Refuge of Lies

The show's opened. That's where I've been, in a black box on the corner of Hemlock and 12th.Come on out if you're in the 'hood. Refuge of Lies, Wed-Sat at 8. Theatre's always at eight, as Roy Cohn once said. 

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Have you heard of Ron Mueck? I saw his exhibit in Melbourne and it's quite awesome.

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One more day till day off. Have a great weekend, folks, enjoy spring!

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Blogistic Delinquency

At least once a month! I could at least make the effort, you'd think. Poor, underserviced blog.
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I've been away. And I've not been nearly as "mobile" as my internet/cell phone service provider have led me to believe I'd be. Interconnected world? Sure, if there's time. And a signal. Finding a signal...
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And now: rehearsals. Head down for a bit. It's springtime. Time to get busy.

Paris!

Hey Bonjour y'all. I thought that par ce que we were criticized for not having enough francais in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games I thought I would endeavor to set things right and go pratique my francais in Paris. I know. I know. It's tough. It's a sacrifice, but I'll do it in the name of bilingualism.
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Turns out I'll be going to the Sci Fi Show in Paris this weekend as a last minute guest addition. Crazy, what? It's just part and parcel of this high flying celebrity lifestyle. I'm looking forward to it very much, if only to get out of this five-ring circus called Vancouver 2010 for the weekend.
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The commercial is on TV! Compare it to the original which aired back in the eighties. Fun fun.
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Hope you guys are doing well, look forward to seeing you in France!

...and the future is clean...

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...And full of round buildings.
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Science World, aka the old BC Pavillion, is getting a full scrub for the upcoming games. Now there's a window washer's version of rubik's cube.
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And check out the once dingy planeterium. -- All Jetson'sy and - who knew? - a bit of a Haida influence showing up there too. Westcoast futurism. Pretty cool. Hey Douglas Copeland - you reading this?...
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Hey so I thought - time for our Year End Clearance Special. The acting biz, much like the REST OF THE WORLD is just coming out of an economic slump. It's tough. So I thought I'd do some advertising to help spur the economy. Move some product. You can help.
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Just save and print out the coupon below and, I'm serious now, send to your favourite TV producer, suggesting possible roles for David Nykl. It'll be great. Kinda like assisted direct marketing. :-)
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You guys are great.

Welcome to the Future

It's 2010. It is now, officially, the Future. Just this morning I came outside and my car was levitating. People were flying around with jet-packs, going to their white dome-shaped office towers. It all happened so suddenly. The future has arrived. Welcome to it.
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Actually, it looks pretty much the same outside as it did before the future arrived. The only difference is the Olympic parking restrictions throughout our neighbourhood and the funky new East Van sign. It`s pretty cool. (the sign, not the traffic chaos). Funny how a gang logo has become public art. I used to see that cross spray painted onto walls or as faded tattoos.

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Teh interweb says January 20th will be my Human Target episode. It`s the one on the plane. Drop everything, tune in, then write a letter to the producers saying I should be a regular character. (I love you guys...)

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We had a cast and crew screening of Beast of Bottomless Lake last weekend and it was great! I had forgotten much about how the story holds together and have never seen how pretty it looks and how great it sounds. Kudos to Kennedy and Craig. Good work guys. Now, I hope it gets out there and people get a chance to see it. I think it`s a great film.
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And hey - what luck - filmed a spot for some company yesterday. So coming soon to a living room near you: a jingle I think you may remember from the eighties (those of you who remember the eighties).
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Talk again soon...

Look at you. Still out there. In the cold. The show's in syndication, but you guys are still there. The Zelenka faithful. You inspire me...

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It's been a great year full of ups and downs - and it went by SO fast. And 2010 is just around the corner. Lots to look forward to - the "Beast of Bottomless Lake" is finally ready to roll out the door - after over two years in post. From what I hear it supposed to be awesome. Really looking forward to seeing it. I'll keep you updated. There's a smattering of stage work and some film projects on their way - Remember to keep an eye out for Human Target on Fox sometime in January or so. The episode I'm in is #4 - "Rewind".

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Thanks for your support over the past year - I met a lot of you in various corners of the planet, and I look forward to doing much the same in 2010. I leave you with a little gift - some free avatars of Zelenka for your "snurching". Just click on the present on my website.

Flying the friendly skies

Big plane month. Lots of planes. Real ones and not so real ones.

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Worked last week on a new show debuting on Fox in January called "Human Target". Was good fun. Don't let the oxygen masks fool you, you don't stand a chance aboard Pacific National Airways. (Why do they always put me in glasses?...) After a day of sitting on the plane I drove to the airport and went to sit on a plane. Just to change it up a bit. Flew to Philly, and the whole way the oxygen masks didn't deploy and the plane didn't roll over, so I don't know what was wrong with this flight.

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I found lots of angry robots in Philadelphia shooting their TV sets. Kinda weird. I guess it's a product of the poor economy. It's tough out there for a Boba Fett.

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Beautiful fall colours in a very temperate King of Prussia, PA (not actually Philadelphia). I saw the mammoth mall, didn't venture in, and looked up the origin of the name: King of Prussia. Turned out to be a pub. A town named after a pub, named after a monarch of a former eastern European country. My kinda place.

