The Snack Guru is back, in a new 60 seconds edit for the new Doritos Viralocity contest! Check it out below:

First prize gets $100,000! BUT, if we collect enough points, Doritos will give $250,000! Want to help us get those points? I’d love that! Go to http://bit.ly/9xYXle and play it over there. Then, give it 5 stars, favorite it, and share it! Use the that link (http://bit.ly/9xYXle) to spread it around. Make this video viral… I mean that’s why it’s called Viralocity!

Have Facebook? Use the Facebook connect option and make sure you use the blue share button, right below the video on the left and have it post a link on your profile! Got Twitter? Use the green retweet button right next to it and it will write the tweet for you, complete with link to the video! Know people that live in a country other than Canada? Extra points when they watch this video!

Also notice how I’ve embedded the video on my page? This gets us extra points too! So if you got a website, feel free to do the same. You know what they say, the more, the merrier!

I appreciate the help and support to get us those points and bring our video to the top! So don’t hesitate to share share share! Email your family, friends, co-workers, rate it, favorite it, use Facebook and Twitter if you have accounts, embed the video on your website if you have one… and any other ways to help us win. Here’s a handy image to help. Thank you all!

Before this past Wednesday, I had only directed one thing: a commercial, thirty seconds long, which I called Doritos® Intense: Snack Guru. It my submission to a contest which had a very attractive cash prize and I had been wanting to direct something for a while (you can read more about it here). Well, that’s all changed; I now have a short film shot and ready for editing! Above are early stills from the footage, that may or may not make the final cut.

Monday evening, I got news of a job happening Thursday morning, which required me to be clean shaven. At this point, I had quite the beard. In the feature Day Four, I was asked to grow a unkept, untrimmed beard, not shaving any part of it off. Well I have to admit, I was a little attached, and kept it since I got back from shooting in Ottawa. It went on growing of course, and to my recollection, it ended up being the most hair I’ve ever had on my face.

I didn’t want to let it “go to waste”. I thought, what could I do, that would involve me shaving it off in a short film? Ideas came to me, and finally narrowed it down to one. With such little time, I quickly made all the preparations needed and found someone to shoot it. Paul and Shalan Crivellari came through. Although fashion photographers, Paul used to shoot video and later decided to get into still images. His great eye carried through to photography (and very well I might add, see for yourself) and they’re doing great here in Toronto. However, since his high end photography camera also takes HD video footage, he was able to do this for me.

Not only did I shave my beard off in the film, I used this opportunity to show a side of me that almost nobody has ever seen; a side that I haven’t really been required to show in my short four and half year acting career. Well, at least not close to the extent seen in this film. I’m really happy and grateful (thanks so much Paul and Shalan) to have had the chance to once again, experience the amazing feeling of creating my own work. And this will be ongoing as I will be editing it over my free time, and hopefully have original music composed (as I want this film to be silent in terms of sound). I will be releasing it here when it’s complete!

Tuesday was my last day on set of “Day Four“. It involved shooting another scene in my car while we all, cast and crew, froze outside; which I have to say, helped deliver my first line of the scene in which I complain about the cold!

Despite the elements, it went great. And despite a few little hiccups here and there, shooting my part in this film has been a great experience. Not only, like I previously mentioned, that the script is great and this film is shot on a RED camera, but the cast and crew has been amazing. I had so much energy and so much fun on set because of the people I was surrounded with.

On the 7th of January, we shot two indoors scenes, which we were all thankful for. Both were in my character’s apartment and the day went pretty smoothly. Then on the 9th, we shot a lighter, funny scene where my character Brian and best friend Trevor have brunch. I won’t say how exactly, but it ends in a very comedic way.

On the 10th, the big pub scene. This is pretty much where the film starts… kinda (won’t go into details here either). It took us just over 14 hours from start to finish, but it was such a great day, with a lot of extras showing up and helping us out. Everyone did a great job and were all in high spirits on this one. Then the next day, I shot some voice overs for the opening sequence of the film.

Finally Tuesday came, and it was all over. The guys at Danger Cave Media were able to get my scenes shot early during the filming schedule in order to allow me to return to Toronto, but they still have another half month to go before they finish shooting the film. I wish them the best in completing the movie, and can’t wait to see it.

