I know, I know, women have been subject to this for years, especially in my industry, and yes, it’s been horrible for them. But we’re men and we weren’t subject to that type of behavior. Hahaha… I mean, seriously… James Dean never had a six pack, John Wayne, Steve McQueen, non of those guys had abdominal muscles bulging from their stomachs, they were just great actors, some of the greatest & coolest actors of their time.. Hell, Elvis never had abs and it doesn’t get cooler then Elvis! Now, I have friends that get ripped out before a gig and you hear all these other stories about all the actors getting in shape to play a role or getting ready for the scene when they have to take their shirts off and it spans from severe diets and intense work outs to straight steroid use! Can you believe it?!?! I mean, steroids? 6 pack abs? How does that enhance the portraying of a alcoholic, single father, or whatever? It’s so unreal, that look… Even for the guys doing it, they push themselves to look like that for that role, sometime for just that day of filming,, they can’t even keep it up…

Its an almost unattainable goal, at least in some healthy way… Whether taking drugs like steroids or depriving the body of food and submitting yourself to some kind of mental torture, passing the line of staying in shape and being fit to place of temporary insanity! All to get that look… Sometimes I see guys at the gym staring at themselves in the mirror, almost infatuated with their own image and I wonder what happen to us… us men, I mean, I find myself acting like that too. Six pack abs, does it make you any better of an actor? Does it make you any better of person? It might even make you a worse person at times… Maybe I’m just bitchin cause I don’t want to go to the gym today… In any case, let’s hit the gym.

Happy 2012 to everyone. Here’s a poem to ring in the new year. Like everybody, I have a lot hope for the new year and like everybody I’ve heard all the rumors of the end of the world this year. Well, all that inspired me to write this poem.

The holidays always remind me how much I love my family and it’s been great to take some time off, sleep on the floor of my grandparents house a few days and stay up late singing songs and talking about all of our great family memories.

And now I’m excited to wake up tomorrow, the first Monday of the new year and get going. I have a lot of great things planned for the new year. I can’t wait to get them done and get them out there.

Happy New Year’s everybody!!!! much love, Dante

So I’ve been back from Hawaii now for a few days, just enough time to catch my breath and the people that have been following me on twitter have been wondering what the heck I was doing out there… Well, the truth is I was shooting film with a friend of mine, Kevin… Some of his fans may know him as KevJumba.

A year or so ago I did a film with my partner James Sereno called, “Paradise Broken,” about the darker side of Waikiki and we decided to create a company specifically to tell stories for and about Asian-American and Pacific Islanders. And our next film was this project with Kev, and  this one is called, “Hang Loose.”

Me, Kev and another friend of mine, Benjamin Arthur, co-wrote the movie and after a painstaking few months, we went out to Hawaii with a handful of friends and shot a movie. I know it sounds like a lot of fun and it was, but the truth is, for those who have never made an independent film, it was a crazy amount of  work. We shot a film in 15 days, we’ll actually 16 because we had a day of pick up shots. So basically we worked 8 days straight had Thanksgiving off and shot another 8 days straight and I’m talking 12-14 hour days… That includes the whole crew, all the actors, the director, the camera department, sound, grips, producers, extras… everybody! When I left Hawaii, I needed an vacation from Hawaii! But I think we really shot something great…

The work alone was only half the story, sometimes the greatest part of shooting on location is the adventures of shooting on location. After bonding through the writing process with Kev, we ended up living together in Hawaii along with Justin Chon and one of my oldest friends Akili Jones, who came to Hawaii to work on the film. We lived in a cozy but somewhat primitive flat right off the beach of Waikiki, that we fondly called, “The Philippines.” It was so fun, it took me back to growing up and living in the converted garage of my parents house with my brothers, just like Lost Boys… We all became better friends… It was my first time meeting Justin, that is a really cool guy. See the thing is, we had no tv and came home at night and just talked to each other about the day. We talked about acting and girls and the movie and girls and youtube and girls and… you know how it goes… boys will be boys. We woke up in the morning, sometimes at 5:30am, take turns taking a shower (we only had one bathroom) listened to music, usually classic Hip Hop (a lot of Tribe Called Quest) and danced around while brushing our teeth, especially Kev, while waiting for Dreadlock James to pick us up and take us to work. There was also the case of the missing fob (that’s an electric doorkey fob to get into the building and not anything derogatory) and for that you ask Justin… The shenanigans that happened after that were crazy which included both me and Kev on separate evenings, climbing into the 2nd story of our building and breaking in… Straight comedy, wish we took video of those nights.

