Known Piracy Area

2012-01-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

Psst...I've moved. My new blog is at http://beinghardisperfect.tumblr.com.

"Never Lies"

2011-03-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'm shooting a movie! That's right, I'm lucky enough to have landed a lead role in the fully improvised, dramatic indie feature, "Never Lies". You can learn what the movie is about and follow it's progress at www.neverli.es.

2011-03-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

A good doy.

What a team!

2011-03-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Robo-rainbow

2011-03-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

robo-rainbow from mudlevel on Vimeo.

Neat.
Learn more about this video here.

2011-02-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

Illin'.

2011-02-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Whoa! Lauren got to work with Jaleel White!

Oh yeah, been there, done that.

2011-02-27T10:13:00.001-08:00

It snowed in North Hollywood yesterday!

2011-02-26T10:44:00.001-08:00

"Liquidated Version"

2011-02-24T21:53:00.001-08:00

Went for a hike; took a swing.

2011-02-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Photo from Respect Magazine

2011-02-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

For some reason this really moved me.
A ship friend of mine was at a Pirate Museum and snapped this photo. It's a model with a mural sky.

2011-02-18T17:34:00.000-08:00

2011-02-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

Gotta get that calendar framed.

2011-02-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

A big congratulations to Lauren on her booking a role on an incredible NBC pilot! No surprise though, she's super talented. So proud of her!!
(Card and flowers purchased by her thoughtful boyfriend.)

2011-02-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

2011-02-17T19:43:00.001-08:00

2011-02-15T11:27:00.003-08:00

My Valentine

2011-02-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Videos!

2011-02-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Piven is The Fifth Racer from Jeremy Piven

Watch me peak in on a crying Jeremy Piven! Background ARTIST!

And from the maker of Twilight: for Guys comes Bieber: for Guys! (Oh brother)

2011-02-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

You wanna battle? You must be crazy.

2011-02-07T14:20:00.001-08:00

This I like.

New headshots

2011-02-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

2011-01-29T14:20:00.001-08:00

2011-01-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

Lulu and Lolo at the vet.

2011-01-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

There's never a need to wear an Adidas track jacket. So don't.

2011-01-20T22:13:00.000-08:00

L's Jeep getting towed.

L eating an apple about it.

2011-01-16T23:36:00.000-08:00

Lulu plays dead.

It's the small things.

2011-01-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

I love my Moelskine organizer. I carry it with me everywhere I go (usually in a front shirt pocket). I don't use my flash drive too often, but when I do, I enjoy just how tiny the little guy is. (Pencil used for size comparison.)

The right amount of space to log appointments.

11:11am 1-11-11

2011-01-11T14:26:00.001-08:00

2011-01-11T14:23:00.000-08:00

So fresh and so clean, clean.

2011-01-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Lauren's Bing.com commercial!

2011-01-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

It's an ad, but it's LAUREN'S ad! Woohoo!

2011-01-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

The Sartorialist

It's an ad, but it's a good ad.

2011-01-03T22:23:00.000-08:00

Pretty Lauren. Today marks one year of our living together and of her living in L.A. It's been an awesome year for us. Here's to more awesomeness!

We saw Dr. Oz taping at the Grove today.

I like these J.Crew ball caps (especially the LA!).

Loving my Timex Oversize Camper, a Christmas gift from Lauren's parents.

Lauren has had her eye on these bowls at Anthropologie for a long time. Today she got them.

2011-01-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

Somebody please draw all of my clothes.

11:11pm 1-1-11

2011-01-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Haaaappy Neeeew Yeeeeaaar!

2011-01-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

Lauren and I went to an NYE party at UCBTLA it was a B-L-A-S-T.

My classy drink of choice for the pre-party.

L went with the Jug O' Wine.

Christmas in Chicago

2011-01-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

My last post was a Thanksgiving post, the one before that was a Halloween post, so it's only fitting that this post be a Christmas post. Lauren and I spent nine awesome days with her family in Chicago (Evanston, really) and we had a wonderful (white) Christmas.

So Thankful

2010-11-28T01:03:00.000-08:00

It was an exciting Thanksgiving week. Lauren and I spent time with family and friends and my best friend, Brett, had a baby boy! I'm so thankful for everyone in my life.

The new dad!

With Jackson just minutes after he was born!

Speaking of awesome babies, Gavin!

A really nice Thanksgiving with family.

Invisible Legs in Waiting Room

Some stuff

2010-11-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

On the roof of the Downtown Independent Theatre.

Lauren and I went to see the Channel 101 screening at the Downtown Independent.

Channel 101 is a monthly showcase of ten 5-minute “pilots”— anyone can submit a 5-minute episode of a webseries they would like to create. Out of hundreds of submissions, the best ten are chosen for the showcase. The audience watches all ten and then each person votes for their five favorite pilots that they would like to see another episode of at the next 101 screening.

She played a role in “The Parent Experiment,” a pilot created by Brett Weiner. His idea was to have his mom tell him what the series should be about. It was so much fun to see it play in a legit movie theater to a packed house of over 200 people.

It got voted into the next round (it came in 3rd place out of 10), so next month episode two will be released at Channel 101! Click here to see all five winners.

Lauren and I were watching an episode of "Freaks and Geeks" the other night and we spotted me as an extra in one of the scenes! I'm on the left. This was filmed in 2000. 10 years ago!

Doin' some thinkin'.

Halloween with friends

2010-11-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

Serious about carving.

Also serious about carving.

Our friends, Jon and Allison, take a lighter more upbeat approach to carving.

Our not so serious pumpkin.

A Kick Drum Decade Halloween the video

2010-10-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

Kick Drum Decade's newest video with cameos from some of our friends including Lauren!

