God Bless the Veterans (And Their Day): The 3-Day Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday:

I was off (for a change), and I slept. I got up for good around 3 PM, and I saw Borat. It was funny, and a little gross, but I enjoyed it. I also loved the Pamela Anderson appearance. Next, I went to Target and bought the Fergie CD as a belated birthday gift for Dayna Hinkle. Fegie is the girl in the group Black Eye Peas. I think her album sucks (and I told Dayna this before I gavie it to her), but I couldn't think of anything else to get her. I also found some cool toys for me. I bought action figures of Luke Cage and the Falcon, two of my favorite African-American super heroes. Yeah, I'm a geek. After that, I went home and chatted with my good friend Jesse Lipford, who I hadn't spoke to in a while. I found out that he bought a small home and he's doing pretty well for himself.

Later, I went to the wrap party for Curbside Confessions. They had prototypes of the movie poster, a photo slideshow, and free food. Shout out to Hardy McNeese, Tiffany Pemberton (Delusions), director Arnold Edwards II, his girlfriend Dayna, Hardy's daughter Skylar, Aaron Jones (What Goes Around), Wasabi Jones (Eat), Howard Hodo (Divine Manipulation of the Threads), Amy Weatherford and her boyfriend, my dog Jarod, Trent Dee (21 Grams), and everybody else in attendance. It was fun, and the music was pretty decent.

Saturday:

No work again (Thank you God!!!), so I chilled out until about 11 AM, went to the comic book store, went to the mall, and then I went to the birthday party for my friend Tamara's daughter, Alexis. Alexis is 1 years old and trying to walk. She gave me a look of contempt at one point, to which I responded with "I ain't scared!!" Tamara's friends were cool, and no one gave me too much grief about accidentally busting open a can of Dr. Thunder with an ice cube. It started spraying, and I asked Tamara, "Is this going in your blog?" She assured me that it would. I decided to beat her to the punch, as it were. I had a good time eating free food (yeah!!!!) and watching Tamara's brother play Mortal Kombat:Armageddon and Soul Calibur III. My buddy Jason Harris, who rhymes with the IMC (www.myspace.com/ironmiccoalition) asked me to do the intro for him when he performs as his "Hater" persona. I couldn't, because I had to go to a screeening of Eat that night. I will do his intro in the future. After this party, I went to the hip-hop clothing stores on American Way. I am very proud of myself because I only window-shopped. People who know me know my addiction to cool t-shirts, but I resisted. Go Markus!!!!

Next, I picked up Rod and we checked out Eat. I was very disappointed with the turnout. Rod, myself, filmmaker Chris McCoy, Laura Hocking, Jon "Sparky" Sparks (www.jonwsparks.blogspot.com), David Merrill, Jeff Pope, Amy Novena, and one other person. I mean, people have things to do, it's a Saturday night, I get that, still, it kind sucked. I enjoyed it, but I started seeing flaws in my performance (as I always do), and I was sleepy. Unfortunately, I had another outing. Rod and I went to a birthday party for his friend Crystal Johnson. She's his longtime buddy and she is in a lot of his films. Rod showed the first fifteen minutes of What Goes Around, and they loved it. One girl was particularyl fond of my part, but, once again, I did NOTHING. Everybody was mingling and chilling, and the girls were cute, but there I was, feeling alone and without any alcohol to boost my courage. I really must improve my interaction with the opposite sex. I'm becoming a domestic monk. Eventually, Rod and I left the party. I bought a bottle of wine for the first time in my life for this party. Hey, it was an experience. No, I still didn't drink it, but Rod felt that I should bring something to the party.

I need to vent for a minute: When you see me at a party not drinking, don't ask me why, just know that I don't drink, and leave it at that. Also, know that while I do appreciate hanging out, it is hard when I am the only one not drinking, or when I am in a room full of people that I barely know. Also, I grow weary of parties. I mainly go for networking purposes. I got into acting to act. All this pomp and circumstance and parties are cool, but when I'm not working, they can be a bit of an annoyance. This is what I was trying to explain to Sparky Saturday, and I apologize if I sounded snappish while doing so, Jon. I can be a moody sonuvagun sometimes.

Okay, end of rant: Saturday ended at Jordan's, with me performing Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel". I normally stick with the "When in Rome" philosophy and perform country or rock, but there was a predominantly African-American crowd, and I had them doing the Kid and Play kick step and other old-school dances. If you don't know who Kid and Play is, well, that's what Wikipedia and google are for. Then, I called it a night.

Sunday:

I chilled out, watched some DVDs, and I eventually left home around 2 PM. The Baltomore Ravens had cut the Titans' lead to 9 by halftime, and they would eventually win by 1 point (BOOOOOO!). Rod, Keenon and I rode out to DeAara Lewis' grandmother's house to film a scene for "Tricks". This scene involved DeAara's sister, Raven, and Keenon. Keenon played a villainous rogue, and boy, did he enjoy it!!! I had to go back to Keenon's house and get the gun for the scene. Then, I kinda hung around and did a few little things to help out. I'd rather be acting, but I was glad to be involved with filming of some sort. After we left DeAara's grandmother's, we headed back toward Keenon's house. After that, I went to Jordan's and I sang Rascal Flatts' "God Bless the Broken Road". Hey, I'm a little bit country. They closed early, and I headed home for more DVD goodness.

I am a little bummed that I was not chosen for the short "Fardel's Hypothesis" or for this Bancorp South commerical that stopped filming today. My commercials record is 0-3, and my streak of being in paid features or shorts ended with "Fardel's Hypothesis". Hey, it was a heck of a run. I know I can't be in everything....but I think I should be. And, deep down, most actors do, too. You know you do, don't be giving me that "Markus is arrogant" crap!!! We all want the brass ring!!! Be easy, readers.