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• Now THIS is what AnD is all about!

  Friday, Jun 12, 2009 10:10AM / Standard Entry

  
  
  This past summer, I was in a low budget feature film called "Beautyworld" that's currently in post production and the director contacted me right before I flew back to the States to see if I can head up to Shanghai to do a few reshoots.
  
  Unfortunately I was heading back to NYC the next day so I could not do it. We discussed it a bit more and we decided maybe it was best that I dig up a second unit in the States and film some additional footage there!
  
  Well, after a quick email to my comrades Simon and Derrick, I accumulated a few good contacts for a DP and crew.
  
  Once I landed in NYC, I thought to myself:
  
  "Myself, why on earth do I want to contact people I don't know when I can just as easily source out a good crew on Alive Not Dead?!"
  
  So after a week of bumming around, flying to Texas, going to Hawaii, weekend in Maryland, then going back to New York, I logged onto good ole AliveNotDead dot com and proceeded to scour the artist listings for a good cameraman and crew.
  
  Well, in this case, it was a cameraWOMAN. And she was fantastic!
  
  Her name is Wei Pun and you can view her AnD profile here: ROCK STAR!
  
  
  Right before filming...
  
  
  Right after filming...
  
  
  What can I say? Wei was the utmost professional and she introduced me to this AMAZING cafe up in Long Island City. Cafe Henri. Damn good crepes!
  
  We spent a day taking care of the logistics and preproduction and then the next morning?
  
  A GORGEOUS day filming on the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn. Wei offered so much feedback and came up with some amazing angles and shots. For just ONE scene!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We ran into a homeless person that was in the background of one of our shots. He kept coming up and harassing us informing us quite fervently that he was a card carrying Union member and needed to be compensated if he was going to be filmed.
  
  I think I would have taken him more seriously if he wasn't waving around a Snapple lid and declaring it his "Union Card".
  
  The best part of this story? I sent the footage back to Shanghai and the director tells me that, though the footage looks great, he may not be able to use it since it looks like I gained about twenty pounds since the last time my character appears in the film.
  
  Yep, I'm a fatty.
  
  But I'm ready for my close up!
  
  
  Thanks Alive Not Dead, we're living proof the system works!
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Me VS Ocean

  Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 10:21PM / Standard Entry

  Was in Hawaii for the first time last month, I have hundreds of pics to sort out but wanted to throw this one out here..
  
  
  
  I adore the water...diving, snorkeling, doggie paddling...
  
  miss it already
  
  
  
  
  

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• Screen Test: Rob as Rob

  Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 8:58PM / Standard Entry

  
  
  I was recently back in the United States for a bit of work and a LOT of vacation.
  
  I think ever since I decided to call Hong Kong my home base for awhile, my need to actually stay
  in the city sort of took a backseat to my desire to keep traveling until
  
  A. All my money runs out
  
  or
  
  B. I become a brand ambassador for a high end alcohol company which requires me to stay in HK
  
  Yep, I'm quite a gypsy and always a sucker for frequent flier miles.
  
  Back to the story.
  
  So I'm in New York City and an opportunity came up for a pretty decent role in a new ad campaign for some credit company.
  
  Unfortunately the company is in Hong Kong and lo and behold, I happen to be in New York City.
  
  "No Problem", the casting director explains, " I tell you what, I'll send you the script and some references and you can film yourself. After you're done, send me the footage"
  
  Simple enough.
  
  And here you go:
  
  
  Ohh...I'm Rob Lok, I'm such a worry wart
  
  
  
  oy..I headlined Radio City Music Hall in 2001, give a clown a break
  
  
  ayuga...booga..snooga snooga
  
  
  Hey Boys and Girls, want some candy??!!???
  
  
  Get it out, get it out!!!!
  
  
  "Insert funny caption here"
  
  
  Yep, acting is weird.
  
  oh, shout out to my six year old nephew for lending me his tie.
  
  Thanks, Ryan!
  
  
  
  

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• Steel Pier, Diving Horses, and Me!

  Monday, Apr 6, 2009 12:11PM / Standard Entry

  
  
  Being the roving gypsy that I am, I tend to take a few odd jobs here and there for the new experience and the opportunity to travel.
  
  I found some old footage of a show I did a few years back in between circuses.
  
  One day I received this email from a colleague of mine in the circus community:
  
  HELP WANTED: MAN TO RIDE MOTORCYCLE ON A HIGH WIRE. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. WILL TRAIN.
  
