Junko's journey

I won't be embarrassed to say this, but I've never voted.
Being the first generation born here, my parents don't vote, so politics was never a hot topic at the dinner table.

This electoral year will be different though. I finally have an opinion on politics.

So, I hopped online to youtube and here were some of the more interesting questions that were asked. Albeit some answers weren't solid, but interesting nonetheless:



It was really interesting to hear the candidates' views on universal health plans, immigration, military policy, and the war. Looks like after leaving the college bubble 6 years ago, I'm finally figuring out that whoever is in that Oval office better be doing a good damn job.


I've been SO busy!
-"Trojan Women" (http://myspace.com/trojanwomen2007) with Lodestone is opening in two saturdays
-I just recently joined The Outlet [Improv] Group and will be performing with them as of the second Tuesday in August
-I shot a upromise spec commercial:

-I am scheduled to be shooting a "24" spec episode
-I will be in NYC in September to co-produce a friend's one woman show (www.ART168productions)
-I shot new headshots! I'll be posting these soon.-->



Must sleep... must not get ill...

Hello Folks from the East to the West Coast!
How have you all been?

Once again, I'm bad at updating. Oh well. I'll blame it on everything that has to do with life and being an actor.

Anyhow, here is the quickie on what's been going on VERY quickly!

1. Have you seen "Fracture"? Thank you for ALL who have e-mailed, called or texted me. YES! I was in "Fracture" starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. The supporting lady in the film is Rosamund Pike and you can see me right next to her (mostly in profile). Can't miss me :) It may be in the smaller theaters by now, but if you get a chance, go see it. It's quite clever, Anthony Hopkins is great and Ryan Gosling going heads up with Anthony Hopkins is a sight to see.

2. I'm in two shows over the next few months, for all of those in LA(laland):
-"Eavesdropper" now playing at 6470 Santa Monica at The Complex on Theatre Row. The shows are on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays, but I am in the SUNDAY 8pm show!
An uninvited party guests hides behind the shower curtain EAVESDROPPING
on partygoer's private moments, intimate conversations and ends up
witnessing a crime. Thirteen people: In one hour, all their lives will change forever.
A dark, sexy, voyeuristic romp with a surprise ending that keeps
audiences talking. No two shows the same!
As far as WHO I am... well, you'll just have to come see the show :)
GET tickets here: http://www.plays411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=890 ($10) OR
Goldstar.com ($10) OR
RSVP at 323-365-8305
REVIEWS: http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/526660,0,4013246,reviews.event

-"Trojan Women" is be up and running in late June. I am part of the chorus and understudying for one of the supporting roles... In fact, I will be playing a lamenting mother, a role that is VERY new to me and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I will have at least one understudy show. I'll keep you guys posted on that. More info will be posted at http://www.myspace.com/lodestonetheatre in the coming weeks.

That's it for now! This summer is going to be BUSY for me on multiple fronts, even beyond what I've written briefly here.

As always, thanks for your love and support!

Junko Goda
Actress
junko@junkogoda.com
http://www.junkogoda.com

okay.
So, I haven't written in a while, but once I write some of it down, I think you may understand:

Now, three weeks ago was the JACCC event. It went off without a hitch and was, in my opinion, more successful than we'd expected it to be, mostly because nothing went wrong which means that it was very successful. Does that make sense? Anyhow, behind the scenes was a bit hectic with last minute translating and editing of speeches, and meetings. From my point of view, it got a bit hectic in the program when a few speakers sped up their speeches to 5 times what a normal speech would be. This screwed me up, up in the booth because I was trying to read the translated script at a decent pace. After everything was said and done, I actually caught a bug which made me cough a lot.

Now, simultaneously, my mother called me up that week to tell me that 'Dad just got passed the buck to sing in the university alumni karaoke contest and we can't let him sing. Junko we'll fly you back; please sing instead of your dad!" odd huh? I called my mom back the next days to double check and it still was what they wanted. It was the weirdest way of 'saving face' for the family.

So, 10 days after the JACCC is over, I arrived in Chicago for the first time in over a year for a karaoke contest with a nasty cough. My vocal situation wasn't ideal, but what can you do right? I did the best I could do (sang "Gekkou" by Onizuka Chihiro) and spent the evening at the karaoke place with a bunch of 50+ old people.