"Cats2Gold" on Atom.com

2010-10-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our "Cats2Gold" video is being featured on Atom.com. If we get enough views we could win a priiiiiize! Veiw here:

Tags: Atom.com,Atom Originals,Atom Blog,Upload Videos

A Kick Drum Decade Halloween

2010-10-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

We had a blast shooting our Kick Drum Decade Halloween video today. Some friends dropped by during the day to help us out.

Setting up.

Manny

More Manny

Our buddy, Jason Horton.

Uretz

Our friends/significant others: Chris Gorbos, Muretta Moss, Lauren Lapkus, and Kadie Uretz.

A wet Genevieve and a hippie Lauren.

Lauren and Mimeself. See what I did there?

Kick Drum Decade

An awesome day of shooting!

A wet Genevieve.

Baby shower

2010-10-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I had a great time at our good friends' Brett and Dayna's babyshower. We are all excited for the arrival of their baby boy, Jackson!

Brett, Lauren, and mommy Dayna.

Brett's my best friend and I know he'll make a great dad.

Oh yeah, co-ed party games were involved. The trash bag bib was to protect my shirt from the disgusting baby food that Lauren was shoveling into my mouth as part of a baby food eating contest.

My friends and I hanging out

2010-10-13T14:46:00.001-07:00

So long EPIC

2010-10-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

After 11 weeks and 165 shows, we are off the EPIC. At 15 shows a week, it was a lot of work. On the same hand, at 15 shows a week, it was a lot of fun. Improv and overall performance-wise, I feel the strongest I have ever felt. It was a pleasure to work with a cast that could bring the funny, show after show, night after night. I got to see what the western and eastern Caribbean had to offer (not much). I got to work with Mick Napier. I developed a close relationship with some members of the cast. I ate a hummingbird heart. What can I say? I had a good time aboard the EPIC and I'm thankful to The Second City for the opportunity. Also, I am so happy to be HOME!

Here are some pics from our last week on the ship.

Tough guys (with mics)

Rob, Robyn (with shirt purchased by Rob), and Chelsea.

Last stogie in Honduras.

My boy, Rob.

Some of the cast and friends enjoying the strong Honduran coffee and each other's company.

Cast dinner at the on board restaurant, Teppanyaki. (The chef tossed food into our mouths one at a time.)

Slimed by the Nickelodeon at Sea cast. Childhood dream come true!

Cast photo on our last night with our two tech guys. Awesome crew!

So long Slam

2010-10-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last night a bunch of the crew showed up to the blues club Fat Cats to say goodbye to resident blues musician/singer, Mr. Slam Allen, who is leaving the ship for a bit. Slam is well liked by the passengers but is especially loved by the crew. He is generous with his stage and is always happy to have a member of the crew join him in singing a song or allowing them to pick up an instrument (from time to time he will hand over his own guitar) and jam . Last night was no different. It seemed that every crew member on board who had an instrument or could play one was on stage with Slam. The rest of us sang and danced. It was an awesome night.

Slam is seated with microphone in hand. Jared, the violinist from the Cirque Dreams show, surprised Slam with some electric viloin blues.

With Rob

Rob and Robyn

With our buddy Dan from the Blue Man Group. He sang Mustang Sally with Slam. He also left the ship today.

Ron. An awesome musician and storyteller.

Shiplife Images

2010-09-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Cozumel, Mexico

Cereal party. (Rob Belushi)

Honduras

My view at breakfast of Honduras from ship.

Ruins of Tulum, Mexico

2010-09-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Matt, Matt's parents, Cody, Robyn, and I took a trip to see the ruins of Tulum, Mexico. The trip involved a forty minute fairy ride to Playa Del Carmen then a forty minute van ride to the ruins. The ruins were...boring. I don;t know, I guess it's not my thing. Once you see one ruin you've seen them all, in my opinion. Plus it was crazy hot and the whole place was set up like a golf course. You felt removed from the structures and the culture. It was fun to take the trip though.

Now you've seen them all.

Mini-golf-like huh?

The people cooling off.

These guys were pretty awesome. Note the guy at the very top!

Restaurant in Costa Maya, Mexico

2010-09-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Robyn, Rob, and I went to lunch with some of our crew buddies. We were the only customers in the place and the owner was happy to have us. We had a good time and had ok food. Truth is, I've been really unimpressed with all food I've had off the ship. I was looking forward to having some good Mexican food because, I mean, we're in Mexico for two days every other week! But nope, I haven't liked the food. I guess it's hard to beat L.A. Mexican food.

Robyn entering the tiny restaurant.

Chilaquiles. Nowhere near as good as Erasmo's.

Shiplife Images

2010-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Inside the ship

2010-09-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from within the ship.

Martini Lounge

Swarovski crystal chandelier

Entering club BLISS

Yup, there's a bed in BLISS.

#Shiplife

2010-09-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Water slide.

Cody Dove.

Amazing.

Oasis and GPS nerds

2010-09-18T15:07:00.001-07:00

The ship I'm on is the Norwegian EPIC. It is the newest and most expensive ship (to build), and the second largest ship at sea. Which ship is the biggest ship at sea? Royal Caribbean's OASIS. Look, the EPIC is huge and I always imagined the OASIS to be just a bit bigger. I mean, how much bigger can a ship be? Well last Tuesday we were in port (St. Maarten) with the OASIS beast. It is honestly a breathtaking sight. I don't even care about cruise ships but the OASIS is something special. We were parked right next to it so it was easy to see just how much bigger the OASIS is than the EPIC. Robyn said that this was the worst thing that could have happened for NCL. Their EPIC looked smaller and boxy and just uglier. At our show that night, Cody asked the audience if they had experienced "ship envy", everybody laughed.

