GOT your attention? And, no, it’s not a misspelling. By the Julian calendar it’s Friday, but, given my and my partner, Setsuko Tsuchiya’s actor work schedules, today is our day off this week, and it’s a promised day dedicated to Setsuko, aka Sakura Kai in the upcoming JET Progress production of WINNOWING — https://winnowing.yolasite.com or for more behind-the-scenes gems https://janik.yolasite.com/winnowing.php.

WINNOWING, from the screenplay of the same name by renown author/actor W...

OVER the years, I've come to know various governments like people, some friendly, some not so; some balanced, some not so; some greedy; some not so. Reflecting on our United States of America, I would have to characterize us as prickly, individualistic, not so balanced, and, with money seeming to be the new god and business the new religion, greedy without limit. But it's more than just that. It's easy to say that money and business under our capitalistic (ever increasing profit) approach res...

HAVING left San Francisco for the paradisiacal climes of the Hawaiian Islands, I suddenly find myself hunkering down today and supposedly tomorrow for a tropical storm alert replete with 60 mph wind gusts, intermittent 45 degree pelting rain, thunder, lightening and hail. Yes, hail! Can you believe it? Well don’t. It may be coming our way, but it hasn’t arrived en mass, yet. The operative word being “yet.” In the meantime I busier than I’ve ever been with acting and authoring.

I’...

LIVING in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, is like living in a suspended, sunny California day forever. At least until tomorrow, when the weatherfolk are predicting a strong bout of cold, thunderstorms, lightening, thunder, torrential rain and even icy hail, the latter God(dess) forbid. I’m trying to imagine icy roads in Honolulu, if only from momentarily road-coating hail. Actually, I can’t imagine it. The nearest thing is snow on the top of the world’s tallest volcano, Mauna Kea, or the unusual...

ONE of my author-friends, A. G. Hayes, recently passed. It was a sad day for me and his many action/adventure affectionados. A. G. authored tens of books, short stories and screenplays during his lifetime, epitomized by his seven-book Koski and Falk series — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/the-complete-koski-and-falk-two-volume-set/84 as a seven-book, two-volume printed book, also available from Amazon in printed two volumes as THE COMPLETE KOSKI AND FALK VOL I — htt...

Actor Daniel S. Janik (aka author Raymond Gaynor/Gary Marine) here, nose to screen, typing at my computer on a fantastic sunny but pleasantly cool day. Posting about what? Film, of course.

Setsuko Tsuchiya and I have been filming scenes for Elias Perez’ 2-Liters Shady Films’ production of MOCOS, our first horror film, an especially notable film in that all is done by the actors and actresses (aliens, too?) use Elias’ script, and send their parts in to him for collating and editing. I w...

AUTHORS like me, Daniel Janik (aka Raymond Gaynor/Gary Martine), used to call them our “readers” in a respectful voice. ACTORS like me, Daniel S. Janik, used to call them our “fans,” treating every fan like royalty with appreciation. POLITICIANS, BUSINESSPERSONS, ADVERTISERS and INFLUENCERS typically call them or at least regard them as minions, with a decidedly derogatory tone, and, unfortunately, that attitude is spreading from business to everything business touches these days. In ...

WHILE eating brunch today (as actor Daniel S. Janik always concerned about weight, aka sedentary author Daniel Janik/Raymond Gaynor/Gary Martine), I found myself pondering the quintessentially classic question: Which is “more betta,” the knife, fork or spoon, which being as my partner is Japanese, immediately expanded to include hashi (chopsticks) and, in deference to America’s love affair with fast foods, fingers?

Given the universality of finger use early in life, it’s environmenta...

CALL it a paradigm shift, a wisdom transformation or weltanschauung crisis, I was thinking this morning that our species has evolutionarily experienced several major shifts in point-of-view, one of the more interesting for me being the shift from a “horizontal” to a “vertical” viewpoint.

We are, after all, descended from the oceans, with it’s particular, salty, “horizontal-axis” orientation, experiencing a major shift to airy, “vertical” bipedal orientation when our ancesto...

As an actor (Daniel S. Janik aka author Daniel S. Janik / Raymond Gaynor / Gary Martine), I’m always scouting for more acting opportunities. I’m currently preparing for my role in the K. Simmons Production of FINDING KATE -- https://ksmediagroupinc.com/finding-kate and https://janik.yolasite.com/findingkate.php -- a 6-part series about computer genius, Kate Keenan, who develops a scriptwriting program that everyone wants, that, in the wrong hands could be a threat to national security. Th...