Now this past weekend, I took my vacation in NYC. It was fabulous. My best friend in Boston asked me 'why the hell would you want to go to NYC for a vacation?' "Because it's cold" I replied. LA-la land weather can get boring. But NYC greeted me with three days of 30F weather with clear blue skies and strong sunny rays of light. Yes, it was one of those vibrant days. I spent NYC without an agenda and just seemingly floated around... I saw a total of 4 friends on the first day and did things as I felt like it. I went to the MET, went to Chinatown. Above all, it was also the food, especially since it was before V-day, the varieties of chocolate galore! And there's nothing like drinking thick hot chocolate after coming in from the cold outdoors. My favorite food experience was definitely The City Bakery on 18th Street. Their fresh pretzel croissant was great and their SHOT of hot chocolate will be a first time experience for all especially for those of you who are chocoholics! I think I'll be going over to the LA one in the next week or two just to re-live my NYC experience. :P

Things I've been working on:
Well, do to circumstances "The Agency" that I was cast for is now canceled, but the director/producer has moved onto a different project and wants me to be involved, so we'll see how that goes. TBA

I started taking two classes: one is an audition 'toolbox' class with Heidi Helen Davis through East West Players on mondays. And on Wednesdays, I am taking improv with Cold Tofu Improv .

Musically speaking, I am not in charge of booking singer songwriters for Komuzika's open mics held every second Sat. of the month.

Also, Kevin So will be back in LA for a week in March, so I've been busy helping out in PR and trying to book him another gig during his visit.

Oh yes, I can't forget to add that I'm helping for Lodestone Theatre Company's Oscar fundraiser party at the end of this month too.

hmm... I see a lot of 'help' and not much mention of 'money' or 'pay.' *sigh* I'll get there...

Again, thanks for listening folks!

Okay, first: can someone tell me how to embed youtube stuff into a sponsored account?

Second: here's some exciting stuff you guys!

The trailer for Akira's Hip-Hop Shop is out!
www.akirashiphopshop.com (sign up for the mailing list!)
short trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjdBuVrBiI
Longer trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yVEQvFh3W0

I'm in there for a little bit ;)

Like I had mentioned, it was super fun to do this short and the cast and crew are super tight, which can be a rarity.

In other news, I started up the audition class tonight; it's so great to be performing again in *any* capacity!

well, at least the bears are going to the super bowl.
Man, it's hard for a girl to chose between her hometown team or her second hometown team.

can't wait for super bowl!

i'll do a short update:
Last week was insane; I was leaving my day job to go home to do more work. I was working for JACCC for the World Heritage Wooden structure forum doing a lo~~~~t: translating and editing speeches, translating more speeches, simultaneously interpreting, and broadcasting it all to a 350+ audience, to be followed by simultaneous interpretation at a reception. *phew*

I ended up getting a bit sick-ish from it, so I ended up chilling our for most of the weekend. bleh.

next on my plate: "Audition tool box" class starts tomorrow night! woo hoo! I'm SO psyched! I've been out of class for about 4 months, so I'm very excited to be going back. I'll also be starting with Cold Tofu improv (www.coldtofu.com) after winning their Level 1 class at a silent auction. woot!

That's it for now, but I shall leave you with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xV9A4v6G3E

again, i find myself awake when I should be asleep mostly because I've been bitten by the writing bug. I've all the sudden rekindled my writing... er.. uh.. whatever 'good' it may be. :P

Last night, I started something that will hopefully turn into a one woman show or *something.* It's about roommates. I was just pouring over my computer typing away, so hopefully something will come of it. I'd love to do a one woman show, even if it's a half hour show or something.

Tonight, marked my second capoiera class of the year, and I think I'm hooked. I still believe that aikido is where my fundamental training is based... after 4 to 5 years of rigorous training, my body knows what's going on. But when I think about my Sempai (senior students) they're wonderful aikido-ka because they've done other martial arts and bring that knowledge into their aikido. So, I think with the mark of my 'settling' into LA, it also marks a transition into a different martial art.

oh speaking of... i haven't spoken to Sensei for New Year's yet (not my grandparents either.. yikes! Okay, they're on my to-do list for tomorrow night... my night 'off').

off to bed i go.. oh, btw, if you go to youtube.com and type in capoiera, you'll see this AWESOME choreographed thing of this muy thai guy and capoeira guy... pretty neat stuff (okay, i'm officially hooked).

