactly remember how that happened...but I know it involved a Sega Saturn. Anyway, moving on. She's a big Muckety at MB now so I'm happy for her.

Another friend I have is Derek. I met him through Deth and I can't thank her enough. We've watched shows together, we've cos-played together, we have many common interests.

So both of these people I'm blessed to know. They also have one more thing in common. They both were responsible for introducing me to 'Yusha Oh Gao-Gai-Gar' about 7 years ago. A show that if not for 'Top Onerai' would probably be my favorite anime...ever. Period. I can't thank them enough for it.

In any case....a few weeks ago it was announced that this show that I thought would never come to U.S. shores in a professional release, was being so marketed. Thank Deth for that. She's the one pretty much responsible. Her studio likes to use local companies for production and that's good. Because one is owned in NY city by another friend of mine. Mike Sinterniklaas is his name. You may have seen his work. He plays

Leonardo on the new 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' show, and Dean Venture of the 'Venture Brothers' show from Cartoon Network. Yeah he's pretty famous and a damn good guy.

He also knows my roomate Ellen pretty well since she's his liaison for Katsucon.

So once I heard about GGG, I called Deth up to ask her some details. She was as excited as I was and we had a blast catching up. During the conversation I asked her if I could have a small bit part in the show being that I love it so much. She assured me there would be more than enough possibility for that. Relived to be a part of the history of something I loved so much I hung up.

A few weeks later I recieved a call from Ellen on her way home from work. She asked me if I was sitting down and I told her no. She informed me sternly that I should sit down before she spilled the beans. Humoring her laughing voice I sat on the couch near my friends Greg and Leah.

I'm glad she made me. Mike had apparently called her and asked if I...ME!...could come to NY and audition.

Mot for some bit part though.

Guy. Mike actually called and asked me to come and audition for F*&%ing GUY!!! I of course was stunned and according to Greg 'turned white', glad to be sitting down. After hanging up, the worried thoughts began...."Why? Why me? What if I suck....what if I'm no good? What if they laugh at me? Is he just doing this for Deth or to make me happy?" Not being sure how it would work I practiced none the less, determined to do my best.

This weekend came faster than I thought and I was still not mentaly ready. I hopped on Galeon and made my beeline for New Jersey to meet Ellen and DJ *my little brother*, both GGG fans, to go into NY the next day and meet Mike at the studio. We met him later in the day as he was just getting off his flight from Boston. The studio was cool...small but given it was NY I didn't expect a huge facility. We looked at Mikes fanmail, had a wow moment at some tatoos shown to us via online that fans had gotten of his characters, and basicaly had a good time. A booth with a window showed a microphone and a music sheet stand. The butterflies began.

I went to the toilet to calm my nerves for about 5 minutes, and once I got it out of my system, I bucked up to the room where Mike, Ellen, DJ and one of Mikes friends from California (who's also in the industry) were. After transcribing lines form some fansubs we had on hand, and arguing about the

rough translations he had available...it was go time.

'Ok...lets get you in the booth!' Mike pronounced with a smile.

I settled in with the headphones and microphone ...the yellow legal sheet in front of me with words I never thought I'd be the one saying. I couldn't see out the window to the others and his reactions, all I could hear was his voice coming over the headset and his tone spurring me on. Mike coached me on what to do being that I'd never really done it before. After a few takes it got easier and I even felt myself forgetting the nerves, as I settled into a groove. Mike threw out hints and directions to

help me and we got quite a bit recorded. He let me run wild with the attacks and battle phrases afterwards, as he said I had "way more knowledge of the show that he did". At the end he even had me do a 'Team America' slogan. (if you've never seen the movie or more importantly heard the theme songs first three words...you'll understand) Then he said 'Come on out'.

I feel good about my performance ...but there's always that part that says 'you coulda' done better!'. He seemed pleased though (as did my friends , but I think they are biased) and we went for awsome Japanese after that. We left with high spirits and I had to dread the long ride back on Galeon the next day. I felt a bit mentaly drained, but good in a way I can't describe.

As for the casting...We won't know for a while. As Mike said...

"You're the first to audition!"

I guess that makes me the benchmark then huh?

Even if I don't get this dream part...I can take comfort in knowing that I was requested by Mike himself...and that I did the best damn hero voice I've ever done to prove how much I appreciated that.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Resistance ...realy 'IS' futile.

'You need three things to be a Kamen Rider: a motorcycle, a dorky helmet, and a belt buckle that speaks English.' by Kara
Thursday, June 1, 2006 at 8:23 AM

I'm gonna keep this short, because The Co-Writer with the Longest Hair's rant is gonna be fscking huge and I don't want to throw off the vertical layout of the page.

Magically seem to have recovered the hard drive of my old computer. That was a pleasant surprise. Now I don't have to redraw stuff for some upcoming books, which will save me a huge amount of time you can't even begin to conceive of.

Also magically, we're climbing in the TWC poll. If we make it into the Top 100, I'll make a new donation picture.

That's enough from me -- wanna leave room. I knew that Co-Writer knew that I knew what this past weekend was about, because I'm smarter than the average bear. Just pretended I didn't because I didn't want people asking me, and also didn't want to make him more nervous. If you have been, plan ahead.

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