Also, my little brother came along to Hawaii to play a character in the movie and killed it… So not only did it feel like family on the set, but it actually was family, even my cousin Xavier was a grip.(He also worked on “Paradise Broken) The rest of the cast included incredible actors, my bro, Dionysio Basco, another old school friend of mine Nicholle Tom, Benjamin Arthur, Katherine Emily, Jenn Fairbank, incredible comedian Augie T and Minae Noji. I really can’t wait for people to see what we did. And also, along with the great acting, the great crew… They were amazing, co-directors James and Ryan, Jay the DP… everyone definitely became our little Hang Loose family, including my girl, Sammy producing from home in LA, she was apart of it the whole time…

I think this is a special project… I hope you guys will too when we get it out there…

There’s a bunch of folks working with us from our last crew who shot “Paradise Broken,” of course my director & partner, James Sereno, along with co-director Ryan Kawamoto.

It truly is a beautiful day at the beach, we just happen to be working… Yet, no real time to congratulate ourselves, were only half way done.

I know I’ve been slacking on my youtube page, I’ve gotten a few comments and yes, I admit, I have been. But, to my defense, I have been quite busy. Been to Hawaii and back for a film festival, and our film, “Paradise Broken,” did quite well, one festival coordinator even said that it’s the best film to ever come out of Hawaii… I’ll take that praise. Been to New York and back and the whole time been writing a new script with Kevjumba and Benjamin Arthur for an upcoming film were doing together.

And maybe I’m just telling you all this because I’m making excuses for myself being a little lazy… In any case, I’m uploading a video with footage from the film that just opened in the Hawaiian International Film Festival and I hope you take it as a token of my apologies for being such a slacker…

& I hope you dig it…

PS… I promise I will upload some new videos and I just got an assistant who will keep me on point… & tape me.

So here’s a little video that a bunch of you have seen already but I was out of town this weekend (having a good time in Kansas City) and didn’t get to see it all. Watching it now is kind of fun. I can’t believe its been so long since I did Hook and getting together and getting together with Jan Bryant and Dan Speaker was great. These two along with Ted Katzoff we’re my actual fencing instructors and choreographers for the film.

A few friends told me watching this reminded them of there childhood and for me me it does the same, literally, its visiting with old friends… and sword fighting.

I remember being very young, growing up with 3 brothers, watching Star Wars and getting toy light sabers from our parents. And they weren’t the real cool one they have nowadays that make sounds and look like replicas of the ones in the movies. No, these were the ones who’s handle was one of those old, cheap red flashlights and the sword part was some see through PVC pipe… but they were the greatest things ever. We would have epic battles in the garage with the lights out.

And then as a teenager I got to live out those childhood fantasies playing Rufio…

So much has happened since then, but hanging out with Dan and Jan and picking up a sword again had all those feelings come back to me and it was so much fun. You know, it makes me think, I really want to do another film where I can do some swordplay, I mean when can you pick up a sword in real life and do some sword fighting. I guess I can really join a fencing club… (but I’d rather do another movie, you know what I’m saying)

So although I’ve been around this town awhile, I’m still a young man, I hope I get the chance to do another character that’s good with a sword and hopefully be as cool as Rufio… (that might be a hard one to come by, but one can dream)

A half hour ago I was driving around & found myself starving and thinking, if I can eat anything right now, what would it be. In a blink of an eye I’m standing in line at Pink’s. I don’t know why… Is it the best hot dog in the world? Probably not… (although it is pretty damn good) The line is always too long and moves too slow. I am convinced they think they are some kind of LA night club & keep the crowd in front to show everyone just how cool they are. So there I am standing in line, I brought my “nook” to read to pass the time… (Enjoying the last book in the Hunger Games Series, “Mockingjay”)

I always find myself surveying the menu to see all the great concoctions they’ve made up, especially the ones inspired by Hollywood, the town they’re smack dab in the middle of. Like the “Lord of the Rings,” a hot dog with onion rings on top or the “Martha Stewart” dog… I have no idea what that one is all about. But being a Virgo or a creature of habit, I always end up ordering the same thing: 2 chili cheese dogs & a cream soda, please… Yes, everything on them. (Onions & mustard)

Now, I always rush through the first one, the snap of the hot dog, the delicious chili with the tang of the mustard & bite of the onion, really quite perfect. Wash it down with a gulp of cream soda. And as always, I look at the second one and wonder why I ordered it. It was bad enough to be here in the first place, as far going out to “junk food,” but there is no reason to over do it. On the other hand, there is no way you can wait in that ridiculous line and order just one thing.

In the end, I always take a bite or two, feel that will suffice. I do love this little place. In a town that sometimes seems so surface and has its eye on what’s “new,” its stands out as one of those places that have been around forever. It’s a great mix of tourists & some locals, some great chili dogs & just a classic piece of LA.

Happy Tuesday, everyone, here’s a poem for the week. Some people have written me and wanted to see me do this poem so I decided to drop this one for everyone this week. It’s out there on the web from other times I’ve performed it and a lot of hits too, but this one is from my living room. Hope you enjoy… DB

Happy Tuesday… Here’s a poem for today. It’s a piece from my book “Dante’s Poetry Lounge.” It’s a trip sometimes to revisit some old poems and remember when and why you wrote them…

Also, for those who have asked about the poem I did in, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” with Nic Cannon… Here it is… the film edited it down and here is the full version.

Hope you enjoy…