Side by side. I obviously couldn't get both ships in frame.

There is a "Central Park" in this thing and repelling from one side of the ship to the other! I also heard the ship has three crew bars but less crew!

While in St. Thomas on Wednesday a man came up to me and asked me to take a picture of him sitting on bench. I did and he thanked me and then said that I must think he's weird for wanting that picture taken. I said no, that I work on a ship and am used to taking pictures for others. He said, "I'm Geocaching today." he explained to me that he and a bunch of "GPS nerds" play a treasure hunt game that takes place all over the world. By going online and looking up GPS coordinates and reading up on clues for certain locations you can find planted treasures all over the world. He pointed to the bottom of a light pole and said, "I found what I was looking for under there." I said, "Wow, what a hiding spot!" he said, "No, light poles are pretty common" and then he smiled and walked away. When I finished up with my reading about 20 minutes later, I decided to peek under the light pole. I found a film container with a note in a plastic baggy. The note had been printed from a computer and explained what Geocaching was and asked that whoever found this write their name and date on it. There was only one other name besides the older man's name. Weird? Fun? Interesting.

The treasure.

The light pole.

Under the light pole.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why I ate a hummingbird heart in Honduras

2010-09-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

When my father was a boy growing up in Honduras one of his chores was to take his donkey and collect wood from the jungle near his home. He would gather sticks and branches, load them on the donkey, and bring them home to make a fire. He would spend all day in the jungle and lose himself in his imagination. He would chase lizards, get chased by bees. He always had his favorite weapon with him, a slingshot. This came in handy when he was being attacked by trees or when he had to take out the evil spider in the center of it's web. Of all the wildlife in the jungle next to the little village my father grew up in, the birds were the most beautiful. He still talks about the rainbow of bright and bold colors of the many birds. He would follow flocks of birds from tree to tree often wandering so far out and for so long that he would forget where he had left his donkey. And of all the birds he saw in the jungle, the hummingbird was his favorite. The palm-sized flutterer with it's shiny metallic green and yellow feathers. He wasn't only taken by the hummingbird's beauty but by what they represented. It was a belief in his day that eating the heart of a hummingbird would give one courage. That he who pulled the still beating tiny little heart from the chest of the bird and ate it would be strong and able to face anyone or anything. So my father chased and hunted hummingbirds with his slingshot any chance he could get, and yes, eat their tiny little hearts. Hearing these stories would freak me out as a kid. First of all, it seemed like hitting a hummingbird with a stone flung from a handmade slingshot would be difficult and second of all, there's that whole eating a BIRD'S HEART thing! Every now and then growing up with my pops I would bring up the hummingbirds and he would laugh. He never saw what he did as a big deal and he certainly never bragged about it. He would just say it's what the kids in his village were doing. That he enjoyed the whole days chase that would hopefully end in him gaining some extra courage points. When I was older, I would tell the hummingbird tales at parties. One time I had a few friends over for some beers and I asked my dad to tell us about the time he ate a hummingbird's heart. He said, "The time? There were many times." My friends cracked up. My dad just sat there smiling.

Fast forward a whole bunch of years later to July of this year. I was making plans to perform on a ship again and saw that Honduras was a port stop in the itinerary. I was so excited, I had only been to Honduras once before when I was nine years old. The port is actually Roatan an island next to the mainland but it was good enough for me. I told my family about the port and everyone was happy that I'd get to spend some time there. My sister, a big fan of the hummingbird stories, asked if I was planning on eating a hummingbird's heart. I hadn't considered this and was kind of overwhelmed by the idea. But the idea stuck. I kept thinking about it. I took a look at my calendar and saw that my 31st birthday would fall on Roatan day. There was only one thing I could do on my freaking birthday in freaking Honduras, right? I told my cast onboard the ship about my idea and they all thought it was crazy, because it is. My buddy and cast-mate Rob, said he'd eat a heart with me. It was on. It was time to find a hummingbird heart in Honduras. Two weeks before my birthday we were in a cab headed to a popular Roatan beach when Rob asked the cab driver if he knew where we could find some hummingbird hearts. The cab driver said he could definitely find some for us. This news got us excited. Two weeks later we were back in Roatan, it was my birthday, and I knew I needed a slingshot. As soon as I stepped off the ship I found an old lady selling HANDMADE SLINGSHOTS! This was too coincidental for my friends and cast-mates, Cody and Matt who were with me. Cody bought the slingshot for me as a birthday gift but also as a way of letting me know that he now believed in my journey. We couldn't find the same driver which was a bummer. We hopped into a random cab and were headed for an area called Half-Moon Bay. In the back seat of the cab Matt said to me, "If you find a hummingbird and kill it with that slingshot I will believe in God." I never found a hummingbird that day. I was disappointed but the day was awesome anyway and it was just nice spending time in my father's country on my birthday. In the cab ride back to the ship I asked the driver if he's ever heard of people eating hummingbird hearts. He said that he knew that to be a thing people did back in the day. That people believed eating a hummingbird heart would make you strong. Then I kind of jokingly asked him if he knew where to get a hummingbird. He said that all he needed was to make a phone call and I would have my hummingbird. My spirits were lifted. I told him we'd be back in two weeks and that i'd like for him to get two live hummingbirds for me. He laughed and agreed and said he also knew where to get cocaine.

