Week Three

Week Three.

A week of highs and lows.

The loss of Ozzy hit everyone hard this week. Honoured to have seen him live a few years ago and can't believe he still had one more concert in him. What an absolute fucking legend.

My high was seeing my fave cousins earlier in the week and them shouting this unemployed party of one to a delicious dinner at the Ivy. Somewhere I've walked past at least 45 times on my way to and from shows but so stoked to have eaten there - not nearly as pretentious as I thought and the food was absolutely bomb.

This was also the week of my Bone Broth fast. Three days. I've been gearing up to this for a minute - my mate did it when she started her wedding diet and said it helped her gut no end so I thought I'd give it a go and see if it curbs my reflux. Also if it sets me into a fat burning machine, I mean I wouldn't complain.

I'm down a few kgs now so have about 7 to go to get to my goal weight so I thought this would be a good way to kick it off - I think I'm going to do the 5:2 method going forward. 2 days of fasting - I've found a juice one I can do - and just see how that goes. I like the fasting because it guarantees two 'dry' days and keeps me on track. It has definitely made me a bit slow in the head so I haven't been as productive as I would've liked this week but got my second round of agency reach outs done so that is the key take away from this week.

I was out in the country this weekend get my dose of baby cuddles and inspiration with Some Like It Hot and some good planning time with a few, as well as immersive accent practice with a British national. (is that what you call you Brits?)

I think my learning this week - as I put in my Week 2 post which I posted on Wednesday - is that I just need to create a structure to my week. I'm going to use AI to create a daily plan for next week and see what I get done. I want to get up earlier, get more shit done and go out into the streets of London and see some more stuff. I feel like if I get up earlier then I can go out and get inspired more as, while my two screen set up is exciting, inspirational it is not.

So my goals next week are organisation - I'm in week three of The Artist's Way which I'm going to kick off next week, I'm going to re-kick off my three week ab blaster and make sure I get to the gym (might even start running again now I've been to the Osteo and got some exercises for my hip flexors and tight glutes) and I'm going to send out a few more agency reach outs to the big guns just to make sure my bases are all covered before Round Three with some of the smaller more boutique agencies. I'm also going to clean our windows because they're foul... but you probs didn't need to know that.

Acting

Cut my accent reel

I wondered if the reason why my package wasn't getting a lot of traction was that I didn't have any footage showcasing my British Accent so I have pulled together a Class Accent Reel to incorporate into to include in my package for the second round reach out.

Second round agency reach out

Identified another 45 talent agencies and reached out via website and email with my package.

Tip for any actors looking to do reach outs: Use an AI tool like ChatGPT or Perplexity ((which I prefer because I find it better for research). You can use these to identify agencies you should be targeting, but I already had a list to reach out to courtesy of an amazing acting friend I made since I've been in London.

Instead I used AI to generate tables including website links, approach instructions, email addresses and notable differences between each agency.

Then as you go through and set up approaches you can go to their website easily and check the other data but you're not starting from a blank slate and spending your time gathering the initial info and formatting it.

Attended this poignant panel discussion around why storytelling is essential in times of war.

A panel made up of a journalist, writer, photographer and clown; chilling stories were shared from their experiences but there was a heavy focus on not the importance of telling these stories but how they tell these stories.

Key themes in dramatic contexts were around using symbolism and comedy to draw in audiences. In journalism there was similarly a focus on the 'how' and making sure that the stories are told in a way that will draw in the biggest audiences and have the biggest impact - ie. is it an article, podcast, documentary, news item, etc.

An interesting discussion and an important one for artists of all kinds as we find ourselves in this time of increasing conflict and division.

Storytelling in Times of War: Reflections on the Ukraine

Singing

Continued practice on songs I want to post to socials...

Yes - that's me again...

Songs I've chosen so far - A Change is Gonna Come & Caught out in the Rain.

Week three of Cheryl's singing course

Finished the vowel placement lesson and on to breathing. Dayum, my diaphragm has gotten weak! Putting that to work this week to strengthen her up and focusing on vocal support.

Bonus pics.

A small collection of photos from the week, when I've remembered to bloody take them. I really need to be more organised about this. Any and all tips welcome!

Have also included a couple of pics of the little man back home looking handsome. <3