Tonight, I went to The Actor's Network (http://www.actors-network.com) which is
NOT a cult group
NOT a casting office
NOT a school
NOT a casting workshop

(If you want to know what it's about go to the site or ask me). I went to see Theodore Gekis who is a manager. My new dilemma these days is whether or not to find a manager. In my year here, I've developed a strong sense of the business. I can go in a few directions as far as me as a 'product,' but the avenue that would be the best is a dilemma. I could do the trial and error thing, but that'll just be me taking the long road whereas if I had a manager they'd be a more direct line to finding my best presence in Hollywood. One of the things that I was thinking about, but now in retrospect is quite a small thing is the money issue. A manager takes about 15% of the check whereas an agent takes 10%. Nonetheless, that's 25% of your check plus Uncle Sam taking another 15% or so which means you're left with 40%~50% to me. I was thinking about it, but then I realized that the right manager is pretty much for the long haul, so in the long run, the percentage thing really shouldn't matter. There are a few managers coming into TAN to speak, so I'll get a bit more edumacated in it before I move on it. The good thing is that hopefully by March, my webisode will be airing on the net and that will be a great way to show my work to people.

Oh yesh, so "The Agency" is on hold for a little bit because there was a death in the family of the director/producer. Hopefully we'll be shooting in mid-Feb.

Fortunately, I have an audition on Thursday for a spec commercial for match.com. Spec commercials are the 'what ifs' of commercials. Lots of students do them to be able to shop their directing/film concepts to producers and ad agencies. This director's stuff is pretty cool, so we'll see how it goes.

One print audition last week
One spec commercial audition this week

not bad not bad... gotta do more of those theatrical auditions! I'm planning on taking a meeting with my agent this month to talk da talk.

Capoiera awaits tomorrow...

So, the day after the Bones gig, I got a print audition where I bumped into my friend who just got her first national commercial for Home Depot! yeay! She was THE lucky 99 (or 88 or whatever) perfume girl and she was on a BILLBOARD on Sunset blvd! I was SO excited when I saw it that I called her pronto. I only got her voicemail because she was at dinner with her bf, but they went to go see it after dinner. She's such a good soul ^-^


anywho, I got up this morning to go help out at JACCC (Japanese American Cultural Community Council jaccc.org ... okay, i'm not typing that again) with their 'kotohajime' which is translated as the "first word." Japan announces a 'word for the year' and this year is 'laughing.'

JACCC does this really nice kick off to the year and well... I didn't watch much of it, but I got to help. I threw origami and feathers off the roof of the building. Then we got to drop these vinyl banners off the second floor balcony; it's hard to describe, but it's a site to see ;)

oy, i think that's all for now...

I got up at 6am this morning to get to Fox studio lots by my call time of 8am... Haven't been up that early in a while, so I am *definitely* feeling it now!

The part was simple: It's for episode #16 when the main characters are looking through a database of missing asian (mostly) women. I think later on we also turn up dead; haha! So, we took a few pics with street clothing against various background and did the same thing wearing traditional garb. I brought my kimono along, so I took pics with that. Having a kimono around is GREAT because of the bit of extra money you get for wardrobe.

Now, i usually don't do background work because $126/ 8 hr day isn't that appealing and I could be doing something better. *However* this one was a 5 hour day with guaranteed full day's pay PLUS it being on the Fox lot, meant I was able to do drop offs at casting offices. I hit up offices for "Standoff," "House," "How I met you mother," etc. I also made a new friend at the "Standoff" production office through my other friend Adrian Zaw (www.myspace.com/adrianzaw). Anyhow, the episode that I'm in is #16, so keep an eye out! In addition, Adrian is William Chung, one of the 'featured' dead guys that will show up as part of a husband/wife couple.

So, after walking around the lot for half an hour and spreading the word of Junko, I returned to my day job feeling quite accomplished. For lunch, my boss made Spam ramen... my first real experience with da po' man's food. It wasn't bad, but three pan-cooked slices were quite enough. Would I eat it again? yes. But not anytime soon.

good grief... i need to get to bed and it's not even 9pm!!! sleep is good.

Doing 'photo' background for "Bones" tomorrow morning at Fox Studios. Should make this an interesting day.

man, i gotta go to sleep!

nite; more tomorrow!

J