Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

I don’t wanna think, I wanna feel. How do I feel? How do I feel? How do I? -Pearl Jam, song “Hail, Hail” This excellent article points out that asking and answering one simple question can change your emotional state. Furthermore, merely attempting to answer it can boost your happiness. Wow. That’s pretty cool. TheContinue reading “How Do You Feel?”

“When you walk across the fields with your mind pure and holy, then from all the stones, and all growing things, and all animals, the sparks of their soul come out and cling to you, and then they are purified and become a holy fire in you.” -ancient Hasidic saying Committing to writing a dailyContinue reading ““For Your Blog””

My favorite performances are when an actor takes huge risks, makes bold choices, yet still does so in service of the script. Two that immediately come to mind are Gena Rowlands in “Opening Night” and Daniel Day Lewis in “There Will Be Blood.” They’re out there on the edge. Risking complete disaster. Borderline too much.Continue reading “Out On The Edge”

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” -Ursula Le Gun “The Master, by residing in the Tao, sets an example for all beings. Because he doesn’t display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people canContinue reading “THEM, Not you.”

Speaking of feeling a little less alone… Not gonna lie, the last couple of months have been rough. Lotsa life stuff swirling around. Most acutely my dad–my rock, my best friend–isn’t doing so hot. He’s got incurable skin cancer and is back in the hospital. I’m doing my best to be strong and help himContinue reading “Ode To That Super Fast, Jacked Runner Dude”

“You know what it’s like around here? I have watched television. I have seen Brochures. It is impossible to not All the Time be thinking about how other people have Lives, Jack. Other people talk to people. [There’s people out there that all they do is Talk to one another] and there’s me.” -from theContinue reading “A Little Less Alone”

And now the end is hereAnd so I face that final curtainMy friend I’ll make it clearI’ll state my case, of which I’m certainI’ve lived a life that’s fullI traveled each and every highwayAnd more, much moreI did it, I did it my way -Frank Sinatra, “My Way” “If you want to go fast, goContinue reading “Our Way”

The actor/writer/director Austin Pendleton was recently interviewed on the excellent “Back To One” podcast which I highly recommend listening. In it, he talks craft and process and tells some amazing theatre history stories. One of which surrounds his acting in the very first production of “Fiddler On The Roof.” The legendary Jerome Robbins was theContinue reading “Fix 10 Things”

At the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe. -lyrics from the song, “Reason To Believe” by Bruce Springsteen “If we want to feel an undying passion for our work, if we want to feel we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves, we all need to know our WHY.” -from theContinue reading “A Reason To”

“I will not avoid the tasks of today and charge them to tomorrow for I know that tomorrow never comes. Let me act now even though my actions may not bring happiness or success, for it is better to act and fail than not to act and flounder. Happiness, in truth, may not be the fruitContinue reading “Easier Said Than Done”