YESTERDAY, I posted on Writing and Authoring. Today I’d like to talk a bit about Acting, a late-in-life career for me. It began with the opportunity of playing the lead role in the K. Simmons Production of STATIC (2021) — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15420946 — and supporting actor roles in the Kurt Ken Kaminaka Production of THE PERFECT ILLUSION (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18690318) as well as the upcoming films THE MALTESE COLLECTION (https://ksmediagroupinc.com/maltese-collection),...

GIVE a person a pen and a new author emerges. But give a person a gun or a nation the weapons of war, and what does one do with it? Safekeep it. Then, after a time, practice with it. Once trained, deploy it. When the opportunity presents, use it. One of the most dangerous aspects of weaponizing is the compelling pull to use it for what it was created. To kill. Whether an animal, human, or simply by virtue of purchasing such a weapon and its required means of killing (e.g. expendable bullets, ...

IT’S officially the hurricane season in the Pacific and what’s brewing at this moment is hurricane Frank. Hawaii hurricanes typically begin off Baha California, traveling West-Northwest along with tons of tourists, the hurricane slowly weakening on its way. This year’s hurricane forecast for Hawaii, I’m told, is low both in numbers and intensities, much like income projections for US citizens. Then again, in terms of weather and economics, anything can happen along the way.

If you be...

PERHAPS it’s a distinctly human characteristic (though I often wonder if many animals, especially elephants, whales and dolphins, and even plants should be included), the old Wishing Well seemingly part of every nation and cultures. But, hey, I’m not referring here to that, I’m referring to the importance of old-timers using their wishes well during their “Golden Years.” When I made this remark years ago to my father, he grunted that the older he got, the less time he had for wishin...

AND I’m not talking broccoli here (actually I LOVE broccoli, ha, ha). I’m talking the currently very negative millieu. Between Putin’s War, daily death and misery in the Ukraine, the world preparing for war, the “new politics,” business gone amok, COVID’s possible return, the slow demise of gasoline cars, the quick demise of the global environment — hey, need I go on? I for one, could sure enjoy some positive news. So here’s some positive news:

I’ve finished filming my scen...

I’M often asked how I as an author (Daniel S. Janik aka Raymond Gaynor/Gary Martine) and publisher (Savant Books and Publications at https://www.savantbooksandpublications.com) how I come up with titles for books, and if the title is really that important. My opin: It’s second only to a book’s cover image. Think of the cover image as a “first look” at someone you’ve never met before, and the title as that person’s name. First, it has to be memorable. Second, it has to be just un...

WONDERING about the first word, “editing,” instead of “tripping?” Well, yes, I am an amateur ballroom and latin DanceSport competitor, but with dance competitions and dancing in general most on hold till COVID runs it’s course, I’ve been working hard with Savant author Vern Turner (https://www.amazon.com/Vernon-Turner/e/B089Y14KZY) to edit his recently accepted manuscript entitled THE IMMIGRANT’S GRANDSON. Personally, I can’t think of a better way to keep up my own authoring s...

EVERY author has to, at some time, master writing about violence and sex, two archetypal experiences intrinsic to and representative of human life at any age and time. By this I truly mean “writing about” rather than writing explicit gratuitous violence or sex. It’s the difference between the emotional experience of a soldier being wounded, and a detailed account of every gory detail as the bullet rips through his or her body. The same with sex.

I can vividly recall an email from my fi...

IT’S been a couple days since I mentioned acting as well as authoring, so here goes: I’m playing “Will” in The STATIC Movie (https://kspllc.media/the-static-movie), where we’re currently working at the second on location site, a multi-million dollar house in the foothills of the Hawaiian Koolau mountains, the first on location site filming having been completed. At this new location, I have a heart attack, dance cheek-to-cheek with my long departed wife and it all happens in Will’...

YOU guessed it: not viewed. Despite all my raving in yesterday’s post about this event, last night we had a “round table” full-cast reading of the “Static” movie script and I was so tired afterwards I slept right through the alarm. Go figure! On the other hand, the full-cast reading brought several to tears while others openly shared “goosebump” moments, meaning, in my mind, this drama will exceed even the most stringent viewer expectations. I also hear that the round table was ...

I’VE often heard that the storyline, narration, dialog and outstanding editing are what make a successful book. Of course, I have to agree. Makes total sense. And yet…there’s something, almost intangible, that elevates a well-authored and edited story to something, well, more. It’s the difference between a great performance and one that elicits goose bumps. It’s having just the right “edge.” Something more. One of my publishers, Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing,...