Two weeks later we were back in Roatan. My plans to rush off the ship early were crushed by having to attend a mandatory boat drill that was scheduled to be 75 minutes in length. While waiting for the stupid drill to begin a waiter walked by and said that the drill had been cancelled. Nobody believed him. I spent eight months on a ship last year and never was a boat drill cancelled. But as luck would have it, the drill was indeed cancelled! We all met off the ship 20 minutes later and we were headed to the bustling (and hustling) cab area. Cabbies screaming everywhere, people shoving laminated pictures of exotic beaches in your face, young dirty men letting you know that anything you need (drugs) they've got. I'm taller than most of the people in Honduras and I stood on my tip-toes to get an ever clearer view of the crowded street to scan for our driver. Found him! He recognized us and came over shouting, "Hey! Where do you want to go? You want to go zip-lining?" I was a little taken aback. I thought he was going to come over shouting, "Hey! I've got your hummingbirds!" So I sheepishly said to him in a shaky whisper, "What about the- did you get a chance to- you know, hummingbirds?" He laughed at me and said, "Oh you are the one who wanted those? (more laughing) Ok, man. I'll make a call." Both Rob and Robyn laughed at how I had nervously and shyly approached him about the birds. They are used to being around a confident Chris not a Chris who nervously whispers. He came back minutes later and said he had a guy working on it and he was ready to take us any place we wanted to go. There were five of us so we took two cabs. Rob, Robyn, and myself rode with James while Matt and Cody rode with another driver. We were headed for a plantation on the east side of the island. While driving to the plantation James our driver got a call. He said it was his guy and he has already caught one bird. Rob excitedly slapped me on the shoulder. It was on. A little while later another call. His guy had caught two more and he's asking if he should kill them. I said no, I wanted the birds alive, if I couldn't catch them myself I at least wanted to have a part in killing them. The plan was that James was going to drop us off at our destination then he would pick up the birds and bring them back to us. Problem was when we got to our destination it wasn't our destination. He had taken us to the wrong place. So we headed for the correct place that was going to take us another 30 minutes or so. James got a call from his guy. He was waiting. James made the decision to take us straight to the guy. We pulled off of a main road onto a dirt road and drove for a few minutes. Soon we approached an area full of trees, passed a small wooden shack, and stopped in front of a large rope that was blocking the entrance to a forrest area. A big black man came walking towards the car with a smile and 1.5 liter Pepsi bottle. He shoved his head into James' window and handed James the bottle at which point James handed me the bottle. There they were. Three beautiful little hummingbirds. They were fluttering around and it grossed me out. I could feel their wings through the bottle and all three were staring directly at me. James asked the big man for his pocket knife and turned to us and laughed while saying, "Who is going to be the killer?" I wasn't sure at that moment if I would be able to go through with it or not. We drove off headed for our original destination, the plantation. Both Rob and Robyn who were in the back seat stared at the bottle. I looked at Robyn and she gave me a scared look. I returned a scared look. "Rob, you still wanna do this?", I asked. "Yeah, man.", Rob replied. It was on. I looked down at the three pretty little things and they were looking right back at me. Still. I told James that I was going to need a beer to chase this with. We stopped by a gas station where I picked up two of my dad's favorite Honduran beers, Salva Vida. Rob got a Red Bull and a Coke, both James and Robyn got Cokes as well. I paid. Back in the car headed for the plantation. The more grossed out I got the more I told myself that it was my duty to feel every moment of the grossness. That if I was going to eat the heart of one of these birds I was gong to have to live with being uncomfortable with their staring at me for another 10 minutes. When we pulled up to the plantation Matt and Cody were already there and they told us that the plantation was closed. James was stopped but I told him that I wanted to do this now and I did not want to do it in front of the plantation house where two women were working. James understood and told Cody, Matt, and their driver that we were going to drive down the road a bit to turn around and we would meet them in a minute. We drove and he turned the car around and then he pulled over. My heart was racing, my legs and arms were shaking. Rob was pumped and Robyn was half scared and half grossed out. I handed Robyn my camera and said sternly, "Take pictures." She nodded and grabbed the camera. "Who's going to be the killer? I will be the killer", James said laughing. I said no, I'll kill my bird please. He pulled one of the birds out of the bottle through a slit on the bottle I hadn't noticed. He showed me where to cut and how to open the chest. I grabbed the bird from him then I grabbed the knife. This was a crazy moment. Rob couldn't stop moving and pacing while his eyes were fixed on my hands. Robyn was doing her job as documentarian. The bird was in my left hand, the knife was in my right. I said a quick prayer and began to push the knife's point directly into the bird's chest. Nothing. The knife wasn't going in. I pushed the knife in harder and still nothing. I didn't want to push the knife in with all my might for fear the knife would go through the bird and into my hand. I was stuck. The point was too dull to penetrate. James came to my rescue and grabbed the bird and knife out of my hands. He laid the bird on the hood of the car and then used the knife's blade not point to slice the bird's chest clean open. He held the bird up to me and separated it's chest. I dug in a little and there it was, the tiny heart, the size of half of a pinky fingernail, still pumping and beating. I pulled the heart out, looked at it, and then threw it into my mouth. I swallowed hard. James told me to drink my beer but I held off for two or three beats (pun intended) so that I could really feel the heart in me. Then I grabbed the warming Salva Vida beer and took a giant gulp of it. It. Was. Wild. I had just eaten the still beating heart of a hummingbird. A heart like the many my dad had eaten. It was on. It was Rob's turn. James knew there was no use in letting us slice these birds so he grabbed another bird and did the same procedure and presented the bird's open chest to Rob. Rob plucked the heart out and threw it into his mouth. He took three or four big chews of the heart before forcing it down in a swallow. Rob then let out an animalistic scream, "Ahhhhhhh!" I could see the blood on his tonnage. We had done it. James asked if we wanted to save the third bird for the "tall guy" he was referring to Cody. I said no and that we should set it free. James pulled out the third hummingbird, the lucky hummingbird and let in free into the air. It flapped wildly for a second and flew sideways for a moment and then just like that, it centered itself and floated above us. There it was hovering like nothing had ever happened, like it completely forgot that it had lost two friends, like it didn't remember that it easily could have been dead. James, Rob, Robyn, and myself all stood there silently and watched it fly into the flowery trees. I finished my beer and we hopped back into the cab and met up with Cody and Matt. Everything looked different for a moment. We headed to a beach resort. On the way I kept looking back at Rob and Robyn. We knew that we had just shared a moment that doesn't happen too often. There was a surreal-ness to the drive. I felt close to the grass and trees we were passing. I though about my dad and how much I loved him. I knew that he would think what I had just done was silly. But I also knew that he would know I did it for him. I did it because I want to be as much like my father as I possibly can. I got to hang out with my dad when he was a kid and we chased hummingbirds and we gained courage.