Anyone going to Philly?...

The auditions are picking up. Hooray. Let me tell you, sucks to be an actor in an economic downturn. You hear everything from "poor DVD sales are to blame" to "The bond market is making the Studios cautious" as reasons for the dearth of auditions. Would that be the James Bond market, I wonder?... It's such a complex math. There really is no way to predict what will come down the pike. It always comes down to the individual - sometimes you book. Sometimes you don't. The more chances there are the better your odds. You just gotta do your thing.

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Speaking of doing things - I got a last minute call to come out to Philadelphia this weekend. Yahoo. I'll be at the Game X thingy thing out there in Philly; where I hear it is always sunny. Looking forward to seeing some of you out there - if you can make it come on out. Looks like a lot of fun.

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I'll leave you with some shots of Hong Kong, I was there on a stopover en route to Perth last week. Awesome place.

Spring in October

Say hello to Connor Trinneer. Judging a cosplay contest. Serious work.


It's funny how something as seemingly constant as, say, seasons - or day and night - or even time can be mercurial when you travel. Crossing the date line is particularly odd. One moment it's Tuesday and the next - oh didn't they tell you - it's Wednesday. Or Monday. Depending on the direction. Time is compressed - a night slips by in a few hours, or elongated - it's three o'clock in the afternoon for five hours. It's just weird. Messes up your head. Shakes your faith in the firma part of terra firma. It's more like terra move around'a lotta.

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It's spring in the extreme south west of Australia. Flowers are blooming and hotter weather is on its way. I spent the night in the Karri forest in Bonarup National Park, just outside of Pemberton, WA a few nights ago. It just ain't the kind of forests I'm used to. Smells different. Different birdsong. Different trees. And then a kangaroo hops by. This is the other Pemberton, the one with the kangaroos and the 50 metre tingle trees. Drive a little further and suddenly your in Devonshire, England, with genteel farmland and rolling hills. This is the harsh outback of Australia? It seems pretty idyllic to me. Refined even. But then drive a little further and come to a park with 30 metre drop offs to the roiling Southern Ocean and signs to watch out for quicksand. Quicksand! Yet another challenge on your daily commute. Can you imagine? -- "Sorry Bob, I'm losing the signal, I'm up to my shoulders now..." Only in Australia.

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Speaking of which, the Best of Both Worlds event in November has been cancelled, but, BUT! there will be another Strargate event in Sydney and Melbourne next March which I'll be going to, with, from what I've heard, a super surprise, never been seen before special stargate guest. So if you missed me in Perth, I'll be back down under in the spring. Er, autumn - I mean.

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Be back soon with more pictures...

Perth!

I'm looking forward to this one -- this just in: hello Aussie fans - any of you in the far, far west? I'll be going to Perth next weekend for the go 3 convention. I can't imagine anywhere further away from, well, anywhere, than Perth. Very much looking forward to it, I just need to remember to bring my official Australian English Interpretation Device along - a smallish device about the size of a key fob - you surreptitiously push the button when you hear: "Aw yia, it'd be chokkers" and within seconds a soft spoken voice translates: "Yes, there's gas in the tank". Very handy to have when renting a car.

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I'll leave you with an interesting fact: many people say that it rains a lot here in Vancouver. Truth is, as demonstrated by the picture, it may be a lot of rain, but it comes all at once.

In-con-ceivable

I haven't posted here in almost two months! How crass. How unbefitting. How un-up-to-the-minute-micro-blogging of me. How horrible it must be to not know what I've been doing.
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So to remedy that I'll do I twitter style update of everything I did from the last post:
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"Clicked Publish Post. Stood up. Went to window. Phone rang. Picked it up. Talked. Put phone down. Ate a cookie. Went out to backyard. Remembered something I forgot to get from inside. Went back inside... Whoa. This could take a while. How much time do you have?...
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Let's hit the high points: I've been writing. A script (yes!) Auditioning - hit and miss - meeting with various people about various things (I'm superstitious - don't like to disclose things until they're set - also helps create sense of mystery) Got stranded in a remote inlet on a non-starting 16 ft boat. Learned to fix outboard engines - sort of (see previous). Translated several scripts, and a few drier than dry academic papers. Built some stairs. Went to L.A. few times. Motorcycle tour of Vancouver island... what else. Oh yeah. Had an audition the other day at the Bridge studios - I tell you it was weird going back there - saw some recognizable faces, but otherwise it's the new deal over there.

Oh yeah. One more thing: I shaved. Sort of.
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Thank you. Thank you very much. Be back soon.

What a swingin' convention

Wasn't that fun...
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Big thank you for all of you who came out to Markham, Ontario last weekend - and Polaris 23. You forded rivers, flew from Ireland, drove via Montreal - endured all sorts of hardships to get there... so kudos to you. Once you knew where it was it was easy to find. Am I right? It was great to see Dave and Kate again, and a lot of fun chatting with them for what seemed an eternity up there...
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Sad news from the Australian newsdesk here at Zelenka Industries - the July convention there has been postponed till November. I think we're just waiting for the Australian continent to drift .004 metres closer to North America in the interim so that it's not so far to go. Or something like that.
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I'm off for some work, be back shortly...