Cherif Gacis Chassis Musings

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master"~Ernest Hemingway Two weeks ago, I found myself watching a movie I used to watch quite a bit a long time ago, "Ghost" with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Growing up, Swayze was one of my favorite actors, and not because he happened to be a fellow Texan, of which there aren't many in front of the camera these days. "Red Dawn" (the original one), "Dirty Dancing", and "Point Break" have all been remade in the past few years, but none of them made even remotely the same splash as the originals. How does a project with better technology, vastly higher budget, better marketing and a bigger worldwide audience, as well as nostalgic appeal not generate the same success? The remake of "Point Break" received only 5.3 stars on IMDB (compared to the 7.2 from it's 1990's counterpart) despite having an astronomical budget of $105 Million. The answer is the

"Work hard in silence, let your success make the noise"~Anonymous Any time you embark in a new endeavor, you always have to count the costs and examine the reason for doing it. Many times in the past, more than I'd care to recall, I've gone out of my way to help someone I know or sometimes even a complete stranger in furthering their life or success only to have them turn around and bad mouth me down the line. That's the real danger in wanting to help others, particularly if you do it behind the scenes to not give yourself credit or accolades. You never really know the reaction you will get down the road. When I decided to run for Mayor of San Marcos, it wasn't for personal vanity, fun or because moonlighting as the highest elected official of the city would be lucrative. The pay for San Marcos City Council members and Mayor is painfully low, and as such most people that run for the office are people who may not have to work independently, can afford to n

“A man that views life the same way at 50 than he did at 20 has wasted thirty years of his life.”~Muhammad Ali I’ve been watching the (now cancelled) show “Timeless” on NBC, and being that it deals with timetraveling to historical events, it immediately drew my attention. Strangely enough, the second to last episode dealt with one of my favorite historical periods to study: The Civil War. The time travelers met up with Harriet Tubman, and were part and parcel in keeping history on track by not allowing the Confederates to thwart the historical timeline. Interesting enough, right after that I started watching “Glory”, also on the Civil War and the 54th Massachusetts. What got me thinking on that was the character that Denzel Washington portrayed that helped him win the Oscar for best supporting actor. He played that role so raw and real as to what the time period required, but also it showcased his incredible talent that early in his career. However, his new roles since then an

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"~Dr. Seuss Last week, I made it a point to sit through the entire Golden Globes ceremony from start to finish, and some people found that strange being that awards shows seem to be loosing some luster in today's instant society. Who has time to sit through three hours WITH commercials just to see someone get credited for doing their job!? Growing up, I used to love awards shows....or more truthfully, ONE awards show. The Oscars. Growing up in a third world country, our viewing choices were limited to three to five channels except when it rained when the static coming through the bunny ears cut our choices to one or two channels tops. Luckily, the Oscars were always in one of those channels because it was brought to the audience by the biggest television company in Mexico and the Oscars were worth paying royalties for the tv company because of viewership

"I am thankful for the difficult people I've met. They have shown me exactly who I don't want to be." We've all met them at some point in our lives, people who have certain qualities that make you cringe. It can be a quick temper, it can be a snotty attitude, it can be a constant negativity or gossiping of others. It immediately triggers a visceral reaction deep within you, maybe that gut instinct ingrained in humanity from survival cave-man days, that tells you "This person is a loose cannon that eventually will self-destruct. I don't need to be around them." One of the earliest projects I worked on, I saw that almost every time I was on set. Mostly from other actors who treated the production as THEIR time to shine or THEIR time to be noticed at all costs. I was the new kid on the block, so my main concern was to 1.) Not get kicked off set and collect my paycheck, and 2.) Don't do anything embarrassing that would reflect bad on Paul Archer

"A winner is just a loser who tried one more time"~George Augustus Moore You can always tell when someone has put in the behind the scenes work at their craft vs the person who does **just** enough to get by. I encounter it every day, as most people do, with everyday interactions. With awards season coming up, you will see a lot of actors, directors, producers, studios, designers, musicians, animators, all clamoring for that moment of recognition that could propel their work and their careers to new heights. The interesting thing about it though, is that despite all their speeches or interview responses to the contrary, most WANT to be recognized....but if they are being honest with themselves, did they really pour enough into a project to warrant the public praise? Last week in class, we finally got to see some of our on-camera work from previous classes and it was instructive to see little nuances that the camera catches that you never quite realize are going on in l