Enjoy some of the pics from the day. I left out the more graphic ones.

The pretty hummingbirds in the Pepsi bottle.

James going in for the first bird.

James showing me where to cut.

Swallowing.

Rob chewing like a mad man.

The scream.

This is were we ended up. We spent the rest of the day swimming.

Matt, Robyn, Rob, and Cody

Epic pics I

2010-09-11T23:30:00.001-07:00

Stopped by an Apple store today to use their free and fast internet. I used the opportunity to upload some pics from the trip so far. Enjoy.

After a long bike ride, Matt and I had a bite to eat a nice restaurant. This was our view.

Cozumel, Mexico

Rob taking advantage of the water trampoline/slide in St. Maarten

Maya Chan resort in Costa Maya, Mexico. One of the casts favorite places to hang.

Cable car ride up the side of a mountain in St. Thomas.

Myself, Rob, Cody, and Robyn. St. Thomas

Epic pics II

2010-09-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

Cozumel, Mexico

Cody and Matt on pier. Roatan, Honduras

Had my birthday lunch here. Roatan, Honduras.

Honduras. 8-24-2010

An Update!

2010-09-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy, it's been a while since I've updated this thing! A 15 show-a-week schedule doesn't leave much time for anything else but eating, napping, and gym time. I must say though, I'm really enjoying all of our shows. And the ship is beautiful. It's the most expensive and second largest ship in the sea. We have two different cruise itineraries, Eastern and Western Caribbean.
The Eastern Caribbean schedule is: Saturday- Miami- Embarkation, Sunday- At sea, Monday- At sea, Tuesday- St. Maarten, Wednesday- St. Thomas, Thursday- At sea, Friday- Nassau (Bahamas).
The Western schedule is: Saturday- Miami- Embarkation, Sunday- At sea, Monday- Costa Maya, Mexico, Tuesday- Roatan, Honduras, Wednesday- At sea, Thursday- Cozumel, Mexico, Friday- At sea.
Ok, I PROMISE I will keep the blogging up even if it's just a sentence or pic every other day or so!

Rob, Robyn, and myself. First day on the ship.

Mick Napier directed our show and spent the first week with us on the ship. He certainly lives up to his legendary status.

We play some cards every now and then here at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in Nassau (Bahamas).

Slingshot, Cody Dove bought me for my 31st birthday which I celebrated in Honduras. Truth be told, I was/am planning to use this slingshot to kill a hummingbird and eat it's heart. What?

Broken down bus next to the resort we frequent in Costa Maya, Mexico.

Rob and I in NCL's famous ICE BAR!!! It's stupid.

View in St. Thomas.

Shiplife II

2010-07-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm on a ship again and I've had zero time to blog. We've been crazy busy what with all of the shows and rehearsals we've been doing. It's been hard work but it's also been a blast. The cast is awesome and we're lucky enough to have Mick Napier as a director. Our schedule has been hectic, rehearsal everyday and 15 shows in a week. I'm looking forward to getting into a routine here and I plan to keep up on the blogging so check back!

Website

2010-07-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

The other night, Lauren said, "You should have a website" and then she made one for me.
Here it is: http://www.ChrisAlvarado.net. It's not fancy or anything but it's cute and Lauren made it and I really like it.

11:11 commercial

2010-07-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a spot I did for an awesome little company. 11:11

Twilight for guys

2010-07-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

*Not appropriate for children

Lauren and I did this silly video for our buddies, Sunny Peabody and Andy Signore. It's a huge YouTube success!

Update: As of July 9th the video has had 2,123,505 views!

Testing

2010-07-07T00:22:00.001-07:00

This is a test. Trying Flickr for the first time.

4th of July- A year later

2010-07-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, Lauren came to visit me on the ship in Hawaii.

You can read about that day here: http://knownpiracyarea.blogspot.com/2009/07/shes-here.html

A year later, we live together and are happier than ever!

Wonder where we'll be next year??

A day at the Getty Museum

2010-07-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I spent the afternoon at the beautiful Getty Museum.

Pretty Lauren

Appreciating art.

Lauren's shoes.

Oh yeah, we saw Conan O'brien! That's him on the right.

Showing some Downey love

2010-06-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Nice mention of me in Suzanne Marques' blog about the day she was inducted into (onto?) the Downey High School Wall of Fame.

"I grew up with @ChrisAlvarado too. I remember when he was a short & chubby boy when we were kids!! Now he's a tall, dark & handsome actor. Future DHS Wall of Famer."

Vote for Lauren!

2010-06-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

From Lauren: "i entered this silly contest and made a very half-assed video but i got into the finalists, and if you vote for me i could win $500!!
please go to www.codenamejoke.com and scroll to the bottom and click LAUREN LAPKUS. you can only vote once (somehow it knows) so vote on every computer you have!
voting ends july 15- please do it! i would really love $500.
xo
lauren"
It just takes one click. No signing up necessary!