  Okay...
  
  Who in their right mind would turn this down??!?!?
  
  A little back ground on all of this.
  
  In the early part of my career, I've been a circus clown.
  
  And being a clown in the circus, you are ranked somewhere in between a dancer and a elephant fluffer.
  
  
  Here I am backstage at Slava's Snowshow in NYC.
  
  Sure, we have our groupies and Sure, we have our fun...
  
  But man, oh man, to get into the Daredevil Club... (Human Cannonball, Trapeze, High Wire...)
  
  woowee...That's where the good times roll!
  
  I'm talking about the best dressing rooms, first in line for laundry service, better wardrobe people and no early morning PRs...
  
  Making people laugh is hard work. I worked my ass off, bruised my tailbone, broke a wrist just to wring a few guffaws and titters from the crowd.
  
  To be a daredevil? All you have to do is jump up once on your apparatus and stick your hand out to style and the crowd goes nuts for you!
  
  Now THAT I can take!
  
  So back to the email.
  
  I get this email and I said to myself:
  
  "Myself, A. Reply YES to this email and B. Learn how to ride a motorcycle."
  
  Two weeks later, I found myself at the infamous Steel Pier where I'm performing on the same venue with past legends like Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson and the Amazing Diving Horse!
  
  And Yes, I get to stick my hand out to the loving adoration of the crowd below.
  
  
  
  The gig was only for three months but after being part of the Daredevil Club for this short period of time, I realized that I rather make people laugh. Much more challenging..
  
  Oh, and less gasoline on the face after the big finale... See the video below (around 1:30):
  
  
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51s_4GlbYsw
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• My ah dee das Original Quiz, though I cheated...

  Wednesday, Apr 1, 2009 4:48PM / Standard Entry

  

  I just took the Originality quiz, take a look at my results!

   Take the quiz too! or  Visit the adidas Originals Profile

  Naturally Original

  At first glance you may seem fairly average, you'll probably end up living the life of a milkman in

  some nondescript little town in some dinky old suburb in the middle of nowhere.

  

  1. Which of the following describes you and your group of friends?
     Most of them are Asian in Hong Kong, Mostly Caucasian in the States.
  2. I am spontaneous and unpredictable
     Rarely
  3. When I have to assemble something, I read the directions first
     Due to my circus background and training and my love for Dickens, I've been known to exploit the orphaned rat community here in Asia and train them to assemble everything I own. So you must speak to them if they read the directions first or not, though I suspect rats don't like to read.
  4. When I'm given a choice, I go with my "gut" instinct
     Well, I don't have much of a gut since the CB FRESH team has christened me as "Rob the Bod" due to the fact that I have quite a 14 pack, yep...14
  5. I like "well-structured" assignments more than I like assignments that are "open-ended"
     Well structured? Like one of those super duper choose your adventure ones? YES! 
  6. Pick up to 4 creative outlets you enjoy
     That really nice Wan Chai bar
     Performance arts (acting, dance, standing around in my underwear eating an ice cream cone, etc)
     Design
     Cooking
  7. Which alivenotdead.com artists do you find inspiring?
     Christopher Lay
     This guy's humor cracks me up
  8. When choosing clothes to buy you are most likely to
     look cool as possible but end up being laughed at by Vince.
  9. When I say blue, what do you think of?
     Miles Davis
     
     
     
     
  10. Lastly, Tell us 10 things you want to do, try or experience before your 60th birthday?
      
      
      I would like to go up on a (1) single engine Cessna C aircraft with the (2) woman I truly love to go (3) non tandem skydiving since I've gone tandem skydiving twice in the States. Oh, did I mention this will be in (4) New Zealand?
      
      
      I will jump out first and due to proper pre-planning, I will (5) fake my own death either being (6) caught off track and diving into the ocean or (7) my chute doesn't work and meet my impending doom in a pre padded tree.
      
      
      At my (8) open casket funeral, all my family and friends will walk by my body paying their last respects. When the time comes when the woman I love walks by, I will pop out of the coffin, grab her hand and (9) propose by saying, " My Dearest, my passion for you cannot extinguish my life and your love has brought me back from the dead. Will you marry me?"
      
      
      Next thing you know, fire works will explode a la a WWF event from my coffin and then a party within the (10) church will ensue complete with dancing ghouls and jazz playing skeletons since everyone attending the funeral other than my love are complicit in this sick, disturbing yet very romantic story.
      
      
  
  

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