Did I mention they plan to have it completed by the Toronto International Film Festival 2010 deadline? I think they’ve got a good chance to get in with this film and hope they do! I’m really thankful to have been a part of this film, and to have shared amazing experiences with everyone involved!

On January 4th, 2010 we had the first day of shooting for the film “Day Four“. Back in mid October, I briefly mentioned my audition for a feature film produced by Parktown Production. Well, as you may have guessed by how I started this post, I landed a role in the film! I play Brian, the lead’s best friend and one of the lead supporting characters in “Day Four“. Also, writers/directors Kyle Connolly and Nick Lacelle along with Jith Paul (all of which I’ve worked with before) have formed their own company called Danger Cave Media. So officially, this movie’s now considered a joint production between Danger Cave and Parktown.

On the 4th, we weren’t able to get to my scene due to certain complications. Let’s just say the cold, which is somewhat necessary and part of the film, isn’t helping in terms of production. Sure is adding authenticity to the film though! So, I used the time to rehearse with lead actor Andrew MacFarlane. However, the next day we were able to shoot one of the car scenes.

As Trevor gets back in Brian’s car, where they share an intense conversation. I’m purposefully keeping things broad, as not to give anything away. What I can tell you is that we ended using my car (shown in the picture above) which ended up working really well. Nick and Kyle were happy with how the scenes were playing out, giving us feedback like “that was SICK” and “you hit it out of the park”. They talked to Andrew and I once we finished shooting the scene, sharing their excitement with how it went.

In truth, we’re all really excited to be a part of this production; both cast and crew. Did I mention it’s shot on a RED camera and that I think the script is awesome? Well, that too!

First of all I want to wish you all the best in the New Year! Hope you’ve enjoyed this holiday season! For me, last year ended well and this one is off to a great start! I’m very excited about the upcoming projects I have lined up… one of which is starting as early as next week! Will write more about that one once things get rolling.

Also, I’ve recently made a few changes to my website. Notably, I’ve included my Twitter updates which are now located on the right side of the page, beneath the most recent photos. I will be using it to write short updates more often and will continue to write the longer ones on my website. I plan to do more of a redesign later, but for now you’ll also notice now my Featured Item section now includes a “sliding” page that switch between more than one item. That and a few links on the top right, including one to my Facebook fan page and my YouTube account.

In addition, I’ve gotten into something a little different. Lisa Meuser, a friend of mine who also works in this industry, has kept in touch with me and has been sharing some of her scripts as she writes them. Well, one day I ran into her and a group of mutual friends, and started talking about one of her screenplays. I was saying how awesome it was, and even kind of played some of the scenes as the lead. It was getting laughs and I didn’t think anything about it. However, maybe a few months later, I get an email from Lisa asking me to help her pitch her script! I accepted and started helping her get it ready, emailing back and an forth with some suggestions, changes and a few corrections here and there. Well, before the end of the year, we had a sit down and for a few hours, went over it together in person.

It’s almost ready to go, and on my return to Toronto, I will be working towards finding a production company willing to turn it into a feature film… one who will hopefully like the idea of me playing the lead! I can feel it… this year will be a great one!

About a month ago in November, I participated in and wrote about a music video for The Rural Alberta Advantage. Directed by Ante Kovac, this video is the band’s first, and was created for their song Drain the Blood. The band members are featured as the “surveillance team” in the white van, while I play the man in the couple being monitored by the band. Go here for a direct link and higher resolution, or check it out below!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my role in a music video shot by director Ante Kovac and mentioned a couple of artists he’s directed videos for, notably Matthew Good, one of my favorite musicians. Something I didn’t mention was that, on set, DOP Michael LeBlanc told me he was going to shoot Matthew Good’s next video. I have to admit, this got me a little excited. So I asked him to see if there was a role in it for me and that I’d love to be a part of it, adding that I would even be willing to volunteer my time.

Later in the month, I was on the Internet and found out who was directing the video! It was Scott Cudmore and I was able to confirm this information straight from Matt’s blog entry. So I emailed Scott to increase my chances, expressing my desire to be a part of the video if there was a role I could fill. Well eventually, he emailed me back and said he’d be interested in having me. He actually talked to Michael and saw some early footage of the last music video I was a part of, which was actually a band Scott worked with before! Yes, I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again… small world!