Smoooth

2010-06-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

Then there's this

2010-06-29T00:14:00.001-07:00

Breaking Away the movie

2010-06-28T01:13:00.000-07:00

Breaking Away is one of my favorite movies. It was made in 1979 but I didn't discover it until just a few years ago. Every time I watch it I want to go for a bike ride.

Jackie Earl Haley, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern,
and Dennis Christopher

Go Cutters!

I mean, really?

2010-06-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

"What's better than a juicy hamburger? How about a hamburger stuffed between two grilled cheese sandwiches? Friendly's boasts that its new Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt features a "thick and juicy 100% Black Angus Big Beef Burger between two whole grilled cheese sandwiches, complete with lettuce, tomato and mayo." The sandwich also comes complete with 1,500 calories, 97 grams of fat and 2,090 milligrams of sodium. (Courtesy Friendly Ice Cream Corporation)" -abcnews.go.com

Food and friends

2010-06-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

Cute girls.
Natalie is one of Lauren's bestest all-time friends. The night before we left Chicago we met up with Natalie and our buddy Elliot for a nice Thai dinner (very spicy!) and fun conversation (very spicy!).

No joke, these water bottles were displayed just like this at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Julian and Jessica's wedding pt.1 Milwaukee

2010-06-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Julian and Jessica got married in Milwaukee on Saturday June 19th.

Lauren, her parents, and I drove to Milwaukee from Evanston Friday morning. The drive was pleasant and not too long. We stayed at the Residence Inn and had awesome rooms! Once we checked in we headed to the wedding location for the rehearsal.

Our room! Loved it.

Our view!

Jessica and Julian got married at the beautiful

Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum.

Just hanging.

Julian and Jessica's wedding pt.2 Bowling

2010-06-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

After the rehearsal we all headed over to a cool little bowling alley where Julius and Trish had rented out the majority of the lanes. They also supplied us with all of the beer and pizza we could devour!

Fun fact: We ate ALL of the food the bowling alley had to offer. This includes pizza (cheese, pepperoni, and sausage), jalapeno poppers, cheese sticks, and chicken wings!

Pretty Lauren about to start off the bowling.

Jules and I. Jules and me? Me and Jules? Us.

Bro and sis.

A great night!!

Julian and Jessica's wedding pt.3 The Wedding

2010-06-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

The wedding! I'm not terribly articulate nor do I have an extensive vocabulary so what I have to say about the wedding ceremony was that it was beautiful. Really. Everything went well and everyone was happy. I don't have any pics of the actual ceremony, I was too busy being IN the ceremony!

Gangsta groom.

Julian and Jessica with Julian's grandparents, Trish, and all of her sisters.

We sat at a very important table...

Their table!

Trish, Lauren, and Jules.

One of my favorite moments of the reception.

The DJ asked for all of the couples to come out to the dance floor and dance. While we were dancing he said that we were going to play a little game. So he started calling off lengths of time that couples had been together. Like, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, etc... Once a length of time was called that was longer than the couple had been together, they had to leave the dance floor. Couple by couple the floor started to clear until there was just one couple remaning. Here, you'll see that Julian's grandparents were the winners. They were the last couple. They've been together for 67 years! Amazing!

The After Party

Julian and his buddies rented an awesome upstairs lounge in downtown Milwaukee called

The Buddha Lounge. There was incredible live music and fresh sushi!

The man.

The Buddha Lounge.

So happy for Julian and Jessica!

Funny how things happen

2010-06-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last week my buddy, Derek Miller, sent out a message on Facebook asking people if they could give a few hours of their day to do some background work on a project he was working on. Derek is one of the nicest guys in this industry and has helped me more than once, so it was my pleasure to help him out. Lauren and I could only give him two hours of our time because of a gig that Lauren had at Jimmy Kimmel Live that afternoon. The shoot took place in a cute coffee shop and we had fun pretending to be patrons in conversation. About an hour into us being there, Derek came up to me and said that they were having a hard time contacting one of their leads and that they may need me to step up. Well, it happened. Lauren took my car and left me in a trailer changing into my wardrobe and trying to learn my lines as quickly as possible! It was crazy. We shot three episodes of this web production and I got to play an awesome role all because I was at the right place at the right time. Once again it ends up being Derek helping me out. During a slight break in the shooting, the 2nd A.D. walked up to me and said, "Funny how things happen."

Derek and I (I'm in wardrobe. I don't own anything like this.)

Fun working with Kimberly Irion and Henry Dittman!

Pete Carboni was in this thing!

Had some fun dialogue with Retta from Parks And Rec!

Afternoon at Rigo's

2010-06-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

The other day my dad and I went to my uncle Rigo's house for an interesting seafood lunch. My uncle has this "griddle" that is made from an old tractor part. Well he poured oil into it and fried up some tasty fish and squid. It was an awesome day and I got to hang out with all of my cousins too!

Mmm! Looks tasty right?

My uncle's badass 69' Chevy Malibu.

KDD 3!

2010-06-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

We did it!! Kick Drum Decade won the L.A. Improv Festival Cagematch Championship for the 3rd year in a row. No other team has done this. We are so lucky to have such supportive family, friends, and fans. I mean, we had a show Monday the 7th at midnight, Wednesday the 9th at 11:30pm, and then the finals were last night, Thursday the 10th at midnight. That's a lot of late nights in Hollywood! Last night was particularly awesome because we played against our good friends, Orpheus Roy. What a ride!

The moment we found out we were the champs.

Tweeting to the top!

2010-06-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Lauren had a meeting with big shot commercial agent, Mark Measures, of Abrams Artist Agency today. How she got this meeting is incredible. Last month on his birthday, Mark Measures sent out a tweet saying that the first 5 people to send him a tweet will get a meeting with him. Lauren replied with a Happy Birthday tweet and was one of the first five! She said he was awesome and answered all of her biz questions.

