I spent much of today out and driving around today. For the most part it was a really great and productive day.

I started by doing some taping down at the Breakdown offices. I'm trying to flesh out my reel so one of my coaches suggested doing a couple of scenes with just a camera ala audition style -- just to get them on tape. No production values to speak of but it's good material for the sides of me that I want to show. It went well and was fun too. Afterwards, I had a good time "talking shop" with my coach Jenny, "The Asian Guy" Jeff (who shot the scenes) and Brian (who also taped a scene and read with me). Acting in this town can sometimes make you feel pretty secluded so it's nice to goof off and compare notes.

From there, I drove to a couple headshot repro places to check out their samples and get price lists. The past couple times, I used regular printers (that I work with as a graphic designer) for my headshot prints. I know how the print industry works and have been able to get good deals and high quantities. I got a great deal on my last headshots but, because they weren't working very well, I'm stuck with most of them (anybody wanna wallpaper their bathroom with my blue-collar shot?). This time I'm going to go with smaller quantities so I have the flexibility to change to another shot if needed.

Next on my road trip was a stop at Fry's Electronics (an incredible chain of stores in the LA area) to purchase a couple new monitors. The ones I've been using are old, clunky and have been slowly burning out. After much deliberating, I picked up two adjustable Hyundai models that look great and also get great mileage.

From there, I went to Target (big department store chain that that my mother says is owned by the French) to print out a couple copies of my new headshots at 5x7 on one of their little portable Kodak photoprint machines. My photographer and I had met on Saturday and finalized several images and she gave them to me on a CD. I could just have the 8x10s headshots printed but I wanted to double-check the color. When I was finished with the order, I was told by a photo center professional that they couldn't print them without a photographer release -- even though I was obviously the subject and had the high-resolution images in my possession. Okay. I understand the need for copyright protection but stuff like this is really stupid. IF I was printing the photos without the photographer's permission, I am liable not Target. If I robbed a bank and paid someone with the money, is the recipient liable or am I?

I could have gotten really steamed but I figured that would be pointless and there was no use in putting a negative ending on an otherwise productive and positive day. I left, came home, installed the monitors (they look cool!) and spent the evening with my family.

But the photo thing at Target....c'mon, really...!

No, no...letting it go....

Urrrrr.

Shhh. Quiet.