It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I had a wonderful time at the VO Mixer last week and connected with some people I'd only ever known via the VO-BB and email correspondence. It's great to actually meet these people in person and experience how warm and wonderful so many of them truly are.

I just wanted to share the talents of some of these wonderful people by inviting you to give a listen to the VO-BB rendition of the beautiful Christmas Poem, "Twas The Night Before Christmas" over at the blog of my friend Bob Souer. I think you'll really enjoy it.

Then you can take a look at a newer video version of the same poem below.

Looking Forward to the 2010 VO Mixer this weekend!

I've missed this event the last 2 times it happened but I'm not missing it this time!

Over the years, I've connected with a number of wonderful, generous people online on the vo-bb and other places.

Well, I finally get to meet some of those people in person and I am really looking forward to it!

If you are one of those people, see you Saturday!

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

I am playing the role of Val in the current production of Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the Sayreville Main Street Theater.

The showdates are as follows:

Fridays - October 22. 23, 29, 30 at 8:00PM

Saturdays - November 5 & 6 at 8:00PM

Sundays - October 24, 31 at 2:00 PM

Synopsis: The Show takes Place in the writer's room of the "Max Prince Show" in NYC in 1953. It is loosely based on the "Your Show of Shows", "Sid Caesar Show", whose writers were Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and many, many other recognized comedy writers. Considered to be one of Neil Simon's funniest plays this production is sure to keeping you laughing.

I hope some of you can come on down.

It should be a laugh riot!

If I'd made it to the finals . . .

I was in a karaoke contest recently and made the semi-finals.

Had I made it to the finals, I would have sang the following . . .



So, whaddaya think?

Recent gig for Dialogic

This gig came purely from networking and is a perfect example of the benefit that you can receive when working with a Bilingual Voice Actor.

First we did the piece in English, then the same piece again, but this time in Spanish.

Here is the Dialogic IVVR piece, first, in English:




And here we have it again, but this time in Spanish:



Thanks so much to my friends at Dialogic for selecting me to work with them on this project.

Personally, I think it turned out pretty well.

What do you think?

Joe Rodriguez on Telemundo for UB.net

Here's a nice little spot I did for UB.Net which is currently airing on Telemundo, late Saturday nights during the Bellator Championships programming.

20 Years of the Simpsons

FOX Television started broadcasting in 1986.

In 1989, they launched a controversial television show which looked like a kids cartoon show but was aimed at adults.

Who woulda thunk that The Simpsons would still be on the air 20 years later!

According to ABC News, The Simpsons is now the longest-running scripted nighttime series on TV!

The Simpsons and thei charaters from the show have become household names all over the world.

The voice over actors who star as the main characters on the show, Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns), and Hank Azaria (Chief Wiggum), are probably the luckiest people in the history of voice acting!

Actually, this is probably one of the most talented and versatile group of voice actors ever assembled. Most of the cast do the voices for multiple characters on the show. Dan Castellaneta alone has done over 100 Simpsons character voices!

Being part of an animated tv show has been a dream of mine since I began exploring voice acting. My very first VO class was an animation class.

I've had the opportunity to do the occasional cartoon voice here and there, but to be on a show like the Simpsons is the ultimte dream for any voice over talent.

I mean, these guys make around 400k each, per episode! Is that a dream gig or what?!!

Envy aside, I give my congratulations to the cast of The Simpsons. You've awed and inspired me for 20 years now and I wish you 20 more years of success!

By the way, if you guys ever need a replacement or somebody to speak a little Spanish in an episode or two, give me a call will ya!

Time for New Years Resolutions

I've been reading on other blogs about the kinds of resolutions people are making for 2010.

The thing about resolutions is that they have gotten a bad rap. We all know that most people make resolutions, then forget them about as quickly as they made them. It's a bad cliche at this point.

This year, I resolve to make NO RESOLUTIONS! Instead, I am going to make some GOALS for my year.

My goals are designed to make 2010 my BEST YEAR EVER.

I expect there will be modifications to those goals throughout the year and that there will be obstacles to achieving those goals throughout the year but that is all to be expected and will be dealt with as the year progresses.

One of the first things I learned about goals is that you have to keep track of them. If you don't track them, you won't achieve them. You don't need an advanced degree in astrophysics to know that's the truth.

So how does one track goals?

I found some neat tips on the Lifehacker website for some tools that may be helpful in tracking goals. You might find some of them useful. Check out the Five Best Goal-Tracking Tools on their site for some ideas.

Besides tracking goals, I also plan to use whatever tricks I can find or develop, to help make my goals a reality. I found another nice article on Lifehacker titled "Top 10 Mind Hacks for Making Your Resolutions Stick".

Some of these ideas are great. I plan to use at least some of them.

As for the rest of my goals for this year, I'll keep the specifics to myself for now but I'm sure mine are similar to yours since we pretty much all want the same things in the areas of prosperity, health and happiness.

So good luck with your resolu . . . goals for this year, and let me know how you progress along your path.

Oh, one of my other goals is to blog more regularly. Not daily, but definitely, more regularly. I think this post is a good start.

Don't you?

P.S. Just came across this great list of 10 things to do instead of making New Years resolutions.