my acting debut

[China_Racer_1]

As some of you might know I do soem acting here in CHina on a proffesional level.

ihave been in a few movies, documentaries, commercials etc.


Thsi link is to a chinese web site which is showing snipets of a tv series coming up this spring.

I am about 8:54 into it. I am the white guy ha ha I play a Japanese prison camp commandant. The issue in this scene is an escape attempt but a dreaded Japanese general responcible for a lot of war crimes.

The Chinese actor working with me is pretty famous over there and I am supporting actor to him

here is the link

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Bea4jkDm8pE/

if a pop up box pops asking about a language package just hit cancel and it will then start.

Don't laught too much

My Chinese is great huh? wonder who did the voice over for me. I acted speaking english.

I am in a few other scenes as well but I have not found those snippets yet.

This series will be seen on national TV during the spring festival (AKA CHinese New years) so its a big deal.. Hope to get more work out of it.


don't laugh too much ha ha

[yamaha_george]

Steve ,
Are you the one that the officers would tell you to get a hair cut OR the one who looks like he does have a military hair cut?

I must admit the voice over seems quite convincing, keep up the good work I hope it takes of as has done for my next door neighbour Rufus Sewell with his Dr.Hood in the eleventh Hour series.

[haro504]

what did you say i dont know chinese it seems like a difficult language to learn i started learning german on a whim but lost time and interest. but das ist gut

[China_Racer_1]

Well its pretty hard to learn I have been here 6 years and talk like about a 5 year old.

I'm the clean hair cut officer not the freaky haired officer ha ha

Basically its a Post WWII era movie with a Japanese war criminal excape from justice saga. We are trying to get him to Japan alive for war crime trials.

The exact wording.... hard to say. I just get the jest of it. I did my lines in English. They dubbed over me.

[shredex]

you've got an awesome life steve.
jealous.
I do acting but only on a high school play level

[Yamster]

Thats well cool,in China.6yrs learning and still only speak like a 5yr old .

[China_Racer_1]

Thats well cool,in China.6yrs learning and still only speak like a 5yr old .

ha ha come on over and give it a try see how ya do .

I actually started to take lessons in Chinese a few weeks ago. what I have learned, I learened by listeneing and mimicking and asking questions. Not the best way to go about it but class room and school books...Yikes! not my cup of tea.

But if I want to better my situation over here I need to be more flluent and expand the vocabulary.

[China_Racer_1]

So acting is not all work though we did work 15 hour days when on set.


One of the Russian students who is an 'extra' decided to take a nap, durng an evening shoot, so of course I have to go mess with him and tickle his nose so he smacks his own face he he.


This is me with this well known actor here in China. He is the star of the tv series.


Thank goodness the gun is empty huh? One of the Russian student extras had never held a gun before so he wanted a picture taken with it. Maybe he should learn proper gun control and no point it at my face eh?

I look exhausted because its the end of a long day and the temp is near 100 Degrees. wearing this uniform all day in that heat about did me in.

[Yamster]

I would love to visit China,one day,hopefully.When i were on holiday the other year in tenerefe,i was talking to a dutch lad who worked in the best chinese i have ever eaten in,he could speak a little,and he was telling me how many words they have for each one of ours and how hard it is to learn,so i have an idea of where your coming from.
My parents moved to france in the early 90s and i were the same,picking bits up and asking questions(pigeon french).My sisters english teacher used to teach my family 1 evening a week,but she got knocked off a motorbike and that was that.What i learned in a few structured lessons thou well surprised me,so i say keep with it friend ,and as your vocabulary grows,it'll get easier.
We have got a big Japanesse bearing manufacturer in our village(where the pit used to be)and they send there children to the same school as mine to learn English.I keep wanting to ask them for Japanesse lessons,but everyone says its so hard to learn,but i would still love to be able to speak to them in there native tongue.
Got to say though friend,you look like a proper British officer in the film.As George says"hope it takes off for you".There as,surely got to be a demand for actors like your self over there,would'nt have thought you have got a lot of competion for the parts,and its certainly a growing market i would have thought.Bet it rivals hollywood in 10-20 yrs,as the Chinese are not "behind the door"as far as anything is concerned.
Anyhow,to cut a long story short,good on yer,and all the best with it all .
My Chinese consists of"say say".I dont know if thats how its spelt,but i was told it means thankyou.I had to tell those chefs"thanks" for a stunning meal .

[yamaha_george]

I would love to visit China,one day,hopefully.When i were on holiday the other year in tenerefe,i was talking to a dutch lad who worked in the best chinese i have ever eaten in,he could speak a little,and he was telling me how many words they have for each one of ours and how hard it is to learn,so i have an idea of where your coming from.
My parents moved to france in the early 90s and i were the same,picking bits up and asking questions(pigeon french).My sisters english teacher used to teach my family 1 evening a week,but she got knocked off a motorbike and that was that.What i learned in a few structured lessons thou well surprised me,so i say keep with it friend ,and as your vocabulary grows,it'll get easier.
We have got a big Japanesse bearing manufacturer in our village(where the pit used to be)and they send there children to the same school as mine to learn English.I keep wanting to ask them for Japanesse lessons,but everyone says its so hard to learn,but i would still love to be able to speak to them in there native tongue.
Got to say though friend,you look like a proper British officer in the film.As George says"hope it takes off for you".There as,surely got to be a demand for actors like your self over there,would'nt have thought you have got a lot of competion for the parts,and its certainly a growing market i would have thought.Bet it rivals hollywood in 10-20 yrs,as the Chinese are not "behind the door"as far as anything is concerned.
Anyhow,to cut a long story short,good on yer,and all the best with it all .
My Chinese consists of"say say".I dont know if thats how its spelt,but i was told it means thankyou.I had to tell those chefs"thanks" for a stunning meal .