Mark Measures tweeting about his meeting with Lauren.

Where to shoot

2010-06-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

"Paramount Studio map of California’s geographical facsimiles,

from The Motion Picture Industry as a Basis for Bond Financing, 1927."

Lauren's Daily Affirmation

2010-06-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

So "Jessica's Daily Affirmation" is the popular video seen below.

Lauren and I made a spoof video of the Jessica video (see below) and just today the real Jessica's dad contacted Lauren about seeing her in the L.A. Times the other day. What a trip right? Lauren asked him to post our spoof as a "Response
video" to his hugely popular video and he agreed! (I think Lauren owes him
couple of Story Pirate's tickets but it'll be worth it.) We're excited to see if the
viewing numbers go up. Right now we are at 3,099. We'll see!

L.A. Times Lauren

2010-06-03T20:38:00.003-07:00

Lauren's picture was in the L.A. Times Calendar section yesterday (6-2-10)!!

Kick Drum Decaaaaaade!

2010-06-03T20:29:00.004-07:00

Kick Drum Decade goes for our third straight L.A. Improv Festival Cagematch Championship. There are some teams competing this year that are doing extremely well in their current cagematch run. This should be fun.

First show is Monday June 7th at midnight.

Check out our promo video:

I'm back (in 5 pictures)

2010-06-01T10:46:00.008-07:00

The first entry is always the hardest. I've been wanting to start up blogging again but didn't know where to start. So here I am. Starting.

A lot has happened since I left Hawaii. Lauren and I drove (with all of her stuff in her Jeep) from Chicago to L.A. We moved in together. We live in North Hollywood and we love it. Lauren got on a UCB Harold team Bangarang! and we both got on an iO West Harold team BANDIT. My best friend Brett got married to the beautiful Dayna Heyer. I was the best man. I booked a small role on General Hospital. Lauren signed with a commercial agent (BBA).

We are busy busy with our performances and careers and we honestly couldn't be happier. We love walking to the grocery store together.

2,146 Miles of fun!

NoHo- Lauren thinks our place looks very Californian.

Rehearsal for the wedding.

2 glorious lines.

BANDIT Wednesdays at 8pm- iO West

Here I go...again...

The End

2009-11-23T00:21:00.002-08:00

Robyn, Sergey, and I at Oahu's famous North Shore.

We were unimpressed.

I walked from the ship to Pa'ia, Maui and back. Total mileage: 17

It was a great walk.

The next week I ran to Pa'ia. My buddies Ben and Derek (not pictured) joined me. It was very windy that day. Note the hair.

The new cast boarded!

We played our last tennis game.

So many beautiful sights.

Well, it's all over. 8 months aboard the Pride of America and it's time to head home. I had some unbelievable times. Above are pics of some of the things that happened the last couple of weeks. I'm happy to be home and happy to be starting a new chapter of my life. Mahalo for reading my blog. Aloha!
P.S. I will continue to blog on this site so be sure to check back!

Halloween aboard the Pride of America

2009-11-02T16:04:00.003-08:00

Obama's detail.

Protecting the prez from the craziness.

Obama and Rambo: A killer team.

Robyn the vampire.

The Filipino Mafia! Haha! They were cracking me up.

The crew-only Halloween party was a blast. Lots of people dressed up and everybody got to drink for free!

Random

2009-11-02T16:00:00.002-08:00

More tennis in Kona.

Our buddy Ben before the hamburger eating contest.

Robyn was Ben's official burger counter. (He ate six!)

Just a couple of passengers dressed for vacation.

Haleakala the sunrise

2009-10-27T15:35:00.006-07:00

3:30 in the A.M.

After an hour long van ride we reach the top of Mt. Haleakala. See that little star just above the horizon? It's not a star, it's Venus!

One thing you can't see in these pictures is the 35 degree temp!! After spending 7 months in the 80's, 35 is cooooold!

Ben, Robyn, and Christa make up the rest of our crew.

Because of the cold our guides handed out coats and pants to everyone. Keep in mind it was pitch dark when the handing out of these items took place.

I had no idea I looked like this! Look at those crazy pants! It was only when the sun's light started to appear that I realized I was wearing MC Hammer pants.

Anticipating the sun's arrival.

Almost there...

There it is! That little dot. Everybody on the mountain started cheering and clapping!! Look at those clouds.

Beautiful.

Robyn and I and a couple of our friends went on an awesome Haleakala excursion. We got picked up at the ship at 3:30am and then driven to the top of Haleakala to watch the sunrise. After the sunrise we BIKED DOWN Haleakala! Like I said: awesome.

Haleakala the bike ride

2009-10-27T15:19:00.004-07:00

Time to bike down this.

50lb, single speed, downhill mountain bikes.

Robyn and Ben gear up.

Ready to rock.

Took a break from the ride to take some pics. Here's our crew.

Check out this guy!

And them!

And this girl! (guy?)

We ended the ride at a cute church and then drove into Pa'ia for an awesome breakfast! Great day.

During the 5th week left

2009-10-27T15:01:00.003-07:00

The placement of these two movies in the Blockbuster is ironic. (Both mall security movies)

A rainbow cutting through Honolulu

Every Friday when we leave Kauai these tug boat guys spin there boats in a continual 360 degree motion and blow their horns solely for the pleasure of the passengers on board our ship. I think it's nice of them to do.

On a shuttle leaving Target. I was elated. One might not want to admit it but one can find deep pleasure in strolling around a Target (especially when one hasn't been in a Target in 7 months!).

The old man and the sea. Here's that old man who does water aerobics in all of his clothes.