So Monday, I got picked up from just West of Downtown Toronto. The guy driving us was actually in a band himself, Gavin Gardine from The Wooden Sky. A young woman named Lee, playing the lead female role, also came on board with us as we drove past Hamilton, to Ancaster. After about an hour and a half, we arrived at the motel where Michael, Scott and a small crew had begun prepping for the shoot.

Once we got started, I got the feeling that the video was gonna be intense and turn out great. Overall the shoot went well, highlighted by Michael’s excitement when getting some great shots. When Lee was wrapped up, Gavin drove her back while I stuck around and got my last shots in. When I was done, I helped out as they shot a few more things that needed to get done before we wrapped. It brought me back to my early days where I used to be involved in shoots with small crews, where actors weren’t just actors, but helped out, doubling as crew members. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t do that much, just helped out here and there, when I could.

I’m really happy I was involved in this shoot, as not only did I work with great and talented people, but I was able to fulfill my wish to be involved in a music video for Matthew Good, which was something I wanted to do since I decided to pursue acting!

By the time I got home, it was Tuesday morning and I had to get ready for a commercial shoot. So without really sleeping, I showered, shaved, ate and went over to the studio. Despite the lack of sleep, I did great and had fun, met some cool people and was done in no time!

Tonight I just finished shooting my scenes for the short film “Making Sense out of Non-Sense”. It started off with an audition, then a callback. Afterwards, I was offered the role of Luke. Then we had a rehearsal where we mostly prepared for this long, uncut scene in the film.

We used both Saturday and Sunday and started off with a shoot in an apartment. Then today we were at Supermarket, a restaurant/bar in Toronto, hosting live musical acts. Both days went really well, with us finishing way ahead of schedule. Everyone on set was great to work with (I know this happens to me a lot, I guess I’m a lucky guy) and the actors were all naturals. I saw some footage (esp. of that long take which they reviewed on set) and it looked pretty good!

All that’s left from me is voice overs that will happen in a few months from now. Once those are done, the film should be close to being done. I’m pretty excited to seeing the finished product!

On Tuesday, I took part in my second music video for another indie band. I’m gonna save all the details about the band and their song for when the video is released (end of the month, so not too long from now). Doesn’t mean I won’t tell you about the shoot and some of the people involved though!

Our director, Ante Kovac, has worked on music videos of other Canadian talent such as Matthew Good (one of my favorite musical artists) and The Tragically Hip. As for the director of photography, he looked familiar to me… and I wondered why… then it finally came to me. Both Michael LeBlanc and I worked on a Much Music commercial before. The same one where I met director Trevor Francis, who was trying to track me down to shoot the Corel video. Then I started recognizing some of the other crew members from that shoot! What can I say… This big city of Toronto is starting to get a little smaller!

So as you can see, once again I had the pleasure to work with people who I met in the past. But as always, I met lots of great new people. From the band, to the woman playing my girlfriend and the rest of the crew, people were for the most part pleasant and professional. Another great day on set!

As for the role I played, well how about I share the story of this short film like video with you. My character comes home and notices a white van. He becomes paranoid and searches the house, along with his girlfriend, for a listening device while the band members are in the van, listening to the couple. Actually, Ante wrote me today and said the footage “looks amazing”… I’m definitely looking forward to seeing it. Of course, I’ll be sharing the video with you when it’s released!

Just last Friday, I shot my second Harlequin cover, again with Robert Gagnon. Not only will I be wearing a nice tux, but I wasn’t alone as the shot also featured a young woman… and in the background is San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge! This one should be available mid May, 2010. Once again, I had a good time working with Robert, the other model and the rest of the people involved. As for the picture on the right, it’s actually the cover from the last shoot back in April! The book is called “Mistletoe Hero” and is written by Tanya Michaels. Check out the Harlequin website to see a larger size of the cover and get more information on the book.

As for acting, I recently had a second audition (or a callback) for an ambitious short film shooting in Toronto. This is always good news as it means that you’ve made it to a short list of actors being considered for a role. Well, just today I’ve received the even better news that they are offering me the role! They also gave me great feedback on my audition. Looking forward to working on this project… more details to come!