The big 3-0: set, and ready to go.

Dear readers, it's been a while since the last time I wrote... Sorry about that. Rest assured though, it’s just because I’ve been busy, but more so than ever in a very positive way. As I recall, the last time I had written, I spoke about how things had taken a 180 shift, and everything had been moving in the positive, and that is still very much the case. The demo reel that I had mentioned to you guys in the last message is complete, and it’s awesome. You can check it out here but I would recommend doing to www.chuck-n-action.com to download the full screen version. It’s WAY cooler.
Beyond that, having that demo reel got me an interview in Tokyo’s #1 English speaking magazine, which lead to a photo shoot with one of the best freelance photographers in Tokyo, Mike Tsang (again, see www.chuck-n-action.com for the pics). And at the same time I also recently had my life out here profiled on a TV show called ‘Fight! Japan’ (Hopefully will be able to show that to you guys in a few weeks).

All of this together has lead to an opportunity to study under Sean Penn’s former acting coach, Shelley Mitchell for two months in San Fransisco, and I will leave at the end of January.

Much like in a game of chess, I’m starting to gain ‘tempo’ and every day everything gets easier and easier.Where I used to have to struggle to get people to take me seriously, now the ones who don’t, are the exception, not the rule. And eventually, even they usually come around.

None of this however is the best news. The very best news is the fact that after 5 years of working on, struggling with it, re-inventing it, re-working it and re-inventing it again, Phat English is finally FINALLY finished. I had promised myself that I was going to have it ready to go by my 30th birthday, and I finished it, uploaded all the pages, and ordered my first edition 20 minutes before the clock struck twelve. Thus far, everyone that sees it absolutely loves it, and I’ve sold books without even having started my marketing plan yet. Thus far, I’ve got two programs running at different schools (one in Harajuku, and one in Yokohama) and I recently did a presentation for a consulting company (in hip-hop clothes) that was a smashing success. Once I return from San Fransisco, they want me to do a seminar on the 50th floor of Roppongi Hills (One of the biggest, baddest, skyscrapers in Tokyo, where a great deal of its wealthiest people live.)

Beyond completing Phat, I’ve also completed another major project- The script for a feature-length, intelligent, political action film based on my own experiences out here about an American visiting Asia who gets wrapped up in sex trafficking industry. I co-wrote it with a Canadian producer/script-writer, and naturally I will be playing the lead role. I just finished the preliminary version of the script (after two years of working on it) and it’s being cleaned up and finalized by Jason (the script-writer) as we speak. It’s pretty crazy, because I wrote this film as my dream role, but at this point, it’s looking like it’s going to become a reality. If it’s a success, then I’ll have a framework set for creating my own particular line of action films (i.e. the same way that Jackie Chan does), and it will be the first of many to come. (I’ve already got ideas for two other ones).

It’s funny because for the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve got the ‘shackles off’. Meaning, there isn’t really anything left to hold me back. The two biggest projects of my life since I’ve moved out here are completed, and all I have to do now, is sell them. … And in both cases I’ve got a solid plan as to how I’m going to go about doing that. Granted, it’s still an uphill battle, (like the fact that I may have been invited to do that program in San Fran, but I don’t have any place to stay yet, and will have to find work AS SOON as I get there, because I will only have enough cash to cover my first month’s rent.) but it’s one that I’m used to fighting and one that no longer scares me in the least. As my homeboy Matt always says, “It is, what it is.”

I had told you guys before that 30 (15 years after I began this journey) would represent the crossroads for me, and I had planned to make it back to the states (in particular, California) by then. I think it’s funny that I will be heading there at exactly that age to exactly the place that I want to go, to do exactly what I wanted to do. Even if it is for just a few months. In any event, at this point, I’ve got 11 months left of being 30. Let’s see if I can really make it happy before then.