Headed out for round two.

I ate a cupcake. I felt that I must photograph and document it for Lauren's sake.

6 weeks to go

2009-10-10T22:15:00.003-07:00

Miss my improv team, Kick Drum Decade. Here, Darren removed the color from those of us who are missing from the team at the moment.

Taking a breather during a hot day of tennis in Kona.

Brett on the court. Nice court, right?

So I'm one of those guys now. One of those guys that wears the running gear. Here I am displaying my new running pack, boy was it great. This stuff really helps on a long run. This is me before my run to Menehune Fish Pond in Kauai.

Menehune Fish Pond, Kauai

After my run I grabbed a beer and a book and read on the beach. This was my view.

Yeah!!!

Robyn and I went on a crew-only excursion, a hike to Makapuu Lighthouse in Oahu.

Some of the crew taking fun pics.

There's the lighthouse!

Check this guy out! When we reached the highest point of our hike we saw a bunch of guys doing this. In the background is Rabbit Head Island or something like that.

Well, 6 more weeks to go. I'm in good spirits and am trying to stay active and healthy while I have the time to do so.

A Honolulu run

2009-10-03T21:58:00.003-07:00

I have an application on my iPhone that tracks my run via GPS and then allows me to view a map with mile markers. It also keeps stats like pace, time, and calories burned. Cool huh? Above is my 5.92 mile run I did in Honolulu this morning. At the bottom right of the pic you can see the famous volcanic crater, Diamond Head.

Run!!

2009-10-02T15:43:00.002-07:00

Not much of a shoulder to run on but then there isn't much traffic.

Even when you're beat from the run the surroundings are inspiring!

I'll be running to this pond next week.

Ran into this guy.

For dad- Port of Nawiliwili in Kauai.

Fun fact: Pierce Brosnan lives in these hills!

So i've been trying to run as much as possible outdoors. The treadmill seems so fake and uncomfortable. I decided to run off the ship (in Kauai) in a direction I have never gone before and boy was it beautiful!

Sept 26th-29th

2009-09-29T19:43:00.002-07:00

For my dad- This is the Port of Honolulu.

This is a TERRIBLE belt buckle and I wanted you all to know about it.

The tennis crew.

The dreaded boat drill.

Went for a run in Hilo and it began to pour!!

Soaking wet head to toe!

What's doing

2009-09-24T17:48:00.002-07:00

It's official, I'll be spending Christmas in Chicago! I bought my ticket yesterday.

Lauren is always so great about sending me mail. :)

This pic is for my dad. He is an owner/operator of big rigs and ironically he works out of a place called Aloha where he sends containers full of goods to the ports in Hawaii. I've decided to post pics of these ports so that he can see where his containers are going. Well pops, this is the Kahului port in Maui.

This week Brett turned 27!

With Robyn's financial support I made this shirt for Brett. This is just one of his many nicknames.

And here's a pic of Lauren in the 8th grade. :)

Wrapping up the 10th week

2009-09-20T19:34:00.007-07:00

What I look like lately...

This couple almost didn't make it back onto the ship. I, personally, had to tell an officer that there were two passengers about to be left behind. They opened some door on the side of the ship. Here the passenger is handing a crew member a swimming noodle.

For some reason they had to climb across an aluminum A-frame ladder to board the ship.

We went to a water park!! I wish I had pics of the slides and stuff but I was in water all day, not a good place for a camera.

I found these two pics of slides we actually went on! (I found them on Jeannie's blog: http://jeanniesobsessions.blogspot.com/)

A heart or a butt?

9 more weeks to go!

September 5th-13th

2009-09-15T19:34:00.005-07:00

September 5th- Proof that Hawaii is really progressing. This was hanging in the window of a diner.

September 6th- Lauren turns 24!!! Here she is with some friends she went on a boat ride with. Her top? Yeah, one of my gifts to her. :)

September 9th- We went on a crew-only snorkeling excursion.

September 9th continued- This is always a sad moment. This is the moment when the excursion is over, the ship comes into view, and you know that means 'back to work'. You can feel the energy of the crew just drop as soon as the ship comes into sight.

September 8th- Today is my 9 month anniversary of being smoke-free! To celebrate I ran 4 miles in 29 minutes and 42 seconds. The best I've ever done!

September 12th- Upon finishing "Guru" and "My Lobotomy" I picked this up. So far it's been great!

September 13th- Maui- This guy was parked behind us.

September 13th- The cast gathers to support the Bears!! They lost.

I realize I've been slacking on my posts. I'll do better. Promise.

Na Pali Coast mile 1-2

2009-09-04T16:36:00.003-07:00

The sweet ride!

There were a lot of chicken and rooster.

Here's a chicken with her chicks going through someone's stuff!

The hike begins.

Our view while hiking.

And when we got to the beach we saw this sign. Yikes!

I really love this photo. It's the end of the trail and the beginning of the beach.

Brett spotted these two beauties.

The moment where the fresh water meets with the salt water. I loved it here. It felt like you were at the edge of the planet.

We were all alone on this beautiful beach!

That's Robyn!

I did some climbing and took this pic from pretty high up. How high?

This high!

The water was great!!!

So Brett, Robyn, and I rented a car this morning and headed to the Na Pali coast in Kauai! The Na Pali coast has always been a favorite view of mine from the ship so it was such a blast being able to hike through it. Our hike consisted of two parts: The first was a two mile hike to a beautiful beach area and the second was another two mile hike to a beautiful waterfall. Not bad huh? Well it was amazing! Some of the most beautiful sights i've seen yet. A favorite moment of mine was when we walked up the beach for a while to an area where there were absolutely no people and we jumped into the ocean and swam and played for almost an hour!!