Yam,
try shey shey OR shay shay as a closer fonetic pronunciation. If you have the chance to talk to the Japanese they would be well Impressed with you trying to learn. Again the written language is difficult as there are 3 basic styles and one of them is for women only. The one you see in the west the most is (KANJI) and is VERY similar to Chinese spelling & wording but there are shades of meaning.

Lets face it all languages are difficult even english with tyres & tires, there their both pronounced the same but have a totally different meaning & have to taken in the context they are said in.Germans put the verbs at the end of the sentance, russians have 6 more letters to the alphabet that are phonetics for a sound rather than aletter as such (the germans have the same withh the doouble ss loking like a unfinished B and they also have the UMlaut which changes the way a vowel is pronounced.


I would urge any youngster to learn Chinese these days for when they become the dominant force in thebusiness world just as the Japanese did they will need " a face " to represent them and that face must speak chinese.

I learned some Manderin (old style Chinese) when I was 13 and thro to when I was married to my first wife (a Manderin's daughter ). I also learned japanese whilst living with her in Japan, it has stood me in good stead over the years with just enough of the languages to be a polite Gizing (hairy barbarian) but the most important thing with them is that you have gained "face" by trying to be polite in their ways.

As for Steve he will, as I found out to, always be a useful outsider accepted politely but never quite there unless he marries into a family but he will never be allowed to get his hands dirty that would lose face for his in-laws. I learned that the hard way !

[chefen2006]

Good stuff Steve. You look very convincing in that uniform. Learning chinese ehh...I bet that`s a PITA. I`v learnt to speak spanish ( castelano ) by working in a spanish garage. That got me started,and after 7 years in the country I speak ok. A Spanish GF(s) also been a good help. I guess that learning chinese is about as easy as launching a space shuttle!
Best of luck,and hope to se you staring many movies in the future.

[Yamster]

Yam,
try shey shey OR shay shay as a closer fonetic pronunciation. If you have the chance to talk to the Japanese they would be well Impressed with you trying to learn. Again the written language is difficult as there are 3 basic styles and one of them is for women only. The one you see in the west the most is (KANJI) and is VERY similar to Chinese spelling & wording but there are shades of meaning.

Lets face it all languages are difficult even english with tyres & tires, there their both pronounced the same but have a totally different meaning & have to taken in the context they are said in.Germans put the verbs at the end of the sentance, russians have 6 more letters to the alphabet that are phonetics for a sound rather than aletter as such (the germans have the same withh the doouble ss loking like a unfinished B and they also have the UMlaut which changes the way a vowel is pronounced.


I would urge any youngster to learn Chinese these days for when they become the dominant force in thebusiness world just as the Japanese did they will need " a face " to represent them and that face must speak chinese.

I learned some Manderin (old style Chinese) when I was 13 and thro to when I was married to my first wife (a Manderin's daughter ). I also learned japanese whilst living with her in Japan, it has stood me in good stead over the years with just enough of the languages to be a polite Gizing (hairy barbarian) but the most important thing with them is that you have gained "face" by trying to be polite in their ways.

As for Steve he will, as I found out to, always be a useful outsider accepted politely but never quite there unless he marries into a family but he will never be allowed to get his hands dirty that would lose face for his in-laws. I learned that the hard way !

George,you my friend,must be one very well travelled/learned man!Big hat tip to you sir.
Think my problem is that i left school with no formal quals,so trying to learn japanesse is quite a scary thought.You have certainly got me thinking why not though.I may be better with that than english,i have only learnt most of my written english since i have been on bike forums(internet to thank)cause its no fun when people take the mick out of your written grammer.
"shey shey"George .

[yamaha_george]

Yam,
The truth is that most of the truly brainy people (professors & such) I have met in my as you say well travelled life could not spell / write worth a damn. They had people round them who did "the translation " from geek speak to english or what ever.

Most of what I see as hands on (ie dirty hands) that I personally see as being very smart have no formal education. I can think of two youngsters who leave me feeling STEWPID big time can barely read & write (dyslexic I believe) who have put together the massive secure networks for the UK government. If they need major stuff written as proposals etc I get asked to do it as I am used to their way of thinking.

The most important thing as a person is to keep your eyes & ears open and your mouth shut.
Steve will tell you chinese saying "better to be quiet and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and prove you are a fool"

Self belief is everything, what any man can make you can copy & improve it is that simple.

I made my best money ever on an Island where the real engineers walked around in suit doing nothing dirty and thus nothing got really fixed.
I on the other hand would never ask anyone to do what I could not or would not do my self. resources were ill used or non-existant so i had to think round it, spares could be 4 months away. It made me think outside the box.
Stuff got fixed every thing from the MD's shotgun to the shop floor sweeper kettle.

At the end of your days you should be able to look back and say it was good and now having taken from life what can I give back.

{ well the fzronline forum seems to be a good group how can I help................}

so now you know what it took me 63 years to learn with a little shove here and there by the Good Lord.